Originally Posted By: klydon1
 Originally Posted By: Irishman12
 Originally Posted By: goombah
 Originally Posted By: klydon1
Boston should erect a statue of Terry Francona if they win the series. For all my life there was always a pessimism among the Red Sox in the postseason. There was the Johnny pesky snakebit moment, the heartbreaks of '67 and '75, and of course Game 6 of the '86 series, after which Boston lost about 12 straight postseason games. Not to mention Aaron bleeping Boone and Bucky bleeping Dent.

The Red Sox have won all 6 WS games with Francona at the helm, and no longer are the teams waiting for something bad to happen. They have a postseason confidence now, and it's hard to see this team now losing 4 of the 5 remaining games.


That's a good point. Grady Little and John McNamara certainly could not have replicated what Francona has done.


Would either of you guys be saying the same thing if the Red Sox lost Games 4 or 5 of the 2004 ALCS?


No. That's the point. He didn't lose those games. Nobody expected the Red Sox to have come back. It was the normal order of the universe that the Yankees would beat the Red Sox and win their twenty-whateverth world series.


I don't think he won those games either. See David Ortiz in Games 4 & 5, Curt Schilling in Game 6 and Johnny Damon in Game 7. I've never been impressed with Francona as a manager and feel he gets too much credit. Remember they got swept in the 2005 ALDS to the Chicago White Sox and finished in third place last year in the AL East.