Dustin Will Show You

He’ll see your cover, and your cover, and your cover, and your cover – and raise you one.

Say hello to the new cover boy for MLB 09 The Show – Dustin Pedroia. I’m sure no one thought the words “Dustin Pedroia” and “cover boy” would ever be used in the same sentence.

For extra realism, the cover photo depicts Dustin all dirtied up, and sporting a patented Pedroia Face.

ESPN has a great post-cover interview with Pedey, where he talks about dinner at the White House this week, video games and short jokes.

ESPN: What’s a good short joke?

Dustin Pedroia: The best one I heard was at Yankee Stadium. We were playing the shift on Giambi and someone was yelling “The grass is taller than you, Pedroia!” I was like, jeez, man.

ESPN: Another thing the game really nails is the routine every hitter has at the plate. What’s the one routine you have that you couldn’t stop even if you tried?

Dustin Pedroia: After every pitch I step out of the box and tighten my batting gloves, then I step back up to the plate and I’m ready to go. I don’t have very big hands, so I’m constantly tightening my batting gloves. I don’t even notice that I’m doing it anymore. You go to the plate so many times, and you do the same thing over and over and over, that I don’t even know I’m doing it until I see the video. I literally do it every pitch. It’s weird.

ESPN: Are you a big gamer?

Dustin Pedroia: I play a lot of Rock Band, but all my friends, they play a lot of the baseball game. And I’ll be honest, when I played them last year, they really put a whooping on me.

Jeez man! And this:

“Appearing on that box is also Pedroia’s biggest endorsement deal to date. “I’ve had some signing deals, but this is the one that’s just so fun. I can’t wait to walk into a store and see a game with me on the cover. If you know me, you’ll know that I’m just a normal guy who shows up to work and plays as hard as I can. Hopefully young kids will play this game and try to take something from me about what it means to work hard and achieve your dreams.”

C’mon now, Dustin- everyone knows that appearing in those Sullivan Tire commercials is a MUCH bigger deal.

Anyone wanna lay bets on how many copies of this Dustin buys, and then “casually” lays them all around the house?

Lest anyone think the Sony Playstation folks are completely biased in favor of the Red Sox, they also released a shot of Yankee players celebrating a homerun in the game. Standing behind homeplate in his Boston greys? Kevin Cash. Sniff!