Reunited, and it feels so good

03/09/2006
VERO BEACH, Fla. -- There were enough hugs and handshakes to make Thursday's contest between the Dodgers and Red Sox seem more like a high school reunion than a baseball game.
You couldn't miss all the intertwinements as Grady Little shared the same field with the Red Sox for the first time since he last managed the club on that infamous night of Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium.
Ironically, Little seemed to have more of a Red Sox presence in his dugout than Terry Francona did.
In case you missed it, Nomar Garciaparra (former Red Sox icon), Derek Lowe (former Red Sox postseason hero) and Bill Mueller (Boston batting champ in 2003 and season-saving RBI single off Mariano Rivera in '04) now play for Little in Los Angeles.
The Red Sox, both because it was such a lengthy bus trip and that several players are performing in the World Baseball Classic, brought along just two of the eight players (Trot Nixon and right-hander Bronson Arroyo) who still remain from Little's two seasons as the Boston manager.
Red Sox fans who want to adopt a second team will have no problem doing so this summer.
"Those of us who stay up late can enjoy the Red Sox on the West Coast," quipped Red Sox owner John W. Henry, who, along with club president/CEO Larry Lucchino, sat literally a few feet behind Little from their front-row seats beside Dodgers owner (and Boston native) Frank McCourt.
Lucchino and Henry both shook hands with Little in between one of the early innings.
After not having his contract renewed by the Red Sox following the postseason run of '03, Little spent two years out of the dugout, serving as an assistant to Cubs general manager Jim Hendry. Did he assume he'd get another chance to manage in the Major Leagues?
"I don't think you can just sit there and say yes when you're just talking about one of 30 jobs in the world," said Little. "I felt like I could. I felt like I'd be ready if the opportunity ever came along again. You can't sit there and say you expect that."
And here it is, one of the premier jobs in baseball, and Little has familiar faces in various corners of the room.
"It's great, I'm excited to play for Grady again," said Garciaparra, who is spending his spring learning the art of playing first base. "He's unbelievable. He's a great manager. He's got great wisdom, he knows the game so well, he's so great to play for and he wins. That's what's awesome."
Little did plenty of winning in Boston, reeling off 93 wins in his rookie season and then coming back with 95 the next year. But if he has any bitterness remaining from the way things ended with the Red Sox, it was nowhere to be found on this picturesque day at the old-time field in Dodgertown.
"Not really, because I know myself and I know what I'm capable of doing and what I did do while I spent two years there managing the Red Sox," Little said.
As easygoing as ever, Little spun some yarns with the writers who used to chronicle him on a daily basis.
Little isn't naïve enough to think that his decision to leave a faltering Pedro Martinez on the mound during the eighth inning with the American League pennant on the line will ever be forgotten. But he's also not thin-skinned enough to let it detract from his perspective on the situation.
"You know, when you're a player that plays Major League Baseball or plays baseball at any level -- especially in the Major Leagues -- and you boot a ball one night or you make a bad pitch, or you strike out with the bases loaded, you turn the page and you get to play a game the very next day," Little said. "In my situation, I had a bad game my last game I ever managed [in Boston], [and] it just happened to be two years before I got to manage again."
But when the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, Little was watching.
"It was fun to watch," said Little. "I was in communication with several of the players then. They were calling me, pretty much on a daily basis, someone or another from that ballclub, and we were pulling for them. We were very proud of them."
And Little's mind probably didn't have to do much wandering during that postseason of '04 to think about how that ALCS a year earlier might have ended differently if Keith Foulke was his closer and Curt Schilling was alongside Martinez and Lowe in the rotation.
As he always was in Boston, Little was classy with his comments on Thursday, but still able to get his points across.
"Well, you always manage according to your personnel," said Little. "In that one particular season, we operated with a bullpen by committee, which proved to be not the most successful way to go. The following year, when they won the World Series, I think they remedied that problem and it paid off for them."
Because the Red Sox came so close to reaching the World Series during Little's tenure and there were so many holdovers in the history-making team of '04, did he feel he was a part of it?
"I don't know," said Little. "You know, in my heart, I know I was."
You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone on the Boston side who would disagree.
"I never once thought we won the World Series because I was here," said Francona. "I think there's a lot of people that probably deserve some of the credit for some of the good things that happened to the Red Sox. Not just Grady, but a lot of other people, too. It's the case everywhere you go."
By the way, Little and Francona are old friends, even though this was the first time they've seen each other since the Red Sox and A's met in the 2003 Division Series.
Shortly before game time, the current and former Boston managers shook hands and shared a few laughs. Francona and Little were roommates in the fall of 1992, working on the same staff for the Grand Canyon Rafters, an Arizona Fall League team.
Francona (a coach under Little that fall) remembers Little's penchant for buying scratch-off lottery tickets at a local convenience store.
"At that point in time, I couldn't afford to stop as often as I can now," said Little.
As for the game, Lowe (2-0, 0.00 ERA this spring) pitched the Dodgers to a to a 6-4 victory.
The only way Little, Lowe, Mueller and Garciaparra will renew acquaintances with their old friends from Boston again this season would be a meeting in the World Series. But there were no bold predictions coming from Little. He's just excited to be back in the dugout again with what he feels is a solid team.
"Everything's been going very well," said Little. "You know, this is a ballclub we have here, they were kind of riddled with injuries last year, so we're combating that this spring to get the guys back ready to play. Everything is going along right on schedule with each and every one of them so far."

Source: http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/