Lowrie, Pedroia keep Red Sox youth movement rolling

Oct 7, 2008 - 5:26 PM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Jed Lowrie and Dustin Pedroia have both shown that a little late-season slump won't keep them down.

As the Boston Red Sox prepare for their fourth American League Championship Series in six years without the injured Mike Lowell anchoring their infield, the Red Sox will look for the two young players to help pick up the slack.

Both players had key hits Monday night as the Red Sox eliminated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in Game Four of the American League Division Series.

Lowrie drove in Jason Bay with the winning run while Pedroia snapped out of an 0-for-15 with a key RBI double in the fifth inning of Boston's 3-2 series-clinching victory

It was a big moment for Lowrie, who struggled down the stretch in September, collecting just eight hits in his final 51 at-bats (.157) and finishing the season with a .258 average.

"I never really lost my confidence," Lowrie said. "That's kind of the game of baseball. It's never easy. You know, I felt like I was grinding out at-bats in September. Not a lot to show for it. I came into the playoffs with my confidence still high but, you know, it's a funny game.

"You can hit the ball hard and get out, and you can bloop one in and get a hit. So it's just a matter of maintaining a steady approach."

It wasn't a bloop that did the trick on Monday night but rather a seeing-eye grounder off Scot Shields that got just beyond the reach of Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick, scoring Bay with the game-winning run.

"(Sunday night) Scot Shields struck me out on three straight curveballs," Lowrie said. "So in the back of my mind I was thinking curveball. And you know, he left one up in the zone enough for me to find a hole."

Pedroia was mired in an even deeper slump heading into Monday's game. The second baseman had finished second in the AL batting race with a .326 mark but had yet to collect a hit in his first 13 at-bats vs. the Angles, reaching base on two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

That slump reached 15 before he came to the plate with two outs in the fifth, Jason Varitek on second base and the Red Sox holding a 1-0 lead. Pedroia drilled a doubled off the "Green Monster" in left, scoring Varitek and lifting his spirits in the process.

"The series didn't go the way I'd like it to go," Pedroia said, "but you're only as good as your last at-bat and I kept grinding it out and got a good pitch to hit and hit it, and we ended up getting a run out of it."

Pedroia is no stranger to postseason heroics. He homered in Game Seven of the 2007 AL Championship Series against Cleveland, and opened Game One of the World Series against Colorado with a first-inning long ball into the "Green Monster" seats.

So he was happy that Lowrie get his first taste of playoff success Monday night.

"Extremely excited," Pedroia said. "He had good at-bats all night. You know he's going to overcome that, what type of player he is. He'll make adjustments and that's what it's about, making adjustments, and everybody on this team is behind him 100 percent and behind everybody. That's why we win."

The latest postseason success of a young player has given Red Sox manager Terry Francona the sense of being a proud father.

The organization, we've brought some kids up and they have done such a phenomenal job of competing," Francona said. "I think our organization should be proud. I'm the one who gets to stand here on nights like this and talk, but I hope we do this as an organization, because it's an exciting time for the Red Sox."

Now Lowrie and Pedroia look to build the momentum for the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALCS that begins Friday in Florida.

"You're going to have battles at the plate and in the field," Pedroia said. "This game's not easy. It's just a matter of controlling your emotions and going out there and trying to relax and enjoying the game."