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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: Red-hot Manny; Lester vs. Gabbard

On the Friday after a big Red Sox win, Sean McAdam is back for another edition of projo SoxTalk. Click here to listen to the full audio file. The topics include Manny Ramirez's hot streak; Wily Mo Pena's four-hit night and whether it increases his trade value; what the Red Sox can expect from Curt Schilling's return; who loses his spot in the rotation when Schilling comes back; and, of course, Ty Wigginton.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

On Ramirez: "He is as hot as any player in the game in the two weeks since the second half has begun, and the Red Sox can only hope it continues, because he is good enough to be the guy that can impact the entire batting order."

On Pena: "I'm sure there was some scout there from the Pittsburgh Pirates or the San Diego Padres, or one of the four or five teams interested in Pena, looking at last night and convincing himself that this is what this guy can be, and it's true, but the question is: How often? ... From the Red Sox standpoint the timing [of last night's big performance] probably couldn't have been any better, because maybe some team will delude themselves into thinking that they're going to get a lot more of this, rather than get it infrequently like the Red Sox have for two seasons."

On Schilling: "I think the key in this six-week shutdown is that he's had the time to rebuild the shoulder and strengthen that area, which I think frankly he had been lax in doing through the first two and a half months in the season, which is why you could see such inconsistency from him. ... Now that he's been shut down from major league competition for about a month and a half, and has been put on a throwing and strengthening program, they believe he's getting back to the point where he should be, and thus more consistent."

On Gabbard vs. Lester: "I think we're going to see something of a pitch-off here coming up in the next few days. We'll see how Jon Lester fares in his second start tomorrow night, and then Gabbard's next turn comes along Wednesday back at Fenway against Baltimore. And I think they're going to look at the way the arrows are pointing for these guys, are they up or down?"

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:02 AM to McAdam | Permalink