MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 12, 2005

Terry Francona

TERRY FRANCONA: Is that really the first question? After a night like this? No. That's not my job to judge Kenny. Kenny made a mistake that we saw. He's going to pay the price that Major League Baseball says he should. My job was to do what I thought put us in the best position to win the All-Star Game, doing something different would be unfair to the American League and that's not what I'm supposed to do. I'm not supposed to sit in judgment.

TERRY FRANCONA: We were pleased to get two innings. You know, with respect to -- I think he threw 117 pitches the other day, we wanted to make sure everybody left in the same shape they came. When we named him the starting pitcher, we wanted him to go the second inning and he actually to me looked more comfortable in that inning.

TERRY FRANCONA: When we got those save situations, Dave Wallace and I had talked to every pitcher on the staff and kind of laid out what we hoped would happen. Danny Baez was the reliever in the first five innings in case something happened to a starter and we did get him up at one point, just if we got up in case something happened. We wanted to try to get as many guys in the game as we could. Bob Wickman came in, because he could not get guys out and we had B.J. Ryan in there and I knew we had Mo behind him.

TERRY FRANCONA: I turned to Johnny Damon, I heard Johnny Damon say something like, "come on Mo," and I looked at him and I said, "I bet I never would have heard you say that. "

It was okay. You know what, for one night, it was pretty cool.

TERRY FRANCONA: No, I really don't. In actuality, a lot of these games, you get to the All-Star Break and if you're not involved, you take a deep breath and you just get away for a couple of days. So I haven't, until this one, I haven't paid attention as much. Obviously I hope I paid enough attention this time. In my opinion, this was the fastest-moving game in the history of baseball. I missed half the good stuff. I mean, trying to get guys in the right position and make sure everything is covered, and this game was going about 100 miles an hour for me.

TERRY FRANCONA: Oh, you can go with that if you want. I'm not going there. We won tonight. That's kind of how every time we suit up, you just try to win the game you're playing. That's kind of what I think it means.

TERRY FRANCONA: I think more than the home run, I think the play he made defensively in the first inning, to me that relaxes Buehrle, the whole game I think changes on that. That's a heck of a play. We've seen Miggy hit those balls too much from where I sit, but tonight it was kind of fun to cheer for him.

TERRY FRANCONA: Go slow.

TERRY FRANCONA: You know what, Tony and I actually spoke about this a few times before the game. And I wish they could base it maybe on your record. I understand it would be a logistical nightmare and I know there are a lot of things that come into play that probably don't work. You know, in saying that, we as baseball players, coaches, managers, you're told the rules and you do the best you can to respect them. I do think, I know how I felt tonight because we knew what was at stake. You try to pay attention and do the right thing and then win the game. You know, I think that's what Major League Baseball wanted was to have this game mean more. You know what; it did. So it's okay. You do what you're supposed to do and you try to do it respectfully.

TERRY FRANCONA: You know what, trying to think how to say this. I was going to the bathroom, so I kind of went down there to go to the bathroom and I really, again, I kind of said how I feel about Kenny. I'm not supposed to sit in judgment. I think Kenny is a great kid. I think he made a mistake. He's going to pay the price that Major League Baseball says and he'll move on. I was proud of Kenny for showing up and I asked him to do that. So again, I don't think I need to sit in judgment. We need to win this game.