Two years ago, I stepped in to defend Terry Francona against naysayers. That season, the Red Sox finished in a tie for the division with the Yankees, and we won the wild card due to the Yankees winning the head-to-head tiebreaker, having beaten us 10 games to nine. The Francona furor abated, but now it seems to be making quite the comeback with the Red Sox losing 1-0 two nights ago.
There are a couple of issues about this game that has been raised.
- The hit-and-run/steal with Jason Varitek at first base and Alex Cora at second,
- Julio Lugo trying to steal second on a 3-1 count,
- Coco Crisp slowing down en route to home plate, and not sliding, and
- Eric Hinske and Alex Cora having the audacity to be allowed to play baseball.
Apparently, Terry Francona was at fault for every single mistake.
Have we stopped and considered the fact that sometimes, the Red Sox are going to lose a game? We won a game 1-0 the night before this game. I didn’t see any complaining about Francona.
Is it possible, that instead of blaming Francona for ‘losing’ this game, we give credit to Fausto Carmona for winning the game with his brilliant pitching? Or is that too much for us to bear, conceding that a team was actually better than us, if for only one night?
Let’s walk through the issues above one by one.
The first is this hit-and-run with Jason Varitek on first and Alex Cora at the plate.
It was the top of the eighth inning, and there was one out, with Varitek hanging out at first base. The game was 1-0, as it had been for a long time. The Red Sox bats simply weren’t waking up. Alex Cora walked to the plate, hitting .268 on the season. Cora let a pitch go by him, and Varitek was caught trying to steal second (he was tagged out trying to get back to first in time) and people assumed Varitek had been given the sign to steal. Francona was immediately vilified for this decision, until it was learned that it was supposed to be a hit-and-run.
Did the criticism abate? No. It then became that Francona should have never called the hit and run. Francona continues to get the bashing.
Except … Alex Cora was the one that blew it. The hit and run sign was flashed, Cora missed it. Who knows what happens if Cora swings? Maybe he gets a hit. Maybe he gets an out (which is fine, at least Tek is still on first) … or maybe, just maybe, he distracts the catcher enough that Varitek can get into second safely (very doubtful) or most likely, foul the pitch off.
And yet Francona still gets the blame? Why doesn’t he get the credit for a successful hit and run. Oh, wait. The players do. Player A gets credit for a good jump, and Player B gets credit for getting the bat on the ball. Heck, give the third-base coach credit for giving Player B the sign (and give Player B even more props for catching the sign!) but … oh god, we just can’t give the manager the credit for the hit and run there. Just can’t happen, right?
Look, I’m not a fan of sitting around waiting for the three-run homerun. It gets old, and that’s been how the team has played from 2003 through 2006. The team was incredibly potent in 2003, but it certainly went through quite the dry spells. In 2004, we were headed nowhere until two adept fielders were brought in, one who brought some speed to the team. In 2005, offense was the name of the game, much like in 2003, but we went nowhere. In 2006, the team fell apart due to basically every player except David Ortiz stinking the joint up or getting hurt.
This team has fantastic depth and is built to win a baseball game by playing baseball in every aspect of it, not just the three-run homerun. That includes stealing bases. It includes the three-run jimmy jack. It includes a hit and run. But are we going to sit around and wait for Alex Cora to hit a two-run homerun off a dealing starting pitcher in the eighth inning of a 1-0 game? If the answer is yes to some of you, I truly thank the heavens you are not managing this team.
Francona was trying to make something happen. Now, if Cora ends up bouncing in a double play, maybe, just maybe, you can find some fault at Francona’s feet.
But you can’t in this example. Alex Cora blew it. Period.
Now there’s two outs. Cora reaches on an infield single to shortstop (by the way, it’s very possible Varitek could have been thrown out at second on this single, so Varitek getting caught stealing is moot, isn’t it?). Julio Lugo, who had the day off, comes in to pinch run. Lugo has 25 steals on the season (unheard of for a Sox player, isn’t it?) and only two caught stealing. He decides to take off on a 3-1 count. Now, the issue here is: did Terry Francona call for that steal or not? Let’s assume he did, because if he didn’t, then Francona simply cannot be held accountable for Lugo taking off without a steal, just like Francona wasn’t accountable for Julio Lugo’s rock-bottom point of the season, getting thrown out at third base, representing a pivotal run.
So let’s say he did. If it’s ball four, Lugo walks to second anyways. That’s the main reason why stealing on a 3-1 count is a bit head-scratching, and why I tend to tilt to that Francona did not give Lugo the steal sign. However, what if he did? Coco’s been hot lately; a hit could very well score Julio Lugo from first base, considering he’s already in motion. How about if Julio Lugo’s safe? Look at the ratio. 25 steals, 2 caught. There’s a very high probability he’s going to nab the steal, and you have a man sitting in scoring position with two outs.
Getting caught makes Lugo and Francona bad. But something had to be done. Come on, it was a 1-0 game! You have speed on the basepaths, and you do not have a home-run hitter chilling at the plate. Again, like I said before, you can’t just sit around waiting for a homerun, especially since homeruns all over baseball have taken a marked nosedive this year. I give Francona credit for taking initiative and trying to win the game.
I don’t think anyone could rationally justify that it’s Terry Francona’s fault that Coco Crisp slowed down going home or that Manny Ramirez wasn’t around to tell Crisp whether or not to slide, so I’ll skip over this part. (I will say this: I’m sick and tired of Manny not being a team player.) I think that Crisp was out, but if Manny was around, there’s a great probability Crisp is safe. Manny would have been gesticulating for Crisp to run as hard as he could home, negating slowing down (perhaps that’s why Crisp slowed down; Manny was gone, and Crisp thought he should stay at third?) and Manny would have told Crisp a slide was needed.
Now, apparently it was the horror of horrors that Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo get a day off. Lugo ended up not getting the whole game off, no? Look, your best players can’t play every single second of every single game. They’ll get run down and worth nothing in September and October. You have to rest them … and if you can’t trust your bench … what good is your bench? Eric Hinske is hitting .205/.302/.420, and Cora is at .268/.313/.428. Great? No (except for Hinske’s excellent walk rate) … but come on, you can’t ask your starters to play every inning of every game. It takes a true breed of player to be able to do that (Cal Ripken Jr., Miguel Tejada, etc.) and as it is, Lowell plays in quite a high volume of games.
If you want to blame someone, blame Theo Epstein for not getting good enough bench players. But blaming Francona? Be serious. This is one game, with 162 total games, 100 already having been played. People have to rest. If you want to blame someone, blame Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo opting to take the game off instead of the game tonight against Tampa Bay. I see absolutely no reason why Francona should be blamed for this. Like it or not, players have to rest. And who are we to assume Lowell would have done any damage?
Don’t forget, in the ninth inning, facing Joe Borowski, Coco Crisp (he of the 3-1 count in the eighth inning) struck out, and so did Dustin Pedroia. If you want missed chances, look there. The dealing pitcher is out, and a pitcher with an ERA north of 5.00 is in, with the top of the order up. If you want someone to blame, why not blame Josh Beckett, who “left a fastball down the (expletive) middle,” in his terms?
As Mostly Running said:
If anyone can start citing (Value over Replacement Manager) for Tito, go ahead, until then it
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