With his speed, he should hit .300 every year

"With his speed, he should hit .300 every year," teammate Kevin Youkilis said. "That's how good he is. If he hits .290, .300 and bangs out some home runs, that's incredible for us. If he hits .330, then that's an even greater year. And, if he hits .360, which he could do, there's no telling how high he can go."

The glowing accolades are not without irony. A year ago at this time, Ellsbury was on the sidelines, recuperating from five broken ribs that left him embroiled in a dispute with the Red Sox medical staff, questioned by select media members for being "too soft" and tweaked by some of his teammates, Youkilis among them, for not staying in Boston while he rehabbed his injuries.

The inference that he wouldn't or couldn't play through injuries was the most hurtful.

"In my whole career I had never been out for any extended period of time," Ellsbury said. "I had a concussion in college [at Oregon State]. By NCAA rules I had to sit out. I was trying to get back into the lineup, but they made me wait three games."

The concussion, incidentally, was suffered as Ellsbury flung his body at a fly ball in center field. He has the Harry Potter scar to prove it. "It was me going hard," he said.

He insists he has put the doubts and the innuendo and the awkwardness and the mistrust of last season behind him. Ellsbury has successfully refrained from leveling criticisms, exhibiting bitterness or gloating over his redemptive performance, tempting as those sentiments might be.

"Turn the page," he said. "That's what made sense."

Yet even Ellsbury understands that in order to appreciate the full magnitude of his remarkable 2011 season, it requires a glance back at the darkest hours of his young career. In three short seasons, he went from rookie phenom and fan favorite to an elusive talent who suddenly had some disconcerting -- and, as it turned out, totally unfounded -- baggage attached to his resume.