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Projo Sox Talk: Sox take it easy with Beckett's back

Sean McAdam is the guest today on Projo SoxTalk with Art Martone. Click here to listen to the full audio file.

Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments.

On Josh Beckett's back, which was sore as the game went on last night: "It seemed to flare up. It seemed he caught his spike a little bit in a follow-through and almost sort of wrenched his back for a little bit, and I think he might have otherwise gone a little later into the game. But they wanted to be a bit careful there, and that's why they took him out after seven."

On Coco Crisp: "One of the positive things for the Red Sox is, he seems to be using his speed more. He's being very aggressive. You see him stealing bases; he's hit a couple of balls that were sort of glorified chops down the line, but once they get out of the infield he's capable of turning into extra bases -- doubles, even triples in some instances. I think people remember that big triple he hit against the Yankees in the first series at Fenway a couple of weeks ago, a ball that might otherwise have been fielded by the first baseman, but when it got by Doug Mientkiewicz and rolled into the corner, Crisp's speed is such that he can really take advantage of that. And even when he was hitting leadoff last year, it seemed like he didn't do more of that, and maybe they were correct in putting him at the bottom of the order. It sort of frees him up a little more, and now that he's making better contact than he was in the first few weeks, it's sort of all coming together for him."

On American League Rookie of the Month Hideki Okajima: I think if you had told people at the start of the season that the American League Rookie of the Month for April was going to be a Japanese pitcher, the assumption would have been that it would be Daisuke Matsuzaka. He was the one who came on with all the billing and expectation and hype. He's pitched pretty well, but Okajima has been kind of a revelation in the bullpen. He has been unquestionably their most consistent set-up guy.

"They've used him everywhere from the sixth to the eighth inning, and everyplace in between. He's gotten lefties and righties out, and the numbers are staggering, you know, he's got a batting average against of below .100. He's got an E.R.A. under 1.00. He can get lefties and righties out, and he's been really the biggest find of the first five weeks of the season, and it was nice to see him get recognized for that."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:32 AM to Martone , McAdam | Permalink