LOS ANGELES—Hard to believe now, all these wins later, but the Alex Cora era in Boston began with a loss. A brutal one, in fact.
Opening day at Tropicana Field in late March, none of his late moves worked out as the bullpen blew a big lead in a 6-4 setback.
No fan in New England would admit it now—still, chances are some had already started to wonder whether he was the right guy for the Red Sox.
“It’s baseball,” Cora reassured that afternoon. “We know it’s going to happen…. I guess get it out of the way right away.”
Yep, guess so.
A calming presence in a boiling sports cauldron, Cora capped off one of the greatest runs by a first-year skipper in leading Boston to the World Series championship.
His Cora-nation came on Sunday night, when the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-1, in Game Five.
The victory set off celebrations all over.
While throngs of Red Sox fans chanted “Cor-a! Cor-a!” from the seats and so many more reveled across the country, all of Puerto Rico certainly cheered its native son from Caguas.
Cora became the first manager from the island to guide a team to a championship. It came more than a year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico—when Cora negotiated his contract last October, he asked the Red Sox to help his people with relief efforts, and the team eagerly pitched in.
Moments after hoisting the championship trophy, Cora made one more request.
“Next thing I’m going to ask ownership is if we can take the trophy to my island,” he said. “That would be great.”
Cora again turned Dodger Stadium into his personal party room. A year ago, he celebrated at the park as Houston’s bench coach after the Astros beat Los Angeles in Game Seven. This time, he was front and center when Boston lifted the shiny gold trophy.
“It’s funny, because when they announced it, we were flying to LA last year between the Championship Series and the World Series, and ironic enough we win it here. So it goes full circle,” he said.
Cora became the fifth manager to win the crown in his first season, joining Bob Brenly (Arizona, 2001), Ralph Houk (Yankees, 1961), Eddie Dyer (Cardinals, 1946) and Bucky Harris (Washington Senators, 1924).
Called AC by his players, Cora has an unassuming presence. He often wears a gray hoodie in the dugout—the one he wore for Game Five is headed to the Hall of Fame—and he doesn’t raise his voice. Except to yell at umpires, that is.
Shouting at his own team?
“No, no, I don’t,” he said before Game Five. “I talk to them and I try to stay in tune with them. If I have something to tell them, I just sit with them. Very casual. Very casual.”
“I try to do it that way. It feels right. It feels right,” he said. “I never had a manager that was like rah, rah, screaming at guys. They always had good conversations, and I learned from them and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
The result, said shortstop Xander Bogaerts, is Cora’s influence is “all positive, no negative stuff going on.”
Image credits: AP