A relaxed Erik Bedard can look forward to being welcomed with open arms in Boston.

Terry Francona knows full well that a player with high expectations from Red Sox fans can face an almost unfair environment when they come to Boston in the midst of a heated playoff race.

Fans and expectations at Fenway can make it nearly impossible to focus on the job at hand.

But Francona said Monday if there’s one place set up to handle – and more importantly welcome – a new teammate like Erik Bedard it’s the Red Sox clubhouse.

“Guys have come in and struggled and it’s a little harder,” Francona said. “I think with a pitcher, it might be a little bit easier. He’s going to pitch his game, do his work. I think our clubhouse is an easy place to come into, too. I’ve been in a lot of clubhouses and ours is pretty easy. I think the personalities in there, they do a good job. Once you walk in and you’re one of us, you’re one of us. It doesn’t take very long.”

Bedard won’t have very long to wait to take that Fenway center stage as he starts on Thursday night against the Indians.

“I’ve never even really met Erik,” Francona said of the pitcher who is set to arrive in Boston on Tuesday. “Again, if he has a good first outing, it probably makes it easier for him. If he doesn’t have a good first outing, I think people in uniform, Theo [Epstein], we’re smart enough to know that it may take a couple of starts. He hasn’t pitched that much. It’s not the end of the world. I don’t know if fans necessarily react the same way. Sometimes that makes it harder on players, depending on their personality. But he’ll get a lot of support in the clubhouse, regardless of how he throws.” Read the rest of this entry »

David Ortiz has seen a lot in his nine years in Boston. Two World Series titles, Manny being Manny and walk-off win after walk-off win, some he even was responsible for.

But he’s never seen what Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia are doing to opposing pitchers right now during one of the most awesome offensive displays in team history.

The Red Sox are 18-4 in July and 62-28 since starting the season 2-10 and Ortiz said after Wednesday’s 12-5 laugher over the Royals at Fenway that the top two men in the order are the biggest reason why.

“I think Ellsbury and Pedroia, they’re making it tougher on everyone else. What they’re doing at the top of the lineup, it’s ridiculous. You don’t get that on a daily basis from the first and second-hole hitter. They’re putting so much pressure on the pitcher. I’m sure that gets you out of control a little bit.”

Ortiz belted his 10th career grand slam in the five-run fourth, giving him nine slams with the Red Sox. That matches Rico Petrocelli for second all-time in team history, behind the 17 of Ted Williams. It also gave him exactly 1,000 RBIs with the Red Sox.

“I’ve been here, this is what, my ninth year here?” Ortiz asked rhetorically. “When your name gets in the mix with guys that played here their whole career, it’s a compliment. It’s something that you don’t think about it right now while you’re playing. You kind of sit down and say, well, I did OK while I was there.”

To manager Terry Francona, the Ortiz homer really put some separation in the game. But like Ortiz, Francona thought the two homers by Ellsbury and Pedroia to open the game were huge as the Royals got three quick runs off John Lackey in the first.

“We get the two home runs and it’s like, ‘We’ve got a long way to go and we’re OK.’ When Ells and Pedey together are hot, that’s a really good combination,” Francona said in echoing Ortiz.

Ortiz did poke fun at Pedroia before giving him his props by saying he’s seen Pedroia – the man who extended his hitting streak to 24 games with a solo homer in the first – do this before.

“Um, I have seen that before. when the Muddy Chicken gets hot, look out. Laser Show,” Ortiz smiled. Read the rest of this entry »

Carl Crawford

Terry Francona knows his players better than anyone. And when the Red Sox manager said before Sunday’s game that he could tell Carl Crawford was looking more and more comfortable taking the ball to left field, he was on to something.

Crawford went 3-for-4 Sunday with a walk in Boston’s 12-8 romp over the Mariners that completed a three-game sweep and moved the Red Sox to a season-best 25 games over .500 at 62-37. And sure enough, all three hits went to left field and his average is now up to .254 in 73 games, an increase of 100 points since the end of April.

While there’s been plenty of attention paid to the likes of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez at the top of the order, Crawford has steadily cemented his place as the most important and productive batter right now in the bottom half.

Before he injured his left hamstring running out an infield grounder on June 17 vs. the Brewers, Crawford had steadily shown improvement and a willingness to accept his place as the team’s 6-hole hitter. There were those who worried that he might lose his timing and rhythm on the disabled list.

Not Francona.

“You have to give him a lot of credit,” Francona said. “While he was down, he worked real hard. We weren’t really worried about his legs because he’s worked so hard and he looked like he was moving around so much. He did so much hitting and he’s come back and gotten really comfortable real quick and that’s really helpful to us. So many times, you play a guy and you have to kind of let him ease his way in and get his at-bats but he’s been helping us right from the first game back.” Read the rest of this entry »

Terry Francona

Safe to say win No. 1,001 in the managerial career of Terry Francona came a little easier than No. 1,000.

The Red Sox pounded the hapless, woeful and woebegone Mariners for 17 hits and 12 runs in a 12-8 triumph Sunday at Fenway that — as they say — wasn’t really that close.

But the day before the Red Sox skipper had to sweat out a 3-1 nail biter for his grand entrance into an exclusive MLB managerial club.

So how did he celebrate after getting doused with the beer from David Ortiz? Steak, champagne? Not quite.

“I had a grilled cheese sandwich,” Francona joked Sunday. “I always have a grilled cheese sandwich.”

