Red Sox cut ties with Tito

In Boston, the Red Sox management fired their manager, Terry Francona. The club decided not to pick up Tito's extension for the 2012 season, and so Francona's legacy ends here. Tito had the second-longest tenure in the history of the club, second to only Joe Cronin in Boston. However, he was arguably the club's best manager, leading them to two World Championships. One of them was in 2004, the Red Sox's first in 86 years. The Red Sox fans, or at least me, will always remember Francona as the man who led Boston to the championship.

I will always remember that wonderful call, the crow of Joe Castiglione, "For the first time in eighty-six years, the Boston Red Sox are the World Champions! Can you believe it?!" And now, that is the only memory we can have, as Tito will be gone next year. Well, and the memories of that wonderful comeback against the Yankees, and then the exuberant sweep. That record still stands, of 8 straight postseason victories. Did I say 8? I meant 12, an unbelievable 12 consecutive postseason victories, moving into the '07 ALDS. This man was an amazing manager.

Then 2007, Francona coaxing the rookie Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury and tutoring them. It paid off, giving him another championship, as phenom Jon Papelbon struck out Seth Smith for the last out of Game 4 of that World Series. Another record: 8 consecutive World Series games won. But now 2011, when the Red Sox started weak, with a 2-10 start, flared up to take first place, and then fell all the way back down by going an astounding 7-20 in the month of September. This led to the loss of possibly the greatest manager Boston has ever seen.

And so, may we have a moment of silence for this man, this man who gave Boston something to cheer about when they had almost nothing for almost 90 years...

The divisional series' at a glance

After the Red Sox lost the AL Wild Card on the last day of the season thanks to Robert Andino's walk-off single for the Orioles and a walk-off home run for Evan Longoria of the Rays, the ALDS and NLDS began. The Rays took Game 1 behind surprising rookie choice Matt Moore, but Derek Holland came back to beat them 8-6 over ace James Shields in Game 2. Meanwhile, in New York, Justin Verlander lost to the Yankees 9-3 thanks to Robinson Cano's grand slam and 6 RBI in the hectic win. C.C. Sabathia, who couldn't seem to pitch well against the Sox, was the winner. See, if the Red Sox could get to the ALCS against the Yanks, they would clobber Sabathia, I bet.

In Philadelphia, fans were settling in to watch Kyle Lohse and Roy Halladay face off in the NLDS. Strangely, Halladay pitched very badly in the first inning, giving up 3 runs. However, he soon settled in and just pitched, watching Ryan Howard belt a three-run bomb in support and the rest of his offense pile up a total of 11 runs. The score was 11-3 going into the ninth, but the Cardinals fought back. They scored three runs before finally succumbing 11-6. Finally, in Milwaukee, Ryan Braun made a beautiful throw home to save a run early, and he added three hits while Prince Fielder smashed a two-run shot and Yovani Gallardo struck out nine men in a 4-1 win. I find it interesting that all of these clubs are known for good pitching, yet all but the Milwaukee-Arizona game turned out to be slugfests.