Prayers Up For Terry Francona Who Missed The Guardians Game And Was Hospitalized Overnight Due To An Illness

ESPN - Cleveland Guardians manager Terry Francona went to a local hospital to undergo precautionary tests after feeling poorly before the team's game Tuesday night against the Kansas City Royals and will remain there overnight.

The team will not provide any further updates until Wednesday.

Francona spoke with the media pregame before leaving. Bench coach DeMarlo Hale managed in place of Francona, who won American League Manager of the Year last season.

"He said, 'Get in here, I'm not feeling too well,'" Hale said. "It was so close [to game time], I didn't get to ask him what's going on."

The 64-year-old Francona, in his 11th year as Cleveland's manager and 23rd overall, has missed significant time in recent seasons due to health issues. In 2017, Francona underwent a cardiac ablation, used to correct an irregular heartbeat, and missed 20 days. Three years ago, he missed around half of the COVID-19-shortened season with gastrointestinal and blood-clotting issues. A year later, he left the team with about two months remaining in the season because of hip pain and eventually underwent surgery for a staph infection in his toe.

OK this is scary stuff because Tito hasn't exactly been the picture of perfect health over the last few seasons. I mean just look at his recent health issues. Irregular heartbeat, gastrointestinal and blood-clotting issues, staph infection, and that doesn't even include all the migraine headaches he gets from watching Josh Bell try and not suck balls in the heart of his lineup. 

From a baseball standpoint, who knows where the Guardians organization as a whole would be without him. There are very few managers in MLB history who could have gotten as much out of that youth movement last season as he did. And even though they are under .500 this season pretty much everyone on the planet expects them to make some sort of run at the division crown. 

That's the Tito effect.

What is crazy about Tito though is that all of a sudden he is a really divisive figure in Cleveland. Never mind the fact that he is pretty much the only reason they remain relevant and competitive year over year (it sure as hell isn't the payroll). There is a small but very vocal contingent in this town that want him fired or forced to resign.

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Has Tito lost his fastball a little with lineup and in-game decisions? Sure. There is no denying that. But whatever he has lost is far outweighed by what he brings to a clubhouse. No one gets more out of their guys. No one. 

And even if the Guardians brass did want Tito gone they would NEVER fire him. Hell, I bet they will never even force him out. And they probably shouldn't. The guy has earned the right to choose his own ending. Remember when he came to Cleveland despite the fact the Guardians (then Indians) had a dog shit payroll and everyone else wanted to hire him?

Despite Tito apparently having the game completely pass him by (at least that's what it sounds like if you read the tweets about him) the Guardians are just .5 game out of first place in the AL Central. And sure, the Central is the Burger King of baseball. It's still technically one of the big boys but no one would ever choose it, it's really not enjoyable to consume, and it will probably make your stomach hurt when you're done.

But all that matters is if you win that dog shit division then you're in the playoffs. And that's the name of the game. But to accomplish that goal the Guardians need their leader with them. Let's hope this isn't too serious and Tito is right back with the team tonight. I'm not ready to see one of the all time legendary MLB managers walk away from my squad. Not when we need him most.

Here's some good mojo coming your way, skip.