BOSTON — There are some who feel Terry Francona can be a bit intractable when it comes to his players; others would merely say he’s out-and-out stubborn. Throughout the series, the Boston manager has spoken about his loyalty to his players, expressing confidence that they can get the job done.
But with the Red Sox facing elimination Saturday night, Francona nonetheless decided to make a switch, benching center fielder Coco Crisp in favor of Jacoby Ellsbury. Considered one of Boston’s brightest prospects, Ellsbury previously had seen only mop-up duty in the ALCS, appearing in three games but not batting.
Some might have said Crisp, the starter in each of the first five games, hadn’t been to the plate, either. Crisp was hitting just .143 in the series. In Game 5, he failed to deliver in what could have been a crucial situation – failing to get down a sacrifice bunt and eventually striking out.
“I didn’t want to do it,” Francona said. “But you get to the point where I always talk about doing the right thing, and I felt like this was in the best interest of our ballclub.”
Ellsbury, 24, was 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Cleveland manager Eric Wedge is having his patience and sense of loyalty severely tried by designated hitter Travis Hafner. Hafner hit a home run in the first inning of Game 1 of the ALCS. Since, he’s 2-for-22, and carries a .091 average, with 11 strikeouts. With his two Ks on Saturday, Hafner became the fifth player to fan at least 10 times in a single series.
Brotherly love. With his first-inning grand slam, J.D. Drew joined his brother Stephen in becoming just the third set of brothers to homer in the same postseason. Clete and Ken Boyer did so as opponents in the 1964 World Series, while Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. homered against each other’s teams during the 1997 ALCS.
By the numbers. This is the 14th LCS in which a team that was down 3-1 rallied to win Game 5. Of the 13 previous series, six times the trailing team won to force a Game 7; five times the trailing team went on to win the series. The last time was 2004, when Boston came back to beat the New York Yankees. Including the World Series, there have been 10 occasions in which a team has come back from 3-1 to win.
Entering Game 6, Boston had won five straight LCS elimination games.
Footnotes. Manny Ramirez’s 15-game LCS hitting streak came to a close as the left fielder went 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly. … David Ortiz extended his playoff hitting streak to 15 games. The postseason record is 18. … The Red Sox have grounded into 11 double plays this series, an LCS record.
