Red Sox Strut: Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Rodriguez
The weekly article series where we examine the two players who deserve to strut their stuff for the Boston Red Sox. This week — Dustin Pedroia and Eduardo Rodriguez.
Now to fully understand what the Red Sox Strut is, it means to have reason to walk with a confident, proud air around you. Some people mistake it for vanity, arrogance, or being pompous. This incorrect assumption is not what we mean. The Strut is about knowing that your deeds showed off your amazing skills to the baseball-loving public.
It’s been a week since the last Red Sox Strut, and Boston struggled a bit at the beginning of week. They’ve been able to gather themselves and have gotten things on track toward the end of the week though. Their record is 3-5 in the eight games since the last Strut. After getting swept by Detroit in Boston, they went to the west coast where they split a four game series with the Angels. They also won the first game of another four game series in Seattle. This west coast swing in August can sometimes prove to be an issue for the Sox, but they’ve been able to tread water so far thanks to Dustin Pedroia and Mookie Betts helping them win in dramatic fashion two nights in a row.
POSITION PLAYER: Dustin Pedroia
I almost want to award the Strut to Andrew Benintendi with his recent call-up to the big leagues because it’s a great story, but of course that wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the team. While the offense hasn’t been putting up runs like they were earlier in the season, there were still a few candidates that could have Strutted away with this week’s honors. They were able to put up eight runs in one of the games against the Tigers, but they could have used more offense overall in that series. Same thing in Los Angeles where they only managed fourteen runs total in four games.
Still, Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr. all had quality weeks with significant hits that contributed to victories. In fact, Mookie had a huge one Monday night in Seattle – a solo homer in the ninth to give the Red Sox the lead in a pitchers’ duel.
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However, this week was highlighted by a veteran taking the reins, putting the team on his shoulders and propelling them to one of the biggest wins of the year for Boston. I’m of course talking about Dustin Pedroia and his game-winning homerun on Sunday to defeat the Angels. With two outs and two men on, Pedroia muscled a ball to centerfield and out of the park to give the Red Sox the lead. After a very frustrating day for the whole offense and for Pedroia himself, who was nearly thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes but was saved by John Farrell taking the bullet for him, the homerun was a huge jolt to Dustin and the rest of team. BoSox Injection’s very own Noah Small discussed the importance of the win.
Looking at the numbers, Sunday wasn’t the only day that Pedroia made his mark. His average on the whole was down for the week (.225) compared to his average for the season (.300), but he had a hit in seven of the last eight games, walked four times and tallied five RBI. He also added two homeruns. His OBP is .370 on the year, and he’s been the model of consistency on a team with budding young stars.
Pedroia’s week wasn’t eye-popping, but it was a good example of his contributions in 2016 – consistent threat to get on base, a leader for the team’s morale and just when you think he’s down, he finds a way to get the job done and push his team forward. For those reasons, Dustin Pedroia can strut his stuff on the Pacific coast.
PITCHER: Eduardo Rodriguez
For the first time in quite a while, there were multiple candidates to take the Strut honors from the mound. The pitching improved over the course of the last eight games, and there some solid performances from the Boston starting staff.
Drew Pomeranz looked much better against Detroit than in his first start against the Giants, but he went on to struggle later in the week versus the Angels. He is still trying to find a comfortable spot on his new team in the AL East.
Strut extraordinaire Steven Wright offered up what was probably the worst starting performance of the week against the Tigers allowing eight runs on nine hits in just 4.2 innings. He bounced back a bit against the Angels later in the week, but still didn’t exactly shine like he has been earlier in the season.
The other three Sox starters – Rick Porcello, David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez – all came through with quality starts. Porcello lifted Boston up in the first game of the Angels series coming off a sweep at the hands of the Tigers and pitched a complete game that led the Sox to victory. He gave up just five hits and just two runs, both of which came in the second inning. After that inning, he was able to basically shut the Angels down.
David Price got back on track with a very nice outing in LA. He earned a no-decision after a heart-breaking loss in which last week’s Strut winner Brad Ziegler blew the save and the Sox lost 2-1 in walk-off fashion. Still, it was nice to see Price find himself a bit after a few rough starts prior.
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Even though Porcello and Price pitched well and pitched deep in their respective starts, this week is Eduardo Rodriguez’ time to Strut. E-Rod had a rough beginning to 2016 with a DL stint to begin the year after injuring his leg shagging fly balls in spring training. After learning some tough lessons about tipping pitches yet again and being demoted to Pawtucket, Rodriguez has bounced back and become an important part of the starting staff once again.
He had one good start versus the Tiger and one excellent start in Seattle. In the first game, he went 5.1 innings and gave up three runs on nine hits and three walks. I’d like to see him let up less hits and make a bit further into the game, but he gave Boston a chance to win this game – something he’s done in his last four starts since returning from the Minors. His ERA has gone down in every start since coming back as well. In Seattle, E-Rod really bared down allowing just one run on three hits in 6.1 innings. He also added six strikeouts.
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Boston needs more of this from Rodriguez. He been very consistent in his last few starts and is becoming a very reliable middle-of-the rotation guy that has helped solidify the rotation and allowed Dave Dombrowski to not have to worry about over-paying for another starter at the trade deadline. If Rodriguez can continue this run, the Red Sox pitching staff may be able to make that October run that Boston has been missing out on the last couple of seasons. Until then, the youngster gets to Strut for the first time in 2016.