« On Deck, Dice-K versus Ichiro
Main
More postgame reaction »

Words from the captain

BOSTON -- What Jason Varitek was saying in the Red Sox clubhouse . . .

On Josh Beckett: ''Josh threw a nice little game. He mixed in all of his pitches, it didn’t matter what the score was. He had a good feel for his secondary pitches . . . This outing it was a good mix of his pitches. He had good feel for them and that’s what he set out to do during spring training. The (first game of the season) he didn’t have the same feel he had today. He was able to make adjustments to the conditions and really utilize all his pitches.”

On the team's offensive output: “We swung the bats well. The conditions weren’t favorable for any team. We were able to put ourselves in good counts and get some good pitches. First and foremost the job was done by Josh and he did a phenomenal job pitching.”

On his three-hit performance: “I had the balls fall today. I hit some balls well on the road trip, I just didn’t get the results from it. We’ll continue to make adjustments and today I just found some holes.”

On if he was concerned about not hitting during spring training: “No. That’s why we’re here, we have to play games and keep going out there and working on things. We’re just trying to get more at-bats and more games.''

On Daisuke Matsuzaka, who makes his Fenway debut Wednesday: “He’s only pitched one game. I don't think you can accomplish too much in one game, but we just want to go out and let our offense work and for him to keep the game close and not let it get out of hand. That’s the biggest expectation we have for him – quality starts. With him it’s strike one with different pitches and utilizing his pitches. We still have a learning curve to go through to adjust to hitters when he sees teams for the first time.”

On Mike Timlin: “It’s a long time being cold sitting in that bullpen to make your first appearance. It’s just nice to have him on the mound. We probably just made a selection error on that pitch to [Richie] Sexton, but we got through all his pitches at least once, so that was good.”

-- JOE McDONALD

Posted by Art Martone  at 6:34 PM | Permalink