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TERRY FRANCONA |
BOSTON STRONG -
THE ROAD TO REDEMPTION
Terry Francona's Indians
hammer Ryan Dempster
and the Red Sox, 12-3
May 23, 2013 ...
The Cleveland Indians, made Fenway Park look like their own backyard with a steady stream of hard hits and gave Terry Francona a satisfying homecoming victory at Fenway Park. In a disheartening opener to a six-game homestand, the Red Sox were belted
around, 12-3, by Francona's red-hot Tribe.
While the Indians have reeled off 19 wins in their last 25 games, Boston is in a mini-slide, losing three of four. The most discouraging development for the Red Sox was that Ryan Dempster struggled for the third straight start. The veteran righty threw
a whopping 85 pitches over just three innings, giving up five hits and four runs. Dempster walked four and struck out four. After pitching well in his first seven starts for Boston, Dempster has a 10.66 ERA in his last three starts. In the start that
preceded this one, Dempster threw 127 pitches over just 4 2/3 innings.
David Ortiz crushed a three-run homer for the Red Sox in the bottom of the third, serving as the biggest highlight of the night for the home team.
Early on, the Fenway faithful got a chance to acknowledge Francona, as the Red Sox played a video highlight montage on the scoreboard after the first inning. Francona said all day he didn't want to be the focus. But he appreciated the gesture from the Red
Sox.
Time tints the past with fondness and regret. The disastrous 69-93 reign of Bobby Valentine last season and the clubhouse-cleansing deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that exiled Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Adrian Gonzalez were vindication for Francona.
The Sox thought the problem was the manager. It never was. It was a clubhouse culture of entitlement, a micromanaging ownership, and an organizational focus on building a brand over building a baseball team. When he was here, Francona was never given the
wide berth and undying adulation of a Bill Belichick. A lot of that is the nature of the job of Red Sox manager, a pressure-packed crucible of captious critiques, constant second-guessing, and scant credit. With the second-most wins of any manager in Red Sox
history (744), winning two World Series titles, and taking the team to the playoffs five times in his eight seasons he became the scapegoat.
Dempster did work around a single in a scoreless first. After that, his night deteriorated. Carlos Santana led off the second with a single and Mark Reynolds followed with a walk. With two outs, Drew Stubbs popped one into no-man's land down the right-field line.
Dustin Pedroia dove for it, but it was just out of his reach for an RBI double. In the third, Dempster lost command. Asdrubal Cabrera opened a three-run rally with a one-out single. Dempster then walked Michael Brantley and Santana. Reynolds followed with a
two-run single up the middle. Then, yet another walk, this time to Yan Gomes. A fielder's choice RBI by Mike Aviles gave the Indians a 4-0 lead.
Despite the early deficit, the Red Sox roared back in the bottom of the third and seemed poised to make it a game. Ortiz unloaded ded for a three-run homer over the Indians' bullpen and several rows into the bleachers. Just like that, it was a 4-3 game.
It was not a sign of things to come, however.
Following Dempster's exit, Boston's bullpen gave up runs in three straight innings, capped by a six-spot in the sixth in which Cleveland blew the game open. |
