Francona on . . .
Terry Francona had his weekly chat with “The Dale and Holley Show” on sports radio WEEI this afternoon. While the Red Sox manager didn’t reveal much regarding his plans for the ALCS, here are a few of his noteworthy comments, quotes, and observations on the day after the Red Sox eliminated the Angels in the ALDS:
On why he removed Jon Lester from the game after seven shutout innings:
“When he came off the mound [after the seventh inning], he was done. He knew he was done. And [pitching coach] John Farrell asked him something about, ‘What do you have left?,’ and [Jon] said something about, ‘I think I can go out.” But he was already done, we already had [Hideki Okajima] in the game. I had told Jon the minute he looked up at the sky [after retiring the final batter of the seventh inning] that ‘Okie is in the game.’ There’s no way we’re going to make a mistake like that [sending a pitcher back out after thinking his work was done]”
On whether Lester knew the pitch count ahead of time:
“Oh, of course not. That’s be stupid. I’m mean, how do we know? We don’t know ourselves. That pitch count has gotten a life of its own. There are so many more things that go into it: The score of the game, who’s available in the bullpen, who we’re facing, there’s a lot of things that go into it. The pitch count meant very little last night.”
On Jonathan Papelbon’s status for Game 4 after throwing 31 pitches in Game 3:
“Oh, Pap [would] have had an inning in him. And I’m sure K-Rod did too.”
On when the Sox might need a fourth starter in the ALCS:
“It looks to me, at first blush, that Game 4 will probably be the game you need that guy. It looks like [the starters] for Games 1, 2, and 3 [of the ALCS] can be the guys for [Games] 5, 6, and 7, which means we’ll need another starter for [Game 4]. But . . . those are things I’ll need to talk through, and once we talk through them, then we’ll talk to the pitchers and see how it’s best to get them where we need to be.”
On whether the Sox will add another pitcher to the roster for the seven-game ALCS:
“I think it’s likely. We’ll at least talk about it. You have to protect yourself in case things happen, and we’ve done that in the past.”
On Dustin Pedroia’s 0-for-15 start in the ALDS:
“Well, I always think [Dustin’s] going to get a hit. But that’s just the way the game goes. I don’t know how many times I was asked, ‘Are you going to move him out of the 2-hole?’ Nooo. Sometimes guys just don’t get hits.”
On playing at Tropicana Field, a dome with some unusual ground rules:
“You know, that part doesn’t bother me. But I hope that catwalk [in center field] doesn’t come into play. But if it does come into play, let me say, I hope it helps us . . . But that ballpark doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers other people. The dugout is good, you can see the game. They’ve got a great clubhouse. The game doesn’t get played differently besides those catwalks, and again, hopefully they don’t come into play.”
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