Terry Francona Hates Philadelphia, Wants To Kill Bill Giles

With the Red Sox big win last night to send their ALCS series back to Tampa, many reporters were asking manager Terry Francona about the American League's future opponent in the World Series, the Philadelphia Phillies. No, we aren't there yet, but since when do all those liberal reporters exercise restraint? What with their "gotcha!" questions, and their "facts" and expecting "intelligent answers" to their questions! The nerve, I tell ya.

Well. That went in a direction I wasn't expecting.

Back to Francona. You may recall (though I'm not sure why you would) before he managed the Red Sox to two World Series wins, he managed the Phillies to 363 losses in four years. In fairness to Francona, he wasn't exactly given the tools to succeed. But that didn't dissuade the "Phans"* in Philadelphia from hate'n on ol' Terry.

Ignore for a minute the fact that the Sox are down 3-2 with two more elimination games to go in Tampa if they are to win. During last night's post game presser at Fenway Park, Francona was peppered with questions about returning to Philadelphia and playing the Phillies in the World Series.** Specifically, Francona was asked about watching the Phillies beat LA to win the NL pennant and, strangely enough for the usually reserved Francona, he let the following slip:

I wanted to watch [Phillies President] Bill Giles, and kill him. That meant
a lot to me.***###^^^#&*$

Wow! What a hateful angry man. So so sad.

*They hate that.

**Seriously. It was pretty ridiculous. You'd have thought that the Red Sox just won the series, not survived an elimination game.

***Yes! He actually said that!

###Seriously! He really did!

^^^Dude, I'm not kidding! He completely said it. I swear! Fuck! See?!?

#&*$Fine... the actual quote is this:
“I wanted to watch at the end and see their clubbie (clubhouse attendant Frank Coppenbarger) jump up at the end,” said Francona. “I was also hoping to see (team owner) Bill Giles, and I didn’t. I did see Frank jump up in someone’s arms and almost kill him. That meant a lot to me.”