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Grand old time for Francona

Print | Comments () Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff May 5, 2010 09:45 AM

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Terry Francona will manage his 1,000th Red Sox game today. Only three other managers in team history have been on the bench for more games. The longevity list:

Joe Cronin (1935-47): 2,007

Pinky Higgins (1955-62): 1,119

Bill Carrigan (1913-16, 1927-29): 1,003

Francona (2004- ): 999

By the time the season is over, Francona will be in second place.

Meanwhile, Francona will face one of the toughest decisions of his tenure today. Mike Lowell is 5 for 5 with four doubles in the last two games. David Ortiz was 0 for 4 last night with two strikeouts and two double plays. He's hitting .149.

So who should DH tonight?

"Mike Lowell!" screams the populace.

Oh yeah? Ortiz is 9 of 23 with five extra-base hits and five walks against Angels starter Joel Pineiro. That's a 1.265 OPS. Ortiz hasn't faced Pineiro since 2006, but the numbers are what they are.

Lowell is 1 for 3 against Pineiro. All three ABs came on June 22, 2006 against the Cardinals.

Tough call for Francona. What would you do?