I say good for Terry Francona! No manager wants to lose a game, but Wednesday was one of those games Francona really wanted to win, and it showed in his controversial decision. He takes a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth at hitter's haven Texas, a lineup with power hitters everywhere, and who comes running in for the save? It wasn't Keith Foulke, that's for sure. The radar gun proves it.
On Wednesday in the daily 3:50 p.m. ET fantasy baseball segment on ESPNEWS, I went out on a limb, without really thinking a ton about it and without much evidence, and boldly said at some point soon we're going to see Jonathan Papelbon pass Mike Timlin and become the Red Sox closer should Foulke struggle or become injured.
Who knew it would happen that night? Not me. (By the way, had it been Rudy Seanez closing out the game, I would have denied any knowledge of that fantasy guy ever saying that on TV. Really, you guys always say you want bold statements, not the "Pujols is pretty good" variety but conjecture on the next big thing, so I try to accommodate. It's nice when it happens.)