Tito, out!

It was Terry Francona's execution of this sentiment that had some of his former players buzzing after the big Fenway Park celebration Friday. 

According to multiple participants in the on-field gala -- honoring the 100th anniversary for the home of the Red Sox -- the longtime Sox' manager punctuated his widely-publicized return to Fenway by taking off his Red Sox uniform jersey just before exiting the field and throwing it up into the stands.

"He sent a message," one player said.

And it wasn't as if the crowd didn't help Francona, offering him by far the biggest ovation of the day, while finishing off the afternoon with chants of "We want Tito!" 

Flash forward to the post-game press conference in a Fenway Park interview room Francona had been forced to calm the masses in similar instances. There sat the new Red Sox manager, Bobby Valentine, who was required to answer six minutes of questions regarding his team's 6-2 loss to the Yankees.

But, much like Francona punctuated his day with a flip of the jersey, the image of Valentine after the final question offered the lasting image of the day. The Sox' manager simply sat in his chair, not moving while reporters claimed their tape recorders from the table in preparation for the next press conference participant, Clay Buchholz.

Valentine just stared … and stared … and stared. At first it seemed he was simply slightly postponing his departure, a move he sometimes executes as to offer any final questions. Not this time. This was more of a manager frozen in thought for all to see.

Valentine was losing sleep right before our eyes.

By the time the current Red Sox manager was left to digest how his team had found itself in a 4-9 hole to start the 2012 season, the former Red Sox manager was long gone. This was now Valentine's problem. But the questions had to be asked: Would it have been less of a dilemma if Francona was still wearing that Red Sox uniform? Can Valentine fix this mess like his predecessor had the previous two Aprils? 

"He's a different person," said a visitor to the Red Sox' clubhouse after the loss, Carlos Baerga, who played for Valentine for three seasons with the Mets. "He would talk every day. He ran the show. But he needs to let the players be. This is a veteran team, right here. This a different city. This is not like the city he was in before. He needs to loosen up. … He needs to adjust. But they're going to be OK."

And that's the problem. When things went bad via a 2-10 start last season, it wasn't about the manager adjusting. Sure, there were tweaks. Moving Carl Crawford down the lineup, for example. But there was little to figure out in bullpen. The starting rotation was what it was. Other than Crawford, the batting order remained virtually the same. And how Francona was going to approach each and every day was going to be relatively the same the previous seven seasons he had been managing the Red Sox in April.

There was a speech by then-GM Theo Epstein quoting Dr. Martin Luther King in the midst of a Yankees series, but the subsequent results most likely had more to Phil Hughes' 85 mph fastballs than the general manager's words.

No, this is unchartered territory with new players and a new voice in the manager's chair.

Valentine is trying to heed Baerga's warning and adjusting, at least when it comes to his personnel. The latest example was hitting Ryan Sweeney second, while dropping Kevin Youkilis to sixth and Cody Ross to the eight-spot. For the manager, there is nothing he can point to that has worked before with this group that will definitively provide an answer. 

Seven times this season, the Red Sox have found themselves trailing by the end of the third inning, having held leads just twice after six frames. 

Five of the nine starts by the Red Sox' top three starters -- Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz -- have resulted in outings of giving up five runs or more.

These are the types of things that are killing the Red Sox, and also serve as the issues Valentine continues to seek out answers for. But there also has be a confidence in the clubhouse that the right buttons are going to be pushed, and, fair or not, that might be lacking among those playing for the Sox.

That's why, when David Ortiz is asked a question about having some sense of security knowing the Red Sox have pulled the way out of early-season issues before, he answers, ""I don't think about last year anymore. That's in the past. This is 2012, not 2011. We used to have a different approach and step up. Just step up. We can't keep looking at things like, 'It's the beginning of the season,' or 'we'll make adjustments.' We need to start winning."

This is not 2011, and one look at lineup card exchange Friday will remind the players of that. 

While the consistency of Francona may have led to his downfall in September, it is what helped push the Red Sox through April. Now it is Valentine's turn to find his groove, and to do so there will have to be some adjustments. But, for the Sox sake, those alterations and approaches better take root because this is a team desperately looking for answers -- both on the field and in the manager's office.

"We have the talent, we just need to execute. I'm not going to spend the whole season thinking about the talent that we got," Ortiz said. "We have to start winning games. I know that in everybody's mind it's the beginning of the season, but what is it going to take until July for us to start winning? We need to step up, do something different and make things happen."