Another Red Sox Infielder Goes Down

In addition to Julio Lugo's torn meniscus, which will require arthroscopic surgery and an indefinite period of inactivity, another vital piece of the infield has injured himself. It's none other than reigning AL MVP Dustin Pedey Pedroia, a player the Sox absolutely cannot afford to lose. Pedey felt some discomfort on his left side and it is said that the injury is to the left oblique muscle near the ribcage. Similiar injuries can heal in a few days or take months for the player to be able to swing the bat without risking further injury.

“I was hitting Friday and kind of felt soreness,” Pedroia said, “and I started taking flips today and kind of felt this shooting pain a little bit. Our hitting coach, Reggie Smith, said, ‘Hey, that’s it - go get checked out.’ Our trainer obviously called the Red Sox.
“Obviously, I’m upset,” Pedroia added. “If it’s really nothing, I’ll definitely be back today after I get checked out and continue playing in the WBC. But it’s up to the Red Sox - I really don’t have a say in the matter.”
“I’ve never really had anything like this,” Pedroia said. “It’s frustrating. Obviously, I trained real hard in the offseason to get ready and try to prevent something like this from happening. But maybe I pushed it a little too hard, too fast to get this going. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious,” he said. “I’ll be fine. I’m not concerned about the season. I’ll definitely be ready for the season.”

Pedey will not return to the WBC. The injury is said to be very minor but he has to be careful not to come back too early and further tweak that oblique. It seems that the injury bug has hit the Red Sox early and often. Let's hope we'll see Pedey back well before the end of spring training, which is three weeks from today. The club will proceed with caution, which is smart. They don't want any kind of prolonged absence for their best player. Yes, Pedroia IS our best player when it comes to his unique blend of stingy defense and smoking offense. We all wish him well.

Down in Florida on Saturday, the Orioles drubbed Boston pitching and won the game by a score of 9-8. Very few regular players were in the lineup and not many of the pitchers in the game will be on the team roster when the regular season starts. Spring training is very long this year, and as I said earlier, there are STILL three more weeks to go...time for Pedey and Penny to heal. It's obvious Jed Lowrie will be the opening day Red Sox shortstop. It seems that Julio Lugo is injured 50% of the time, one ailment after another. But we're in good shape with Lowrie manning the shortstop hole. He'll get better at the plate every year.

Click on the title of this post for more on the Red Sox injury woes and have a great Sunday, Selection Sunday for the NCAA men's basketball tournament (6pm EDT, ESPN & CBS). The womens' selection process will be Monday night, with UCONN being the number one seed and the overwhelming favorite to win the national championship. But anything can happen in a "one and done" style of tourney. If the top spots were determinded in, oh, say, a best of five series, UCONN would be impossible to beat. But on any given night, a team can catch fire and unconsciously shoot the lights out. I hope that doesn't happen. Have a terrific Sunday and as always, BE WELL. Shalom. See ya.