Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and then times got so good for Dustin Pedroia that even Yankee fans couldn’t remember the last time he made an out (at least it seemed).
In his first two seasons with the Boston Red Sox, a few things ring clear about Dustin Pedroia;

1. He’s never met a fastball he didn’t think he could turn on.
2. He swings at more high balls than most, but only because he’s so short
3. He must be sick of hearing about his height
4. He’s as rock solid a fielder as there is in baseball
5. He commands the respect of everyone that crosses his path even though he’s as cocky as it comes
6. When he’s cold, he’s cold
7. But when he’s hot, he’s smoking hot

Last season is a story etched in stone; gritty overachieving rookie gets the call, struggles mightily out of the gate, but a veteran manager sticks with the youngster and gets paid back in spades as the rook rakes for a month and settles in as a consistent .310+ hitter on his way to the Rookie of the Year award and a critical role in the Red Sox World Series run. Let’s not forget the lead off home run to set the tone for the eventual sweep.
One thing that we didn’t know as we watched that season unfold was that there might not be a hitter in baseball as regularly capable of such extended blazing hot streaks as the diminutive second baseman.
Pedroia opened last season hitting .172 over his first twenty-one games last season. With Alex Cora opening up like a house on fire, manager Terry Francona decided his best strategy was to slow-play his hand and wait out the peaks and valleys. Pedroia answered quickly and resoundingly with a May to remember, gathering thirty-five hits in his next seventy-six at bats. Over those twenty-three games, Pedroia would hit .461 and raise his average nearly .200 points to .361.
Dustin would back that average up closing the majority of the season hitting .311, making critical plays along the way at seemingly every turn.
So when expectations were set for Pedroia in his second season, people thought that .300 plus average with around ten home runs and consistent run production would be a breeze. For his part, Pedroia opened up the season set to back his first campaign up and prove that the sophomore jinx couldn’t touch him as if battered away by the brute force of his will alone.
Pedroia hit .364 out of the gate and after his first twenty-two games he held that jinx at bay with ease. But suddenly, Pedroia hit a 185 at bat skid. While the slump that plagued the beginning of his first full season in the bigs had lower valleys, it was only half as long. Over the next forty-five games, Dustin would hit only .211 while slugging only .292 for an OPS below .600.
He looked unsettled and anxious at the plate. Unlike J.D. Drew who looks graceful and under control at all times (both high and low), Pedroia looks like he’s putting in 125% effort at all times. When struggling, that same effort that is lauded when he’s performing well, looks a little desperate and manic.
But to Pedroia’s credit, his slump never affected his attitude and his play in the field. He knew that it would all turn around. Something tells me that he also knew that when it turned, it would turn like a bat out of hell.
If Pedroia’s first twenty-two games were a hot streak, his current stretch is blazing hot. For the second consecutive season, Pedroia would ride a month plus hitting closer to .500 than the legendary .400 bar. Over the last thirty games, Pedroia has hit .454, slugging .685 along the way.
He suddenly finds himself a starter in the All-Star game and sitting third in the American League in batting average at .322. He’s already got nine home runs and forty seven RBIs out of the two hole and is second in the American League in runs scored at sixty-eight. He is one of the best top of the order bats in the game and his production is reminiscent of a young Derek Jeter at the top of the Yankee lineup in the nineties.
To think, he’s done this all with J.D. Drew (albeit a hot J.D. Drew) behind him instead of David Ortiz.
When David Ortiz re-enters the Red Sox lineup at the end of this week (oh the dilemma), and with Jacoby Ellsbury not necessarily tearing it up in the leadoff spot, do the Red Sox consider overhauling their lineup? Here are the questions to consider;

• Does Ortiz slot directly back into the three hole? – I think he has too with Manny right behind him. You don’t mess with a formula like that.
• Where does that leave J.D.? Does he move back to the five hole? If so, where does Lowell end up? and Youk?
• How much does the righty/lefty order mean to Tito?
• Is it time to move Ellsbury down in the order? What to do at the top?

I’ll save my thoughts for Friday’s column, but hear is something to toss around in your heads while you wait with baited breath; Pedroia, Drew, Ortiz, Manny, Lowell, Youk, Tek, Lowrie, Ellsbury or Pedroia, Drew, Youk, Ortiz, Manny, Lowell, Tek, Lowrie, Ellsbury.