It’s pretty friggin’ cool to see a ball player from Woodland get written up in the New York Times:

“I love him,” pitcher Tim Wakefield said. “He gets it. He plays the game hard.”

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said that Pedroia, who was only 130 pounds as a freshman at Arizona State, had impressed him, too.

“All he’s done is what they’ve asked of him,” Cashman said. “He’s never failed anywhere.”

While Pedroia was growing up in Woodland, Calif. [w00t!], he said his older brother and his parents constantly reminded him that, “You’ve got to play hard every day because you don’t know how long you’re going to play.”

Go Little Pedro!