Dustin Pedroia will be active for the Red Sox on Tuesday when they begin a nine-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In a season that has almost never seen Francona have a full complement of players, he is at least getting the best he has back for the stretch run.
The Red Sox have gone 23-21 in their 44-game stretch since Pedroia broke his foot June 25. In the 44 games in which Pedroia appeared before he was injured they were 29-15. That, my friends, is a six-game swing, which is exactly the club’s deficit in the American League East standings entering Monday’s action.
Simple math suggests that you might be looking at a first-place team had Pedroia not gone down.
Coincidence? Not one bit.
In addition to the production Pedroia provides (he hit a remarkable .500 with four home runs, 17 runs scored and 13 RBIs in just 13 games before the injury), he has become, at the age of 26, the vocal leader on the club. With his injury and inability to back up his words with actions, that voice had become a bit muted.
Any quote from Pedroia over the past month and a half trended more toward cheerleading and support than opinion or reaction. Without much to offer physically he has taken on the role of a booster, talking about how proud he is to watch the team scratch and claw to stay in the race and how impressed he is with the way the Sox have pulled together.
When he’s in the fray, however, Pedroia can be an impact guy with his words. Remember, it was Pedroia who angrily exclaimed in April that the Sox would lose to Brookline High with the way they were playing, prompting a quick turnaround. He was the one who took to the defense of a struggling David Ortiz not long after that, helping to kick start Ortiz’s power binge in May.
And after every tough loss along the way it is Pedroia that often provides to the media, and therefore the fans, the pulse of the team.
The first player to arrive every single day, Pedroia is as accountable as any player on the club, but will hold everyone else accountable if he needs to. And while he’s never shy about bragging a bit about his own exploits (often tongue-in-cheek, of course), he is the first to laud a teammate when they do something special.
Pedroia is a presence in more ways than one. On that same token his absence creates a massive void, perhaps one large enough to be the difference between first place and third.