But what Francona really appreciated wasn’t the food or beverage but the roasting and toasting via messages of all types he received from family and friends throughout baseball.

“The prevailing thought seems to be that people are surprised I’m still here,” Francona said. “I got that more than anything. I got some nice messages from people that mean a lot to me so that was nice. That actually made me feel better than anything.

“I think it’s pretty obvious. I was honored and I was proud but I’m a lot more comfortable talking about our guys and our team. I just think that’s the way it should be. I did feel good.”

One thing Francona made pretty clear is that – despite being with a great organization that wins year in and year out — he doesn’t see challenging the likes of Tony La Russa, who leads all active managers with 2,691 wins.

“You have to remember, it’s a round number but then you start looking at some of those other guys, you need to hush up because there are some guys with some pretty big numbers that are still managing,” Francona said. “So, it’s actually kind of humbling a little bit. It makes you realize how long they’ve been doing it and how hard it is to win.

“How many wins does Tony La Russa have? I would be willing to bet that if you see my name with [2,691], there’ll be an asterisk. I’ll be dead. That’ll be quite an accomplishment.”

Everyone – it seemed – saw the fan interfere with the ball Marco Scutaro hit down the right field line with two outs in the seventh. Everyone that is, except Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

That’s when Francona needs a second pair of eyes to help him argue his case for fan interference, which would have given first base umpire Jeff Kellogg the right to reward Jason Varitek home plate with the tying run.

But instead, first base coach Ron Johnson didn’t think much of it because he thought it was too close.

“I told RJ, ‘You’ve got to tell me.’ I go on RJ on that. I think there’s a good point for it being interference. They kicked the fan out.”

And had Francona gone out to debate, there’s more than a fair chance he could’ve convinced Kellogg to change his mind since the Red Sox manager has had his share of success in debating such calls over his eight years in Boston.

But in Johnson’s defense, calls like that are extremely hard to judge, even with the perspective of being on the field and having a leaning look over from the first base coaching box.

“I can’t see it,” Francona said Sunday. “He told me, ‘I would’ve told you. I didn’t think it was.’ It happens quick.”

Of course, as it turned out, the point was made moot when Jacoby Ellsbury drilled a two-strike single to center, scoring both Varitek and Scutaro with the tying and go-ahead runs in Boston’s 3-1 win.

The Red Sox will be watching Jon Lester very closely on Monday night when he comes off the disabled list and returns to action after missing three weeks with a strained muscle in his left side.

“The biggest thing will be watching his workload,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Lester, who was 10-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 18 starts this season before pulling his left lat on July 5 against the Blue Jays.

Lester was on a roll that hot, steamy night, throwing four no-hit innings before his left latissimus tightened up on him during the top of the fourth.

“He’s come through this about as well as you could hope. He was completely pain-free when he started throwing, and that’s what we wanted. Now, it’s just being able to build up endurance. If you go out and let a guy throw 120 [pitches] the first time out, he’s going to be sore so we don’t want to do that.”

It’s somewhat apppropriate that Lester is returning to action Monday night in the series opener against the Royals at Fenway Park, as he hurled his no-hitter against them on May 19, 2008.

“You try to balance winning the game and bringing him along where he can get on a roll because when that bell rings he’s going to forget about being down a couple of weeks and he’s going to go out there and fire and try to win. That’s good but we have to keep an eye on him.”

How good has Daniel Bard been in his record-setting scoreless innings streak? His best pitch of his night wasn’t even thrown in the right location.

That’s how good. And now his streak is at 24 scoreless frames in his last 23 appearances after playing Houdini by escaping a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the eighth, leading the Red Sox over the Mariners, 3-1, Saturday night at Fenway.

The Red Sox had just staked their ace set-up man to a two-run lead with a three-run seventh. Naturally, Bard comes in. Instead of a routine 1-2-3 inning like Red Sox fans have become accustomed to of late, Bard surrendered a leadoff single to Dustin Ackley, a hard-earned walk by Justin Smoak and an Adam Kennedy bunt that was supposed to be a simple sacrifice.

Instead, Bard heard the barking Jason Varitek order a throw to third. It was the right call as Bard’s throw to Kevin Youkilis was in time and Youkilis backpedaled and touched the bag just before Ackley reached it. But third base umpire Eric Cooper ruled Ackley safe.

“I saw the replay,” Bard said. “[Youkilis] looked like he probably got his foot to the bag first but kind of a weird play where he was trying to get back to the bag at the same time. But I tried to do my part and it didn’t happen how I wanted it but we got out of it scoreless.

“Tek was yelling ’3!’ and that’s my first instinct. I’m assuming get the out at third if there’s anything else, I can always turn around and get the out at first.”

Bases loaded, none out and not only was “The Streak” in jeopardy, so were Josh Beckett‘s ninth win of the season and Terry Francona‘s 1,000th as a major league manager.

“It definitely wasn’t an easy one but sometimes things don’t go quite right, you just have to keep grinding,” Bard said, crediting Smoak with a key at-bat early in the inning. “He laid off some really good pitches. They weren’t strikes but three of them were two or three inches off, or less, just pitcher’s pitches but I just couldn’t get that one down the middle when I needed it. I didn’t want to give into him. He’s got power, we respected that but I still thought he did a good job of laying off some pretty good pitches.” Read the rest of this entry »