Should Be An Interesting Night Tonight

Tonight, the Red Sox take on the Yankees again. Last Tuesday, the Red Sox beat the Yankees 1-0, much in thanks to wonderful pitching performance by Felix Doubront. However, tonight’s game might be even more entertaining.

ESPN, NESN, and YES are all broadcasting the game tonight, which is set to starter at 6:05 Central time. Terry Francona is set to commentate for ESPN. While I know ESPN is going to get the most viewers tonight since they’re broadcasted throughout the country, I’d really like to know how many viewers NESN and YES will lose because of this. I’m guessing NESN will have less viewers than they typically would for a Red Sox game, since so many people are curious how Francona will do.

How will Francona discuss the Red Sox team in terms this year? Will he have more comments about what happened last year, his dismissal from the team, and his initial comments about Bobby Valentine? Will ESPN hold their chats with the managers of the game, like they usually do? Will we see Pedroia and Francona talking before the game (I hope so, since everyone knows they were/are close)?

Aside from the playoffs last year, this will be the first time I watch Francona as a commentator. As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big fan of ESPN in terms of their baseball coverage; I prefer MLBNetwork and their hosts of analysts, commentators, and personalities in general. I may still hold a grudge against ESPN when they got rid of Harold Reynolds as well.

I am very interested to see how Francona does, and I hope he does a great job. I like Francona a lot. While Valentine has opened my eyes to many things so far this Spring Training (both things that I like and don’t really care for), Francona was such a presence on the Red Sox for a long time. Players came and went, but Francona always stayed the same. He broke the curse, won two World Series, managed two no-hitters, and always seem to connect with the players and fans alike.

But like life, all good things must come to an end. Francona has moved on to ESPN, taking present-day Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine’s place, and vice-versa. Tonight will be a true test, for Francona, the Red Sox, and the fans. Francona’s handling of the game tonight will show exactly what kind of commentator he will become. The Red Sox will know that their former manager watches over them and will be making comments about their play and who knows what (it is his job now, afterall). And last, the fans will see someone they (well, most anyway) have respected for years taking over the reigns of a new adventure. Tonight should definitely be an interesting night all the way around.