BOSTON - It's definitely not where three friends want to be hanging out, but based on the circumstances, it's the best they could do.
Indians manager Terry Francona and third base coach Brad Mills were up bright and early on Tuesday to meet their friend John Farrell at Mass General Hospital before his first chemotherapy session.
Francona didn't want to go into too much detail about the scene out of respect for Farrell, but did say he spent plenty of time and shared plenty of laughs with Farrell on Tuesday.
"I'm glad we went," Francona said. "I'm really glad we went over and I know Chris Antonetti went over after we left. Again, I'd rather let John say what he wants to about his stuff because that's his business, but we went over and spent a lot of time telling stories. Most of them were probably not true."
And leave it to Francona to try to keep things light during Farrell's first visit, undoubtedly easing the pain.
"I told him point blank, 'I'm not here as your friend,'" Francona quipped. "I said, 'You owe me $20. If something happens to you I want my $20.'"
Francona hesitated when asked if he felt "good" about going, because the situation at hand isn't really something to feel good about. As a friend, it's just something he didn't even think about. He was happy that he and Mills were there because Farrell was happy that they were there.
"Like I said, the stories start flying and half of them aren't probably true, but I was glad under the circumstances that we could be there," Francona said. "It probably was good for all of us."
Though the Indians organization is clearly showing support for Farrell on this day, he's receiving it from all over. Torey Lovullo had texted him early Tuesday morning but had not heard back as of about 4:30 pm. Lovullo said he wouldn't be surprised to see Farrell back in the clubhouse as early as Tuesday night, "shooting the breeze," he said.
That might be a bit of a stretch - and most likely against the doctor's orders.
Farrell underwent his first round of chemotherapy on the same day the Red Sox, NESN, and WEEI partnered with the Jimmy Fund for a two-day Radio-Telethon to raise money and support the fight against cancer in children and adults at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Having managed the Red Sox from 2004 to 2011, Francona has been a part of many of these Radio-Telethons and has been down to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute plenty of times. Now that one of his best friends is fighting cancer, it hits a little closer to home this year.
"Well the Jimmy Fund is incredible," Francona said. "The people there at Dana-Farber and the work that they do and the way that they handle it. I've seen it first hand and it's incredible. When I was in town for those eight years I always went out and would go on radio for 10 or 15 minutes and I'm guessing tomorrow my donation will probably be a little bit more, just because it probably needs to be. But they do some amazing things."
