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Jimcs50
10-10-2004, 10:42 PM
Henry's a Francona-phile
By Jeff Horrigan
Sunday, October 10, 2004

One year ago this week, Grady Little accomplished the seemingly impossible by ticking off John Henry to the point that the mild-mannered Red Sox [stats, schedule] owner felt he had no other choice but to sack him as manager.

Little averaged 94 regular-season wins during his two seasons in charge and he led the Sox to within five outs of their first World Series appearance since 1986, but his decision to eschew statistical data and leave Pedro Martinez [stats, news] on the mound to squander a 5-2 lead in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series sealed his fate.

Henry, who made his fortune in the futures market by relying on statistical trends, decided that the philosophical rift between him and Little was so drastic that he commanded his dismissal.

Today, as the Sox prepare for their return to the ALCS Tuesday, Henry's feelings about his manager couldn't be more different. The Sox owner yesterday praised Little's successor, Terry Francona, saying he made ``great'' moves throughout the regular season and the Division Series sweep of the Angels, which ended in a dramatic, 8-6, 10-inning victory Friday.

``I think he's been super,'' Henry said. ``There were some boos (Friday) night and I was really surprised. Our fans are no idiots, but I thought he had a great, great series. And he had a great year, as far as I'm concerned.''

Friday, Francona made a series of key - and, potentially, controversial - moves that played major parts in the Game 3 triumph. The first was removing starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo [stats, news] after walking the leadoff batter in the seventh inning. The right-hander had a 6-1 lead at the time and had thrown only 91 pitches. Even though Mike Myers and Mike Timlin [stats, news] couldn't hold the lead and allowed the Angels to deadlock the score at 6-6, the series of moves that Francona's counterpart, Mike Scioscia, made in response to the relievers had an effect on the game.

``The way he approached that hitter (Jeff DaVanon), he didn't look like the Bronson of the inning before,'' Francona reasoned. ``And when they started using their bench, to me, it made a lot of sense. They burned a lot of players that inning and I was OK with that. . . . After they made their moves, their lineup was significantly weakened for our bullpen.''

Another move that was second-guessed was the decision to call on closer Keith Foulke [stats, news] with one on and one out in eighth inning, with the score still tied. Foulke left the runner on base and then worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth by striking out Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus.

In the bottom of the eighth, Francona had the opportunity to send in a pinch runner for David Ortiz [stats, news] after the Boston designated hitter reached on a two-out, infield single. The decision not to do so paid off in the 10th inning, when Ortiz belted the game-winning, two-run home run. Francona said he learned his lesson in the fourth game of the season, when he pinch-ran for Manny Ramirez [stats, news] in Baltimore in the 11th inning and the slugger wasn't available when his spot in the order came around again in the 13th. The Sox lost the game in the bottom of the 13th when soon-to-be-jettisoned reliever Bobby Jones walked four batters.

``We ran for David once or twice all year and it was very, very rare,'' Francona said. ``We ran for Manny (April 8) and it might have cost us. We went to extra innings and we didn't have Manny's bat, so that right there taught me that even though you want to get greedy, they're too good of hitters to have out of the game unless it's dire circumstances.''

The moves earned the seal-of-approval from Henry, who said a rematch with the Yankees in the ALCS wasn't necessary to attain any kind of redemption.

``I think we prefer to play the Twins so it will be about the American League Championship instead of the Red Sox-Yankees,'' he said. ``But I don't care, as long as we get to play a National League team.''

Jimcs50
10-10-2004, 10:43 PM
Look for Grady Little to be the next manager in Philly, since Bowa got canned last week.

T Park
10-11-2004, 12:14 AM
Look for the Phillies to win the division next year.