Boston Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia is about to have a career year

The Young Buck Returns

The most important factor in predicting a career year is that Petey is coming off of knee surgery. Here how he feels from the man himself, as recently reported by Jason Mastrodonato at the Boston Herald:

"“My knee doesn’t hurt. Last year, waking up and walking around was painful. It’s not fun to live your life like that. Having the surgery, I could tell immediately that I was feeling better.”"

And this last month to NESN’s Ricky Doyle:

"“Now, I am getting ready for 162 (games) plus the playoffs. That’s my mindset and that’s how I feel. My legs are strong again. I’m hoping that I get cleared…to start running and get after it. That way, that leaves me enough time to get to spring training to where I’m a part of it from the get-go and that is all I want.”"

Dustin has always played with wild abandon but now sounds like a kid with a new toy.

Some might want to take it a little slower to prolong the knees’ years of use, but that was never Pedroia’s way. If the Sox were on pace to finish dead last in baseball, you can still bet he would be out there giving everything he’s got to save a run from scoring in a 16-2 blowout in late August.

Now, with him fresh from feeling physically restricted, he’s gonna be like Bambi exploring The Meadow for the first time.

However, the emotional motivation might be stronger than the physical. Armchair psychology is a fool’s endeavor but I’ve been called worse, so here goes.