In guiding the Sox to their third straight regular season with 95 or more wins -- a first in franchise history -- Francona struggled almost daily to maintain his stamina as he tried to compensate for debilitating injuries to key contributors such as Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Wade Miller, and Matt Mantei, and confront additional obstacles such as disruptions involving Manny Ramirez and former outfielder Jay Payton.
''There were times I worried about him," said Brad Mills, Francona's bench coach and confidant. ''Sometimes he would talk about it, but other times he would keep it in and wouldn't share it with anybody."
The most second-guessed decision maker in New England, the Sox manager knew by the time he broke camp in Fort Myers, Fla., that the new season would be nothing like the glory year of 2004. Schilling was a shell of himself as he rushed back from right ankle surgery. Foulke's future was shaky after he rebuffed the team's advice to undergo surgery on his right knee. Miller and Mantei, with histories of health woes, were medical problems in the making.
So, too, was Francona, whose health has required close monitoring since he suffered a life-threatening pulmonary embolism in 2002. Francona said in an interview he suspects he may have suffered another embolism April 6 in New York, where a medical team rushed him from Yankee Stadium to a hospital by helicopter. He said the experience felt eerily similar to the earlier embolism.
''I never seemed to bounce back after that," he said of the April 6 incident. ''It really took a toll."
Mills suggested stress might have played a role in the scare.
''We had to make some changes in our roster that were bearing on him," Mills said. ''We were opening against the Yankees. It was a big series, and things might have come to a head."
While Mills guided the Sox that night in Francona's absence, general manager Theo Epstein sat by the manager's hospital bed. Epstein described the event as ''the scariest moment" of Francona's season of health woes.
''It was not fun sitting in that hospital in New York listening to that game on the radio," Epstein said.
