By SportsDirect

Posted: November 2
Updated: Today at 9:37 PM

BY JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer

The Boston Red Sox are looking for a strong voice in a clubhouse that disintegrated in September amid reports of players drinking beer and eating fried chicken during games.

Pete Mackanin thinks he might be able to provide it.

“I feel like I have leadership qualities and I feel like I can help this franchise get back to where it once was,” he told reporters Monday night after interviewing to be the Red Sox manager to rebuild from the worst September collapse in baseball history. “Not that it was ever gone from anything, but I guess there was a little hiccup here last year. We’re going to put it behind us and move on.”

The Red Sox opened their managerial search by interviewing Mackanin, the Philadelphia Phillies bench coach. Former Boston third base coach Dale Sveum is scheduled for an interview today, and general manager Ben Cherington says there could be five or six candidates in the first round of interviews in all.

“It could be more. We’re still working on the rest of that list,” Cherington said.

The Red Sox parted ways with Terry Francona, who won two World Series in Boston, after he admitted losing the clubhouse during a 7-20 September that left the ballclub one game short of the playoffs. Asked if he was more of a players’ manager or a disciplinarian, Mackanin said he was able to be both.

“I think you have to have an element of both sides of that in order to be a good motivator,” he said. “I think there’s a juggling act that’s involved in that, where you have to have enough discipline but at the same time let the players play easy. You don’t want them tense.”

Mackanin declined to evaluate the team’s collapse, saying he was more worried about the Phillies at the time. He wouldn’t say whether he would allow beer in the clubhouse if he gets the job.

“You know what, I don’t want to go there,” he said. “I’m not at that point yet. I’d rather not discuss that. We can talk about that later.”

A second baseman who spent 548 games over nine seasons with the Rangers, Expos, Phillies and Twins, Mackanin brings a well-rounded resume with him, including work as a minor- and major-league player, a scout and advance scout, a third base coach, infield and outfield instructor, minor league coordinator, “and just about everything except manager.”

He later remembered that he had in fact managed in the big leagues: on an interim basis for the Reds in 2007 and Pirates in 2005. He has also worked in the Expos, Pirates and Yankees systems, as well as in the Caribbean, South America and Australia.

“So I’d like to think it’s time for me to manage at this level,” he said. “I don’t ask (why). My wife asks me all the time. Of course I’ve wondered and I don’t know. Whatever happens happens. I’m good with it. I’m happy to have an opportunity just to have somebody listen to me.”

Also Monday, the Red Sox declined contract options on relievers Dan Wheeler and Scott Atchison. The Red Sox retain control over Atchison, but can sign him for a lower salary; Wheeler also remains an option, Cherington said.

“We didn’t feel like we could commit to that money for him this early in the offseason,” he said. “We’ll keep the door open.”

Cherington said he has also talked to the agents for David Ortiz and Jonathan Papelbon, who are both free agents, but that it is unlikely an agreement would be reached before the exclusive negotiating window closes on Thursday.

Cherington also said that no agreement has been reached with the Chicago Cubs for compensation for former GM Theo Epstein. Commissioner Bud Selig had set a Tuesday deadline, saying he would step in and settle it if an agreement hadn’t been reached; more conversations were planned, Cherington said.

“We’ve always felt like that was a possibility,” Cherington said. “It’s a difficult deal to work out because its hard to quantify the value of Theo Epstein. I have an idea of it and Theo doesn’t think he’s worth as much. So we haven’t been able to bridge that gap yet. I think both sides are comfortable with that outcome of it happens that way.”

BOSTON (CBS)  -The Boston Red Sox have declined team options on right-handed relievers Scott Atchison and Dan Wheeler, the team announced Monday.

Wheeler went 2-2 with a 4.38 ERA in his first season with the Red Sox after being signed as a free-agent over the offseason. A 12-year veteran, Wheeler has a career 3.88 ERA with a 25-43 record and 43 saves.

Read: Sox Pick Up Option On Scutaro

The team could still offer Wheeler arbitration. If Wheeler, who is a Class B free agent, declines arbitration, Boston would be eligible to receive a sandwich pick as compensation.

Atchison made 17 appearances for the Red Sox over six stints, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.26 ERA. He also pitched in 36 games with Triple-A Pawtucket, including one start, going 6-2 with five saves with a a 2.64 ERA.

Read: Dan Roche’s Sports Blog

Atchison will remain on the club’s 40-man roster.

The epic collapse of the Red Sox seems to have all the makings of your favorite prime-time soap opera.

According to an extensive report in a midweek edition of the Boston Globe, the Sox were victimized by a discordant clubhouse, poor conditioning, lousy pitching, lack of leadership and a pill-popping manager who had lost control of the team.

Boston fans no doubt remember the bad old days when the Sox were known as a team which was so dysfunctional it needed “25 cabs for 25 players.” The Fenway Faithful probably thought those days were gone forever after their beloved “Idiots” won the franchise’s first World Series in 86 years in 2004, and then repeated the feat three years later, all the time segueing from a laughingstock into a model franchise.

This season apparently was a return to the past.

