The Boston Red Sox today replaced third baseman Mike Lowell on the active roster for the 2008 American League Division Series due to what the team is calling a right hip strain. MLB.com is reporting that the injury is a partial tear of the labrum in his right hip.

Boston has replaced Lowell on the active roster with infielder Gil Velazquez, who will be available tonight for Game 4 of the ALDS versus the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lowell has been bothered by the hip injury for much of the second half of the season and had just one at bat over the final two weeks of the regular season.

Since the injury replacement is being made in the middle of a series, Lowell would not be eligible for the active roster in the event the Red Sox advance to the American League Championship Series.

This is a pretty significant blow to Boston’s long term chances of repeating as World Champions.

…CC Sabathia who this off season is going to get a pretty hefty payday says he liked it in Milwaukee and would heavily consider re-signing with the club.

“I loved it here,” said Sabathia, who went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts after a July 7 trade from the Cleveland Indians, and led the Brewers to their first postseason in 26 years. “It’s one of the most fun times I’ve had in my life. It was definitely a blessing to be traded here.

“Everything was great. We accomplished a lot. This team will be back. There’s a lot of good young players in here.

“I’ll go home this winter and make the best decision.”

The Brewers are going to have to pay a pretty hefty price to keep Sabathia as it would seem the Yankees are going to try and outbid every team on the planet for CC.

…According to Ian Browne of MLB.com Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan “Cinco Ocho” Papelbon might not be available to pitch tonight. He’s pitched in the first three games of the series and has gone two innings in his last two appearances. Even Papelbon is unsure if he’ll be able to go if Francona needs him in Game 4.

“Question mark,” Papelbon said. “I’m saying that’s a question mark from me, too. But I feel fine. I’ll wake up in the morning and see how I feel.”

…According to Mark Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times Tampa Bay Rays closer Troy Percival threw an inning of an instructional league game and felt “Fine”. Percival is hopeing to return to the club for the ALCS (if the Rays advance).

…Speaking of the Rays, Dioner Navaro is playing with some serious discomfort as would be expected from catching 120 regular season games. Even his teammates know that he’s not running on full power.

“He’s basically playing on all soul right now,” Rays first baseman Carlos Pena said.

Though if you ask him, everything is just fine.

“I feel great. There’s no pain, there’s no soreness,” he said.

“It’s the playoffs,” he said. “Call me a day after everything is over and I’ll be pretty sore, but right now I feel great. There’s no time to be tired now.”

…Arizona Diamondbacks right hander Brandon Backe was arrested Sunday morning (along with about a dozen on lookers) after a fight broke out in Galviston Texas. Here’s what DBacks officials had to say when reached for comment.

“We’re aware of an incident involving Brandon. We have spoken with him regarding his version of the event. Seeing this is a legal matter, any further comment on our part would be inappropriate.”

…There’s nothing like being a rookie and making post season history, just ask Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Last night against the Angels Ellsbury hit a three run single, yes you read that right - a three run single. It’s the first time in post season history that a three run single has been recorded.

…Good news for the Seattle Mariners according to the Tacoma News Tribune. Southpaw Erik Bedard is set to begin rehab on his surgically repaired shoulder.

“The surgery was the best-case scenario, not the worst,” Bedard said. “They cleaned up the fraying on my labrum and took out the cyst. I start rehab tomorrow.”

The National League Division Series are in the books as both American League Division Series match-ups head to Game Four on Monday with the only guarantee being no baseball on Tuesday because both ALDS scheduled for an off day if either series goes to a fifth and deciding game.  Add up the official time of the 13 games completed and TBS has hosted 43 hours and 17 minutes of Major League Baseball playoffs, give or take the few minutes tossed over to TNT when the Phillies-Brewers and Dodgers-Cubs series overlapped on Saturday.  (Sorry, Titanic fans!)

Of the 43-plus hours of baseball and hours of studio coverage, I have personally viewed about 75% of the action and have seen at least three innings of every game including the full slate of seven of 13 games.

