Deitsch: Terry Francona shines for Fox

My goodness, a Fox analyst who isn’t detestable?

Terry Francona woke up on Tuesday morning to something rare in baseball broadcasting circles: Glowing reviews from critics and viewers. TERRY FRANCONA HAS STAR TV POTENTIAL, proclaimed Newsday. Suggested New York Times sports media reporter Richard Sandomir: “Idea: keep Francona in booth when [Tim] McCarver returns for Game 3. Rare to have a mgr and a catcher in booth. “Yahoo! baseball writer Jeff Passan injected history. “Is Terry Francona Wally Pipping Tim McCarver?” The sentiment was the same from most viewers on social media sites. I asked Twitter readers to send me thoughts on Francona—47 of 50 respondents gave him positive reviews. ...

Forget about the mechanics and how smooth Francona was or was not coming in and out of breaks: He was insightful, and genuinely funny, both valuable commodities in broadcasting. On Tigers outfielder Delmon Young, Francona said, “He must be hurt. I’ve never seen him take a strike one. He’s usually swinging in the on-deck circle.” Francona laughed at his own cliches, needled the seven-year-old son of his former player, Victor Martinez, and was unafraid to question strategy of both managers. Francona said the game was faster in the booth than he imagined, and never realized the preparation that goes into a broadcast. “But I’m not trying to delude myself,” he said. “If they had just handed me a microphone, I’d have flopped. I’d have sunk. But the game was fun. I love the game of baseball and I had to remind myself I was working. They were two good games, and two good, long games. I thought I felt more comfortable yesterday, which is an obvious statement because I had a day under my belt.”