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The MVP candidate did not have an MVP kind of game Sunday afternoon. The Fenway Park masses kept shouting their "MVP! MVP! MVP!" chant each time cleanup hitter Dustin Pedroia came to the dish, but the best Pedie could offer in the way of thanks was a bloop single down the right field line in the bottom of the first inning.

And while bloop singles are fine if you're, say, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound second baseman, Red Sox fans expect more from their cleanup hitter. The difference here, of course, is that for the past couple of days the 5-foot-9, 180-pound second baseman and the cleanup hitter have been one and the same: Dustin Pedroia.

In what at first looked like a play from the handbook of the late, great Billy Martin, who on occasion would pull his lineup card out of a ballcap to fire up his team, Red Sox manager Terry Francona produced back-to-back batting orders this weekend with Pedroia batting cleanup.

The move worked Saturday, with Pedroia submitting his second straight four-hit game and inspiring White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to bellow that his team had just been beaten by "a jockey."

But the MVP talk is not going away unless Pedroia stops producing, and there are no signs that's about to happen. His .326 average leads the American League, and he leads the majors in runs (106) and hits (183). He has at least one hit in 52 of his last 58 games.

His fielding has been superb, his baserunning sound. Power? He already has 15 home runs. His previous high in a season, including high school and college, was nine.

"I'm more worried about him than I am Big Papi," Guillen said the other day.

Source: Boston Herald