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September 5, 2007
Terry Francona is firm on the way he handles his team. With offensive players, that means everyone gets time off. With pitchers, it means they stay where they are whenever possible.
Francona was asked why he is giving Pedroia the night off tonight when the rookie second baseman has had at least two hits in each of the last five games.
``We try to space it out. Lugo gets one, Pedroia gets one,’’ he responded. ``We can’t lose sight of the fact that. . . this is his first full year in the majors. We’re playing into September and hopefully beyond that.’’ He noted Pedroia has been hot since May and said, ``maybe the rest has helped him.’’
Francona could not resist pointing out how he stuck with Pedroia when he was struggling early in the season.
``Part of the job is trying to keep your entire team playing well,’’ he said. ``You’ve got to remember, I think, sitting right here a lot of you guys couldn’t understand why Pedroia was even playing. You’ve got to look at the whole thing and keep it in perspective.’’
Just as he expressed confidence in Pedroia when he was struggling, Francona did the same for Matsuzaka today. He was asked if he thought about going to a six-man rotation similar to what is done in Japan. The inference, obviously, was that maybe Matsuzaka needed some rest.
``No,’’ he shot back. ``We have three days off coming up, two kind of together. That would have somebody throwing on nine days rest.’’
Those who are worried about Matsaka need to take a closer look, the manager said.
``I think Dice-K’s start needs to be looked at a little closer. All of a sudden he gave up runs in the sixth inning and guys want to take him out of the rotation,’’ Francona said. ``Of the first 12 hitters he faced, he threw 12 first-pitch strikes. In the fourth inning he had thrown like 85 percent strikes. He was in a dominating performance. We’ve gone over the sixth inning and what happened. Some of it got away.’’
While Matsuzaka’s problem go beyond one game, Francona was firm.
``He doesn’t look to me like a pitcher who is tired,’’ he said.
Posted by Paul Kenyon 
at 5:14 PM | Permalink
