Francona focused on supporting players, not dwelling on losing streak

CINCINNATI -- Reds manager Terry Francona wanted no part of putting his club’s agonizing eight-game skid entering Saturday in perspective.

The skipper just wanted to let everyone -- fans, media and most importantly his players -- know that he won’t waver from his principles as they try to find a way to get back to the kind of baseball that led to a 20-11 mark and a first-place standing in the National League Central back on April 30.

And Francona won’t be making random lineup changes to spark a change.

Francona said that he and his two bench coaches, Freddie Benavides and Mike Napoli, all drew up 10 different lineups for Saturday’s game against the Astros at Great American Ball Park, and compared them.

"Me and Freddie, sat here [Friday] night and [Saturday] morning. I probably made out 10 lineups, and I asked Freddie to do the same, and I asked Nap to do the same,” Francona said. “And we kind of came back to the conclusion that we can move guys around. And you know what? Maybe we will. Unless I know something should make us better, I don't believe in the -- like you say -- [lineup] Bingo, I don't believe in it. And some people do, and that's OK, that's fine. I just don't."

There were minor tweaks, like dropping Matt McLain to ninth for a third time this season and moving Jose Trevino up to eighth against Houston starter and right-handed ace Spencer Arrighetti.

Francona acknowledged after Friday’s 10-0 loss that everyone is frustrated with the skid and no one is “having fun” going through a character-testing time. But he’s not one to yell and scream.

"My point is like, I think it's too easy to just get mad,” Francona said. “Is that going to help the players? Is that going to help us get hits? Is that going to help us not give up runs? I don't think so. If somebody's not playing the game right, or trying to play the game right, I think you talk to them and make sure they do.

“But all the things that I said about our team last week, if I turn around and say the complete opposite things this week, man, I don't know if I'd want to play for me."

As for team meetings to right the ship? Francona says those meetings should primarily focus on messaging from his lieutenants like hitting coach Chris Valaika, third-base coach Willie Harris, Benavides and Napoli.

"We had our meeting [Friday] for the pregame, like the pre-series, so and those are usually, those are good meetings,” Francona said. “So, I don't know that you have to have a team meeting when you have a meeting like that, because I always think those are really good. Like Val talks, Willie talks, Nap talks, Freddie talks. I might just be piling on in those situations."

Francona was asked if he tries to put in perspective losing streaks like the eight-gamer entering Saturday.

“If you're asking me, if I have perspective, no,” Francona said with a dry smile. Cincinnati is Francona’s fourth MLB managerial job, with previous stops in Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland.

In Francona’s first year as an MLB manager, he suffered through a 68-94 season with the Phillies, which included a stretch when his club lost 19 of 20 at one point and went 4-22 in June. In his first year with Cleveland, his 2013 club lost five straight to end August before recovering in the final 10 games to win the AL Wild Card.

“I don't ever sit around and [think about it],” Francona said. “Regardless of what you have gone through, when you're going through it, it's way more important, because you're doing it now. It's easy to have perspective about what happened 10 years ago, because you know what happened the week later, and a week after that.

“But when you're going through it, it’s like, whoa, you start having like eyes that are coming out of the back of your head.”