He may not be the Sox’ captain, but he sets the same example.
When the situation calls for cranking it up a notch, here comes Pedroia. The team takes his lead, rides his coattails. Yes, he can carry the team on his back, and he’s been off the charts in that regard the last two nights.
He won the Sunday night/Monday morning game with a 16th-inning RBI single to right.
Last night, in a 7-7 game in the eighth, he doubled in two runs to break the tie and ignite an eight-run inning in Boston’s 15-10 win. Earlier, he knocked in Boston’s second run.
He wasn’t an All-Star this season, but whatever the Sox are paying him is a bargain, for there is no more valuable player on this team than Pedroia.
The Sox found that out last season, when they lost him to a broken foot and never replaced that energy.
Pedroia is hardly 100 percent, fighting off a knee issue that likely will bother him the rest of the season. He will deal with it and get through it, though, because he has the will to do so.
The littlest guy has the biggest heart.
“We didn’t have much sleep but we swung the bats really good,’’ Pedroia said. “We’re all happy we won and now we can get some rest.’’
When Pedroia stepped up in the eighth he faced sidearming righty Mark Worrell, who hadn’t appeared in a major league game since 2008 with the Cardinals and isn’t the easiest pitcher to stay with if you’re a righthanded hitter.
“I just try to see it the best I can,’’ he said of Worrell’s delivery. “He hides the ball and then he gets on you. It’s hard to get a ball in the air, which is what I’m trying to do there, and I’m just fortunate I was able to.’’
He broke a 0-0 deadlock the previous game, and last night did it with the score 7-7. It seems there’s no game Pedroia can’t break open.
“They were both not fun,’’ he said of the two tie situations. But we think he’s fibbing. We think he likes to be up in those cases, when something he does will make a difference. That’s because he’s a leader.
Both nights the big hit went to the opposite field. Pedroia swears it has not been by design.
