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They came to praise Farrell

When a team enjoys as much success as the Red Sox are this season, plenty of people deserve credit. In the past week, John Farrell has jumped high on that list.

The first-year pitching coach has had his name thrown around several days in a row now and all of it has been good. Manager Terry Francona was the latest to heap praise on Farrell. He did it this afternoon in his pre-game session with the media.

``He’s been phenomenal,’’ Francona said of Farrell. ``That’s why we hired him.’’

The 44-year-old Farrell pitched in the majors for eight years with Cleveland, California and Detroit, compiling a 36-46 record and 4.56 in 116 games 109 starts. He spent five years at Oklahoma State, his alma mater, as assistant coach/pitching coach/recruiting coordinator before becoming Cleveland’s director of player development in 2001.

Boston seemed to be taking a bit of a gamble in hiring him since he had no Major League experience as a pitching coach.

``I think we needed to have the ability, if everybody could, to look past maybe a lack of experience at this level because of how special a person he is,’’ Francona said. ``I think he’s proven that and will continue to. He’s developed relationships. The young guys, the veteran guys, they’re all running to him. Those relationships will do nothing but grow. There’s a big trust factor there that he’s already accomplished. I think it's phenomenal.’’

After his strong outing Monday night, Curt Schilling spoke about how Farrell recommended that Schiling move his fingers three inches on the grip for his splitter. Schilling then went out and had the best splitter he has had in some time, to the point where he threw the splitter more than 30 times.

Tuesday, Josh Beckett made a hugely successful return from the disabled list, then related how he had received much help in returning for the avulsion on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He singled out Farrell for spending so much time with him, including working with him at the park at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The Boston pitchers have a 3.62 ERA, second best in the league. They have walked only 154, third best in the AL and struck out 360, tied for third in that department. They have allowed only 38 home runs, second to Seattle’s 32.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:05 PM | Permalink