What was he thinking?

It's no secret that I've been, in general, a Terry Francona supporter. I think he did a good job last year, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but good. I also think that being a manager is, in many ways, a thankless job. Frankly, it was best described by Samuel Johnson a couple of hundred years ago: "all other authors can aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to avoid reproach." That's exactly the same situation that a baseball manager's in. He cannot aspire to praise; he can only hope to avoid reproach. And he can't avoid all of it.

That said, I have no idea what the logic was of bringing Cla Meredith into that game this afternoon. The Sox had come back to tie it up, the Mariners had the go-ahead run in scoring position, and they went to a kid who was pitching college ball last year, who's thrown 15 innings in AA and 1 in AAA. He promptly walked 2 and gave up a grand slam. Not an auspicious beginning to his Major League career.

I'm not going to say, as I've seen others do, that Francona's an idiot, because I'm certain that he's not. But I don't know what kind of decision-making process led him to bring the kid into that situation, and I suspect I'm not going to buy it, whatever it was. Yes, this is all in hindsight to the performance, but it was my initial reaction at the time, before the walks, before the grand slam. Terry was thinking something (I hope), but I've no idea what it was...