Foulke's closing act deserving of ovation
NEW YORK -- When general manager Theo Epstein was putting the pieces of this Red Sox team together last winter, he asked then-managerial candidate Terry Francona about Keith Foulke, one of the prized relievers on the free agent market.
"I kind of tempered my answer," said Francona, who had spent the season as Oakland's bench coach and watched as Foulke saved 43 games in the A's run to the American League West championship. "I didn't know if I was going to be in Boston. And if I wasn't going to be in Boston and I was going to stay in Oakland, I didn't want Foulke to be in Boston."
But as Epstein's courtship of Foulke continued (remember the trip to the FleetCenter to watch a Celtics game together?) after Francona was hired, the new Sox manager knew what he would be getting if Foulke signed with Boston. "He's one of the best I've ever seen," Francona said yesterday.
Foulke put on a remarkable run as Boston rallied to force a seventh game against the Yankees in the American League Championship Series: 50 pitches in Game 4; 22 pitches in Game 5; and 28 in Game 6 as he nailed down a tense bottom of the ninth.
That adds up to six scoreless innings, one hit allowed, one big save, and a lot of heart.
"He's kind of a rare breed," said Francona, who said he wouldn't worry about using his closer again last night. "He will pitch anytime you give him the ball. We're down in Colorado one game by four or five, we need an inning, he doesn't care. He just wants to pitch with the game close regardless of anything else."
Foulke pitched on three consecutive days only twice during the regular season -- April 19-21 against New York and Toronto (1 hit, 0 runs, 38 pitches) and Sept. 20-22 against Baltimore at Fenway (five hits, four runs, 61 pitches).
But those games didn't come with the pressure associated with Tuesday's ninth-inning performance against the Yankees. He walked Hideki Matsui to open the inning, then after getting two outs, walked Ruben Sierra. With the Sox ahead, 4-2, Tony Clark came to the plate representing the winning run. After Clark worked the count full, Foulke struck him out.
The finish came just after midnight, which meant Foulke didn't get to make the save on his birthday. He turned 32 Tuesday but wasn't showing any age. He said all the recent work actually has him pitching better.
"I've been able to slow down and take a step back and think about the simple things," Foulke said.
The result has been something that neither Epstein nor Francona could have imagined last winter.
"We had expectations that he could do more than what a traditional closer is used to doing," Epstein said. "But what he's done the last three or four days is almost superhuman. I couldn't imagine a relief pitcher assuming this workload and pitching this well. It's shocking to me, but I'm loving every minute of it.
"He's seemingly as strong now as he was three or four days ago. He's not making mistakes. He's not getting lucky. He's really locating really well. I don't want to jinx him [knocks on wood], but it's been a pleasure to watch. He's been really representative of the bullpen as a whole. Those guys are pitching on guts. I think they're really inspired by a sense of wanting to do well for their teammates. Everyone wants to win this thing for the other 24 guys. It's fun to watch."
Bob Hohler of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
