BALTIMORE – Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia awoke to hear the reports that he would be having surgery on Friday to insert a screw in his left foot. That was news to him.

“I woke up today and heard our team sources said I need surgery,” said Pedroia, who has been out for all but two games since June 25 due to a fractured navicular bone. “So I guess I’m going to have it.”

Right now, technically, that final decision has not been made. On Wednesday, Pedroia was examined for about 10 minutes by Dr. George Theodore, a team orthopedist who is a foot specialist. That exam was encouraging in some respects, as manager Terry Francona said following that exam that there had been noteworthy improvement in the amount of pain Pedroia was experiencing in range of motion and resistance tests.

Even so, the conclusion has also been reached that surgery is likely, even if that final verdict has not been rendered.

Pedroia is scheduled to have a CT scan on his left foot on Friday morning. While no final decision has been made about whether he will have the screw inserted on Friday, the second baseman still expects that such an outcome is almost certain.

It is possible that the procedure could come later in the day tomorrow, following the scan. Perhaps it will happen later in the offseason. But at this point, with his season over, the 2008 AL MVP fully expects that the procedure will and should take place.

“I think [the screw] would make it heal more,” said Pedroia. “They said there’s like a 50 percent change I could feel better [without the procedure] and then, just like what happened last time, I played in two games and then not be able to walk the next day. Putting the screw in would help it heal. There’s a good chance that I’ll have the surgery at some point.

“I mean, I think that putting the screw in is probably the best idea. It’s a 90 percent chance that bone heals. I don’t want to get to January, go through my workouts, get to January and go through my workouts and then don’t feel good and I miss some of next year. None of us want that to happen. So I think putting the screw in is probably the best idea. But I’ll find out tomorrow. I’ve got a CT scan early in the morning, and if I need surgery, we’ll do it later in the day.”

In 75 games this year, Pedroia hit .288/.367/.493/.860 with 12 homers, earning his third straight All-Star berth. But a foul ball off his left foot in San Francisco on June 25 led to the fracture that will ultimately end his season. Pedroia rehabbed and returned to the Sox lineup on Aug. 17, but after just two games, a recurrence of pain in his foot forced the Sox to return him to the disabled list.

Since Pedroia went on the DL for the first time on June 26, Sox second basemen are hitting .236/.297/.415/.712.