Projo Sports Blog

Jason Bay's performance thus far in the ALDS has not surprised everyone.

It is not that Bay already has hit two home runs. The point manager Terry Francona made before game three is that Bay has been prepared for the post-season pressure simply by being with the Red Sox for the past two months.

After playing in Pittsburgh, it is fun for a player to come to Boston, Francona said. What it not fun is to be out of the pennant race early.

``As a player _ and I went through it as a player, and as a manager, too _ when you get into September (and your team is out of playoff contention) you've got professional pride. You're trying to play,'' Francona said. ``When you're playing games that are meaningful and you wake up in the morning and you're nervous, that's a lot of fun. It's exciting.''

``I was so nervous the other night,'' Francona said, ``not so nervous where you can't do your job, but it's a nervousness that's exciting. It's a good feeling.''

As Bay and others have spoken about, there is pressure playing for Boston every night. With Fenway sold out and the fans so very much into the game, the playoffs do not bring about very much of a change. Francona said there is no need for Knute Rockne speeches to motivate his players.

``If that's what it takes, we haven't made our point during the season,'' he said. ``They know these are significant games. You don't take a rocket scientist to know that.''

 Tags  Jason Bay Red Sox Terry Francona

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.