Days removed from the dismissal of Terry Francona as manager of the Red Sox, there is no sign that Theo Epstein’s departure is also imminent.

This much we know:

Epstein has an opportunity to move on. The Cubs’ interest has been piqued, and other clubs would consider snapping up the young (37) GM of the Sox.

Epstein has a year remaining on his present contract, so he’s got a comfort zone.

Epstein certainly would like to right the ship, and his ties to the area (family, Foundation to be Named Later) would almost certainly make him think twice about moving.

We know that he’s a personal favorite of owner John Henry, who, we believe, is still alive since this mess began last month.

Epstein and Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, the Dean Wormer of this Animal House, have had friction in the past. When Epstein left the club wearing a gorilla suit on Halloween night 2005, he apparently left because of a power struggle with Lucchino. The issue was resolved in January, and Epstein returned.

After Francona’s farewell press conference Friday, when Epstein, chairman Tom Werner and Lucchino met the press, Lucchino was hardly effusive in his praise of Epstein when he was asked about the GM’s future with the club. “We’re not prepared to answer that question here… He’s under contract with us so its an issue that has not been addressed,” was all Lucchino said.

Werner quickly jumped in: “I think we feel collectively that he’s one of the best general managers in baseball and has been integral to the success of our club the last 10 years.”

So, unlike the party line with Francona, that they wanted him to stay, there is no such thing with Epstein. There’s no party line.

The real question is that, while there seems to be near universal praise of Francona and his managerial style and ability, that’s not the case with Epstein. In fact, one has to wonder whether Epstein even deserves to continue on with the job that he first assumed on Nov. 25, 2002. While it’s true that the Red Sox have won two World Series under Epstein, the first, 2004, was won with a team largely assembled by Dan Duquette. The Sox have made the playoffs six times in nine years. During the same span the Yankees made it eight times.

The Sox haven’t made it to the playoffs in each of the last two seasons – after being swept by the Angeles in 2009.

Epstein has certainly done a fine job of building the farm system, but he’s also depleted it with his major trades, which is one reason why the Sox were in such trouble this season. While starting pitchers went down one by one, the depth was such that the Sox were forced to rely on Andrew Miller and Kyle Weiland to start.

During his tenure, Epstein has presided over several press conferences that were accompanied by such fanfare that you’d have thought the circus was coming to town. In a way, it was, but the signings of Daisuke Matsuzaka, John Lackey, Mike Cameron, Carl Crawford, Eric Gagne, etc, were busts.

While the Phillies have assembled a staff anchored by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, and other teams have stars such as CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander, the Red Sox have been found not to have that one big horse to take them anywhere.

Epstein did a nice job in landing Curt Schilling in 2004, but after losing Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe the following season he added Matt Clement and Wade Miller. Kyle Snyder, Julian Tavarez, Brad Penny and John Smoltz were his desperation attempts to shore up his pitching staff in the tough A.L. East in ensuing years.

In the last two seasons, Epstein picked up Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre and then lost them. The Sox failed, anyway, when they were here. Ditto for this season with Adrian Gonzalez.

The upshot is that for all the hopes and dreams of Sox fans, for all the optimism that goes along with being an upper echelon team in baseball’s best division, Epstein hasn’t gotten the job done.

BOSTON –

Jacoby Ellsbury never had a game-winning hit before this week.

Now he has two in as many games.

One night after his ninth-inning single drove in the game-winning run, the Red Sox center fielder homered with two outs in the ninth on Wednesday to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

“The guy’s got us two nights in a row,” said Indians reliever Joe Smith (2-2), who retired the first two batters in the ninth before Ellsbury hit an 0-1 pitch over the wall in straightaway center.

Asked if the pitch was where he wanted it, Smith said: “Four hundred and fifteen away to the middle of center? No.”

Jonathan Papelbon (4-0) pitched a perfect ninth for Boston, which won for the 10th time in 13 games. Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez each had two hits, and Tim Wakefield took a three-hitter into the seventh but could not collect career victory No. 200.

Jason Kipnis homered for the fourth straight day for Cleveland, which lost for the 10th time in 13 games to fall to .500 for the first time since the fourth game of the year. Starter Carlos Carrasco allowed three runs – two earned – and nine hits and three walks while striking out five before leaving with the game tied 3-all in the eighth inning.

Tony Sipp struck out two in a perfect eighth, and then Smith retired pinch-hitter Darnell McDonald and No. 9 hitter Marco Scutaro before Ellsbury, who was 0 for 4 so far in the game, came to the plate. Ellsbury, who hit a one-out single to win it on Tuesday, drove it over the high wall in center.

