Pedroia: 'I Don't Think Bobby Should Be Fired'
BOSTON (CBS) - Following the Red Sox' 7-1 loss to the Orioles in Baltimore on Tuesday, second baseman Dustin Pedroia cleared the air about a Yahoo! Sports report from earlier in the day.
The report stated the team held a players meeting on July 26 to air grievance with manager Bobby Valentine, with some petitioning for the skipper to be fired.
Pedroia said Tuesday night that simply is not true.
"I don't think Bobby should be fired," said Pedroia, who in the report is said to be one of the more vocal players at the meeting along with first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. "We haven't played well. That's the bottom line. I'm not going to blame anything on Bobby. It's on the players. Last year wasn't on Tito. I know he took it hard -- we all did. But it's on the players."
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Pedroia said he had only one problem with Valentine this season -- when the manager called out third baseman Kevin Youkilis in April -- but that situation was resolved.
"I've had one problem with Bobby earlier in the year and I went into his office and talked to him like a man and he talked to me like a man," with And we've been great – we've had a great relationship. That's all I can really say about it. I'll go out and play for him any day of the week. I'm playing for all my teammates and it's unfortunate that all this stuff comes out."
Pedroia did say the meeting did occurred, but he called out everyone and not just his manager.
"We had a meeting – I'll be honest with everybody. We had a meeting in New York; I know coaches had a meeting, Bobby had a meeting. Basically when I spoke I said we all have to be better; that includes owners, Bobby, coaches and especially the players."
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"We're going to go out and play as hard as you can," Pedroia said of the rest of the season. "That's all we can do; we dug ourselves this hole and we have to dig ourselves out of it."
