BOSTON — Terry Francona is pumped.
Not that the Red Sox manager doesn't like playing Kansas City in May or something like that, but he gets an extra boost in energy when the games really begin to matter. In the hours before Thursday's series opener with Tampa Bay, that was plain to see.
"I'm kind of looking forward to this series," Francona said Thursday afternoon at Fenway Park. "It'll be fun to play. They feel good about themselves. It’s going to be a fun series to play."
Francona's daily meeting with the media saw him cracking several jokes, including one which involved a Jim Mora impression when somebody mentioned the word "playoffs."
Although some Red Sox fans may be feeling the heat from the Rays, who are within four games with 14 to play, it was clear that the tightness of the race has energized Francona.
"The thing I think I don’t want to worry about is, OK, we are where we are," he said. "Regardless of how we got here, why drag your tail because you didn't play good for a week? That's gonna take energy away that we really don’t need. We got our hands full anyway. They’re good, we’re a little beat up, let’s go play. That's what we like to do anyway and we actually have played ourself through the course of a long season into where we’re up four, not down four.
"I know that Tampa's playing well but I just think how you view it can put more stress than is needed."
As for whether that energy will translate into good play on the field, Francona is confident. There will be no issues with stress, or pressure or inability to handle the spotlight, he said.
"I think our energy the last couple of days was really good," he added. "Yesterday, we had a hiccup in the bullpen and actually to that point we had really played a good game. You try to keep things in perspective, but no I’m not worried about how our guys will react. I do care about how we play, how we pitch and how we hit. I have a lot of confidence in their ability to play the game correctly."