“I realized it was the ninth inning and I had been 0 for 4 both games. I’m just trying to get on base,” he said. “The last two days have been pretty good.”

Wakefield took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning with a chance for his 200th win, but he gave up doubles to Lonnie Chisenhall and Ezequiel Carrera to tie it. Red Sox manager Terry Francona headed to the mound, leading Wakefield to pound his fist in frustration and drawing boos from the crowd.

The fans cheered Wakefield as he left the field, but he did not react. He allowed three runs and five hits and two walks in all, striking out six in 6 2-3 innings.

“It’s hard,” Francona said. “I knew what it meant to the fans wanting to see it – and so do I – and to him personally. But you do what you have to do to try and win the game.”

The right-handed knuckleballer, who turned 45 on Tuesday and is the oldest active player in the majors, will have another chance at becoming the 108th pitcher with 200 wins – the 89th since 1900 – is expected to come on Monday or Tuesday night.

Carrasco, who had lost five straight starts, was suspended six games and fined $2,500 for throwing at the head of Kansas City’s Billy Butler on Friday night. He said he would drop his appeal and begin the suspension after Wednesday night’s game.

Notes: The teams are back for game four of the series on Thursday night, when newly acquired starter Erik Bedard will face former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson. Masterson is 3-3 with a 1.76 ERA in his past 11 games (10 starts). He was part of the deal that brought Victor Martinez to Boston at the 2009 trading deadline. In three career starts against his former team, he is 2-0 with a 1.25 ERA. … Bedard only went 1 1-3 innings and gave up five runs in his previous start, for Seattle against Tampa Bay – his first start since coming off the DL (sprained left knee). … To make room for Jimenez on the roster, the Indians optioned LHP David Huff to Triple-A Columbus. … Indians OF Michael Brantley was given the night off to rest his sore right wrist. … Kipnis is the first Indians rookie to homer in four straight games since Al Rosen in 1950, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … Pedroia was the AL player of the month for July, with 46 hits in the month. … Boston SS Marco Scutaro was back in the lineup after sitting out Tuesday’s game with dizziness. … The Red Sox batter with game-ending hits on consecutive days of the regular season was Butch Hobson in 1978, though David Ortiz did it in the 2004 playoffs against the New York Yankees.

Updated Aug 3, 2011 11:34 PM ET

BOSTON (AP)

Jacoby Ellsbury never had a game-winning hit before this week.

Now he has two in as many games.

One night after his ninth-inning single drove in the game-winning run, the Red Sox center fielder homered with two outs in the ninth on Wednesday to give the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians.

”The guy’s got us two nights in a row,” said Indians reliever Joe Smith (2-2), who retired the first two batters in the ninth before Ellsbury hit a 0-1 pitch over the wall in straightaway center.

Asked if the pitch was where he wanted it, Smith said: ”Four hundred and fifteen away to the middle of center? No.”

Jonathan Papelbon (4-0) pitched a perfect ninth for Boston, which won for the 10th time in 13 games. Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez each had two hits, and Tim Wakefield took a three-hitter into the seventh but could not collect career victory No. 200.

Jason Kipnis homered for the fourth straight day for Cleveland, which lost for the 10th time in 13 games to fall to .500 for the first time since the fourth game of the year. Starter Carlos Carrasco allowed three runs (two earned) and nine hits and three walks while striking out five before leaving with the game tied 3-all in the eighth inning.

Tony Sipp struck out two in a perfect eighth, and then Smith retired pinch-hitter Darnell McDonald and No. 9 hitter Marco Scutaro before Ellsbury, who was 0 for 4 so far in the game, came to the plate. Ellsbury, who hit a one-out single to win it on Tuesday, drove it over the high wall in center.

”I realized it was the ninth inning and I had been 0 for 4 both games. I’m just trying to get on base,” he said. ”The last two days have been pretty good.”

Wakefield took a 3-2 lead into the seventh inning with a chance for his 200th win, but he gave up doubles to Lonnie Chisenhall and Ezequiel Carrera to tie it. Red Sox manager Terry Francona headed to the mound, leading Wakefield to pound his fist in frustration and drawing boos from the crowd.

The fans cheered Wakefield as he left the field, but he did not react. He allowed three runs and five hits and two walks in all, striking out six in 6 2/3 innings.

