All about October
Thrilling win product of Cora’s ‘main goal’
ATLANTA — The only objective that matters to the Red Sox is winning 11 games in October.
The rest, no pun intended, is noise.
And while the Red Sox’ remarkable 9-8 victory over the Braves yesterday highlighted the deep offensive power this team possesses, it’s critical to remember the winning rally was forged and completed primarily by bench players, because manager Alex Cora rested five regulars at the start of the game.
To some, the lineup resembled a spring training split-squad game in Dunedin, a white flag the Red Sox were sending up to signal their satisfaction of winning, versus sweeping, the series.
Nobody’s complaining about the 97th victory of the season but nobody should have complained if the team never came back from the 7-1 deficit it faced in the eighth inning.
Listen closely to somebody who gets it. Listen to the wise and refreshing comment that came out of Cora’s mouth before his team went out and made him look even smarter, when he was asked whether or not he was invested in breaking the franchise’s win-record of 105 games, set 106 years ago.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me to be honest with you. If it happens, it happens,” said Cora. “We’re not going to push for anything. Push to win series — if we do that, everything else will take care of itself. But when I signed here in November I had my own goals and 105 was way — I didn’t even think about 105 so I think the most important thing is to be ready to do what we’re supposed to do in September, make it to October and then it’s 11 games in October. That’s the main goal. Instead of winning 12, we want to win 11 and that’s the goal right now. If it happens, I know it’s great. We keep playing good baseball and we can win series eventually it’s going to happen but it’s nothing we’re shooting for.”
Right there is everything a fan needs to hear about how Cora is navigating the Red Sox this season. He is not only looking over the bow, concerned about the choppy sea in front of him but he’s focused on the horizon, which is not so distant anymore.
Chasing wins is so 2017. The Red Sox are closing in on a playoff berth but September is about clinching the division and then home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
That’s it. Everything else besides the point.
Cora was prepared for the questions about his lineup, and how he was resting players the day before an off day, when he spoke about it pregame. “We’ve got a No. 1 prospect at third base, an All-Star at short, an All-Star at second base, an All-Star at first and three firstrounders in the outfield, that’s a lot of talent out there. It’s not like we’re just showing up and not trying to win,” he said.
Yes, Cora did have to go to the bench and use four of the five regulars he rested. The one he is didn’t — J.D. Martinez — was the one who caught grief yesterday morning from his teammates when he made a wisecrack about the lineup that did not reflect too positively on those who were in it.
Everybody could laugh afterward.
“Thank God for September baseball — we used almost every position player,” said Cora. “The one that was joking that nobody was going to play today — he didn’t play — and we’re giving him a hard time right now, which is great.”
The manager deflected any credit for the win.
“It’s all about them,” Cora said. “They could have folded and said ‘You know what, let’s go home, it’s been a productive road trip.’ People are talking about leads and where we are in the standings and all that. Whatever ‘Let’s go home, enjoy the off day and get Houston on Friday’ but it was no sense of that. Everybody was pulling for each other. Pinch hit for a lot of guys and nobody was upset, they knew it was right, that we were all in. ‘Here we go,’ so we might as well. But it was fun. I think honestly that was the most fun I had all season, just watching the last few innings.”
Originally, Mookie Betts wanted to play all three games in Atlanta because he had family in town, but in the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game he had second thoughts.
“He came up to me in like the seventh and said, ‘How about that off day?’ ” said Cora. “I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ They understand. Now they realize it’s needed.”
The Sox did not need to win yesterday, but they did anyway.
They’re the better for it, sure, but they should be the better for it not only in the weekend series vs. the Astros but also come October.
Because that’s when it counts.