170 Pounds of Mouth

[TheKilo]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3512455

 

This is just one of 162. Every day is pretty much the same. It's not quite 4 o'clock, three hours before the first pitch at Fenway Park, and Dustin Pedroia is in the Red Sox dugout, ranting. "No one's going to separate us," he says to backup catcher Kevin Cash. "I'm telling you, when we win the World Series, I'll high-five everyone, but then you and me are going into the outfield, and we're going to have a fistfight. And no one's going to separate us!"

 

Although Pedroia keeps a straight face, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek cannot. Cash just looks straight ahead and with a slight smile says, "That's fine by me, man."

 

Across the field, former Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar steps out of the Orioles' dugout. "There he is," Pedroia says, "the only opposing player who gets his own song played for him when he comes to the plate at Fenway." It's a country hit, "My Town" by Montgomery Gentry, and it was Millar's intro during much of his time in Boston, from 2003 to '05. (The Sox finally stopped playing it for Millar after last season.) "I'm telling you, if they play that song tonight, I'm stopping the game. I'm going up to the booth and fighting the guy at the controls. Enough already."

 

Now Pedroia hops up the dugout steps and shouts in Millar's direction: "Hey, 2004 was like 20 years ago! And all you did was walk! Mariano let four fly! It was not, like, some 12-pitch at-bat!" Pedroia imitates Millar's stance in that critical Game 4 moment against the Yankees, with the Red Sox three outs away from elimination. He mimics the way Millar steps in the bucket. He does it four times. "Ball 1, Ball 2, Ball 3, Ball 4," he says. "That's all you did." Millar isn't even paying attention. "I've been hearing that for over a year," the veteran says when the story is relayed. "He says, 'You were Manny and Papi's teammate, and all you did was walk.' "

 

A little while later, when Orioles second baseman Brian Roberts appears, Pedroia pounds his own chest and shouts, "The strongest 160-pound player in the league, right here!" Roberts swats at the air like he's trying to shoo away a gnat as Pedroia repeats, "Right here!"

[HeadOfSoxNation]

Ha, I love him.

[ORS]

My favorite.

 

On and on it goes. Day after day, in these pregame hours, Pedroia stirs the pot, dishing out threats and insults and mixing in bold predictions about his performance at the plate. He has already texted Millar, "Did you bring your glasses for the laser show tonight?"

[Cocos Disciples]

Awesome

[Thumper]

Ha ha ha that small little bastard's got a mouth.

[BoSox21]

wonderful player

[Soxfan1]

I love this guys charisma.

[The Dustball]

This is one of the best things I've ever read. Hilarious. Dusty is the man

[VA Sox Fan]

Damn, didn't realize Pedey was such a trash talker...LMAO!

[Mr Crunchy]

shocked to see a little guy with a big mouth,simply shocked.

[VA Sox Fan]

shocked to see a little guy with a big mouth' date='simply shocked.[/quote']

 

 

Should another nick name for him be Napoleon?

[YAZMAN]

Should another nick name for him be Napoleon?

 

Tanner Boyle, without a doubt. And we should set Tito up at the end of the bench with a cooler full of beer and start calling him Buttermaker.

 

 

Pedro...I love that frickin' crud.

[Mr Crunchy]

hey yankees

you can take your trophy and shove it right up your ass

[Dojji]

If he was a Yankee we would absolutely loathe him.

 

Personally I don't care if Pedroia talks big since he backs it up on the field.

[TheKilo]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/redsox/2008-09-14-Pedroia_N.htm

 

Dustin Pedroia doesn't know the men approaching him in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse, but he doesn't need a medical license to know what they want.

 

"Come on," he shouts at them. "I hit a few home runs, and now you want to drug-test me? Where … were you when I was hitting weak singles to right?

 

"Look at me, I weigh 150 pounds."

 

It's nothing personal, but it's what makes Pedroia tick. It's a one-man comedy show during his winter workouts with good friend Brian Roberts, the Baltimore Orioles second baseman.

 

"How about that … club you're playing on," Pedroia tells Roberts, according to Murphy. "You guys going to Triple-A this year? I'll make sure to call you from the World Series when your ass is home again, OK?"

 

No one is immune. Pedroia jumps on Francona when he walks into the clubhouse each day, talking trash when they play their daily game of cribbage. He sends text messages to ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, telling him, "I'm the best … player who ever played the game, Pete, and don't forget it."

[a700hitter]

This was the most impressive part of the article. The guy gave up his scholarship to help his team win.

 

Pedroia's teammates swear he'd play the game for free. In college, Murphy says, he volunteered to do just that, giving up his Arizona State scholarship to help sign a pitcher.

 

"My parents had money saved for my college, anyways," Pedroia says. "I knew we'd have a better chance of winning if we had another pitcher."

[mtbykr]

He was stopped at the players' entrance at Coors Field in Denver during last year's World Series against the Colorado Rockies. The security guard didn't believe Pedroia was a player and shooed him away. Pedroia seethed. He produced his players' ID card, and the security guard questioned whether it was legitimate.

 

Pedroia, unable to contain his rage any longer, dropped a subtle reminder, much to the delight of Red Sox manager Terry Francona, who tells the story.

 

"He says, 'You don't know who I am? You don't know who I am?' " Francona says. " 'Ask Jeff f———- Francis who the f—- I am. I'm the guy who hit a bomb and just ended their f———- season."

 

 

Great stuff!

[26 to 6]

This dude is too much. The last thing he needs is an MVP to boost that ego of his.

[BoSox21]

the Jeff Francis quote is the best one Ive ever read from him

[Soxfan1]

 

This guy is golden

[schillingouttheks]

LOL

[NomahsHammSammich]

Pedroia struck out in AAA on a sequence of 97 MPH fastball, 90 MPH slider, 97 MPH Fastball.... Brandon Moss asks him, "Hey, what's he got?" Pedroia barks.."He aint got f***ing s***!"

 

Pedroia faces Mike Pelfrey in college, homers to dead center, as he is running to 1st he looks right at him and yells "97 coming in, 197 going out, I 'm gonna be coming at you all day!"

[Beaneater]

Agreed that I would hate this guy if he were a Yankee. Like viscerally despise him. As it is... I just love the little guy.

 

As an aside, I think the only way Pedroia could be 170 pounds of mouth is if he had 15 pounds of quarters in his pockets.

[Thumper]

Pedroia's f***ing crazy.

 

And that is awesome.

[TheKilo]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/john_donovan/10/10/donovan.pedroia/index.html?eref=T1

 

It's 2004, and Stanford's Jed Lowrie is taking some ground balls before a late-season game against Arizona State. By this time, Lowrie has heard all about ASU's mouthy shortstop, Dustin Pedroia, a rival for the Pac-10 Player of the Year award. Now, he's about to hear from him.

 

"He's stretching out in left field, getting ready for the game, and I'm taking ground balls, just talking with some of my teammates," Lowrie recalls now, "and he says, loud enough that I can hear, 'That's Jed Lowrie?'"

[soxfan17881]

 

I got a kick out of this.

[Jasonbay44]

Lmao I liked this one

 

"How about that … club you're playing on," Pedroia tells Roberts, according to Murphy. "You guys going to Triple-A this year? I'll make sure to call you from the World Series when your ass is home again, OK?"

[TheKilo]

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[Cocos Disciples]

Ahaha I just saw that.

[PATS12RULE]

fantastic player