MassLive:
Boston Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia, who Manny Machado of the Baltimore Orioles spiked Friday, then expressed his frustration following the game. He seemed to take Machado's side, instead of his team's side.
"I just told him I didn't have anything to do with that," Pedroia said Sunday. "That's not how you do that, man. I'm sorry to him and his team. If you're going to protect guys, you do it right away. "
Pedroia's comments received heavy criticism over the past 48 hours. He responded today here at Fenway Park.
"We all talked about that and we're going to keep that in-house," Pedroia said. "We feel good about each other. We all have each other's backs. Everybody knows how everybody feels about each other. We're pretty excited about the group we have."
He was asked to clarify what he meant by "That's not me, that's them."
"I just did. I think the guys that should know, know how we feel about each other and things like that," Pedroia said. "It's unfortunate that the outside has an opinion. They're going to have an opinion about everything. We all know how we feel. We're moving on. We're getting ready for this series, then the Cubs, then the Orioles."
When 17 Red Sox players wanted manager Bobby Valentine fired in 2012, they were happy to spend part of an off-day at a hotel in New York complaining about their brutal lot in life to owners' John Henry and Larry Lucchino.
When the funeral for Johnny Pesky--Pesky spent over six decades with the Red Sox in various capacities-- was held on another off-day, Monday afternoon in Swampscott, four players decided to show up. David Ortiz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Clay Buchholz and Vicente Padilla represented the 2012 Red Sox at Johnny Pesky's funeral. While transportation services were provided from Fenway Park, the near empty yellow bus for the players made the trip to the North Shore and back.
"My No. 1 priority that day was being there, being with family and just sharing that last moment with him. I said on the airplane to everybody, 'Expect his funeral tomorrow. If you can go ahead and show up, go ahead, that would be great.' If they could make it, great. ... The funeral is the last goodbye you give to a friend. There's no way you're a friend with somebody, that person passes away and you're not going to show up to his funeral." -- David Ortiz.
Johnny Pesky took the time daily to hit fungoes(a long lightweight bat for hitting practice balls to fielders) to Dustin Pedroia. Claiming he couldn't find a babysitter for his three year son Dylan, Dustin Pedroia skipped the funeral and stayed home.
Vice Sports:
Reggie Jackson did indeed play for the Baltimore Orioles for one year—1976, the lone season of his career that he wasn't a member of the Oakland A's, the New York Yankees or the California Angels.
After mouthing off to New York Yankees pitcher Dock Ellis when the latter nearly grazed the slight Orioles shortstop Mark Belanger with a homeward toss—"Why don't you hit a big guy like me?" Reggie taunted—he found himself on the receiving end of a high-and-tight fastball from Ellis, who may have also been delivering some delayed payback for the gargantuan home run that Jackson had hit off of him in Detroit during the 1971 All-Star Game. "Did I kill him?" Ellis chuckled to the home plate umpire, while Jackson writhed in the dirt, his signature aviator shades smashed to pieces.
X-rays showed no damage beyond a badly-bruised cheekbone. Jackson expressed disappointment to the press that Ellis hadn't called to see how he was doing; perhaps the pitcher was too busy counting the twenty-dollar bills that had been surreptitiously stuffed into his locker by his teammates as a tip for beaning Reggie. "Someone didn't like him," Ellis would later reflect in his autobiography. "He was supposed to get hit!"
Baltimore Orioles ace righthander pitcher Jim Palmer put aside his feelings for teammate Reggie Jackson following the near beaning by Ellis. Palmer had been critical of Jackson since his early season holdout. "The fact that Reggie is not here from the start has hurt the attitude of the club and it has hurt our performance on the field," raged the 1975 AL Cy Young winner. "Do you think it ever occurred to Jackson that there are 24 other guys over here counting on him?"
Like him or not, Palmer said to Jackson, "Should I hit the first two Yankees I face or shall I keep going"? Jackson replied, "One is plenty."
Most people only remember the New York Yankees contract—while Jackson's image on the August 30, 1976 cover of Sports Illustrated primarily elicits a puzzled reaction from those who view it: "Huh? Reggie played for the Orioles?" There isn't even a baseball card for it. Reggie's holdout prevented a 1976 baseball card for the slugger so the 1977 card, as a member of the Yankees, was airbrushed with the Orioles' logo.
Following the completion of his 21 year career, which included five World Series titles and two-time World Series MVP, Reggie Jackson stated that the 1976 Baltimore Orioles were "the best team he ever played on." Dustin Pedroia may want to read up on that.
Paul Murphy
Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy
