BOSTON -- Terry Francona is paying a dear price for deviating, however briefly, from the script.

He was supposed to say the decision to end his eight-year run as Red Sox manager was all his, and leave it at that. Instead, he said that he wasn't sure ownership had his back, suggesting that the reason he walked out the door was because it was held wide open for him.

The allegations against Terry Francona are the latest example of the Red Sox smearing someone on the way out. AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye

Well, that obviously didn't sit well with some people in the highest reaches of Sox management, for now we are told in Wednesday's editions of the Boston Globe that not only did the Red Sox collapse in September, but that Francona's troubled marriage and his use of pain medication may have been contributing factors.

This is how it's done, Tito, Boston-style. No one ever escapes clean, regardless of what you might have accomplished here. (See Garciaparra, Nomar, 2004.)

On Sept. 2, when the Red Sox held a nine-game lead in the wild card over the Tampa Bay Rays, no one was talking about Francona's alleged issues with his wife. That was considered his private business. What a concept.

But "team sources" somehow were able to link Red Sox starters' ERA of 7.08 in September -- almost a full run higher than the next worst starters' ERA in the league (6.09, Orioles) -- to the fact that Francona spent some nights in a Brookline hotel instead of in his home. This, even though the Sox went 81-42 over a four-month stretch during which Francona was ordering room service.

Never mind that if job performance was measured by healthy marriages, this country would be in huge trouble, given the high divorce rate. Or that if baseball teams were required only to use players free from marital discord, many would be hard-pressed to fill their lineup cards.