Pedroia, Pedroia, Pedroia (Small Frame, Lots Of Heart)
HOUSTON (CBS) - The Red Sox couldn't do anything with Houston right-hander Bud Norris Friday night at Minute Maid Park. After a lead-off Marco Scutaro home run, Norris and his slider mowed down the Sox into the 7th inning.
But, that's when the Sox's vaunted offense erupted for six runs on six hits against Norris and two other pitchers. Game over.
The story in that 7th inning was Dustin Pedroia. The kid never ceases to amaze.
The beauty of Pedroia is not only his bark, but his bite.
Pedroia stepped to the plate in that 7th inning against reliever Wilton Lopez. The bases were loaded with one out with the Sox trailing 5-3. Huge spot. Pedroia worked the count to 2-1 and took what looked like ball three low. Home plate umpire Lars Diaz called it a strike and Pedroia strongly disagreed. Pedey protested loudly and why not in such a critical moment in the game?
The next pitch, Pedroia swung at what looked to be the same pitch and bounced a two-run game-tying single to right field. And that wasn't the best part. As he was running to first Pedroia turned and tapped something back to Diaz. It had to be along the lines of: "even though that was a ball you probably would have called it a strike so look what I did with it anyway!"
NESN's Jerry Remy said he had never seen anything like it. Pedroia told the media after the game that he was out of his mind and didn't remember it. David Ortiz looked like he was blown away by it when he was yapping with Pedroia in the dugout afterwards.
Amazing.
However, it shows you what Pedroia has. Heart. An intense desire to compete and win.
And those are qualities you can't measure.
I have been lucky enough to watch some high school, legion, and Cape league games recently. I see the scouts and coaches looking at these kids and I hear them talking about this one's size or this one's arm or that one's speed.
I love it.
As advanced as we are in the game of baseball, we still see these people drool over everything, except the one thing that may matter the most.
You watch Dustin Pedroia come to the plate and you shake your head at this kid who looks to be the same height as most catchers in a crouch. Yet, all he does is come up with big play after big play. He finds a way to help the team win. He leads by example. By being the first one at the park every day, by stirring up the troops in the dugout, by making his team laugh when it's struggling, by telling the media to go tell that to the manager when he homers again in a rare appearance in the clean-up spot. Ya gotta love it…
And again, what does Dustin Pedroia have that you can't measure?
The biggest heart. And, don't ever, ever discount that...
