Projo Sox Blog

Click the play button below to hear Joe McDonald's comments, recorded this morning from Tampa. He speaks about Jon Lester's disappointing outing in Game 3, the decision to keep Paul Byrd in the game for four-plus innings, Jacoby Ellsbury vs. Coco Crisp, and Tim Wakefield's outlook for tonight.

Here are some excerpts from Joe's comments:

On Lester: "The way that the Rays won in Game 2, in extra innings, just solidified the fact that they know that they can win, that they can beat the Red Sox. They came in ready to go, they had a lot of scouting on Lester, and once they got to him early in that third inning and they scored those four runs, they knew that not only can they beat the Sox, but they can beat Jon Lester. The other thing you have to remember is, they've seen him a lot this year. The two teams play 18 times; he faced them three times, and ... they had good advance scouting on him. He wasn't able to pound the zone, he left some balls over the plate, and when you leave those balls over the plate to hitters like Longoria, they're going to get the best of you."

Sticking with Byrd -- good decision? "It really is a good decision, just because the bullpen is extremely taxed, and moving forward in this series the way it's gone, they're going to need that bullpen."

On Ellsbury: "He just hasn't been getting it done, and that's been a big factor for the Red Sox. If Jacoby can't get on base, and Dustin Pedroia's been hitting the ball very well lately, that doesn't help matters. So it wouldn't surprise me if Coco Crisp is back in the lineup [tonight]."

On Wakefield's 15 days of rest, or is it rust? "I think it might benefit Wakefield. He had been battling some discomfort .. and i think the layoff just might help him."

 Tags  Jacoby Ellsbury Joe McDonald Jon Lester Paul Byrd SoxTalk Tim Wakefield

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