"Second baseman Dustin Pedroia refuses to be dragged down by the Red Sox' April swoon.

The club dropped to 1-7 with yesterday's 9-4 mashing by the Yankees at Fenway Park. While New York was scoring with frequency, Pedroia tried his best to keep the Sox close with three doubles and two RBI. He provided the 37,488 fans there an excuse not to vacate early.

Batting second, Pedroia went 3-for-4 with a run scored. He is 6-for-9 with a home run, three doubles, five RBI and three runs scored in the first two games of this series, which concludes tonight.

"Six hits in the last two games," Pedroia said when asked if he's seeing the ball well.

"Their offense, they swing the bat great and they have got a lot of Hall of Famers on their team, so it's no surprise what kind of team they have. We are just trying to play better."

Pedroia drew a one-out walk in his first plate appearance. He doubled in his second. And in his third, he did the most damage, golfing a two-out Ivan Nova fastball off the wall in center field to score Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford.

"I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit and do it with a normal swing. I just swing as hard as I can," Pedroia said of the fourth-inning blast. "There are no mechanics involved in my swing."

The double cut the Sox' deficit to 5-4, but the Yanks answered in the fifth thanks to a two-run homer by center fielder Curtis Granderson. New York finished with four home runs, including two by catcher Russell Martin. The Red Sox have hit five home runs all season."