Francona finds perfect fit in Boston

And he made it clear that bringing the first World Series title since 1918 to the Hub was indeed the goal, as well as maintaining that success, and that he is eager to start his new position in what is perhaps the hottest seat in Major League Baseball. The mission: win it all. Francona said he's up to the challenge.

"We're supposed to win here," said Francona, who at 44 is the fourth-youngest active manager. "We're trying to win next year, but we're trying to win for a lot of years after that. That's the whole idea of building a team that can win, and to keep it together and win consistently. That is wonderful pressure, believe me."

Francona's hiring came as no surprise, of course, as it had been generally known for weeks that he was Boston's man after what the Red Sox brass called a very impressive meeting at Fenway last month.

"He had a fantastic interview, and with our research, he matched with our policies," general manager Theo Epstein said. "We see the game very similarly. He has tremendous baseball instincts and he also has a hunger to ask about different perspectives. He has an endless energy in terms of preparation."

A factor, remember, that the Red Sox said was part of Grady Little's undoing. Francona said he came upon using numbers and quantitative analysis in his time in Philadelphia without even realizing that was what he was doing. It was only when he joined the Cleveland Indians front office in 2001 that he realized he was somewhat ahead of the curve.

And speaking of the former manager, when asked what he thought of Little's decision to stay with a tiring Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series against the Yankees, Francona admitted he wasn't watching. He was at a kid's basketball game. Coincidentally, he was waiting in the car at a girls' basketball practice earlier this week when he got the official word by phone from Epstein and CEO Larry Lucchino.

By becoming the Sox manager Francona reunites with ace pitcher Curt Schilling, whom the Red Sox acquired last week in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The two were together during Francona's four-year tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997-2000, and Schilling admitted last week, as he was pondering the decision of whether or not to waive his no-trade clause to join the Red Sox, that the possibility of Francona being with him was a big part of his decision.

When asked about the perception that Schilling in fact helped him get hired, Francona smiled.

"I hope he did," he said.

Francona appeared relaxed yet energetic at today's news conference, fluidly handling the media's inquiries. With wife Jackie by his side, he said he is eager to begin contacting players and to start getting to know them. with spring training in Fort Myers 78 days away.

In his four seasons as Phillies manager, Francona's best year was a 77-85 mark in 1998. Overall, he was just 286-363 in Philadelphia. If that concerns you, might we remind you that one Joe Torre was a career 894-1003 when the Yankees hired him prior to the 1996 season. All he's done in New York is go 786-506, and bring home four World Series trophies since then.

Francona called his time in Philadelphia, "four years of experience in a city that's a tough place to not be very good." Indeed fans in Philadelphia have been known to boo their own mothers. When asked over the past three years whether he would want to give it another go at managing in the major leagues (he served last season as Ken Macha's bench coach in Oakland), there were a few conditions.

"Only in the perfect situation, and only in a place where I thought I could be a real positive influence and excel and be a part of a winning situation, a place where I could be passionate," he said. It was during his interview that Francona knew he had found that place.

"I said, Oh my God. This place is for me. I knew I could be happy here and this was right," he said.

Francona received a three-year contract with a club option for 2007, from the Red Sox, a team with a clubhouse full of ego-driven superstars like Manny Ramirez and Martinez that can be quite a handful at times. While Francona admitted that you couldn't treat everybody on the team the same way, he said there is one major thing that he's asking from every player on the roster.

"I hope that I'm asking them for more on the field than anybody's ever asked them for before," he said. "My promise to the fans and the Red Sox organization is that I will spend all my energy, and I've got a lot of it, making sure all these players spend all their energy trying to play this game correctly. We will make sure that we put them in a position to succeed in order to give the Red Sox the best chance to be the best possible team we can be. And we all know where we want to end up."