Dustin Pedroia is one of the best players in baseball. He's a super-solid second baseman, a great hitter, and a yearly MVP candidate. With him, however, the Red Sox got off to one of the worst starts in their long history.
14 or 15 games ago he hurt his thumb. The Red Sox were forced to use a journeyman infielder to take his place. But something weird happened when this replacement player started playing for the Sox. They suddenly started winning.
In fact they have now won 10 of their last 14 games with this new second baseman providing the spark that superstar Pedroia never quite gave them. Yesterday this backup second baseman came up a triple short of the cycle as he led his team to yet another amazing victory.
The infielder's name?
One of my all-time favorite utility infielders, Nick Punto.
I said the Twins would become losers two seasons ago when we got rid of him. In his first year away form the Twins, he helped St. Louis win their first World Series in a long time. Something they could never quite do with just Pujols in the line-up. Now that he's in the Red Sox line-up they have suddenly become winners again as well. Dustin Pedroia is getting healthier every day and should be back soon. I'm thinking without Punto playing every day their fortunes will suddenly turn. No one will be able to figure out why.
No one that is except me, the casual sports fan. Moneyball has taught me a lot over the years and there are two things that matter more than anything 1) being able to play your position on defense flawlessly and 2) your on base percentage. Even when Punto's batting average suffers, he still gets on base more than most players on his team.
He knows how to win. He's a winner.
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