Projo Sox Blog

Click the play button below to hear Sean's comments, recorded this morning. The topics: Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima leading the way to a victory, Dustin Pedroia's hot streak, Justin Masterson's challenge of becoming a reliever, and Jon Lester's return to the mound tonight.

Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:

Okajima and Matsuzaka: "For Okajima, two better peformances now over the last couple of games, and perhaps it's indication that he's turned the corner a little bit, although we've seen it before, been teased by it only to have him fall back into his problems. And for Matsuzaka. he seemed to use his fastball more, be a little more aggressive, and after the two-walk first inning definitely commanded and was more efficient."

Masterson: "I think that one of the things he's going to have to do is just the physical, the ability to pitch two or three times a week after having been on a schedule where he's pitching every five or six days. The ability to get ready fairly quickly rather than in preparation for a start, where you go out and get kind of a leisurely pregame session and a bullpen session. Well, if you're going to be used in the sixth, seventh or eighth inning, as Masterson probably will down the road, he's got to be able to get ready in a few minutes."

Lester: "There were more than a few people who took note of the irony that he was matched up [in his last start] and outdueled Andy Pettitte, a guy who a lot of scouts have said that Jon Lester reminds them of, both in terms of skills and stuff. They're both about 6-3, 6-4, they both have a cutter as a big part of their arsenal. Certainly there's a long way to go before Lester has the success that Andy Pettitte has had over the last 15 years, but those two starts [his no-hitter against Kansas City and his complete game against New York] ... indicate what he's capable of."

 Tags  Daisuke Matsuzaka Hideki Okajima Jon Lester Justin Masterson Sean McAdam SoxTalk

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