Terry Francona Quotations

I like information. I love when smart people make me think of something in a new way.

As a manager, the more consistent you are, the better off you are. It's easy to be up when things go well. When things don't go well, the players will follow your lead. So you have to be consistent and upbeat, which takes some work sometimes.

I think the outside world can learn a lot about how to act by watching a major league clubhouse. I don't think you want to do everything the same, but there's a lot of things I think people could learn from.

There's so much passion and so much interest in the Red Sox in Boston.

Once players have my trust, they have it.

I think in any organization you want your manager to have a strong opinion. You don't want them to just say, 'Yes, sir' to things they don't believe in.

In Boston I got to a point where I thought I was putting out fires more than being a baseball coach. And some of it was my fault. I was getting stubborn. My fuse was a little shorter than it needed to be. And that helps nobody.

It's hard to be a clubhouse guy without being a great guy. I mean, the nature of the job is, you know, you're picking up dirty clothes and you're doing all the tasks that the players - that nobody else wants to do.

Oh, yeah. Because of what he did go through this winter, his showing up a little bit late, but showing up in the right frame of mind, is OK with me. We rely on him so much that if that's what it takes, it's OK with me.

If we're talking about their pitching next week, then I'm probably not going to be smiling.

We're going home. We have a lot of business to tend to, but at home we hope to be a force. We have an important week; it'll be fun.

Maybe we can get him down to Pawtucket three days before he's eligible.

This was one of those things where Theo thought to himself that if we found ourselves in a 12-inning game at some point this weekend and a situation arises where we could use him and we didn't have him . . . he'd be kicking himself.

From the first to last pitch, I thought we played with an amazing confidence,

I have a limited opinion on that. I want our guy to win.

He's going to have to be a little flexible, and we'll work this out. If there's not flexibility on his part, too, we'll probably bump heads a little bit, but we'll make it work.

Whatever he did, he found himself, because early he didn't have his good stuff.

I thought it was pretty obvious that he's not ready to be on the field. We don't need to force him into something he's not ready for.

I think he felt like somebody might have pushed his buttons a little bit. I try to speak in generalities, because I don't want to ever communicate through the media. I think he felt like maybe I did that a little bit. I certainly don't ever want to do that.

I thought this was by far the best. He's got a fair chance now to be himself.

Yeah, that was much needed. We got deep enough into the game where we didn't have to overextend somebody. It ends up being a great day.

We didn't bring him in to run a marathon.

That was a long time ago. It's a different team. I've said so many times that last year doesn't matter. What matters to this team is how we bounce back tomorrow.

We wanted to make sure everybody left in the same shape they came.

Yeah, he tolerated it pretty well, ... I think the hope is, and again, we might be reaching a little bit, the hope is that he might be available towards the end of the week. If he's available, he's a pretty good hitter. From where I sit, I appreciate him trying.

The excitement level will be off the charts. You'll see a lot of guys running to the ballpark. I might jog.

We also told him that if he can't (pitch in relief) then he won't do it. But I think because of the kind of guy he is, he's shooting for it.

Don't get me wrong: These people love the Patriots. But they wake up and want to know what happened to the Red Sox. I mean, they really care. It's unbelievable. I've never seen anything like it. It's part of what's so good. But I'm right smack in the middle of it, and it gives me a headache sometimes. I know what it means to these people. I just want to do what's right for our team. I love living through this with them.

Is it going to happen? It might not happen, but we're trying to cover every base we can.

When you get down to your last game, you can have a bullpen full of everybody. You can't do that right now. We need somebody to make these starts. While they're still starting, they need to start. Once we get past each guy's start, you may see various guys going out of that bullpen as soon as they're available. That's a definite.

After all these games we've played, we've played ourselves into a situation where it comes down to two games. That's just the way it is.

Once you give up five, ... if they peck away and get one here and get one there, it makes it tougher to win.

There was a lot of extraordinary efforts tonight by a lot of people. We got ourselves in a position where one slip-up and we lose. We actually put ourselves in a position where we could win in the eighth and we didn't.

You run into nights like tonight, when you don't have an answer for anything they're doing and it only gets worse.

I know the run he has been on and today we found out why. We saw a much more mature pitcher.

I know the run he's been on. Today we found out why.

If nothing else, I loved the way he treated the players. He gave them a lot of room. He was, what's that word, folksy.

I miss him already. He's a good friend of mine.

Once he got the lead, you could see him reaching for a little bit extra. He was terrific. ... He enjoys competing and is fun to watch. I'm glad we didn't waste that outing.

David's had a tough spring. That doesn't mean he's going to have a tough season.

It's different. You've got to win today's game. It's almost like every game's an elimination game. I think it's a compliment to the teams the U.S. played against, and also it's the timing, so you don't get a true read of the teams. How many games of consequence do you have where a catcher plays half a game?

It worked out well. We put a nice crooked number up early and we got to stay away from some guys in the ?pen that we wanted to.

How does dead-even feel with two to go? Dead even.

How David hit that ball out I don't know. I didn't think anyone could hit one of there tonight.

The idea of the importance of winning today is there; it's been there,

The doctor said he could see a fly on that wall. In other words, he's got unbelievable vision.

And I went back to make sure he wasn't lying. I checked in the cage, and asked the guys who were throwing to him.

It's kind of interesting when a guy struggles. Maybe sometimes it gives you a little way to get to know him a little bit better. I like this kid. This is a keeper. He didn't have a very good outing the other day but he's a keeper. The more you get to know people, the better you feel about them.

There wasn't a whole lot that was easy (this season),

They nick you and then when they do hit the home runs, it makes it a little more significant.

They had this thing kind of mapped out. I don't think this is a real deviation from the plan. I just think they wanted probably to test him further with better hitters. I don't think he got challenged a lot (in Double-A). They let him go through the order more than once. I think they wanted to have him maybe face a little better competition.

There's a big sense of comfort for me when he's out there pitching. He knows what he's doing and even if it's not perfect, he's going to compete. He's not going to give in.

We signed him because he's one of the best pitchers in the league. Now we're close to having that guy back.

We won 95 games in a season where things didn't go right. I'm not going to apologize for that.

We won. I'm sure they'd rather play at home, ... In the end it doesn't matter. You need to win wherever you play. If that gets in the way, you're not good enough.

I can't tell you if, when or where I'll use him. This is an usual circumstance.

I don't take any pleasure in sending people down. It's the way they earn their living. But I try to do it very honestly. I do sit home the night before and definitely think about it because I think they have the right to know what we're talking about and have a good reason for what we're doing.

I don't think we did. I hope they do.

I thought, 'OK, I'm done here. I'll take responsibility and go away.' Little did I know I was going to be going away limping because someone cut my legs out from under me.

Sometimes you've got to be a little flexible. For the most part, it's hard to get players to look at the big picture also. I understand that. They're looking at their next start or their next at-bat.

You get to the ninth inning and your stomach is clear up to here. But it's not because of your job. It is because you want to win so badly.