Bring Me the Head of Terry Francona

First - if you sense of humors run toward the jagged-edge and over-the-top kind, check out today's Soxaholix for a much needed laugh.

Now - on to last night's unpleasantness. Denton at Surviving Grady has an apt summation of the game, contrasting Joe Torre's skills versus Tito's inexplaicable managerial decisions:

On the other side of the chessboard is Tito. He knows he has Lowe going tonight, a ground-ball-out pitcher, so what does he do? He puts Bellhorn at third, his first start there. Brilliant. On the other corner, Kevin Millar. Why? Has he ever scooped a ball out of the dirt? Can anyone remember that happening, even once? Isn't McCarty their best defensive first-baseman? Is he in there for his offense? Millar needs to go away. Back to Japan, back to Texas, back to KFC, I don't really care. My kingdom for Dauber.

Whatever savage and holy spirit that descended on the Red Sox last year, prompting hard-nosed play and numerous comebacks, has vanished this season. (Apparently now to reside in Tampa Bay, where the surging Devil Rays are presumably speaking in tongues and seeing apocalyptic visions of hits falling in for RBIs). It is one thing to lose games; it is another entirely to give them away. Four unearned runs last night, and the Sox now lead the majors in that category(58 total). Three errors, giving the Sox 65 for the year - second in the majors. Double plays? Rare as hen's teeth. I don't have the stats at hand but I'm sure the Red Sox rank near the bottom in terms of double plays turned per team this year.

The end result is an inconsistent team playing dead-ass .500 ball. With a manger unwilling or unable to manage his team. (Note to Terry: you can still treat your players with respect while letting them know who's boss and what's expected of them. See Joe Torre for example.) After last night's debacle Francona had the following gems:

“I believe in these guys, and I think they believe in themselves,” he said.

"I love these guys. I think we're going to find a way to be a very good team. I also think we have to improve, and I believe we're going to do that."

"I think it's my job, my responsibility, to stand behind guys," Francona said. "I ask them to show up every day and try as best they can to be as good a player as they can be. It doesn't always work out perfectly, but if I bail on them, I don't agree with that."

So - Tito loves these guys and believes in them and would never do anythng to upset them. And they'll be a very good team. Winning doesn't merit a mention. Wow. I can feel the motivation from hear.

I'm increasingly tempted to give up on this edition of the Red Sox, but years of habit are hard to undo. I feel like a junky.