It was that first month of the season that Francona said was "a tough one," in large part to some of his own decisions.
Speaking on WEEI's Dale and Holley Show on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the Red Sox were officially eliminated from playoff contention, Francona was asked if there was one aspect of the season, whether in-game or not, he would look back on and change. Some of the moments during an 11-12 April, which saw the Sox perhaps play worse than the record even indicated, came immediately to the mind of the skipper.
"It'd be April for me," said Francona, who will miss the playoffs for just the second time in his seven seasons at the helm in Boston. "April didn't go very well. We had guys that were used to the consistency of even me, and we were doing things different."
Included in those machinations was an attempt to spread out starts among a host of veterans all bidding for playing time. Mike Lowell had been replaced at third base by Adrian Beltre. Jason Varitek entered a season as the definitive backup catcher for the first time in over a decade. And David Ortiz was off to another icy start, prompting Francona to bench his designated hitter against lefties. All three, as well as some newcomers like Beltre, had to check the lineup card on a daily basis.
Through the constant fluctuations, the club failed to perform. While the starting rotation stumbled out of the gate, the defense that had hoped to be the league standard looked unsettled and at times a bit lost. The offense had season lows in several categories that month.
The slow start, which included a four-game sweep at home to Tampa Bay and a three-game sweep at Baltimore that stretched into May, left Boston seven games out less than a month after Opening Night. While the Sox nearly climbed all the way back before the All-Star break, they never got over the hump and then faded later on.
With the team's elimination, Francona was able to reflect on the hit his team took early on, and why.
"I think we all felt that we were searching a little bit, myself included," he said. "So that was kind of a tough month. I tried to probably play everybody and keep everybody productive. What I probably did was get in the way a little bit."
Beltre sat three times that month, giving way to Lowell at third. While Beltre hit .338 in April, he had no home runs and a .772 OPS, far below his current .929 number, and the defense the front office praised when bringing him aboard was shaky. He has missed just two games since and is the team MVP.
Lowell also spelled Ortiz on four occasions and came off the bench for four more. He hit .250 with one home run that month. Ortiz batted .143 with one home run. And the two were involved in a telling moment in Toronto on April 27 when Lowell was sent up to hit for Ortiz with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of a tie game.
It was Francona sending a signal that he would do what he had to do to win games, egos aside. And it worked, as Lowell drew a walk to push across the decisive run. But the maneuver was just one of a handful that Francona seemed to lament five months later.
"I needed to probably let our team settle in and play," he told WEEI. "It took us a long time to get on track. We weren't playing good baseball, and guys were uncomfortable and some of that is my responsibility."
Francona deserves a boatload of credit for guiding the club through the litany of injuries that was yet to come. For the 11-14 start (including the first two games of May), he has put it upon himself.
