Hardball Hyperbole: Chapter 20

In today’s edition, the Red Sox moved on from Grady Little and hired Terry Francona as their manager for 2004, they added Curt Schilling to the rotation, and with their tremendous lineup mostly intact, expectations were soaring and revenge was on the minds of everyone in Beantown.

In the gloomy days following the horrific Game 7 ALCS loss to the Yankees, Red Sox manager Grady Little knew exactly what was going to happen. He was going to be fired, and given the way he had been treated following Boston’s elimination, he was actually fine with it.

While the Yankees were losing the World Series to the Marlins, the Boston Globe contacted Little and he said, “I’m prepared for the likelihood. I’m not sure I want to manage that team. That’s how I felt when I drove out of town. If they don’t want me, fine, they don’t want me.”

They didn’t want him.

What really irritated Little is that the vitriol he dealt with due to his undeniably ill-fated decision to stick too long with Pedro Martinez in Game 7 was overriding everything he had accomplished in Boston since he took over in 2002. That year the Sox finished 93-69, their second-best record since 1986, the year of their last pennant. And he had followed that with an even better 95-67 record in 2003, though neither was good enough to overtake the Yankees in the division.

Still, the 2003 team in particular had come together so beautifully under his stewardship, his laid back style seemingly perfect for a goofy clubhouse which included free spirits like Pedro, Johnny Damon, Manny Ramirez, Kevin Millar, and David Ortiz who kept things light and airy amidst all the pressure of going toe to toe with the Yankees.

“I’m disappointed that evidently some people are judging me on the results of one decision I made - not the decision but the results of the decision,” Little continued. “Twenty-four hours earlier those same people were hugging and kissing me. If that’s the way they operate, I’m not sure I want to be part of it. Just add one more ghost to the list if I’m not there because there are ghosts.”

The end came on Oct. 28, 2003, and team president Larry Lucchino - clearly one of the “people” Little was referring to who had turned his back on him after Game 7 - said, “We did assure him that this decision was not based on a single decision in a single game.”

Which was a line of bullshit. Consider this: If Aaron Boone doesn’t hit the home run and say Ramirez hits one for Boston in the 12th and it’s on to the World Series, there’s no way Little was getting fired.

Alas, that wasn’t the case, and a little more than a month after Little was ousted, the Red Sox hired Terry Francona, almost exclusively because their newest free agent signing, pitcher Curt Schilling, essentially told them he’d come to Boston if Francona did, too.

Francona had managed the Phillies from 1997 to 2000 and it had not gone well. His best season was 1999 when Philadelphia went 77-85 and finished third in the NL East. Across four years his record was 285-363, a .440 winning percentage. Granted, the Phillies were a young, rebuilding team, but Francona had not been able to turn things around and his last year was his worst, an awful 65-97.

Since then he had bounced around as bench coach for the Indians, Rangers and A’s, so without the push from Schilling, he probably would not have been considered by the Red Sox because why would he even have been on their radar?

“We’re here to win. It has to be that way,” Francona said. “Managing in Philadelphia was a great learning experience. I’m ready for this challenge, and nobody will put more pressure on me than I’ll put on myself.”

Schilling had forged a strong bond with Francona during the tough times in Philadelphia. Through all the losing, Schilling was a shining light as he made the NL All-Star team in the first three years of Francona’s tenure and went 47-31 with a 3.22 ERA in 94 starts, striking out 10 batters per nine innings.

In 2000 with the Phillies ship sinking, Schilling was traded to Arizona where he would go on to win a World Series in 2001, make two more All-Star teams, and finish runner-up twice to his teammate, Randy Johnson, in the Cy Young voting.

He was one of the elite pitchers in all of baseball, a hard-nosed competitor who, despite appearing in the postseason in just three seasons - 1993 with the Phillies and 2001 and 2002 with the Diamondbacks - had proven to be terrific on the big stage with 11 starts and a record of 5-1, four complete games and a 1.55 ERA.

Hell, all the Red Sox had to see was the 2001 World Series to convince them that they had to have Schilling. With the Yankees seeking a fourth straight championship, he started three times, compiled a 1.69 ERA, struck out 26 batters in 21 innings and was named co-MVP along with Johnson.

Heading into the offseason before 2004, the Diamondbacks knew they were about to enter a dark period of rebuilding, so they were looking to move Schilling as he was heading into the final year of a contract worth $12 million. The Yankees were, of course, in the mix, but Arizona wanted Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson as part of the return and Brian Cashman wouldn’t do it.

Interestingly, the Yankees would go on to include Johnson in a trade that brought pitcher Javier Vasquez to the Bronx, quite a step down from Schilling. And later, Soriano was the prize piece going to the Rangers in the trade that brought Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees.

