Francona's pitch

Francona was asked about a younger look to teams in the American League East.
'I don't know about getting younger,'' he said. "Sure, you're trying to win and you're trying to not just win for one year. So you try to mix and match and not get old. There's no problem with veteran players, they know how to play, but you try to have a balance. Everybody's philosophy may be different. I don't really pay attention to the rest of the American League, their philosophy, I just want to try to find a way to beat them.''
The Sox lost three straight in Tampa last weekend, before going 2-1 in a homestand against the Blue Jays this week.
"The American League is deeper,'' Francona said. "I don't have a good reason why. We've seen some really good pitching. You know, Tampa Bay -- some of these guys that were kids aren't kids anymore,and now they get some pitching. It's a tough division. Toronto's record, whatever it is right now, .... we just saw three of the best pitchers we're going to see all year [Blue Jays A.J. Burnett, Dustin McGowan, and Roy Halladay] and and we see them a lot, and they had their way with us. So it's not very easy.''