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October 22, 2007
By JOE McDONALD
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- The toss of the bat told the entire story.
Red Sox rookie Dustin Pedroia put bat to ball in the seventh inning, and as soon as he did he immediately tossed the bat end-over-end. He knew he had just hit a two-run homer into the Monster seats to break open a 3-2 game. That homer put Boston in front 5-2, and the Sox added six more in the eighth -- three riding home on a bases-loaded double by Pedroia -- as they coasted to an 11-2 victory and the American League pennant.
''I was excited,'' he said with a bit of a sinister laugh. ''I hit it real well and I was just worried because the wind was pushing it towards center, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, no,’ because I didn’t want it to hit off the top of the wall. I was just trying to get the run in and put a good swing on the ball.''
As he rounded first base and knew it was gone, Pedroia unleashed one of his vintage vocal fist-pumps because he just ignited a team. He had ignited a city. He had ignited a Nation.
''I really don’t think too much,'' he said when asked what he was thinking about running the bases. ''I just try to play the game, have fun and go on from there. This year has been such a grind. It’s my first full year of playing and the veteran guys have taken care of me and shown me how to do things. It’s been unbelievable.''
When Pedroia was struggling in the first half of the month, he knew he would finish the season strong. There was a time when David Ortiz pulled him into the batting cage, not only to work on hitting, but just to talk about the game in general. The hour-long talked worked.
''I’ve been through a lot,'' said Pedroia. ''Everyone has been through a lot. That’s why we’re a team. This is special. It’s a special time right now.''
Mike Lowell has been in this game for a long time, and he and the rest of the older players on the club quickly realized how special this Pedroia was . . . and is.
''You get contributions from guys you don’t always expect,'' said Lowell. ''I’m not saying we didn’t expect him to do well, but he’s gone beyond the call of duty and today he had two huge hits. We are very proud of him.''
When things weren’t going so well for Pedroia at the start of the season, manager Terry Francona fielded a ton of questions why he continued to stick with the pint-sized infielder. Francona kept preaching patient, and it paid off just like the organization knew it would.
“That’s why we don’t run away from guys,” said the manager. “He’s a winning player. Again, that doesn’t assure that you’re always going to get hits, but he still knows how to play the game, and his hits were welcome and they were clutch.”
Pedroia finished Game Seven 3-for-5, including five RBI and three runs scored.
Up next: The World Series.
''I’m tired, man,'' he said. ''We’ve been locked in for so long and you don’t real get a chance to sit back and enjoy it. Everything happens so fast and you work so hard for this opportunity, this is just a great night for us.''
From the time the Red Sox drafted him in 2004 -- the same year the Red Sox won their first World Championship in 86 years -- Pedroia was always considered an underdog in some peoples’ mind. Not in his own. Not in the minds of Red Sox management. And even though he started the season slow, he finished strong and proved why he’s one of the best young players in the majors.
''I don’t think about it,'' he said of the slow start. ''If you start slow that just means you have to finish strong. I just go out there and play the game hard, and play the game it is supposed to be played.''
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