”It’s hard,” Francona said. ”I knew what it meant to the fans wanting to see it — and so do I — and to him personally. But you do what you have to do to try and win the game.”

The right-handed knuckleballer, who turned 45 on Tuesday and is the oldest active player in the majors, will have another chance at becoming the 108th pitcher with 200 wins — the 89th since 1900 — on Monday or Tuesday night.

Carrasco, who had lost five straight starts, was suspended six games and fined $2,500 for throwing at the head of Kansas City’s Billy Butler on Friday night. He said he would drop his appeal and begin the suspension after Wednesday night’s game.

Notes: The teams are back for game four of the series on Thursday night, when newly acquired starter Erik Bedard will face former Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson. Masterson is 3-3 with a 1.76 ERA in his past 11 games (10 starts). He was part of the deal that brought Victor Martinez to Boston at the 2009 trading deadline. In three career starts against his former team, he is 2-0 with a 1.25 ERA. … Bedard only went 1 1/3 innings and gave up five runs in his previous start, for Seattle against Tampa Bay — his first start since coming off the DL (sprained left knee). … To make room for Jimenez on the roster, the Indians optioned LHP David Huff to Triple-A Columbus. … Indians OF Michael Brantley was given the night off to rest his sore right wrist. … Kipnis is the first Indians rookie to homer in four straight games since Al Rosen in 1950, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. … Pedroia was the AL player of the month for July, with 46 hits in the month. … Boston SS Marco Scutaro was back in the lineup after sitting out Tuesday’s game with dizziness. … The Red Sox batter with game-ending hits on consecutive days of the regular season was Butch Hobson in 1978, though David Ortiz did it in the 2004 playoffs against the New York Yankees.

BOSTON (AP) – The Boston Red Sox selected University of Connecticut right-handed pitcher Matt Barnes with the 19th pick in the first round of the major league baseball draft Monday night.

Barnes, a native of Bethel, Conn., who turns 21 on June 17, was taken with the pick the Red Sox received as compensation from the Detroit Tigers for signing catcher Victor Martinez as a free agent.

Barnes posted a record of 11-4 with a 1.62 ERA in 16 starts. He has 241 career strikeouts, just two behind UConn all-time leader Ed Baird, who set the record in 1966-68.

With their second pick, at No. 26 overall, the Red Sox selected switch-hitting high school catcher Blake Swihart, from New Mexico. He has committed to the University of Texas.

The Red Sox received the pick from the Texas Rangers for signing free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Boston also picked Henry Owens, a left-handed pitcher from Edison High School in California, with the 36th overall pick and outfielder Jackie Bradley from the University of South Carolina with the 40th pick.

A wrist injury that required surgery slowed Bradley at the plate this season, when he hit .259 in 37 games.

“We’re real happy with how today went,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.

“And you circle back in five or 10 years and see how you did, but certainly we feel like some things broke out way and we were able to get four players we feel really good about, two high school, two college, two pitchers, two hitters. The hitters are up-the-middle guys with strong defensive tools and bats that we really like. Both pitchers we feel project as starters in the big leagues. So we’re real happy with how it went.”

BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox selected University of Connecticut right-handed pitcher Matt Barnes with the 19th pick in the first round of the major league baseball draft Monday night.

Barnes, a native of Bethel, Conn., who turns 21 on June 17, was taken with the pick the Red Sox received as compensation from the Detroit Tigers for signing catcher Victor Martinez as a free agent.

Barnes posted a record of 11-4 with a 1.62 ERA in 16 starts. He has 241 career strikeouts, just two behind UConn all-time leader Ed Baird, who set the record in 1966-68.

With their second pick, at No. 26 overall, the Red Sox selected switch-hitting high school catcher Blake Swihart, from New Mexico. He has committed to the University of Texas.

The Red Sox received the pick from the Texas Rangers for signing free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Boston also picked Henry Owens, a left-handed pitcher from Edison High School in California, with the 36th overall pick and outfielder Jackie Bradley from the University of South Carolina with the 40th pick.

A wrist injury that required surgery slowed Bradley at the plate this season, when he hit .259 in 37 games.

“We’re real happy with how today went,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said.

“And you circle back in five or 10 years and see how you did, but certainly we feel like some things broke out way and we were able to get four players we feel really good about, two high school, two college, two pitchers, two hitters. The hitters are up-the-middle guys with strong defensive tools and bats that we really like. Both pitchers we feel project as starters in the big leagues. So we’re real happy with how it went.”