Terry Francona

Terry Francona is the beloved (to some), manager of the Boston Red Sox. For many a moons now I have defended Francona at nausea. While I hate to be cliche the proof is in the pudding. He has won 2 world series, his players unanimously love him, and he isn't Grady Little or Jimy Williams(1) both former nit wits who managed the Sox.
Many of my contemporaries(2) have hated on Francona because they are convinced that the Sox have won in spite of him, and that he cant juggle a pitching staff. Also, because they are Red Sox fans they are convinced they know more about the Sox than whomever the manager is.
With all of that being said, Francona screwed up royally in Game 2 of the ALCS vs Tampa Bay. Leading the series 1-0 and with the chance to put a strangle hold on the Rays, Francona waited far to long to pull out his starter and former staff ace Josh Beckett as he was getting shelled by the Rays. Also, extra innings, in a tie game he elected to go with Mike Timlin, a great veteran with many notches of playoff glory under his belt instead of Paul Byrd a late season pickup who had filled in admirably as a 5th starter. By staying with Beckett and pitching Timlin, Francona's tendencies to stay with "his guys" were magnified under the playoff glare.
With Game 3 starting in 5 hours or so, I am still confident the Sox will pull the series out. However, my faith and confidence in Francona has most certainly been shaken.


Footnotes

1 - Jimy Williams is now the Philadelphia Phillies Bench Coach. Why anyone in baseball gave him a job after what he did to the Boston Red Sox in the time that he was in charge is an absolute mystery to me.
2- For future reference my contemporaries consist of five groups of people, and most everyone I know is associated with, and can be traced to one of these groups one of these groups. The first group is my friends from a jewish day camp I attended and then worked at called Camp Grossman. The second group is from a jewish youth group I was in called USY. The third group are friends from High School. What is most interesting about this group is that while I am now close with the group that has labeled itself "The Crew" I wasnt nearly as close with these people when I saw them every day in high school. The fourth group of my friends are associates that I met while at UMass Amherst. The fifth group is bunch of fellow research analysts I spend between 45-55 hours a week working with at BHA, a start up company that does research and marketing for alternative investment funds