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Projo SoxTalk with McAdam: All eyes on Dice-K (updated)

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo SoxTalk with Sean McAdam. Today's topics: Daisuke Matsuzaka's pre-playoff preparation; the Angels' first crack at Dice-K; Kelvim Escobar's health; Vladimir Guerrero back in right field; the benefits and drawbacks of extra time off after a win; and the high-scoring playoff games on Thursday.

Here are some excerpts from Sean's comments:

On Matsuzaka's first matchup with the Angels: "I think as long as Daisuke's arsenal of pitches is intact and working, then he definitely has the edge, moreso than most pitchers, because he can throw so many different pitches and give you so many different looks. But, of course, he's got to command the ball and get ahead. ... This would seem to be a pretty good lineup to face for him because they don't drive the pitch count up the way maybe the Yankees or Indians do, and that's been a problem for him, where he has these long innings, where teams work every at-bat carefully and get some walks. The angels are not likely to do that; they go up and swing pretty early in the count, and that should play into Daisuke's plans."

Is Escobar healthy for tonight? "They've got all kinds of nicks and bruises over there, with Matthews and Guerrero and Garret Anderson -- all three outfielders with some injury or another. And there has been some physical concerns for Escobar down the stretch, but apparently they were able to give him a bit of a break in that final week, and he seems ready to go."

On Thursday's games: "The Phillies-Rockies series, you figure it was only a matter of time with those two teams in that ballpark before you had one of those games with 15 runs scored. Those two teams are built on offense. They didn't get there through pitching, although they do have some good pitching, but they're offensive teams first and foremost. And you put them in Citizens Bank ballpark, where the ball flies out of there -- it wasn't surprising that they broke out. In Cleveland, Wang did not get his sinker down and the Indians took advantage of that. And, you know, the Cubs and Diamondbacks have some offense, although if you had said one of those teams was going to score eight runs, I think most people would have figured it was going to be the visitors, not the home team."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:01 PM to McAdam | Permalink