Dustin Pedroia Defends Red Sox From 'Bull [Expletive]' In Media
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox are 10 games under .500, and though 98 games remain on the schedule, they're on pace to finish in last place for the third time in four years.
That is, objectively, terrible -- particularly for a team with a payroll as high as Boston's. Accordingly, media coverage of the team has taken a turn for the negative. After all, when the team loses six in a row and 14 of their last 20, there's not much positivity for media to share.
Nevertheless, the players in the clubhouse aren't ready to give up, and second baseman Dustin Pedroia made that much very clear on Monday afternoon.
"We're not going to listen to your guys' [in the media] bull [expletive]," Pedroia said. "We're just going to go play baseball."
For his part, Pedroia seems to be doing a fine job of tuning out the negativity. Though he lost a ball in the bright sun on Sunday, Pedroia's been having an excellent season. He's hitting .309, which is better than his career average (.300) and would represent his best average since his MVP season of 2008. He's already hit nine home runs, tying his total for 2013 and putting him on pace for a career high of 22. And all of this comes with his stellar defense, which could (and should) earn him a fifth Gold Glove this winter.
So Pedroia's message was likely one intended for his teammates as much as anything else.
"I've been around here long enough to know when it's going good, everyone loves you," Pedroia said. "But when it's going bad, everyone hates you."
Manager John Farrell held a team meeting earlier on Monday. Though he did not share what was discussed in the meeting, Farrell said the manager and the players are all in the struggle together.
"We have to work in unison," Farrell said. "No one's giving up here. No one's giving up on this team, nobody's giving up on this season inside our clubhouse. ... That's the strong belief that exists there."
As for the negativity which Pedroia mentioned, Farrell said he pays it no mind.
"I don't know that I pay much attention to what's written or talked about," Farrell said. "I know it's all part of every major sports city. I also recognize this is a bottom-sum game, a bottom-line game. You work in that environment, and yet it doesn't affect the way I deal with players individually, the way I deal with our team. No one likes where we are. So that comes with the territory."
He later added, "What has been brought forth to our team has not centered around media. We have opponents, and sometimes that opponent is ourselves. And what we need to do is continue to focus and become protective of one another and yet at the same time go out and play better baseball."
The Red Sox host the Braves for a quick two-game set to start the week before traveling down to Atlanta to play two more.
