Some love the world baseball classic and some hate it. Those on both sides of the coin cant deny it's a risk to ask players to give their all this early in spring. Lets hope the one player who would never be accused of giving anything less than his all isn't seriously hurt.

Team USA second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been scratched from tonight's game in Miami with a strained left oblique.

Whether and when he could return to the WBC is unknown.

He was scheduled to leave the stadium and head back to Fort Myers, where he will be examined by Red Sox team physicians tomorrow.

Mark DeRosa will replace him at second base tonight against Puerto Rico at 8 p.m.

"I was hitting extra yesterday and I felt some soreness," Pedroia said Saturday afternoon. "Maybe I pushed too hard, too fast.

"Today there was a shooting pain and that's the sign to stop. I have to do what the doctors say. I don't like listening to them, but I will."

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