Friday, when his Red Sox stroll into Citizens Park Park for a three-game, weekend series, Terry Francona will be afforded a reminder regarding how much he has changed since he left Philadelphia close to nine years ago.

No need. 

Francona's reality check came back on May 28 in Minnesota.

It was on that day the Red Sox manager experienced his latest health scare, this time coming as a result of an on-field argument with home plate umpire Todd Tichenor. Francona later admitted that his blood pressure shot up so high during the incident that he almost passed out on the field, he doesn't even remember a subsequent conversation with Jason Varitek and Josh Beckett, and he had a heart rate of 120 even an hour after the game.

But...

"We won the game," Francona said with a smile.

The Sox' skipper knows life is a lot different than when he managed the Phillies from 1997-2000. Managing 869 regular season games, plus four years in the post-season, has taken a physical toll.

Yet, those wins -- like the one in Minnesota -- are just too good to go without.

"In Philadelphia I threw (batting practice) almost every day, sometimes two groups," Francona recalled. "I loved it. It got me with the players. But when I got sick in '01, that made me older. It doesn't mean I can't do my job, but there are times I have to get off my feet and if I don't I feel it the rest of the night.

"It doesn't mean I can't do my job. But I do have to keep an eye on myself sometimes."

The "sick" Francona refers to was a life-threatening pulmonary embolism, which still begins every conversation when it comes to the manager's health. There was also an incident in the third game of the 2005 season, in which he was taken to a New York hospital with what was described as a "virus," along with what seems to be annual physical bumps in the road.

Francona continues to battle with a neck problem that he admits probably should be operated on, while taking care of various issues stemming from the embolism. It is all enough to warrant daily visits from the Red Sox team doctors just to check in on the manager's state. (Note: It was a fact reaffirmed when, at the end of the interview, Dr. Larry Ronan peaked his head into Francona's office for the daily check-up.)

It isn't what the 50-year-old Francona thought would encompass his managerial life when he first entered into the title as a 37-year-old in Philly. But, then again, he also had no idea about the kind of life awaited as a manager of the Red Sox in Boston.

"Boston is [challenging]," he said. "I can't imagine anybody being here in the middle of October saying, 'I feel great.' This place will kill you. I'm sure I'm getting older, but it's 25 hours a day... I was warned about it and tried to do my homework, but until you live through this -- and that's the key word, 'live' -- I don't know that anybody does."

Now with another episode under his belt, the question regarding Francona's longevity as a manager has been brought up. If both team options are picked up, his commitment as the Red Sox' manager will extend through the 2013 season.

Yet with his health issues some might think Francona would be exuding some caution when committing such a "challenging" lifestyle as the head man in Boston. Not so, he said. The rush is just too much.

"(Atlanta manager) Bobby Cox is just amazing, managing that long. I don't know if I want to do that. I don't know if I don't," Francona explained. "I know I always want to be in the game. But I don't know if my lifelong goal is to manage until I can't walk, which could be next year.

"If there's a time I can't do it, I don't want to be unfair to the players or the organization. That's something I think about, too. I try and keep an eye on myself, but I don't think I do a very good job. I eat good in the winter, I exercise, but when the season starts I eat like crap, I don't sleep. But I still love winning."

Aches and pains aside, Francona understands why he marches on.

"It's so hard to explain because I can't imagine being somewhere else," he said. "Every night kills you here, and I mean that in a good way. I can't imagine being somewhere else where it's like, 'Oh, we have a game.' You wake up here on any Sunday morning and it's an important game. I almost crave that part of it."