NEW YORK -- The season is almost over, save for another game in New York and a year-ending three-game set in Cleveland this weekend. Finally, Torey Lovullo can get ready to take a breath.
It's been a hectic last few months for Lovullo, who became interim manager on Aug. 14, a day after manager John Farrell revealed to him that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and would be taking a leave of absence.
That was almost seven weeks ago. Since then, Lovullo has guided the Red Sox to a 27-16 record heading into Wednesday night's game against the Yankees.
To Lovullo, it seems a long time ago. And it still seems like a whirlwind.
"It's been a tough situation for all of us,'' reflected Lovullo. "You're never prepared for the news that you get when someone that I'm very close to says that he has Stage One lymphoma. It's just nothing that you expect to hear.
"As a group, we rallied around one another. As a group, we made a commitment to all of our concepts and outlined our expectations to win as many games as possible. That was something that I said to the team right away. And that they were going to be evaluated, they were going to be looked at for now and down the road. All of our key concepts were going to be understood and nothing was going to change. And the guys seemed to really gravitate to that.
"For one reason or another, we played really good baseball.''
Boston Red Sox
Under Lovullo, the Red Sox have played with a plus-79 run differential after playing in the negative column for much of the season. In fact, it wasn't until Tuesday's 10-4 win over the Yankees -- Boston's season-high fifth win a row -- that the Sox got back into the "plus'' margin for the season -- 735 runs scored; 731 allowed -- for the first time since April 25.
"Personally, it's been a great experience for me,'' said Lovullo. "I've learned a lot of valuable lessons and I came to appreciate John because I didn't know how demanding this position was. He made it look very easy.''
Lovullo had managed many seasons in the minor leagues, so running a game wasn't different. But in other ways, there was no comparison to managing in the minors and managing in Boston.
"(I learned) that everything matters,'' said Lovullo. "Every decision matters and every decision is going to be evaluated. The game's the same. The clock's the same. The decision-making process is the same. It's just that a lot of people are watching and everything is speeding by.
"I've been managing games behind John, with John, for John when he gets thrown out for the past three years and we all have the same thoughts during a game. We're all managing in one way or another. It's just that I have the final say now. That's something that's a little bit different than it used to be.
"But managing 1,200 games (in the minors) gave me the foundation to feel comfortable, gave me the foundation to understand what it takes to run a game
and the ins and outs of running a game. It just made me feel good to be able to step in there without having to get a feel for it.''