Thursday night was a well-deserved reward for Terry Francona.

Jon Lester pitches a complete game, saving an entire bullpen. The meat of the Red Sox order makes sure there is little fingernail-biting come closing time. And, to top things off, it only lasted 2 hours, 32 minutes. (In case you wondering, that's 1 hour, 37 minutes shorter than the last time the Sox had to pack their bags and head to the airport.)

There was a leadoff hitter in Jacoby Ellsbury who was packing his bats in preparation to a return to the team Saturday. And even a backup shortstop [Angel Sanchez] whose specialty was fielding the ball at shortstop, not simply being able to get by at multiple positions.

Most importantly for Francona, the Red Sox beat the Twins, 6-2, allowing for a brief smile, a deep breath, and maybe a little better night's sleep.

Unfortunately for the manager, this kind of collection of moments -- even after plenty of the Sox' 22 wins -- have been few and far between.

Francona has learned that every season presents it's challenges, managing Manny Ramirez for 4 1/2 years will embed that reality in you. But the manager has never seen anything like this. Forget the record -- which happens to have the Red Sox two games over .500 for just the second time this season -- not one time in the manager's seven seasons in Boston has May 22 felt like this.

The players have talked about putting their heads down and grinding it out through the first two months of chaos. The problem is if Francona does the same -- treating each day with the exact same approach with the same mentality and with an identical view of his roster -- the fires that ignite around him would burn down his team before area lifeguards are issued their bathing suits.

More than ever, Francona's head has had to be on a swivel. Does that mean this, the Red Sox most inauspicious start since the manager's arrival, is his best job? I don't know. That demands too subjective of an answer. But this I am fairly sure of: Nobody is better prepared to weather this type of storm than Francona.

It is hard to argue that Francona has figured out managing in Boston as well as anybody before him. There is a system in place, which can't always be claimed by major league baseball skippers or their teams.

This season it might seem the foundation has cracked beyond repair, but what should be noted is that without the presence and approach of this increasingly weary manager, life for these Red Sox would be appreciably worse. When handing out the blame pie for what has transpired, Francona shouldn't get more than a thimble full.

That, of course, isn't how it works. But that is how it should be.

Mike Lowell is understandably upset, as is Tim Wakefield. Age be darned, both showed the kind of productivity in 2009, and optimism heading into '10, that should warrant continued little deviation from their usual work days. But the team wasn't constructed for such a progression, especially with the players they were being used as insurance policies for only sporadically needing to cash in on the policies. 

Francona can't help that. Neither can he control a starting staff that is seemingly taking 1 1/2 months to enter into any kind of stride, or a bullpen that's everyday  reliability has to center around two players instead of the six the manager could turn to last season.

As hard as it is to see sometimes, in the coming weeks life promises to present more nights like this one to Francona. Certainly more than what he has endured through the first 42 games. Other than Josh Beckett's back, the team is getting healthier, and playing better.

Offensively, it appears as though the Red Sox might have actually re-discovered legitimate No. 3 [Victor Martinez] and No. 5 [David Ortiz] hitters to surround a player emerging as one of the game's best hitters [Kevin Youkilis]. While Beckett heals, Lester and Buchholz have given off the impression of the kind of horses needed to mount a run against the best of the American League East's best. 

And, with each passing day, the player-led infrastructure that has had to evolve thanks to performance, newcomers, and torch-passing is bound to find their way.

All of this doesn't mean the Red Sox will win 11 times in their next 17 games, as has been the case ever since the debacle in Baltimore. And days like the one Monday in New York will pop up, whether it be because of a combination of player frustration [Lowell], miscommunication [Daisuke Matsuzaka], or devastating defeat [the Yankees]. That's just how it works.

The nudging here is that while it is easy for the folks on our own radio station to talk about the merits of Francona after the kind of games like the last three days presented, it should be equally as seamless to recognize his worth when the worry-lines are entrenched from alarm clock to Sleepytime Tea.

Nothing and nobody is perfect, but some things are better than most. This year the results suggest that might not represent this year's team, but, no matter the bumps in the road, it does mirror the manager.