Francona lauds Pedroia as one of baseball's best

BOSTON (AP) -Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has gone from being called a jockey by admiring manager Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox to one of baseball's best players by his own skipper.

The 5-foot-9 Pedroia had the AL's second-best batting average this season at .326 and tied Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki for the major league lead with 213 hits.

Before Game 4 of the AL championship series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, Boston manager Terry Francona was asked if he could explain Pedroia to a person who hasn't seen him.

"I'm not sure I can explain him to people that have seen him," Francona said of the scrappy infielder. "He's one of the very best players in the game. I think - as the people that are around him will tell you - he has to play with a chip on his shoulder."

In late August, after going 8-for-8 during one stretch against the White Sox, Guillen praised Pedroia and made a joking reference to his height after walking him intentionally.

"I never thought I was going to walk a jockey," he said. "Walking a guy who just came from being on top of Big Brown. Right now, he's on a roll. This guy right now is on fire. No matter what you throw up there, he's going to get it."

Pedroia batted .172 in his first month as a full-time player with Boston in April 2007, but finished the season at .317. He was selected AL Rookie of the Year, and is a leading contender for MVP honors this season.

"His motor is always running, and I'm sure that's because he's been told from a very early age that he couldn't do things," Francona said. "And he continues to prove that he can."

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... AND LOOK WHO'S COMING UP: Two decades later, Kirk Gibson's game-winning homer in the 1988 World Series opener remains one of baseball's most memorable moments.

Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of Gibson's improbable shot for the Los Angeles Dodgers against Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley. Anyone who was at Chavez Ravine that night will never forget it, especially those who were in uniform.

"I don't have flashbacks about it. I mean, they show it every night here when we're home," said Dodgers pitching coach and former Athletics reliever Rick Honeycutt, who was in the visitors' bullpen when Gibson drove a 3-2 backdoor slider into the right-field pavilion after a tip from advance scout Mel Didier about what Eckersley might throw in that spot.

"You always see the swing, but people forget how long the at-bat actually was and how many balls he fouled off to get to that point. It was a devastating blow to our club," Honeycutt added.