Terry Francona: Justifying and Questioning His Decisions in ALCS Game Two

There have been a lot of questions surrounding the choices Terry Francona made last night during Game Two of the ALCS.

Though it's hard to question a skipper who has earned two World Series rings and a Division Championship in the last four years with the Boston Red Sox, some of his decisions last night seemed a bit quizzical to most.

Question One: Why did the struggling Josh Beckett get sent back out to work in the fifth inning?

This is a very good question, especially considering Joe Maddon showed no sympathy on his starter, Scott Kazmir, when he was pulled in the top of the fifth after giving up a two run homer to Kevin Youkilis that tied the game.

The only logical answer I can see is that Francona wanted Beckett to be able to make it all the way through the fifth inning before having to go to his bullpen.

I'm sure Beckett, Francona, and pitching coach John Farrell had words in the dugout and Beckett said he would be fine to go one more inning.  Most would think that pitching one inning without giving up any runs would be a simple task for Josh Beckett.


Question 2: After Beckett was knocked around in the top of the fifth, why go to Javier Lopez when you have someone like Paul Byrd in the bullpen?

Francona said that Byrd would serve as a long relief pitcher. This would appear to be a situation where he was needed.

Though I don't think Francona lacks confidence in Byrd, I think Tito was just trying to be aggressive.  Everyone has an off day after this game before heading back to Boston where their workhorse of a starter Jon Lester will take the mound. This would basically allow the majority of the bullpen two days rest.

The reason the side winding Javier Lopez was brought in for one pitch was for a lefty on lefty matchup against Carl Crawford.  It was just unfortunate for Lopez that Crawford was able to get an RBI single off his first pitch of the game—making his night on the mound a rather short one.

Manny Delcarmen was brought in after Lopez.  I've yet to hear any questions really surrounding this call to the bullpen, or bringing in Hideki Okajima after Delcarmen.  Both are pretty solid relief pitchers and capable of going two full innings if needed.

Hoping that Boston could pull ahead in the game, this would set up Francona's new bullpen toy Justin Masterson to set up the eccentric Jonathan Papelbon to shut the game down.  This is more or less how it played out, despite pulling the lead.


Question 3: Why pull Masterson after only two-thirds of an inning in the ninth and bring in Papelbon with the game tied?

At this point in the game, I started to see the wheels fall off for Boston.

Francona's decision can easily be answered by saying that he was staying aggressive and putting faith in the offense.  He was at the meat and potatoes of his batting order for the top of the ninth.  Dustin Pedroia—who already had two lead off homers in the game—was leading off, followed by David "Big Papi" Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Bay.

Francona put a lot of faith in the offense to pull through in the ninth so Papelbon could shut it down in the bottom of the 10th.

This was the first call I didn't agree with.

Masterson was doing fine. He had two outs, a runner on first, and was perfectly capable of getting the third out.  If you fail to score in the top of the tenth frame, you can bring Masterson back out for another inning, and you still have Papelbon ready to go in the bullpen.

But if you use Papelbon and don't get the run, you're left with Byrd and Mike Timlin in the bullpen.  Keep Papelbon on the bench until you get the lead, and then use him to close the game.


Question 4: After the offense wasn't able to get a run—and Papelbon's already gone an inning-and-a-third—why bring in Timlin over Byrd?

This is when I told myself the game was over. I started having flashbacks to the 14th inning of Tampa Bay's last game of the regular season at Fenway on September 10th.  At this point, you realize both bullpens are about spent and it's going to be a matter of whose final pitchers can last the longest.

One would think all of the cards point to Byrd in this situation.

Byrd is a starting pitcher who can easily go five or six innings.  He also has a perfect one-move shift towards first when checking runners, which is key when you have the likes of BJ Upton, Carl Crawford, and Jason Bartlett standing there.  Also useful in that situation is Byrd's constant changing wind-up and footwork.  If Tampa Bay got a runner on, you can guarantee Maddon is going to be aggressive.

Why wouldn't he?  They are the fastest team in the majors, finishing the season in first place for stolen bases with 142.  It's hard for a runner to get a jump off a pitcher who is inconsistent in his pre-pitch motions.

Despite the reasons I saw to put in Byrd, Francona chose Timlin. We all know how well that worked out.

By no means am I saying Francona doesn't know what he's doing or that I could do a better job than him.  I'm simply saying there were some questionable decisions made that left a lot of people wondering: "What if..."