Meanwhile, once the Yankees were out, Schilling began to focus on the Red Sox. Their front office contingent, led by Lucchino and GM Theo Epstein, had Thanksgiving dinner at Schilling’s home in Arizona, and the two sides agreed to a two-year contract extension which finalized the trade that sent four pitchers including Casey Fossum and a minor league outfielder to the Diamondbacks.

A week later, Francona was being introduced, and almost immediately, the hiring was met with skepticism from Red Sox Nation based on his struggles in Philadelphia.

Francona, as personable as anyone in baseball then and now, just rolled with the punches when he faced the voracious Boston media for the first time.

“Think about it for a second,” he said in his self-deprecating style when he was asked if he was surprised the Red Sox chose him. “I’ve been released from six teams; I’ve been fired as a manager; I’ve got no hair; I’ve got a nose that’s three sizes too big for my face, and I grew up in a major league clubhouse (his father Tito played 15 years in the big leagues). My skin’s pretty thick. I’ll be OK.”

He was not immune to the pressure, though, because he knew the expectations for the 2004 Red Sox were going to be enormous. They had come so close to beating their arch enemy the year before, and as the team headed to Fort Myers for spring training, it looked every bit as dangerous as the Yankees.

The Red Sox could now trot out Schilling, Pedro and Derek Lowe at the top of their rotation, backed by Tim Wakefield and Bronson Arroyo, a deep and impressive five-man unit that would be able to match up with the dynamic Yankees offense.

“I like our pitching staff a lot,” Epstein said when spring training commenced. “It’s a good feeling to sit here and know we have quality and depth. We can throw Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling out there, who can match up with any 1-2 in all of baseball. Derek Lowe as your third guy has the potential to dominate like the top-of-rotation starter he really is. Tim Wakefield, our No. 4, we have no doubts about Tim Wakefield.”

And when Epstein made another critical signing, getting closer Keith Foulke into the fold, that shored up the most glaring need from 2003 when Little was forced to play closer roulette. Foulke had emerged as a dominant closer in 2000 with the White Sox when he saved 34 games, then followed that with 42. He took a step back in 2002 and Chicago decided to trade him to the A’s where, in 2003, he led the AL with 43 saves and Francona had a front row seat as Oakland’s bench coach.

“When he’d give up a lead, you could tell he had no intention of coming out of the game,” Francona said of Foulke, who had blown only 16 saves in his last four seasons.

“You could tell it was killing him. He would go out and find a way to win the game. He’s certainly going to make my job easier. He’s unflappable.”

This was the missing link for the Red Sox. Their bullpen had been solid in 2003 with Mike Timlin, Alan Embree, Scott Williamson, Ramiro Mendoza and Byung-Hyun Kim all playing key roles, but there was no one to drop the hammer in the ninth similarly to the way Mariano Rivera was Mr. Automatic for the Yankees.

If this wasn’t enough to make the Yankees at least cast a wary eye toward Boston, the fact that baseball’s most prolific offense in 2003 was returning almost completely intact sure was. The only change to the lineup was Mark Bellhorn taking over for Todd Walker at second base.

The 2003 Red Sox ranked No. 1 in runs scored (961), total bases (2,832) batting average (.289), on-base percentage (.360), slugging percentage (.491), and OPS (.851). Their 238 home runs? Second only to the Rangers’ 239, with 47 of those coming from the new Yankee, Alex Rodriguez. They were an offensive machine and it was almost a certainty that the numbers were going to be pretty similar in 2004.

For a team that had suffered such a brutal loss to end 2003, a franchise that hadn’t won a World Series since 1918, was it crazy for the baseball analysts to predict that 2004 was finally going to be the year for the Red Sox? Hell no, and all you had to do was ask the Red Sox themselves.

“There are too many cool customers in here for expectations to weigh heavily on us,’’ outfielder Gabe Kapler said.

No one was cooler than Millar, the sage of the clubhouse, the voice of reason. He’d seen how the Red Sox handled pressure the season before and he had no doubt they were going to be fine.

“There’s no, ‘We’ve got to beat the Yankees,’” Millar said. “About 90 percent of the guys are back so that’s one good thing. Going into the year, we didn’t have to start all over. We only lost one position player. Our goal is to win the World Series this year. We’ve got to beat whoever gets in our way.

“You just get the sense that this team has some unfinished business. Nobody says too much about it. It’s not something you hear people talking about because we haven’t done anything yet. But you look around here and you see the eye of the tiger. There’s just a quiet confidence in here. We’re better than we were a year ago because of the guys we’ve added. We’ve got the extra pieces. And there’s a camaraderie. There’s a closeness in this clubhouse that’s indescribable.”

True, they didn’t have Alex Rodriguez. But did they need him?

“The ownership of this team has given us everything we need to win a world championship,’’ Schilling said.

NEXT WEDNESDAY: When the Yankees ventured into Boston for their first series of 2004 against the Red Sox, Alex Rodriguez got the greeting he knew was coming.