''We have had extensive talks with Foulkie," Francona said before last night's game in Texas. ''I've talked to medical people; I've talked to [GM] Theo [Epstein]; I've talked to Foulke. This is a tough one right now. We're having a tough time. He's battling the knee[s]. He feels responsible to pitch. He's not pitching with the effectiveness that certainly he wants or we need. So I kind of took it out of his hands a little bit. Going to send him back to Boston, have his knee[s] evaluated."
It's been a struggle all season for Foulke, the closer who blasted through the Angels', Yankees', and Cardinals' lineups during the run to the World Series title. During the 2004 postseason, Foulke ran up a 1-0 record with a 0.64 ERA in 14 innings. He allowed just a single earned run.
That's almost what he's been averaging this season. Per inning.
Having given up 27 earned runs in 39 innings in this post-championship campaign, it was obvious that something was amiss. It was obvious that Foulke had a problem.
Monday night's blown save and ninth inning-loss -- coming one week after Foulke gave up five earned runs in 1 2/3 innings to hand off another Wade Miller start -- left the closer with a 5-5 record, and an eye-popping 6.23 ERA.
It was time.
''He'll never turn the ball down, that's the kind of guy he is," Francona said. ''I don't care what people write, what people think, his comments. The facts are he'll take the ball every day and I think I need to step in and say, 'No, you won't. We're going to get you looked at.' And I think he's OK with that. I think he actually appreciated that."
Before yesterday's game, Foulke was little more than a flash of white T-shirt and blue jeans, strolling through the clubhouse and into Francona's office. Other than the brief sighting, Foulke did not make himself available for comment, though he remained in Texas last night before his scheduled trip back to Boston today.