Overall, the coverage provided by TBS has been solid.  Watching MLB.TV for most of the year, I have always enjoyed local announce teams over national teams but the roster of postseason announcers put together has delivered — for the most part — quality broadcasts throughout the first round of the 2008 postseason. 

With all telecasts, there are highs and lows and with two big Game Fours on tap for Monday, now is a good of a time as any to take a look at TBS’s coverage and the good, the bad and the ugly of their Division Series coverage:

THE GOOD

• Ernie Johnson and the Studio Analysts

If you are a basketball fan and dig TNT’s hoops coverage, it’s likely you are a fan of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley in studio.  For the second year in a row, TBS has put their studio show in the very capable hands of Johnson and brought back Cal Ripken Jr. and Curtis Granderson and added Dennis Eckersley to the mix.  Johnson is an excellent studio host and, in my opinion, the best in any sport on any network.  He’s better with Smith and Barkley covering hoops but great in his baseball gig, too.  Eckersley — except for the hair — is a huge upgrade over Frank Thomas from last year’s coverage and Ripken and Granderson are plusses, too.

• Red Sox-Angels Coverage

Even before last night’s exciting 12-inning marathon, the Red Sox-Angels series has been the best of the four Best-of-Fives.  Although I have occasionally disagreed with Buck Martinez’s analysis, the duo of Chip Caray and Martinez has not fallen into the trap of gushing over the Boston Red Sox like they are one of only two teams in baseball like another network — hint: rhymes with Sox — does.  I’m also a big fan of the less crowded broadcast booth in the Red Sox-Angels series and White Sox-Rays series compared to the trios in place for the two National League series.

• Harold Reynolds

Of all of the Color Commentators working during the first round, Reynolds is the best.  He’s like Joe Morgan… if Morgan were insightful, accurate, interesting and willing to take a back seat to the game.

THE BAD

• Brewers-Phillies Coverage

Brian Anderson, the play-by-play guy for the Brewers-Phillies series on TBS, has an interesting connection to the Milwaukee Brewers:  He’s the Brewers’ play-by-play announcer during the regular season!  Unlike what they did with Red Sox play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo — he’s covering the White Sox-Rays series — TBS used Anderson to cover the team he had a close association with all season.  Once the series moved to Milwaukee, Anderson sounded more like the local guy he is rather than the national guy he was asked to be. 

But Anderson was not the only issue.  The Brewers fell behind 5-0 early in the fourth and final game of the series which prompted the TBS announce team to repeat over and over and over again that the Brewers came back a Major League-high 43 times in 2008.  However, they failed to mention that the Brewers never (that’s zero times) came back from a deficit of five runs or more.  On a side note, the broadcast team hyped up for Bernie Brewer for a game and a half before Prince Fielder took Joe Blanton yard.  The camera flashed to Bernie waving a Brewers’ flag but they never showed him go down the slide.  Disappointing!

• The Cubs

You can’t talk about the first round of the playoffs without mentioning how poorly the Cubs played.  It’s not TBS’s fault and it was somewhat poetic the network threw Game Three to TNT while Game Three of the Phillies-Brewers game wrapped.  The Cubs-Dodgers game preempted Titanic in the middle of the movie but quickly went back to TBS when the other game ended.  The Dodgers knocked off the Cubs in three straight but the Cubs put up a heck of a challenge to the title of “Biggest Sinking Ship” shown on TNT on Saturday.

• Tony Gwynn’s Voice

Tony Gwynn provides a wealth of knowledge about the National Pastime.  So, why is it that I can’t get past his nasal delivery?

THE UGLY

• TBS’s Hot Corner Web Coverage

Note to TBS and MLB:  If you plan on showing me four additional camera angles that I can access on MLB.com, it might help to provide the TV feed since there was about a 10-second delay between TBS’s coverage and the coverage on TBS’s Hot Corner.  Great idea just not watchable when executed.

