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Pedroia back, optimistic
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Of this we can be sure: Dustin Pedroia’s lower abdominal strain has done nothing to affect his well-chronicled self-confidence.
“When you have a physique like this, when you’re shredded and everything, something might happen,” he said this morning.
That something is a strain in his left abdominal muscle, which is just above his hip bone and below the dreaded oblique. Dr. Thomas Gill and Red Sox trainer Paul Lessard diagnosed Pedroia at his home here last night, and Pedroia was satisfied the injury is not serious. Panic among New Englanders concerned for the health of the 2008 American League MVP, he said, is unnecessary.
“Tell them to calm down,” Pedroia said. “We’ll handle this. Calm down.
“I don’t think it’s going to linger. I’ll take care of it and get it ready and get ready for the season. It won’t be an issue.”
Pedroia felt the strain suddenly while playing soft toss with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic in Miami. For a moment, Pedroia wanted to play through the injury, but counsel from teammate Kevin Youkilis helped convince him otherwise.
“I was taking some flips, and to be honest with you, I just took one swing,” Pedroia said. “They did a great job of shutting me down. I kind of felt it, and I grabbed at it. The hitting coach [Reggie Smith] said, ‘Don’t do anything. Go see the trainer.’ So I did. I was going to try to play, you know? And then Youk kind of calmed me down. He said, ‘Listen, go shut it down. Get it looked at. We’ve still got three more weeks. You’ll be fine.’ I did it that way.”
Pedroia’s injury crystallizes one of the drawbacks and complaints about the WBC – star players risking injury in what amounts to an exhibition. Pedroia acknowledged the difficulty in playing full games so early, but he did not blame the WBC for his strain.
“I think the only thing is, it’s tough playing nine innings right away,” Pedroia said. “Usually, you only play five or six innings, three at bats. You kind of jump in there real fast to play nine innings. But it’s not that big of a deal. This could have happened to me here in Fort Myers. I don’t think me getting hurt was because of the WBC. I don’t think it was because of that.”
Manager Terry Francona agreed that the WBC shouldn't take blame.
"Well, I don't know if it's fair to throw that on the WBC," Francona said. "The way it was handled was actually really good. The trainer got a hold of our trainer on the bus. We knew something was going on. He immediately called me. Theo was in on the next conversation. They got him right over to us last night. So, could he do that in a cage here, too? Yeah. So, again, the way it was handled was pretty good."
Pedroia is unsure when he will return to spring training games with the Red Sox. His best guess was “a couple days.” He will remain with the Red Sox for the duration of the spring, and admitted it might be difficult for him to heal the injury slowly.
“I’ll get treatment probably 100 times today to try to get back a little faster,” Pedroia said. “It’s not going to be that much of a problem. I’ll take care of this and get ready for the season.”
Said Francona: “I don’t think it’s terribly long. We’re three weeks away from the season, so we’re going to err on the side of caution.”
Are the Sox stretching enough? Practicing prevention?
Have Pedoria come back in 10 days to 2 weeks. There is no rush to see him back into action. Thankfully the Red Sox have a great back up in Nick Green who can play 2nd, Short and 3rd.
Sad that this news continues to be front-page headline stuff for boston.com. Between this and the omnipresent Tom/Gisele sightings, the site continues to be mired in fluff. Hard-hitting journalism? Investigative reporting? Nope, they all fall by the wayside as the lazy staff goes with easy fillers and tries to foster panic among Sox fans, hoping that a non-story becomes a story. We'll be getting more of this, by the way, when the newspaper folds and the site becomes even more non-newsy.
Why am I not a fan of the WBC? 'Cause I'm a fan of the Boston Red Sox, and I don't like the prospect of WBC injuries that might have an impact on the success of the Red Sox season. Let's hope Pedroia's injury is very minor and that no significant playing time will be lost.
The WBC is a JOKE the best teams don't necessarily win and the injury equation is not worth it. I hope eventually players wise up and realize it's not worth it and forgo their participation, for what a measly 8 games, exactly what does that prove?. We all know baseball is a game of attrition. If not maybe team ownership can force the hand and put into player contracts clauses to protect their investments. This would ultimately persuade players to think twice about their decisions.
Light a candle for Youk tonite- beware the ides of March. Hopefully Team USA loses and we can get everyone back safe. This money grab by MLB is ridiculous- putting players at risk with guaranteed contracts. I wonder if a team could sue MLB for the liability exposure if someone was injured long term...
In a five day period Pedroia played 3 games and had 16 at bats, these WERE NOT spring training at bats or fielding opportunities so why is Fancona saying that it is not the WBC's fault. This is exactly the reason that so many fans are hesitant about the WBC. I offer this quote from our rival manager Joe Girardi about Cano and Marte. "Yes," when asked if this was a manager's worst nightmare when it came to the WBC. "You go to those games and your intensity is really turned up a lot sooner than it would be normally," Girardi said. "Hopefully it's not much and hopefully they both bounce back fairly quickly, but it's not how you want them coming back." Tito is one of the best mangers in baseball today but he is completly wrong about this.
W.B.C.
W.hat in B.lazes were they C.ontemplating?
Christine,
I'm sure that they never thought of that - maybe they should hire some trainer from the local YMCA to teach them the basics...
Just for the record, those are athletes that push it to the limit every day, and no matter how hard they try to prevent injuries, they assume a high injury risk.
Exactly why I was rooting AGAINST the Dominican...didn't want Papi hurt needlessly...this WBC thing has to come at a different time of year...maybe AFTER the World Serious when fans don't want baseball to shut-down just yet...this business of taking the bet away from ST and overlapping with a time-honored ST tradition is nonsense...but when you've got the Used Car Salesman aka Baseball Commissioner running the show, expect the worst! I suspect the championship game will be in the pouring rain only because of the TV sponsors...
@Bat Insider
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