MIAMI -- The answer was halfway completed when Dustin Pedroia stopped in mid-sentence. 

On the television near his locker was the second baseman's image, with some less-than-flattering stats pointing out Pedroia's recent struggles.

"We're going to be alright," he yelled at the TV. "Don't worry!"

Heading into the Red Sox' series with the Marlins at Marlins Park, the questions regarding Pedroia's health were flying. He was just 3-for-24 since returning from a thumb-injury-induced hiatus, forcing his batting average to a season-low .277. Now, the MLB Network was the latest to question exactly what was going on.

Some of the questions were at partially answered via the Red Sox' 4-1 loss to the Marlins Monday night, with Pedroia notching his first extra-base hit -- a sixth-inning double -- since returning from the torn adductor muscle. But even before his line-drive into left field, the second baseman managed to debunk some theories when it came to why the struggles of late.

The first issue: Health.

"It's night and day from when I came out of that game (on Memorial Day). It's getting better," he explained. "The protection I'm wearing on it right now is helping it. It's healing. I still feel it in there, but it's nothing to the point where it's going to effect my play. When I go up to the plate I don't think about it now. I just go out there and play the game."

As it turns out, Pedroia jettisoned the well-publicized, custom-made brace for his thumb after just two games. In it's place are three separate pads, one Franklin designed for his batting glove, which are far less obtrusive than the previous support. 

"I think the first two days I wore that brace I couldn't even grip the bat," Pedroia said. "That was tough. I felt like I was swinging with one arm, so I got rid of that and we're doing some other things -- padding and other stuff -- to protect it. I'm starting to feel the bat better, and my at-bats are better. It's just about going out and playing and doing what I do."

It was those first two games which provided the springboard for concern when it came to Pedroia's health. In his initial seven at-bats, he struck out four times. Just 37 times over his career had he come away with a multiple-strikeout game, and only once before did they come in back-to-back games.

"It was like a cast," he said. "My thumb wasn't even on the bat. My swing, I know it looks like I'm using my whole body, but my hands are the biggest part of everything. If I can control the bat head it doesn't matter what my lower body does because my head doesn't move that much. If my hands control the bat head, I'll be fine."

Once a comfort-level with his equipment was found, then came something a bit trickier -- the mental side of things.

Pedroia admitted that this part of the equation didn't arrive until recently … in the seventh inning of the Red Sox' June 9 game against the Nationals, to be exact. It was in that moment that the Sox' No. 2 hitter found himself having to make contact with a pitch in on his hands for the first time since returning from the injury. The result was a pop-up to first, but, for Pedroia, there was a silver-lining.

"My timing was off," he explained regarding the pitch from Gonzalez. "I was out in front of heaters, so I was flying out to center and my contact point was off. That one I was trying to let it get deeper in and I let it get too deep. You still have to mentally get over if the ball gets in on you. I actually did do that, and now I'm OK and I'm mentally fine with it. You know you're OK if something was to happen."

The other saving grace for Pedroia is the fact he has gone through these sort of injury-induced ruts (usually coming around this time) before. Take 2008, for instance, when he went from .260 on June 13 after experiencing another sort of thumb ailment, to .313 by the time the All-Star break rolled around.

"Everybody goes through stuff like this," he said. "You're going to go through not feeling well. It's just life.

"I feel fine,"  he added. "When you come back from a week off it takes time to get back into it. I'm still trying to get the feel back hitting. When you're an every day player, especially when you hit at the top of the lineup where you get five at-bats a game, and you have four of five games where you don't get hits your average fluctuates. Everybody goes through five or six games that have tough at-bats. If there is a guy who doesn't do that, it's unheard of. Just stick with your approach, try and have good at-bats, take your walks, find a way to get on base and that's about it."

So while Monday certainly wasn't a step in the right direction for the Red Sox, the same couldn't be said for their second baseman.

I"n early batting practice today he was as good as I've seen him," said Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan. "He carried it over into the regular batting practice. The pitchers don't really come inside to him a lot, they pitch away on him, so he's diving to get to that pitch and they make a mistake on that inner-third he's not in a good position to put a good swing on it. Tonight was a good example where they go away, away, away and then they left one middle-in and he hits it down the left line. When he's doing that, keeping his posture and not breaking down to get to that pitch away, you know he's going good. … Mentally it's a great thing to get over. He's not afraid to get pitched inside."