Dustin Pedroia says he didn’t join Bobby Valentine on mound for conference because he swallowed his dip

Last week, a report surfaced that discussed the possibility that Bobby Valentine is losing the Red Sox clubhouse. Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com cited an unnamed player who said Valentine doesn’t have the support of “anyone” in the clubhouse. He was also told that Adrian Gonzalez and a couple of other players don’t communicate with Valentine.

Dustin Pedroia was also mentioned in the story because of an incident in Chicago where Valentine came out of the dugout for a mound visit and Pedroia was the only member of the infield to not partake in the discussion. Prior to Thursday’s game against the White Sox, Pedey explained what happened.

“I swallowed my dip, man,” he told reporters according to WEEI. “Bobby came out and right when I went to take a step I went to take my dip out and I (expletive) swallowed it. Man down. I chilled out right there. David (Ortiz) was playing first base and he said, ‘What the (expletive) is wrong with you?’ I told him, ‘I swallowed my dip, man.'”

Pedroia, who was very vocal in sticking up for Kevin Youkilis earlier in the season, went on to say that him and Valentine “get along great.” Swallowing your tobacco can’t be a comfortable feeling, and I’m sure Mike Napoli could tell us all about that.

With Cody Ross’s walk-off home run Thursday night, the Red Sox took three out of four from the White Sox. Assuming David Ortiz doesn’t miss a ton of time, the team seems to be getting healthy and showing signs of life. If they revert to losing, we’ll hear all about how none of the players respect Valentine. If they can keep the momentum that they have started to build in the second half going, everyone will talk about how Valentine is doing a tremendous job.

H/T Hardball Talk
Photo credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIRE