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October 2, 2007
BY STEVEN KRASNER
Journal Sports Writer
BOSTON -- Bits from Terry Francona's press confrerence:
-- The Red Sox have found a way to keep dynamic and speedy rookie outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury on the roster.
Just don't call him the "new Dave Roberts."
While Roberts's stolen base against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS helped propel Boston to an unprecedented comeback in the series and ultimately the Red Sox' first World Series crown since 1918, Ellsbury is not Dave Roberts, said Francona.
''What Dave Roberts did was very, very special," said Francona this afternoon. "It was about six inches from not being special. But this kid (Ellsbury) can impact games. Everybody wants the Dave Roberts. And it was one instance and it was awesome. But this is more, I think, long-term thinking (than just a stolen-base opportunity) of multiple games, defensively, possibly pinch-hitting, scoring from second, playing a couple of games in the outfield or a couple of innings in the outfield."
-- Francona indicated he has seen Josh Beckett, tomorrow night's Game 1 starter, mature into an ace.
"We've seen a young guy work so hard and mature so much and he became the guy we really needed him to become," said Francona. "And every good team has guys like that on the team where you send your guy and you say this is our guy and go get 'em. And he'll respond to adversity and he competes. He's got a lot of different weapons. And you need that because we're playing a good team."
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 3:17 PM | Permalink
