Playing through injury, no complaints from Pedroia

BOSTON -- Dustin Pedroia's nine home runs this season represent his lowest total since his rookie season of 2007. And he hasn't hit any in the postseason.

The reason for the drop in power is obvious. On Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, Pedroia suffered a tear of the UCL in his left thumb.

Instead of opting for rest or surgery, Pedroia gained admiration from his team by playing through the injury all year.

In typical Pedroia fashion, he has no regrets -- except for the way the injury happened.

"It's one of those things, I did it to myself, I slid headfirst into first," Pedroia said. "I don't think I'll ever do that again."

Pedroia still managed to play in 160 games this season, a career high. He hit .301 with a .372 on-base percentage while playing stellar defense.

"It was a little difficult," Pedroia said of playing through the injury. "Actually in the end, I'm going to look back and it helped me, because I kind of take huge swings in the past trying to hit home runs, and sometimes I get a longer swing than what I normally have, when I just use my hands and stuff like that. So that kind of helped me being short to the ball, making sure I go the other way, not try and pull everything."

In Game 1 of the World Series, Pedroia had two hits.