Terry Francona’s best year with Boston Red Sox

Forget the five seasons he took Boston to the playoffs. Or the two times he won the World Series there.

Terry Francona is clearly doing his best managing job this summer, keeping the hobbled Red Sox within striking distance of another postseason berth. Entering the weekend, only Minnesota, among American League teams, had won more games in August than the streaking Red Sox, who are without Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury and former most valuable player Dustin Pedroia and probably will be for the rest of the season.

In fact, there are nine Red Sox on the disabled list and 19 players — including nine All-Stars — have gone on the DL at least once this season. Yet Boston started Friday only 5½ games out in the AL East.

Francona’s success, however, shouldn’t cloud the judgment of General Manager Theo Epstein, who this winter needs to remake a roster that has grown old and brittle.

With an average age of 32, the Red Sox are among the oldest teams in the majors. That makes it unlikely that Mike Lowell (36), Adrian Beltre (31), Bill Hall (30), Jason Varitek (38) and Hideki Okajima (34) will be back, because their contracts expire at the end of the season.

The case of David Ortiz is a bit trickier. The designated hitter, who turns 35 in November, has a $12.5-million club option for 2011 and has gotten off to frigid starts in each of the last two seasons. But he has recovered nicely to lead the team in home runs (27) and walks (67) beginning play Friday.

Expect Epstein to be cautious this winter, because even a big-budget club like Boston can’t afford another mistake like the one the Red Sox made with right-hander Josh Beckett, signing him to a four-year, $68-million contract extension in April.

Beckett, 30, has rewarded Epstein with only four wins and a 6.50 earned-run average around a stint on the DL. Over the last three seasons Beckett has spent nearly three months on the DL because of back problems and sat out two more weeks because of an inflamed elbow.

Phat Albertand the triple crown

Speaking of guys who seemingly aged overnight, it wasn’t that long ago that Alex Rodriguez was considered a sure bet to break Barry Bonds’ career home run record. But at 35, he has begun to slow noticeably.

His batting average and home run numbers have dropped in each of the last three seasons, and when he went on the DL eight days ago he was hitting only .265, his worst mark since his rookie season.

That leaves the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols as the new heir apparent. Last week, Pujols, 30, became the first player to hit 400 homers in his first 10 seasons. Although Rodriguez’s numbers have tailed off in recent years, Pujols could be closing in on baseball’s first triple crown since 1967.

Pujols started the weekend leading the National League with 34 homers and 93 RBIs and was second in hitting at .321. Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, the league’s leading hitter at .326, is also a triple crown threat, trailing only Pujols in RBIs (90) and homers (31).