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"That was an incredible game, I mean, to be a part of," said
Francona, who managed the Boston Red Sox to Fall Classic sweeps
in 2004 and 2007, about Wednesday's 8-7 loss that ended the 2016
World Series.
"It's going to hurt. It hurts because we care, but they need to
walk with their head held high because they left nothing on the
field.
"That's all the things we ever ask them to do. They tried until
there was nothing left."
Cleveland, striving to win their first Major League Baseball
championship since 1948, battled back from a 5-1 deficit to tie
the game at 6-6 with three runs in the eighth inning after being
just four outs away defeat.
After the Cubs scored two runs in the top of the 10th, the
Indians rallied again with a run that put them one behind and
had a man on base before Chicago finally finished them off,
ending their own 108-year title drought.
“That was some kind of game. Somebody was going to win, somebody
was going to lose," said Francona, who knows something about a
hex having ended the "Curse of the Bambino" when Boston won the
2004 World Series to end an 86-year championship drought. "I
wish they’d lost.
"There was a lot of good baseball."
Francona said the Cubs were a lot like his team.
"They’re a good team, they keep coming at you," he said about
the Cubs. "That was tough. We tied it and a lot of teams might
fold. They didn’t.
"We didn’t either, we just ran out of time."
Francona said he held a short meeting with the team after the
painful loss.
"I just wanted to thank them from me and the coaches, because
it’s an honor to go through something like this with this group.
"I just thought they deserved to hear that."
(Editing by Steve Keating.)
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