A defiant Dustin Pedroia spoke to reporters Monday afternoon and vowed that the slumping Red Sox would find a way to start winning.
His words:
“It’s going to start today. We’re not going to listen to you guys’ [expletive]. We’re just going to go play baseball. That’s it. We’re going to try to be positive and we’re going to play winning baseball. We’re not going to care what anybody else says. We’re going to care about our 25 guys and play together and that’s about it.”
Q. You’re confident this group can still play winning baseball?
A. “Yeah, very confident. It starts with our guys. Eliminate the distractions and go play together. The only people who think we can do this are the 25 guys in here. Think we’re going to kind of stop listening to the other nonsense and worry about playing winning baseball and today’s game and play as hard as we can and try to win. If we win, we win. Next day we’ll worry about tomorrow’s game.”
Q. How do you block everything out?
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A. “Me personally, I’ve been around here long enough to know that when it’s going good, everyone loves you. When it’s going bad, everyone hates you. It is what it is. For some of the guys that come around here, you start to think what people say about you. That’s not the reality.
“The reality is you show up to work every day and work hard and be yourself. What other people say doesn’t dictate how I feel about them, and that’s the only thing that matters. The 25 guys are going to come together and we’re going to play winning baseball.”
Q. How much impact have distractions had?
A. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I just know that starting today we’re going to worry about this, playing today’s game. That’s it.”
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Q. People are blaming the GM and manager. Do you take that personally?
A. “We’re all in it together. I don’t buy into that it’s one person’s fault. We’re all in this together.”
Q. What’s your view on how this team has played? Are you angry about the level of play?
A. “Like I said, we’re trying to play winning baseball. We’re going to focus on that. The past is the past, you know? We dug ourselves a hole and we’re going to dig ourselves out of it.
“It starts with everybody together. It’s not the manager. It’s not the GM. It’s not me. It’s not David [Ortiz]. It’s everybody together who’s going to do that. We’re going to do it together. We’re the only ones who think we can. The only way to do it is if we all believe it and do it ourselves.”
Q. What needs to change?
A. “We’re going to figure that out ourselves. It’s not like if I knew the answer to that I’d tell you. Because you’re not on the 25 guys. You know what I mean?”
Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.