Oct. 31 Terry Francona workout day interview

Q. I forgot to follow up last night, was Lonnie available? How is he feeling?

TERRY FRANCONA: Yeah, he was available. In fact, he was going to most likely hit in the ninth, if we got to — the pitcher’s spot was in the eight hole. We had, I believe we were going to run Naquin for either Nap or Santana if they got on. And then we would have had Martinez and Lonnie, depending on the situation. And if we needed a hit, as opposed to maybe some situational hitting, it probably would have been Lonnie. He got there, I think, I think he got back about an hour, hour and a half before the game and while I was up there, I mean, he got a sandwich down, and he looked a lot better by the end of the night.Q. What is it about Josh Tomlin that makes him someone you felt like going to these playoffs that he’s somebody you can rely on and do as well as he’s done?

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, I’ve known him now for four years. That’s a long time in our game. I mean, again, one, your players are your players. It’s not like you get to the playoffs and then you just decide that you’ll go grab some other guys. I do think knowing these guys gives you a sense of — takes away some of the anxiety, because we’ve asked them to do some short rest, things like that, and I know how much they enjoy trying to meet the challenges. So I think it’s pretty obvious, but I’ve really enjoyed going through these with them. We don’t always win or we don’t always — we make some mistakes, but I enjoy doing it with these guys. It’s a fun group. If Tomlin doesn’t win, he won’t beat himself, and he won’t back down. All the things we talk about, not backing down from a challenge and valuing winning and things like that, being a good teammate, he embodies all those better or as good as anybody I’ve ever seen.Q. Just how happy are you to have the DH back so you can get back to sort of your normal alignment? And how challenging were the last three games constructing your lineup?

TERRY FRANCONA: Yeah, I am. Now, they’ll also have the DH too, which I’m sure they’re thrilled about. I thought Carlos did an amazing job. There were no crazy chances out there or anything, but everything that was hit to him, he looked like a left fielder. Actually got behind the one ball and made a nice throw, hit the cutoff man. I was really proud of him. He volunteered to do that, and like I said, I was really proud of him. He’s come a long way. Took a lot of work in that four- or five-day span for him to be out there, and I thought it was pretty cool. I’ll be glad that we can DH somebody though.Q. Rajai Davis had an impact last night with the two hits and the steals. I know he doesn’t always start against right-handed pitchers. Are you thinking of starting him tomorrow? And if so, what would be your reasons?

TERRY FRANCONA: Well, we’ll see. I’ve actually been looking at that. Here Coco in left. I think I was leaning toward Coco. It was nice to see Rajai get some hits because he hadn’t been getting a lot of hits in these playoffs. Sometimes we want to be able to use his speed so much, and when he’s not swinging the bat, if he’s not starting, at least you can pick a spot where you can put him in for his legs. So that’s kind of the back and forth, Millsie and I have talked about it for a while now, and we’ll probably talk about it a little bit more.Q. Aside from the DH, is there …

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