Video: Francona on Delcarmen

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Red Sox manager Terry Francona touches on Manny Delcarmen and how important the reliever could be in the American League Championship Series due to his effectiveness against lefties.

The Red Sox leaned heavily on rookie Justin Masterson in the ALDS due to his success against right-handed batters (which the Angels had in bunches), but the amount of lefties in the Rays' lineup could mean increased work for Delcarmen in this round.

For the 2008 season, batters went 55 for 268 (.205 average) against Delcarmen with five home runs. All five round-trippers came against righties, who accounted for 31 of those hits (in 142 at-bats). Delcarmen limited lefties to a .190 average.

Delcarmen picked up a win by working 2/3 of an inning in Game 4 against the Angels (his first and only postseason decision). It's his only postseason work thus far, despite tying for fifth in the AL with a career-high 73 appearances (the most for a Sox reliever since Mike Timlin appeared in 81 games in 2005).

Delcarmen seemed to regain his confidence late in the year. He worked 11 1/3 scoreless innings over his final eight regular-season appearances and boasted a 0.40 ERA (1 ER, 22 2/3 innings pitched) in his last 18 appearances (his ERA dropped from 4.53 to a season-ending 3.27 during that span).

To watch Francona talk about Delcarmen, click the "full entry" link below to watch the video.