Yeah, I read that, it's mostly hilarious.

I enjoyed this part:

Oh my God. I’m telling you…this kid every game when we were facing a pretty good pitcher from Wichita State or Duke or something he’d lead off the game and hit a line drive and come running past the pitcher yelling ‘you better get used to it…I’m going to be hitting rockets off you all day.’ Then he hits a home run against [Mike] Pelfrey and he yells to him ’97 mph coming in and 197 mph going out’ as he’s rounding the bases. He’d just be chirping the whole game.

He’s really willed his way to the big leagues…he really has. Let’s break it down: He’s 5-foot-6, he’s can’t run, he’s not strong, his bat speed and his hands are tremendous because his arms are only about 11 inches long and so close to his body that he’s not getting to anything hit 5 or 6 inches to the right or left of him and he doesn’t have a lick of athletic ability…yet he’s a rookie of the year candidate.

We’re close and we talk all the time. I kid with him and ask him if he’s seen a pitcher that’s any good since he was up there, and he’s just like ‘nah’ I said c’mon there’s got to be at least a closer or two whose [expletive] is nasty right?’ He’ll just say ‘nah.’ His buddy Travis Buck hit that home run off Jonathan Papelbon up at Fenway Park earlier this season and he’s just the opposite of Pedro.' He told me that he couldn’t believe he hit it and he said he’s up there and his knees are shaking and he can’t even believe he’s in the game against Mariano Rivera or Papelbon.

You ask Pedro how their [expletive] is and he’ll just say that those guys suck and that they’re terrible. He’ll say they all throw terrible.

Arizona State University baseball coach Pat Murphy has kept the great Sun Devils tradition alive

Yeah, except for that whole "winning titles" thing. Otherwise, he's right up there with Winkles and Brock.

We’ve developed a concept that is going to be the future of baseball in 2030 and that’s corner hitting: hitting it to the left field and right field corners.

Charley Lau spins like a lathe in his grave.

You ask Pedro how their [expletive] is and he’ll just say that those guys suck and that they’re terrible. He’ll say they all throw terrible.

I believe our new Pedro has outdone our old Pedro.

I’m getting blinded by the shine from the head of a college freshman that’s going bald

Does he also play LW for the Holland National Soccer Team? (this is a soccer joke)

I believe our new Pedro has outdone our old Pedro.

Blasphemy.

Blasphemy for Wok is like breathing, I think.

But clearly the new Pedro has a waaays to go to equal even the trash-talking legacy of his namesake. Strictly on that score, though, he could match him over time, if he puts in serious effort. I imagine he'll get quoted more in the paper when he's no longer a rookie. Question is, does he continue to say the kind of stuff that's in this article, or does he get sent to the Crash Davis School of Media Management?

Blasphemy for Wok is like breathing, I think.

I don't recall old Pedro talking this much garbage EARLY in his career when he was with the Dodgers and the Expos though. Pedro talked all this #### later in his career because he KNEW he's been that damn good that his performances back up his mouth. In other words, Martinez had built up this huge-pile of trash-talking currency before he started using it. I.e. "Who is Karim Garcia to challange a "PROVEN PLAYER" like Pedro Martinez?"

Dustin has been around for less than a year. He has almost no trash-talking currency to spend, yet he's constantly yapping. That displays even more gall than Pedro Martinez.

You're actually defending that? Begone, heretic.

"He has almost no trash-talking currency to spend, yet he's constantly yapping."

How much yapping has actually made it into the Boston press, though? There was the exchange with A-Rod (the comment about maybe his next throw from second coming in a little low, etc)... otherwise, I haven't seen much. Quoted. Yet.

And how closely were you following the Dodgers and the Expos in the early days of Pedro's career? I for one have no idea how much Pedro was talking then-- or how much of it was in Spanish for that matter.

i think pedro did enough trash talking with high-and-tight, headhunting fastballs early on in his career =P

that said, does anyone else kind of see a little tom cruise in lil'pedro? short and cocky...

let's just hope he's not a quack like cruise =P

let's just hope he's not a quack like cruise =P

I bet you Dustin would totally trash-talk the Scientologists into folding.

Pedro was throwing fastballs at everyone from the moment he made it to the big leagues. Everyone knew he was the baddest motherf*cker in town.