According to the Globe, the players complained loudly when, with Hurricane Irene about to hit Boston on the last weekend of August and with the Oakland A’s in town, the Red Sox juggled the schedule to play a day-night doubleheader on a Saturday so as not to have to re-schedule with a team on the opposite coast. Although the Sox swept the twinbill, the resentment continued. Management attempted to alleviate the problem by presenting each of the players $300 headphones and an invitation to a night on owner John Henry’s yacht, but it didn’t help. Not even a team meeting a week later by manager Terry Francona could stop the storm from spinning out of control.

The story also noted that pitchers Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jon Lester routinely spent days in which they weren’t pitching ensconced in the clubhouse away from their teammates, drinking beer, ordering out for fried chicken and playing video games. According to a source, this was a regular practice that began the season before.

The lack of solidarity with their teammates was one thing, but the lack of focus also filtered into the pitchers’ conditioning program as they cut back on their training regimen despite the pleas of strength-and-conditioning coach Dave Page.

“It’s hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15-million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work,” the source told the Globe.

Coincidence or not, in the last 17 combined starts from the aforementioned trio, the Red Sox went 5-12 with a 6.34 ERA. In the month of September, Boston’s starters as a whole had an ERA of 7.08, the worst in baseball by nearly a full run.

The Globe also indicated that veterans such as David Ortiz, Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis were lax about exerting the leadership that had always carried the Red Sox in the past. Ortiz, however, disputed that, saying this season was just business as normal in the clubhouse.

“We had that when we won the World Series in 2004,” he said. “We had that when we won the World Series in 2007. Beer in the clubhouse, it’s always been there. Video games, that’s always been there. Guys eating fried chicken, that’s always been there.”

No one, however, comes off looking worse than Francona, whom team sources said was distracted by a failure to receive a contract extension, marital problems, medication and concern over the fact that both his son and son-in-law were serving the military in Afghanistan. Since he was the manager, he is ultimately responsible for everything that goes on, and whatever “team sources” the Globe consulted certainly didn’t have any problems pointing the finger at Francona. Current star Dustin Pedroia and former Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra have accused the team of conducting a “smear campaign” against Francona, a charge owner Henry denied on a Boston radio station Friday afternoon.

Francona admitted in the Globe story that he and Jacque, his wife of nearly 30 years, separated during the season and that after close to 20 surgeries on his knees that he has used painkillers for many years. But he consulted with the team’s internist, Dr. Larry Ronan, “and it was not an issue. It never became an issue, and anybody who knew what was going on knows that.”

Francona also knows, for better or worse, the glare that forever focuses on the Sox becomes even more intense when things go bad.

“You never heard any of these complaints when we were going 80-41 because there was nothing there,” he said. “But we absolutely stunk in the last month, so now we have to deal with a lot of this stuff because expectations were so high.”

Francona resigned as manager two days after the season ended, but according to some, his reasoning didn’t sit well with management as he said he didn’t feel he had the necessary support to remain with the team. Hence, the “smear campaign,” which Garciaparra says is par for the course.

“I think people are starting to recognize there’s a pattern here,” Garciaparra said on ESPN’s SportsCenter after the Globe printed its report, citing the bitter departures of, among others, himself, Johnny Damon, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, Derek Lowe, and now Francona. “… So the list is pretty good, pretty prestigious, but it seems to happen. So there’s a pattern. Is it all these guys that are bad or is there something more here?”

As for Pedroia, he has no problem with where his loyalties lie.

“(Francona has) protected every single guy in that clubhouse, and that’s why I respect him like you can’t believe,” said the 2007 American League MVP. “Whatever job he gets, if he needs me for a couple of games or whatever, just let me know. I’ll go play for free. That’s how I care about this guy. This guy is my family.

“For him to have to deal with this … He’s the best manager in the history of the Red Sox organization. He won two World Series. Look at the run that he had there, it’s pretty remarkable. That’s the part that hurts and whoever the person it is that’s saying this, I think they need to take a step back and kind of look in the mirror and understand what they’re saying about a guy. A lot of guys in this organization have his back and I’m one of them.”

NOT DANCIN’ WITH WHO BRUNG YA: In Friday’s Game 5 of the NLCS, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa made two moves he hadn’t all season, and they helped the Cardinals move within one game of the World Series.

In the bottom of the fourth with St. Louis up 3-0, the Cardinals had runners at first and second with no outs and the No. 8 hitter, Nick Punto, at the plate. Punto moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt, which brought pitcher Jaime Garcia to bat. Garcia drove the run in with a groundout to short, giving the Cardinals a four-run lead.

The Cardinals had attempted 15 sacrifices during the regular season with their No. 8 hitter – five came when the pitcher was hitting eighth and the others late in games when La Russa would either hit for the pitcher or had already made a double-switch. In other words, this was the first time all season the manager bunted in that situation.

In the top of the fifth, after Milwaukee cut the lead to 4-1 and had runners on first and second with two outs, La Russa relieved Garcia and brought in right-handed reliever Octavio Dotel to face Ryan Braun. It was the first time all season the manager yanked a starter who hadn’t pitched five innings and allowed one run or less. La Russa obviously felt this was the key moment of the game and went to his best weapon. Dotel held right-handed hitters to a .154 average this season and he came through again, getting a strikeout although Braun swung through a hanging slider on strike three.

Nevertheless, the Cardinals enter today’s game with a chance to win the National League pennant.

Contact Rick Freeman at rfreeman@njtimes.com.

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By SportsDirect