Terry’s Tenure: Sizing Up The Sox Skipper 2
Red Sox brass relishing the team's second World Series title.
Boston Red Sox fans’ hearts collectively sank as they watched their beloved team lose on a walkoff in game 7 of the American League Championship series to the Yankees. A 95 win season down the drain and World Series aspirations gone. The curse at the forefront of a shook Red Sox Nation.
What went wrong? The team pounced on Yankees starter Roger Clemens and knocked him out after three innings. Pedro Martinez was on the mound and he was dealing too. That was until the 8th inning when manager Grady Little left a tired Pedro in the game. Despite having two pitchers in Mike Timlin and Allen Embree who had not given up runs all postseason, Grady left Martinez in to blow a 4-2 lead when he finally took him out after 123 pitches. The rest was history.
Grady Little’s contract was not renewed in the off-season and the Red Sox were on the prowl for a manager to take over this perennial World Series squad.
Enter Terry “Tito” Francona. Francona had one previous managerial stint from 1997-2000 with the Philadelphia Phillies where he amassed a disappointing 285-363 record before getting his walking papers. He had three separate one year stints over the next three years including stops in Cleveland as an assistant to the general manger, and in Texas and Oakland as a bench coach.
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