Secret Weapon.

I may not be skilled at predicting the outcome of baseball games that have yet to be played but it would seem that the same doesn't hold true for Terry Francona.

Case in point: In the wee hours of yesterday morning, Victor Martinez was bugging Francona to let him play in last night's game. Annoyed? Tired? Francona slipped and revealed a little too much:

"I finally wrote back and I said, 'Leave me alone. You'll come in, pitch hit, and get the game winning hit. He said, 'OK. Goodnight.' "

It does raise the question of why he doesn't win more games, though. If he knows that somebody is going to go 0 for 5, shouldn't he bench them that night? It must be that he can see how the game will turn out but is unable to do anything to change the outcome. It would explain how he remains mostly calm, throughout.