Francona's blunder

Before the Red Sox and Rays went into extra innings the other night, I was thinking how I’ve been so critical of manager Terry Francona over the years. Since day one, I never thought he was a great manager. He inherited a team that was one out away from going to the World Series, which added Curt Schilling and Keith Foulke to the pitching staff. Anyone with half of a baseball brain could have managed that team to a title.

Since that 2004 season, slowly but surely I started to give him credit. I have always thought that he does a fantastic job keeping the team together, handling all 25 personalities, and keeping things sane, especially in the very over the top Boston atmosphere.

Francona then seemed to win me over last year when he led the team to its second World Series title, something no one has been able to do in over 100 years. In order to capture that second title last year, the Sox desperately needed its younger players to be big contributors and they were. Jonathan Papelbon and Kevin Youkilis really emerged as front-line everyday players, and then the play of Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Manny Delcarmen, most especially late in the season, provided the depth the Red Sox needed to win three post-season series. As much as Theo Epstein and his staff deserve the credit for bringing in all of these young stars, Francona certainly deserves so much of the credit for bringing these guys along, because after all, they have all become fantastic players in a short amount of time.

But on the flip side of that, I always have doubts about some of Francona’s moves, especially with the bullpen, and his reluctance of using the hit-and-run, and the sacrifice bunt, which drives me crazy. But it’s mostly the bullpen calls – like the other night. Why in the world was Mike Timlin brought in? Granted, Timlin has had a tremendous career – four World Series championships is a tremendous feat. He’s been a very valuable and reliable reliever for many years and for many teams. But he doesn’t belong on the post-season roster, nevermind enter an extra inning game.

I understand why Papelbon wasn’t brought back out for the 11th inning. Granted, I thought he could have come back for at least the first hitter or two, but the call right there was Paul Byrd. He could have gone multiple innings. Plus he rarely walks batters, and he gets groundball outs. Why in the world was Timlin brought in? The guy has been awful the past month, and ended the season with an ERA of 5.66. Why is he even on the post- season roster? David Aardsma or Chris Smith are better than Timlin – heck maybe even Alex Cora is at this point in time.

Who knows what would have happened if Byrd came in instead of Timlin. Maybe Byrd gives up a lead-off home run. But if the Sox prevailed in that extra inning game, it would be a 2-0 lead heading back to Boston for three straight with the best pitcher in baseball going in game three. The move to bring in Timlin made no sense. Now, the Rays are back in this series because Timlin couldn't find te plate because he's simply all washed up. Timlin is the 25th player on this post-season roster. Byrd was the 24th – why go to your last player, who has been nothing short of terrible over the past month, in a very critical situation?