Francona congratulates Sox's Farrell on playoff berth
CLEVELAND -- With their win over Toronto on Friday, the Red Sox clinched the American League East title for the first time since 2007.
Back then, current Indians manager Terry Francona was still at the helm in Boston. Francona, who led the Red Sox to a pair of World Series titles, reached out to first-year Boston manager John Farrell to congratulate him on the postseason berth. The Tribe skipper is "very happy" for Farrell, who was on the same Indians team as Francona in 1988 and served as Francona's pitching coach in Boston from 2007-10.
"And there's some guys there, too." Francona said. "[Dustin] Pedroia, and that group of guys, [David] Ortiz, [Jacoby] Ellsbury. There's a group of guys there that I'm pretty fond of, and John's one of my closest friends, not just in baseball, but in life."
Indians infielder Mike Aviles, a member of Red Sox Nation from 2011-12, hasn't yet spoken with his former teammates, but he's going to.
"I plan on reaching out to guys like [Will] Middlebrooks, Pedroia and Papi, just because I talk to them quite a bit," Aviles said. "They're good friends. I didn't get a chance to talk to them, but I'm happy they made it in, because I know what everybody went through last year. It's always good when you can go from last to first."
Farrell's Red Sox entered Saturday at 94-61, good enough for the Majors' best record. He is the seventh manager in Boston history to steer the club into the playoffs during his first year in charge.
Given his respect for Farrell, Francona -- who won a championship in his initial season in Boston -- wasn't very surprised by that accomplishment. Francona expected Farrell to succeed, despite Boston's last-place finish a year ago.
"I always felt that way," Francona said. "I just thought there was an immediate buy-in from the best players on that team, the guys that were already there that knew him. And guys I've mentioned -- [Jon] Lester, [Clay] Buchholz, Pedroia -- I guarantee you they were excited when he was hired. That immediately got them back to where they were going to be, not only relevant, but really good."