David DeJesus singled sharply to right field in the eighth inning and Darwin Barney sprinted from second base. Third base coach David Bell sent him home with the potential tying run. Whoops!BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox fired manager Bobby Valentine on Thursday after one season in which he failed to bring order to a clubhouse that disintegrated during the 2011 pennant race.
Valentine finished with a record of 69-93 on a team that was beset by injuries before management gave up on this season and traded some of its best players – and biggest salaries.
Without Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett, the Red Sox will save $250 million in future salaries and have a chance to rebuild over the winter.
But that will be too late for Valentine.
A baseball savant who won the NL pennant with the New York Mets and won it all in Japan, Valentine was brought in after two-time World Series champion Terry Francona lost control of the clubhouse in 2011 during an unprecedented September collapse.
But the players who had been coddled under Francona bristled under Valentine’s abrasive style and, more importantly, didn’t win for him, either.
