Managers

What's the difference between Joe Torre and Terry Francona, really?

Well, Torre certainly was a better player, but as managers, what's the big difference?

Torre has certainly been successful longer in New York than Francona has been in Boston, but Torre also bombed out as a manger for the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals before coming to the Bronx. Tito was only a dud for the Phillies.

Both of them won World Series championships in their first years on the job, and both are known more as player's managers than as game managers.

Of course, in this respect, I will argue that Francona is better at managing people and the game than Torre is.

While Joe Torre made his managerial reputation with the'96-'00 Yankees (4 WS victories in 5 Years) this was while managing the Team That Was Impossible to Hate.

I'm a Red Sox fan, but I can't honestly say anything bad about the stars of those teams - David Cone, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez - OK, maybe Paul O'Neil as a hothead, but he wasn't a jerk.

Once Steinbrenner started messing with the formula that was already working and brought in the Giambis and A-Rods, Browns and Johnsons of the world, the team stopped winning championships.

I won't say they stopped winning (someday, that AL East Championship will be Boton's again!), but as everyone knows, anything less than utter eradication of all other teams and a World Series championship is considered a failutre.

Tito has never had a nice, normal team he could call his own. He's had mouth-jobs and headcases like Pedro, D-Low, Schill, Manny, Nomar, and Millar to deal with since Day 1.

(Literally, on the first day of spring training in '04, Tito introduced himself to Manny and was greeted by a profanity-laden tirade about how he hated Boston)

And yet, as the personalities in the clubhouse get more divergent, the team seems to be drawing closer together - witness the 10-part handshake punctuated by a Japanese-style bow between Ortiz and Matsuzaka last week.

I'd love to say that Tito could do something about Schilling's ridiculous blog (said the man writing a ridiculous blog) and I won't pretend that the people and personalities in the Boston clubhouse are perfect because of him, but he does a great job of keeping those guys together.

Meanwhile, the Yankees really have to rely on Derek Jeter to defend everyone - his teammates, his manager, his general manager, his owner - which he does because he's a class guy and a leader, but what's his manager doing throughout all this? Why does Jeter have to be the voice of calm and order? Isn't that the manager's job?

It is in Boston.

In terms of their abilities as game managers, I will point to exhibits A-D, which read as follows:

2004 ALCS Game 4
2004 ALCS Game 5
2004 ALCS Game 6
2004 ALCS Game 7

The point I will actually highlight here is something that happened in Game 7, a 10-3 whitewash by the Sox (marred, granted, by Pedro's insistence on pitching, but he was gone two weeks later, anyway).

Imagine you're Joe Torre. A few days earlier you were a few outs away from sweeping the Red Sox, with the concensus Best Closer on the Planet (this was two seasons before Jonathon Papelbon began his Shermanesque campaign to wrestle that title away) on the mound, when the immortal trio of Millar, Roberts, and Mueller turned it all around.

Now, it's Game 7 - and the starting pitcher is... Kevin Brown.

This is the same Kevin Brown who broke his hand punching a water cooler earlier in the season. Whose first start back in September was against these same Red Sox, and who he basically pitched batting practice to for a few innings before being yanked.

So Kevin Brown predictably had interourse with a canine against the Sox in Game 7 and then was relieved by the ineffective and disgruntled Esteban Loazia (who had given up a pair of 3-run Home Runs in relief against the Indians in a 22-run loss the previous month) who tossed a bucket of gasoline on the fire, giving up a Grand Slam to Johnny Damon (for the second time that season).

This gambit had worked well the season before - with Roger Clemens reeling against the Sox in Game 7 of the '03 ALCS, Mike Mussina was brought in and shut the Sox down. Of course, in the World Series, Torre put The Dream Weaver, Jeff Weaver in during extra innings, and Alex Gonzalez became a postseason hero in Miami. (at least he would have if the Marlins' actually had fans)

Look: the key to being a manager isn't the great choices a Manager makes (Francona pinch-running Roberts for Millar) but the mistakes they avoid (Torre pinch-running Kevin Thompson for Giambi a few weeks later, Thompson coming up in Giambi's place with 2 outs in the 9th and a chance to win the game). Francona has shown that he is particularly adept at avoiding mistakes, such as Grady "God Help Us" Little leaving Pedro in too long; Torre, of late, has not.

I have no doubt that Joe Torre will be elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager, and I don't have a problem with that. I also have little doubt that Francona (barring a dynasty-type run) will not be elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager, and I don't have a problem with that either.

I just want other people to ask the question: What's the difference between Joe Torre and Terry Francona, really?