Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Gritty Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been named Most Valuable Player of the American League for 2008. Pedroia is the 10th Red Sox player to win the award since 1931, and the first since Mo Vaughn in 1995.

Pedroia got 16 of the 28 first-place votes and easily beat out Minnesota slugger Justin Morneau. Pedroia's teammate Kevin Youkilis finished third.

The award is an amazing accomplishment for the 25-year-old Pedroia, who played his second full season with the Red Sox in 2008. After all, he struggled so badly through his first two months as a major leaguer (at the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007) that many observers, turned off by his small stature and big swing, thought he would never amount to much. But the 5-9, 180-pound Pedroia turned things around in a big way in 2007, going on to win the American League Rookie of the Year award, batting .317 on the season.

In 2008, he was even better. He finished with a .326 batting average (second in the league), 17 home runs, 118 runs scored (first in the league) and 83 RBI. He stole 20 bases -- compared with seven in 2007 -- while being caught stealing just once. And he was the only member of the 2008 Red Sox to win a Gold Glove.

Pedroia becomes the third player in either league to win Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in consecutive seasons. Philadelphia's Ryan Howard did it in 2005 and 2006, while Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr. did it in 1982 and 1983. Two players -- Fred Lynn of the Red Sox in 1975 and Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners in 2001 -- won both awards in the same season.

Pedroia is also the first American League second baseman to win the MVP award since Nellie Fox of the White Sox in 1959.

Pedroia will have a conference call with the media at 3, and we'll have news from that event this afternoon on our projo SoxBlog. For now, you can read why sports writer Joe McDonald feels that Pedroia is a deserving candidate, see a gallery of photos from Pedroia's 2008 season, and tell us if Pedroia would have gotten your vote.

 Tags  Boston Red Sox Dustin Pedroia MVP

---