• Craig Sager’s Suits

Known for his flamboyant outfits, Sager’s outfits continue to look so out of place in a baseball setting.  Like when ESPN’s Erin Andrews’ field reports require shots of her roving escapades, I rarely know what Sager says because I’m completely distracted.  Only in this case, there’s nothing pretty about Sager’s choice of sideline garb.  Maybe I’m just jealous of Sager who is married to a former Chicago Bulls dancer, 21 years his junior.

• “Frank TV”, “Frank TV”, “Frank TV”… “FRANK TV!!!!”

The number of “Frank TV” promos viewed during the five days of baseball playoffs was higher than Mark Reynold’s and Jack Cust’s 2008 strikeouts combined.  If you don’t know, that’s a lot!  The first “Frank TV” commercial came minutes into the first round of studio banter and immediately anyone who watched TBS’s coverage last year had flashbacks of TBS’s over-promotion of Frank Calliendo and his show.  By Friday, Calliendo was haunting me in my dreams and by Saturday, I began finishing every sentence with “Very funny!”  Although TBS’s decision to kill the viewer for a second year with “Frank TV” promos was not “very funny!”

On the brink of elimination, both the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels kept their postseason hopes alive with wins on Saturday.  Now, the White Sox and Angels look to push their series to a fifth and deciding game with wins on Monday.

In Chicago, the White Sox pulled off a rare feat with a 5-3 win over the Rays behind a solid outing by John Danks, a shutdown effort from the bullpen and no home runs.  Throughout the regular season the White Sox struggled when they failed to hit the long ball and posted a 9-31 record when hitting zero home runs.  They also lost Game Two of the series when the team went homerless but an RBI single by A.J. Pierzynski in the third, a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Alexei Ramirez and a two-RBI double by DeWayne Wise in the fourth and an RBI single by Juan Uribe in the sixth put five runs on the board which was enough to put the White Sox past the Rays.  The White Sox are now a perfect 4-0 in must win situations and need to run that record to 6-0 if they want to continue on to the ALCS.

In Boston, the Angels needed three extra frames to end their 11-game postseason losing streak against the Red Sox with a 5-4 win in 12 innings.  The Angels continued to impress on the road after posting the best road record in baseball in ‘08 and best since the White Sox won 52 road games in ‘05.  Los Angeles was aided by two home runs from Mike Napoli and an RBI single by Erick Aybar that scored Napoli to put the Angels up 5-4 in the top of the 12th.  Jered Weaver pitched the 11th and 12th inning in his first Major League relief appearance to get the win in the longest game in ALDS history at five hours and 19 minutes.  This season, the Angels were 13-3 following two consecutive losses and won three in a row following two losses five times. 

Both series resume on Monday when the White Sox and Rays square off in Chicago at 5:07 PM ET and the Red Sox and Angels compete in Boston at 8:37 PM ET. 

Gavin Floyd (17-8, 3.84 ERA) is responsible for keeping the White Sox alive in their series while the Rays send Andy Sonnanstine (13-9, 4.38 ERA) to the hill seeking their first-ever Championship Series berth.  Floyd got the win in the last game of the season in their make-up game against the Tigers to gain the Sox a play-in game with the Twins.  He has never faced the Rays in his career but was 10-3 with a 3.55 ERA in 17 starts at U.S. Cellular Field.  Sonnanstine is 0-3 with a 4.39 ERA in his last seven starts and has not won since August 18.  He made three starts against the White Sox this year and is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA including a complete game shutout over Chicago on April 19.

John Lackey (Regular Season: 12-5, 3.75 ERA; Postseason: 0-1, 2.70 ERA) looks for redemption after losing Game One of the series at the site of his near no-hitter on July 29.  During the regular season, Lackey went 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA against the Red Sox and pitched well in Game One but was outdueled by his Game Four opponent, Jon Lester.  Lester (Regular Season: 16-6, 3.21 ERA; Postseason: 1-0, 0.00 ERA) gave up one unearned run in seven innings and has not allowed an earned run in the postseason in his last 16 innings of work.  Lester allowed four earned runs in five innings in his only regular season appearance against the Angels in ‘08 and got a no decision.