Terry Francona is the manager of the Boston Red Sox, and so I officially hate him.  I pull for the Yankees; he calls Fenway home.  Hating him is just a part of life.  Last night, however, I was extremely impressed with Terry Francona.

Managing for the American League team in Yankee Stadium for the All Star Game last night, Francona showed some real class.  When it was time for Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter to come out of the lineup, Francona pulled them out while they were on the field.  The significance here is that in doing this, Francona gave the Yankees fans in attendance the opportunity to cheer for the home team players as they left the field.  He could have easily replaced them between innings, but he didn’t.

Then when the time came to choose relievers, and Francona had to decide if the Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera would pitch the 9th inning or if some obnoxious idiot would close it, Francona took the high road and gave the ball to Rivera.  (It went extra innings, and Rivera didn’t get the decision, but you can’t fault Francona for that.)

Francona deserves a nice round of applause next time he’s in Yankee Stadium.  Protocol dictates that he won’t get it, so that’ll never happen.  Still, he deserves it.