He’s thinking what we’re thinking, this wunderkind general manager of the Boston Red Sox.

You can see it in his face during replays of his team’s miscues. You can read it when he talks about being up two games to none. You can hear it when his voice cracks when he dedicates Boston’s historic comeback in the ALCS to the 1946 and 1978 Red Sox.

Theo Epstein is one of us. And not just because he grew up a few blocks from Fenway.

It wasn’t that long ago that we identified so with Theo that we were jealous. Here he was 28, barely out of law school and hired for the dream job of every male in a six-state region.

The jokes about Epstein being barely old enough to shave or vote started the day he was hired. A lot of fans were poised to strike the first time he showed his age and inexperience. They met his first mid-season trades (Byung-Hyun Kim for Shea Hillenbrand, Jeff Suppan for Freddy Sanchez) with skepticism, arguing that the naive lad had been snookered by more savvy GMs.

Then the first team under his watch came within five outs of a World Series, and that either silenced or distracted his critics (thanks, Grady). Thanksgiving with the Schillings put to rest any notions that he was in over his head.

Signing Keith Foulke showed he wasn’t so stubborn as to stick by the failed “closer by committee” experiment. Putting Manny Ramirez on waivers and flirting with trades involving Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra served notice that he was willing to take big risks to field a winning ballclub.

At first, it looked like the A-Rod courtship had blown up in his face. Not only did he lose the supposed best player in baseball to the Yankees, he ticked off the franchise’s most popular player. Most GMs would have reacted by making a move for another big name player to soothe their bruised ego. Some might have tried to mend fences by overpaying Nomar with a contract extension.

Epstein didn’t overreact. He waited to see how the team he put together would produce. When it became clear that the team was trapped in a malaise, that its defense needed to be upgraded and that Nomar wasn’t going to stop pouting, he made the boldest move of his tenure, trading his superstar shortstop essentially for three good, but rather non-descript, players (Dave Roberts was acquired in a separate deal, but we’ll throw him in anyway).

Many, including yours truly, didn’t like the trade, believing he hadn’t gotten enough value for Nomar. Many others couldn’t forgive him for trading this generation’s Ted or Yaz. Some still don’t forgive him, and may not even if the Sox win the whole thing.

But it was the turning point of the season, and will be remembered as such regardless of whether the Sox finish off the Cardinals or not. Unfortunately, few will appreciate years from now just how much chutzpah it took to make that move.

Theo’s had his share of luck so far, certainly. He’s fortunate to work for an owner with an open wallet. He’s very fortunate that Manny responded the way he did to being flat out rejected, if not embarrassed, by his team. He’s also lucky that Nomar was the only player who pouted about his uncertain contract status. As much of a diva as Pedro has been this season, he could have made things a lot worse if he chose to, and who knows how that would have affected the team if he had.

But he has made his own luck, too.

For once, the Red Sox went into the playoffs with the best pitching and deepest bench. They are a team with the perfect personality for playing in the Boston pressure-cooker. While many were crying for the Red Sox to imitate the straight-laced, clean-shaven Yankees, Epstein backed up his bunch of idiots.

Consider how quickly he has earned the respect of the blood-thirsty Boston media and Red Sox fans. It is no easy task. Just ask Dan Duquette, who was responsible for three playoff teams but reviled throughout New England.

He’s done all this while starting to bring the barren farm system he inherited back to respectability and while handling the public aspects of his job with grace, dignity and a sharp sense of humor that a lot of people I know his age do not possess.

He is on the verge of a world championship and becoming GM-for-life before his 31st birthday.

We will still be jealous if and when he accepts that championship trophy with his bosses. But we’ll also know that it won’t be some humorless suit or heartless, bottomless-pockets owner accepting it on our behalf.

It will be one of us.