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Tomase: Pedroia’s take on the career-changing Machado slide originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
There are two words Dustin Pedroia never said when he called for Zoom to retire to journalists: Manny Machado.
The $ 300 million San Diego man was just an All-Star infielder with the Baltimore Orioles when he slipped high in Pedroia in April 2017, triggering a series of cascading illnesses that have leads to the end of Pedroia’s All-Star career and her tearful farewell on Monday.
Considering Pedroia just had a partial knee replacement in December, which guarantees he’ll never run again, and given that his career ended at an age (37) where he could have honed his Temple credentials of fame, it is only reasonable to ask – is he at peace with the play that turned his life upside down?
Tomase: Dustin Pedroia was a one-of-a-kind Boston treasure
“I’m not angry about anything anymore,” Pedroia said. “This play could have happened during my rookie year. When you play second base and you play second like me, you hang on until the last second possible to get the ball because you watched it: s’ there is little chance of playing a double, there is a guy on planet earth who could turn him. And you talk to him. “
Pedroia’s signature bravado aside, there’s no doubt that a different slide at that point would have left Pedroia better equipped to continue her All-Star career. But with Pedroia’s leg planted awkwardly on the bag, Machado’s point at the back of his knee left him with life-changing damage.
One thing he didn’t do was ruin his 2017 season. Despite constant pain and requiring immediate off-season surgery, Pedroia emptied 105 games and hit .293.
“Your mind takes over,” he said. “It was one of the worst pains. Day after day, it was hard. I played in 2013, tore my UCL in my thumb on opening day and played all year that year, and it was like a massage compared to this one. I don’t know how I did this. I just know that our coaches, our doctors, my teammates, they’re pretty powerful people who can push you to do something. And I had to be there for them That’s how I saw it: 50% of me can find a way to help us win a game.
“Funny, I remember when I had the first MRI after this piece, a doctor said, ‘Hey man, you could ruin not only your career but the rest of your life with that injury. torn all the cartilage in your midline compartment on your femur and tibia Your cleat just got stuck and it’s a bad deal.
“And I said, ‘Well, can I play.’ And he said, “Yeah, you could try. It’ll go away. When it goes, you’ll know.” So I just remember everyone over there saying, “Hey, we need you.” It was obvious. If I had to start all over again, that wouldn’t even be a question. Of course I would. “
Pedroia’s ex-teammates react to retirement of Red Sox legend
The example that Pedroia set that year for a young team that included Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi carried over to 2018, when he appeared in just three games but was still proud to watch the Red Sox come together. let off steam at the third World Series championship of his career.
Now it’s over? Pedroia moves on and Machado is not worth mentioning by name.
“It happened,” Pedroia said. “Unfortunately I just found myself in the wrong position and that was it. But I think I’m at peace with knowing that I did my best and that the training staff and doctors did everything. what we could to try to keep playing baseball.
“And we came back. I played nine games when 90% of the doctors said there was no way you could play. I’m proud of it. The way it ended, that ended like that, and that’s OK. I just hope I did enough in the time I had to play to make an impact on everyone. That’s the only thing that matters to me. “
Originally published
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