Trot's return was the passing of the baton

The former Dirt Dog chats with his replacement before Monday's game (Globe/AP)

Was it just me or did anyone else notice the irony of Kevin Youkilis circling the bases for an inside-the-park homerun on the night that the last man to accomplish that rare feat in a Boston uniform, Trot Nixon, was making his return to Fenway Park?

And could it have been some karmic twist of fate that made Youk pump his arms like a sprinter running a 4x100 relay, hands reaching back as if he had just received the baton from his (former) teammate and was trying with all his might to bring the glory home?

To a believer of all things serendipitous, it was like time folded on top of itself last night, with the former fan favorite returning home to a rousing chorus of cheers, and the new emblem of the Boston Dirt Dog mentality doing something the original dirt dog himself had done just a couple of seasons ago.

Okay, I know I'm starting to make about as much sense as Carl Sagan on peyote (I think it's because I watched that convoluted piece of cosmic claptrap, Deja Vu, the other night), but what I'm trying to say is that something was in the air over Kenmore Square last night, and even living 1,500 miles away I could feel the ties that bind a fan to a franchise were strengthened by the events on the field and the efforts of those two men in particular.

During his 10 seasons in Boston, Nixon was the ultimate fan favorite because he exhibited hustle and passion for the game every time he took the field. Plays like inside the park home runs, all- out dives and crashing into walls for catches, brawling with opponents or knocking over a catcher to reach home plate, all embodied what baseball in Beantown is all about.

Trot became the symbol of baseball in Boston, and his exit at the end of last season coupled with the defection of Judas Demon & exodus of Kevin Millar the year before suddenly turned the cast of the original Dirt Dogs into the Departed.

Then along came Youk. If ever a guy was going be be the new face of the Dirt Dog Nation, it was the one with this mug:

It's a face on a mother could love, and even then with great trepidation. Add that to the barrel body and sweaty bald dome, an attitude on the field that rivals a pit bull's and a penchant for soaking up the night life, and it all adds up to the perfect hero for RSN, someone's who's not a pretty-boy metro with an entourage and PDA.

Now in his 4th season in Boston, his skills and aggressive nature had already made him a cult hero in the Nation, with calls of "Yoooooooook" cascading down from stadiums everywhere he went. But now his 20-game hit streak and blazing hot bat (8 straight consecutive multi-hit games, 4th-highest BA in AL) has elevated him to national star status.

Then came last night.

After extending his streak to 20 games with a hustle double in the fourth, delighting the sellout (duh!) crowd, he took a Roberto Hernandez (ahem ex-Ray) fastball and torched it off the bullpen wall in the triangle, then raced around the bases and into Boston baseball history.

With the last man to do that sitting in the opposite dugout, having enjoyed the adulation of the crowd at least four times already in the evening, Youk briefly stepped out of his dugout for a winded curtain call and let the appreciation of the Nation wash over him.

And a new Dirt Dog was born.