Dustin Pedroia Feels Confident He’ll Return to Sox Lineup, Says He Didn’t Re-Aggravate His Thumb Injury

by abournenesn

Jun 20, 2012

Dustin Pedroia Feels Confident He'll Return to Sox Lineup, Says He Didn't Re-Aggravate His Thumb InjuryBOSTON — Dustin Pedroia isn't worried about any setbacks with his thumb.

During Tuesday's game, he was jammed with a 95 mph fastball and seemingly re-aggravated the pain from a torn adductor muscle in his right thumb. After exiting in the top of the eighth, the Red Sox second baseman entered the clubhouse for further examination.

While Pedroia feels confident that he'll return to lineup on Thursday, he is sitting out Wednesday's game as a precaution.

"There’s no swelling or anything like that," Pedroia said. "It’s kind of a weird deal. I went to swing and I don’t know if got a little hotter and humid and I didn’t have enough pine tar on my bat so my thumb just got caught in that weird spot.

"I think it scared me more than anything. My hand slipped off the bat and my thumb got caught. It was just kind of a weird feeling. I’m not playing today, but I’ll be in there tomorrow. I feel fine."

Since returning to the lineup on June 5, Pedroia has played with a customized splint to protect his thumb. From Bobby Valentine's perspective, the extra padding on the splint helped Pedroia absorb the shock of Marlins reliever Ryan Webb's fastball.

"This is like a jam injury that happens," Valentine said. "And so thinking that three months from now it's going to be a thing of the past and never going to reoccur is not really the case, right? It's a very sticky situation."

All in all, Pedroia shouldn't be sidelined for much longer.

Have a question for Didier Morais? Send it to him via Twitter at @DidierMorais or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Previous Article

Roger Federer Not Quite Yet Greatest Champion in Records of Wimbledon History

Next Article

Goal-Line Controversy, Dutch and Russian Flops Among Biggest Disappointments of Euro 2012 Group Stage

Picked For You