Pedroia looks like a sparkplug, and this article is incredibly fun and made me into an even bigger Pedroia fan, but he ain't the baddest motherf*cker in town, and he never will be.

Maybe I was premature to say he's more badass than Pedro, but he's certainly the heir apparent to Pedro right now.

Haggs is Joe Haggerty, who I think now writes for the Metro. Good writer. Bradford's blog linked to Haggs in June or July. Haggs has other great pieces - I esp like the interview with Delcarmen's dad.

Kid's got a little Dykstra in him maybe?

You watch and look at it at the end of year and I guarantee you he’ll have 20 doubles down the right field line and 20 doubles down the left field line…that’s where he’s going to be. Sure the Monster is enticing to a hitter and I’m sure he puts them up there once in a while but his swing is right field line, left field line and once in a while hit a ground ball up the middle.

a nice sentiment, but he's wrong.

6 doubles down the left field line at fenway (out of 17).
3 doubles down the right field line at fenway (out of 17).
1 double down the right field line at comerica (out of 1).
1 double down the left field line at metrodome (out of 3).
0 doubles down either line at safeco (out of 2).
0 doubles down either line at tropicana field (out of 1).
2 doubles down the left field line at turner field (out of 2)
1 double down the left field line at us cellular field (out of 1).
1 double down the left field line at yankee stadium (out of 1).

total: 15 out of 28 down the lines. 11 down lf line, 4 down rf line. and, it's hard to tell from the hit chart below, but it looks like 11 of his 17 fenway doubles are off the monster.

pedroia hit chart at mlb.com

Thanks to XM I was listening to the White Sox broadcast of the Sunday game - truly hilarious to hear Ed Farmer talking about Pedroia "stepping in the bucket" so he can swing so hard, and how you have to pound him outside because he can't handle the outside fastball with his approach.

Oh my God. I’m telling you…this kid every game when we were facing a pretty good pitcher from Wichita State or Duke or something he’d lead off the game and hit a line drive and come running past the pitcher yelling ‘you better get used to it…I’m going to be hitting rockets off you all day.’ Then he hits a home run against [Mike] Pelfrey and he yells to him ’97 mph coming in and 197 mph going out’ as he’s rounding the bases. He’d just be chirping the whole game.

Am I supposed to be impressed by this?

Am I supposed to be impressed by this?

I don't think so, but it's kind of funny imagining some big jock getting trashed by some little 5'7" guy. As a player I hated that trash talking ####, but as I fan I find it pretty entertaining.

We need a Manny injury thread...

Oh my god the Sox offense has looked terrible in NY so far.

kevin's gonna owe tfbg9 $150!!!

You better get used to it…I’m going to be hitting rockets off you all day.

97 mph coming in and 197 mph going out.

I would assume he was HBP in response to this. He arguably deserved it.

I would assume he was HBP in response to this. He arguably deserved it.

No one in college ball had the Maddux-like control needed to hit a target that small.

Am I supposed to be impressed by this?

I am when it is this attitude that makes him the player he is. He has a lot more talent than Eckstein, but his attitude takes him just a little bit further than people would initially think.

Am I supposed to be impressed by this?

I certainly enjoy a quiet home-run trot, but I think it's hilariously impressive. Yet I can't see when he ever hit a HR off Pelfrey.

Pedroia and Pelfrey overlapped in college ball in '03 and '04. ASU played Wichita State twice each year. bar

In only one of those four games did Pelfrey pitch.
bar

In the Pelfrey start, Pedroia went 2 for 5, with a run and an RBI. He and Buck began the game with singles off Pelfrey's first two pitches. His second hit was not a home run. Pelfrey took his first loss of the year, going to 6-1.

In the game the day before that, Pedroia hit 2 HRs to help ASU overcome a 7-1 deficit to Wichita State, but again, not off Pelfrey, who gave up only 2 HR in 115 IP that year.

More memorable quotes from Pedroia, this time in reference to Daniel Cabrera throwing at him last night after his balk:

"The guy's an idiot," Pedroia said. "I dropped my bat. It kind of freaked me out. I was upset they took him out of the game. He's good to hit. He's 9-15. The guy [stinks]."

Something tells me Pedroia will get his share of HBPs in this league.

Something tells me Pedroia will get his share of HBPs in this league.

It's his cunning plan to increase his OBP. By making a jackass of himself.