"Even after he became the owner of a real big league baseball team, [John] Henry continued to play in a sophisticated fantasy league in which he deployed Jamesean tools and, as he put it, 'cleaned up. I won every year.'"

-- Moneyball

Give John Henry and Larry Lucchino this: They know how to fight.

If the players on the 2011 Red Sox had cared about winning as much as Henry and Lucchino have cared about trying to get some punches in during the PR battle against Theo and Tito, none of this would be happening.

We would know nothing about beer videos or video games or painkillers or fried chicken or marital woes or lack of leadership from players (and I guess we can finally put an end to the idea that Jason Varitek is Douglas MacArthur with a permanent almost-beard) or if Theo Epstein was at Starbucks or any of this stuff.

But the players -- who we should not forget are most to blame for the epic collapse and all that has happened after -- didn't care. At least not enough of them, and not enough of the ones that mattered. John Lackey (who should never throw another pitch for the Red Sox -- if ownership really wants to please the masses, don't worry about making sure everyone knows about Francona's painkiller problems and instead do whatever it takes to make sure Lackey is out of Boston before spring training starts), Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Kevin Youkilis, Adrian Gonzalez (no more excuses, please), Carl Crawford (seems that he cared plenty, but had he been the Tampa Carl Crawford this team is in the playoffs), Varitek and all the rest of the culprits will have the stink of this failure attached to them for a long time, and very rightly so. A disgrace by any measure.

Now Terry Francona and Theo Epstein -- the most successful manager and general manager in franchise history -- are gone. And you know what? I'm OK with that. If the owners of the Boston Red Sox spend $500 million (or so) over the last three years and get zero playoff wins, a historic collapse and a clubhouse in chaos for a return, they should (at least) consider those kinds of moves. I would have kept both guys myself (I think 93 wins a year and two World Series should get you a little rope), but I recognize the thinking. No problems there.

But the owners just couldn't do that, could they? Nope. And you know why? Because (gasp) it wouldn't have looked good. Probably didn't test well. So what they initially did was instead try to sell us on the idea that this was Francona's decision (how many times did we hear "new voice" during the press conferences?). 

Well, that really didn't pass the smell test. Even Francona -- a good soldier until the end -- tried to sell it. But we know that it was a titanic ball of crapola. If the Red Sox had picked up Francona's options on, say, Aug. 11, does anyone think he wouldn't want to be the manager anymore? Of course not. The owners wanted him gone but didn't have the guts to say so publicly. Why? Fear of backlash. So they tried to sneak around the truth and guess what happened? Backlash. Turns out the folks aren't as moronic as they had hoped (probably the ratings for "After the Game" could've told them that).

So instead of just punting this one and letting Francona, who it should be noted hasn't knocked the ownership once since leaving -- win this little battle and just move on to fixing all that needs fixing, this ownership group decided to continue trying to score a knockout in a fight it lost two weeks ago. A couple of appearances on WEEI did nothing in terms of changing momentum, so what was left to do?

Bob Hohler has a long, detailed and plenty juicy read on all that went wrong with the Red Sox in The Boston Globe today. A very good writer doing a very good job with the information he had. If I had all the stuff he had I might have written the same story. 

But let's be fair -- true or not, it reads as if John Henry and Larry Lucchino dictated the entire story to Hohler. The owners come across as well-meaning but ultimately hands off ($300 headphones and a trip on Henry's yacht for the players after a road trip) while the blame for September is split between Francona, the players and Epstein. 

And again, to some extent I'm fine with that. All deserve to take hit after hit for what happened. But there has to be a line somewhere, right? At some point you have to take a look around, get an idea of the climate (Bill James' temperature gauge has John Henry at 11 degrees right now) and surrender. 

Well, or not. Here's one excerpt from Hohler's story today …

Team sources also expressed concern that Francona’s performance may have been affected by his use of pain medication, which he also vehemently denied. Francona said he has taken pain medicine for many years, particularly after multiple knee surgeries. He said he used painkillers after knee surgery last October and used them during the season to relieve the discomfort of doctors draining blood from his knee at least five times.

Feel the need to delouse yet? Want more?

By numerous accounts, manager Terry Francona lost his ability to prevent some of the lax behavior that characterized the collapse. Team sources said Francona, who has acknowledged losing influence with some former team leaders, appeared distracted during the season by issues related to his troubled marriage

Again, I'm not sure that Henry or Lucchino are the sources in the Hohler story. But they (or those in that circle) are certainly Candidates 1 and 1A, right? And if that's true, it's absolutely horrid behavior, and (to quote Henry Hill for the second time in five days) "real greaseball s--t." 

This is just wrong, and it reeks of desperation. Lots of times we don't know what wrong is, and lots of time we do. And this is sure one of those times we know what wrong is.

Is this how you treat an employee who helped you win two World Series? If you really like the guy -- as we've been told countless times over the last couple of weeks -- is that the kind of stuff that you leak? Is that how management is supposed to behave when things don't go its way? And if all that stuff was such a problem, why would you ever leave the decision about coming back to Francona himself, as Tom Werner suggested was the case at the press conference? This is Smear Campaign 101, nothing more and nothing less. And worst of all, it's being done in an attempt to save the unsalvageable. 

These are the most desperate times yet for the ownership, and true colors have been revealed. Instead of just saying thanks and letting Francona walk, they tossed him under a bus, picked him up and tossed him under again. As for Epstein -- who, according to those same sources in the Hohler story, pushed to sign Carl Crawford despite objections from ownership -- well, it seems he can't get out of Boston fast enough. Curious. Turns out there is, as Henry suggested to Dennis & Callahan, a "shelf life" after all.

To that I'd ask: Is there a shelf life for ownership?

So Theo Epstein is off to Chicago. And maybe it will turn out that every single lousy contract -- and we know 'em all -- was his fault and this combination of Ben Cherington and Lucchino and Henry will make all the right moves over the next decade. And maybe Dave Martinez or Pete Mackanin will turn out to be exactly the manager this organization needed.

If they aren't? Well, we'll know about two weeks after they are shown the door.

And thanks to John Henry and Larry Lucchino, we'll be able to read all about why.