From Philip Matier and Andrew Ross in this morning’s San Francisco Chronicle:

Political break-in: Just a day after Barack Obama’s staffers moved into their new state headquarters in Los Angeles, someone broke in last week and stole a pair of laptop computers containing sensitive information about the campaign’s field strategy and its voter contact file.

Other laptops were left behind.

And it turns out there was a nearly identical burglary of his Davenport, Iowa, office about the same time.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Debbie Mesloh declined to speculate on what was behind the L.A. break-in, referring us to Los Angeles police.

We couldn’t reach anyone there for comment, but we can tell you the cops dusted the office on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown for prints.

(With apologies to SI for stealing the title of this entry…)

- Amazing performance on the part of the Red Sox over a very hot Rockies team. Was it proof that the best of the AL can whack away at the best of the Senior Circuit. Hard to disagree, but there’s no arguing Boston came into the Series with throttles wide open while Colorado appeared to have lost some of their mojo from their week-plus layoff. And the Sox had the swagger. Confidence is a powerful weapon to take into a championship game.

- How about that Mike Lowell, an afterthought in the trade that brought Josh Beckett in from the Marlins? A classy guy and player getting his just recognition is a locker room full of personalities and more than one future HOFer. Lowell had a career series in a contract year, true, and even though there’s a more famous 3B on the market now, I can’t see the Sox not bring him back.

(And speaking of that A-Rod, is there a more crass guy in sports than agent Scott Boras? To release news about his client while the Rockies are desparately trying to hang on to their WS hopes tells you all you need to know about the guy. The Karma Police will smack him down. I hope we all get to witness it.)

[Edit: Boras’ later statement: “I apologize to the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies and their players, Major League Baseball and its players, and baseball fans everywhere for that interference. The teams and players involved deserved to be the focus of the evening and honored with the utmost respect. The unfortunate result was not my intent, but is solely my fault. I could have handled this situation better, and for that I am truly sorry.” Wonder if his apology had anything to do with BoSox fans chanting, “Don’t sign A-Rod.”]

- Did you catch Rockies manager Clint Hurdle’s postgame remarks? Classy guy. And watch out for the Rockies: they’ve got some talent and they got close. They could easily represent the NL West in the 2008 postseason, but not the World Series, natch. North Siders, baby!

- If I’m Boston rookies Dustin Pedoria and Jacoby Ellsbury, I’m taking things slow and enjoying every second because these days may never come again. A lot of good players never get to taste the champagne. Savor it, kids, and if you never want to pay for another dinner in New England, bleed Red Sox Red for the rest of your careers. Ask Johnny Damon if he’s welcome in any Boston eatery nowadays.

- Finally, Peter King in his SI column again wrote that football is the most popular American sport, which is true, but baseball’s postseason and championship series is the most difficult of the major sports. Football has the “one-and-done” format where everything is on the line in every single game but it’s done in three hours, and basketball doesn’t really eliminate any of their good teams after the regular season. Admittedly, I can’t speak to hockey and NASCAR seems to run January to December. Baseball is the sport where a mistake in April can eliminate you from October, then the five-game and seven-game series are played live in front of tens of thousands of passionate fans who live/die with every pitch. Every move is analyzed and compared to something done by players in similar circumstances fifty years ago. I could go on, but y’all know it’s all about the numbers and that’s why it’s the best game in the world.

Start the countdown now: about 122 days until spring training.

On this day celebrating Nevada Day, here’s another pix courtesy of the Nevada State Library and Archives. This is the Senator Cafe somewhere in downtown Carson City. Is it an older version of the Pinecone Cafe found here on Around Carson? It isn’t in this picture to the south of the old capital building. One of the archivists was thinking that tall building in the back housed the Oldfellows Lodge directly north of the current capital complex. Interesting stuff.

Via SI.com, here’s Dallas Clark, a tight end with the 2006 Super Bowl champions Indianapolis Colts, with his unique interpretation of Bon Jovi’s Living On a Prayer.