Dustin Pedroia (AP)

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, in his weekly appearance on Saturday’s Mut & Bradford show, touched on the state of the Red Sox and the final stages of his offseason. Pedroia was back in his hometown of Woodland, Calif., to take part in clinics with some of the young players in the town and to take part in a fundraiser.

Pedroia suggested that the town of Woodland helped to define his attitude as a player, and he offered words of inspiration for those who would seek to replicate his career path.

“I definitely got my trash-talking from here, that’s a fact,” Pedroia said. “Trash-talking, it starts at a young age. It can even start at 3, 4 years old and then moving up. The more you talk trash, the better you become at it.”

Pedroia also offered his thoughts on the state of the Sox entering the 2010 season. A transcript of highlights is below. To listen to the complete interview, click here.

On how the 2010 team shapes up:

When we go into a series, whatever team you’re playing, you look at the starting pitchers you’re facing. That gives you an idea of what to expect that series. I’m sure when an opposing team comes in and they’re facing [John] Lackey, [Josh] Beckett, [Jon] Lester, or you could throw out combinations left and right with our staff, that’s a pretty tough challenge for the opposing team. And offensively, they know we’re going to take a lot of pitches, we’re going to walk, we’ve got power in the middle of our lineup. We can score runs in a thousand different ways. Good pitching and defense wins, and an offense that’s relentless and finds way to score runs, can beat you with a three-run homer, can beat you on the bases — Ellsbury can do it, I can steal some bases, [Marco] Scutaro can steal — we can score runs in a thousand different ways.

I really love our club. Obviously Theo [Epstein] did a great job in signing Lackey and getting guys who fit our club. We’re excited. We feel we have a great team and can compete with everybody.

On playing the first game of the season on Sunday night:

I think it’s great. We’re opening up the season in front of everybody in front of the world champs. … We’re the first game of the season playing against the world champs. We want to see what type of team we have. We feel great about our team, and we’re not even in spring training yet.

On Daniel Bard and the bullpen:

You hear about the electric stuff, obviously throwing 100 mph, his slider — every pitch he has in an out pitch. You hear about all that stuff. … My biggest thing that I noticed with him is his makeup. When he grabs the ball, the presence he has on the mound, you don’t really see that, especially as a young guy. … That back-end of our bullpen is a force. It’s definitely a big part of our club.

On his favorite pitch to hit:

High inside fastball, man. Don’t let that [video game] commercial fool you. When you’re coming in the kitchen, you better bring the noise. … That’s my favorite pitch to hit, the ball up and in. I’ve got real short arms. A lot of guys need to get extended to hit for power, but I’ve got short arms, so anything closer to my body, I can definitely drive out of the ballpark.