It was June 10, 2008, and Dustin Pedroia's thumb was killing him.

The injury, which had occurred two weeks earlier, was guiding him down an 0-for-15 path over a five-game stretch. The self-doubt was increasing as the batting average decreased. Pedroia didn't want to stop playing, but there was also no solution to his thumb ailment on the horizon.

Then, all of a sudden, Pedroia reemerged with a pair of hits. Despite the pain, he had found a way to dig himself out. Flash forward five months — he was carrying the title of American League MVP.

Two years later -- to the day --  the Red Sox second baseman found himself answering a similar scenario with a similar response. What had been a hitless series at Progressive Field turned a bit when Pedroia ripped singles in his first two at-bats.

Still, as he learned in '08, hits can only numb the pain for a while.

"My knee hurts. But I’ll be fine. I don’t weigh that much, I don’t carry around a lot of weight," said Pedroia, who wore a knee brace for the first time Thursday night. "I’ll find a way to play through it."

Pedroia's right knee is in rough shape. It has been since May 15 when he was thrown out at home on a  David Ortiz single in Detroit. The stretch of games resulted in 16 hits in 90 at-bats (.178), along with a lot of sleepless nights.

He doesn't like talking about it, almost refusing to publicly acknowledge how the pain is affecting his game.

"I'm just playing. I show up every day and play," Pedroia said prior to the series finale against the Indians. "You play to win the game."

This is what he has done, and the Red Sox are 16-7 when Pedroia has been in the game since that night in Detroit. But those who are with the 26-year-old on a daily basis know how difficult it's been.

"What makes him good, I think, which is the drive, and the determination, he wants to carry the club — that’s why he’s good. I just think sometimes after that first at-bat — he’s feeling the night before — and I think his knee’s bothering him probably more than he lets on," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.

"I don’t know that that’s — guys get banged up. The good players — he’s playing. I think we all feel he’ll help us win. Kind of like I used to say about [Jason Varitek]. Tek could go 0-for-4 and we could still win. I think we all feel the same way about Pedey. We’d certainly love to see him get four hits, but when he doesn’t hit he still finds ways to help us win."

To watch Pedroia play, it would be hard to notice that the knee is a problem. The straight-ahead running isn't so much an issue as are certain other movements. It is certainly the kind of image that made most believe that the second baseman might be able to catch up to Russell Branyan's two-out, game-winning bloop single into right field, that landed just beyond his reach.

"I was like a foot away, and the ball was pretty well placed," he explained.

And there were also those two hits, which were followed by two flyouts sandwiched around a strikeout. 

"Yeah, I swung the bat better. I'll be fine," said Pedroia, who raised his batting average three points to .251. "I go through this every year. It just sucks going through it. But in the end, I'll be right where I'm supposed to be."

But there is still a fly in the ointment when it comes to Pedroia's predicament. It is no secret that he lives by the "You want me on that wall! You need me on that wall!" mentality, as the following statement following the Sox' loss would suggest: "I've had some days off, but I've got to get out there and help us win. That's my job." 

Yet, the fear is that the knee won't bounce back to the level the Red Sox are banking on if the usual slump-busting methods are executed (i.e., extra tee work and batting practice). It is a conundrum experienced by Pedroia before, yet it doesn't make the road back to health any easier.

"In some circumstances you're a victim of your own passion," Red Sox infielder Mike Lowell said. "I think his whole life he hasn't backed down to anyone, so that's usually the attitude he's going to take. But we don't want him to get hurt for a substantial time. I think everybody goes through some part of the season when you're pretty banged up, but as long as when you're playing through it you feel a little bit better each day, I don't think there's a problem with it. I'll be willing to sacrifice two games if it avoids making it 30."

And it isn't a mystery that approach Pedroia is hoping to take. The Red Sox, and their second baseman, are just hoping it's the right one.

"I'll heal," he said, "while I play."