Look, I sincerely believe Terry Francona is an awesome guy. Now I’m beginning to buy into his, you know, on-field baseball strategies.
Regular Season Francona has some bad habits. Bad habits that causes me, among other diehard Sox fans, to pull my hair out and resort to illegal practices. For one, he leaves his starters in way too long in key games to see if they can “battle.” He gives veteran players like Alex Cora way too many at-bats and feels the puzzling need to substitute each of his bench players in a specific game. His usage of the bullpen, capped off by the downright criminal use in the Friday night game against New York (at least he’s not Torre) is often misinformed and disastrous, although he’s improved while the bullpen has improved.
For all I’ve heard, Francona is a phenomenal clubhouse manager that gains the respect of his players from the instant they walk in the door. He never turns into Charlie Manuel, flying into panic mode and screaming incessantly at reports. Instead, he is calm, cool and collected in the face of question or adversity. These are the strong points of Terry Francona.
We could be doing a lot worse, believe me.
Still, I find myself disagreeing with Francona often. He knows more than me, has better numbers to use, scouting reports, etc. and that’s all true. Every fan questions their manager, it is totally natural.
Last night, the playoff Terry Francona I know and love returned.
Returning was the 2004 Terry Francona that used Keith Foulke, our best arm, in every do-or-die situation. Returning was the Terry Francona who managed the pen masterfully in the marathon Game 4 and Game 5 of the ALCS. Returning was the Terry Francona that pulled Derek Lowe out of his behind for Game 7. Returning was the Terry Francona who pulled his starters at the first signs of collapse.
The bullpen was huge last night in the winning effort. The numbers are self-explanatory. Papelbon walking a few batters with two outs coupled with stolen bases proved to be the lone threat. The combination of Lopez, Delcarmen, Okajima and Papelbon did not surrender a hit in 4.1 innings. Strong bullpens are so enormously huge in playoff games it cannot be described in words.
It was Terry Francona, though, that set them up in perfect situations to succeed.
He pulled Dice-K at exactly the right moment in the fifth following a hit, walk and wild pitch, avoiding his
