"Dustin Pedroia [stats] makes his living feasting on high fastballs. The question is how.

Rival pitchers have long tried to climb the ladder to a rung he can't reach, but the Red Sox [team stats] second baseman consistently has thwarted them with a swing that may look unorthodox but is actually incredibly efficient at covering every zone of the plate — particularly the one up high.

"It seems like guys are tying to hit him in the neck and then he hits a homer," said Sox reliever Matt Albers, who limited Pedroia to a .231 average in their 14 battles in previous seasons. "It's one of those things you can't really teach. You don't know how he gets on top if it, but that's the one he crushes. The one up and in, that's his thing."

Pedroia went 1-for-3 with a walk in last night's 4-0 loss to the Texas Rangers and is batting .306 with 16 homers and 65 RBI. He is just one homer off his 2008 career high, which he set en route to being named AL MVP."