Bobby Valentine criticized Kevin Youkilis, which brought criticism from Dustin Pedroia:

One night after Red Sox [team stats] manager Bobby Valentine told Ch. 7 that third baseman Kevin Youkilis [stats] doesn’t seem “as physically or emotionally into the game as he has been in the past,” the topic dominated the morning clubhouse here on what’s normally a sleepy Patriots [team stats] Day, with Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia [stats], and Valentine weighing in.

The strongest comments came from Pedroia, who didn’t appreciate seeing his teammate’s heart and desire questioned.

“I know that Youk plays as hard as anyone I’ve ever seen in my life,” Pedroia said. “I have his back and his teammates have his back and we know how hard he plays. I don’t really understand what Bobby’s trying to do, but that’s really not the way we go about our stuff here. I’m sure he’ll figure that out soon.”

The Kevin Youkilis I’ve seen over the years was intense to the point of sometimes crossing the line to being a jerk. Kevin is aging, and no doubt that’s taken a toll on him, but he still goes out and plays a difficult defensive position, and 30 at bats is not the kind of sample that you use to judge a player.

Valentine says he was misinterpreted, and apologized to Youk.

We’ll see what happens. Kevin might respond with a big game if his buttons are pushed. The Red Sox clubhouse, however, has always been a difficult place to navigate, and if there is one player everyone respects, it’s Pedroia. Getting on his bad side is not the right thing to do. Bobby will go from the team long before Dustin does.