The Laser Show: Pedroia's turnaround sparking dangerous Red Sox offense

The Laser Show has been a regularly scheduled program of late. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

Dustin Pedroia doesn’t like to be called “Laser Show” anymore, which is very disappointing. He now goes by “The Muddy Chicken”, a nickname he may have given himself, though Josh Beckett, his teammate on the Boston Red Sox, might have had a hand in its creation.

The latter is hilarious and inexplicable, but the former is much more appropriate given his play. He hits lasers all over the field, and, judging by his personality, he would be the first to tell you.

In July, Pedroia–who has also carried ongoing nicknames such as “Little Man” and “Pedey”–batted an astounding .411, with an MLB-leading 46 hits. This accumulation of hits was “the most in that month since 1939, when Bobby Doerr collected 52, Ted Williams had 48 and Jimmie Foxx had 47″, as noted by NESN‘s Michael Hurley. He also had eight homers, 22 rbi’s, 13 walks to just 6 strikeouts, and a 25-game hitting streak. His average raised from .272 to .309. It was simply incredible.

The 27-year-old is cocky, but he didn’t gloat about this success. He has matured in that respect, and he knows he is doing what he is capable of. “I’m just trying to have good at-bats, get on base for the other guys,” he said following a 15-10 win over Baltimore. “That’s my job.” The former MVP has been one of if not the best at it.

So good in fact that his name has entered the Most Valuable Player race, joining teammates Adrian Gonzalez and Jacoby Ellsbury. It is hard to distinguish who has been more valuable of the three, as Ellsbury sets the table and wrecks havoc on the basepaths, while Gonzalez drives in runners at an alarming rate, having plated 90 thus far. Therefore, it is easy to come to the conclusion that they are equally important to the success of baseball’s top offense.

Pedroia was respectable before his amazing July, and his defense has always been stellar, but his surge this past month was as meaningful as anything that has happened to the team.

“I wouldn’t trade Pedey for anybody in the league right now,” designated hitter David Ortiz said recently. “Put that in the paper.”

“He’s gotten it done when we absolutely needed it,” added Beckett.

He has returned to his All-Star form, watching his average soar in the blink of an eye. And in doing so, the Red Sox have truly grown into one of the better hitting machines of the 2000s.

Overall, he has the American League’s fourth-most hits, fourth-best On-Base Percentage, fifth-most runs scored, ninth-most steals, and ninth-most rbi’s. That he has these marks, considering where he was earlier this season, is remarkable, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe chronicles:

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“On June 9, when the Red Sox were last in New York, Dustin Pedroia returned to Boston and get his right knee checked out.

Pedroia was hitting .247 at the time and clearly was having a tough time physically. He didn’t have an explosive swing and there were times he looked uncomfortable running. That he had decided to skip a game against the Yankees to get checked out seemed ominous.

Using what has been described as an innovative procedure, team medical director Tom Gill examined the knee with a tiny camera, found no damage worthy of surgical repair and treated the injury with a substance that would lubricate the joint.

In the 45 games since, Pedroia has hit .388/.461/.670 with 29 extra-base hits, 35 RBIs and 42 runs.

… Pedroia, Adrian Gonzalez (.984), David Ortiz (.914) Jacoby Ellsbury(.890) and Kevin Youkilis (.891) are in the top 10 in AL OPS, which is amazing.”

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It’s a good thing this quintet, among others, are excelling. Boston’s pitching has been troublesome of late, with the ineffectiveness of Andrew Miller and Jon Lackey as well as the ailing health of aces Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. The Red Sox had the best record in the American League in July, at 20-6, but though their team ERA was a respectable 3.70 the success was mainly due to the Pedroia-led offense. Too often did he and his teammates have to pick up the slack of starting pitchers.

There is the hope that, with the acquisition of Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners, the pitching will improve. And pitching usually is ultimately the ticket to winning a championship.

Yet, if the pitching continues to be inconsistent, Boston may not have to worry as much as other teams might. After all, they have Pedroia, one of the many clicking on a team trying to win the AL East and do much, much more.