We may now know a reason why Carl Crawford had an uncharacteristically bad season last year.

According to Crawford, former Red Sox manager Terry Francona had put too much pressure upon him last season.

Crawford told WEEI.com that he is still harbors some ill will after Francona had moved him to number seven in the lineup after a couple of bad games. Crawford started his Red Sox career going 0-7 as the Sox stumbled off the starting blocks with six straight losses.

"Every game you really have to try and show something," Crawford said. "But I'm always going to remember those two days. ... I didn't feel like I had the manager's confidence. I don't know about the organization, but I don't try and look past the manager, so I feel like I didn't have the manager's confidence, therefore I started to think something was wrong with me, and it just snowballed after that. It had a trickle down effect, and it just got worse and worse as the days went by."

Crawford is off to a good start this year after missing half the season rehabbing him injured elbow. He 4-7 with three stolen bases in two games this season.