He is the kind of player you love to have on your side, but if you are looking across the diamond at him, he can be an irritant.

Kevin Youkilis had one heck of a year for the Sox. His value at first base can be measured in part by the numbers.

He had 1,080 chances in 135 games and never committed an error.

He is the first American League first basemen to complete a season with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

He is at 190 consecutive games without an error.

For his work at first, he won the Gold Glove this year in the American League. No small matter under any circumstances, but even more impressive since he had to make the move from third base when Mike Lowell arrived.

I talked with him about his time at first a couple of times during the season. Like most first baseman, he said the toughest part of the move was “… learning when to go after ground balls hit to my right and when to head to the bag.”

He learned well. Throughout this learning process, he became even more productive at the plate and never lost the feistiness that makes him unique.

Mike Lowell said during the season that he has a bit of the Youkilis in him. It’s that tenacious competitiveness that never seems to lag that Lowell was talking about.

Lowell waits for a new deal to keep him in Boston. If that doesn’t happen, Youkilis could be asked to go back to third. The Lowell deal will get done.

At one point towards the end of the season, Youkilis was the target of a few high and tight fast balls, even high and behind the head pitches. I asked him why.

“I can’t figure that out,” said Youkilis. The situations didn’t seem to warrant the inside stuff and he said he had no ongoing disputes with the pitchers involved.

“I got to ask somebody about this when the season is done,” he said.

Maybe he should ask Lowell.

That fire in his belly can get under the skin of opponents and sometimes the response is those kinds of pitches.

Youkilis could care.

No high hard one will put out that fire and for that reason he is a model of effort for teammates.

This past season was a good one for the quality grind it out players. Take nothing away from Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, but this was the Red Sox year of the Lowell and Youkilis.

Wonderfully, Dustin Pedroia fits right into that mix. There is no such thing as a clean uniform day for him and if you want a foxhole mentality to play alongside, as Pedroia does, Lowell and Youkilis are right up his alley.

When the talk of the bright future for the Sox is heard, these players are the type to which fans can point with great hope.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.