Dustin Pedroia, already a fan favorite, upped his street cred a few notches this weekend. Pedroia revealed he played the last two months of the season with a broken bone in his left hand. He had surgery on it last week and is in a soft cast until the end of the month. From Rob Bradford:

“Some days I would wake up and it would be hard to grip a bat,” Pedroia said. “I changed my grip a little bit on the bat and went from there. It was just one of those things you know you have to take care of after the season, but you have to play through.”

The surgery was performed by Dr. Donald Sheridan in Scottsdale, Ariz. According to Pedroia, when Sheridan went in to remove the bone it crumbled, suggesting more activity might have led to further complications.

Welcome to the rank of badass, Dustin. Reason number 267,943 to love this team.