LOS ANGELES — Reds Manager Terry “Tito” Francona met the cameras with a plan and a grin. He knows he’s the underdog, but after more than a decade in Cleveland, it’s a role he’s learned to embrace.
On the rotation: “(Zach) Litell’s on his day and then (Andrew) Abbott will be on his day if there’s a Game 3. We’ll put Lodolo in the bullpen. And the reason being is not because we don’t want to start him because he’s actually a really good starter. But because of what our record was going into yesterday, we pitched him, so we want to be really cognizant of him and how much we can ask of him.”
Roster timing sounded settled. “We’ve talked to everybody, so we’re good to go.”
Why not a bullpen game in Game 2. “It’s Latell’s day and there’s no mandatory limit on how much he has to pitch.”
He was asked about momentum and if a hot finish matters. “I’ve been on both sides. You feel like you’re ready to just go get them and you look up and you’re down 0–3 before you can even take a breath. This is a whole new season. In a short series you’ll have ups and downs and they just happen quicker. You try to have urgency without panic. Sometimes that’s a hard one to traverse.”
That last word came with a chuckle. “I got that crossword puzzle today.”
The room turned to Elly De La Cruz and the mood around the club. “Did you see him in that clubhouse yesterday. That was pure joy. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what language you speak, what color you are. If you have our uniform on, that’s what this is. It makes everything worthwhile.”
Brent Suter’s bullpen dance became a subplot. “I believe I’ve got more texts about him dancing than I have about ‘Hey, way to go.’ He is unbelievable. He’s more than worth his weight in what he does in that clubhouse. It’s real. Before a game he’ll walk down through the dugout. He touches everybody, myself included, and he’s got something for everybody. You never see guys roll their eyes. It’s welcome all the time. He’s phenomenal. I think he’s a phenomenon.”
Culture is also about the guys who lose playing time. “When we made the trades at the deadline, he lost significant playing time and he said, ‘I get it.’ He’s been a solid teammate the whole way and that’s appreciated. He’s been really good.”
Francona compared speeches, post clinch and the one he gave to the troops on the first day of spring training. “I spend a lot of time on the one at spring training because I care about it so much. The one yesterday was just emotion. I’d be too nervous to try to make something up ahead of time. It’s raw emotion because that’s probably what the moment calls for. Everybody kind of blacked out anyway.”
Celebration never lasts long for him. “As much as I love what we did out there, after about 10 minutes I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go.’ First of all, it’s cold. And when you don’t have hair, it’s really cold. I smoked a cigar and then Brad and Nick came in and we started talking about what’s next. That’s kind of how I’ve always been.”
Do the nerves spike in October? “Weirdly enough, not usually. Because the preparation is such that I get kind of relaxed and enjoy it. That doesn’t ensure anything, but it gives me a comfort level.”
On Shohei Ohtani, he played it close to the vest. “I can’t tell you that. You’ll go tell him. You don’t want to let him get those arms extended because you make a mistake and it goes a long way. A long way. He’s one of the very best. He’s a generational player.”
He has lineup choices to check after workouts. Austin Hays, who’s missed the last few games nursing an injury that’s kept him out of the lineup might be ready to roll. “With a lefty pitching,” Francona explained, “he’s a perfect guy to play left field, but I want to be fair to him and make sure he’s okay.”
There was even a bullpen teaching moment on the final day. “Connor Phillips threw for the third straight day. We were getting a little short and Hunter was probably next. I didn’t want to do that. I thought getting him back out there had a chance to really help him after the day before. He threw the ball really well. This kid has come so far and I didn’t want one game to get in the way.”
That is the picture of the Reds skipper walking into Dodger Stadium. Rotation lined up. Bench roles in mind. “Urgency without panic.” And a manager who will celebrate for ten minutes, light a cigar, then start mapping out the bus and the plane.
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