Familiar, yet so new for Cora
Thursday night was different than the rest.
Alex Cora has been to the playoffs before, but as his Red Sox prepared to begin the Divisional Series against the Yankees, it was enough to keep the first-year manager looking for more.
“For some reason I kept looking at video and video and video,” said Cora, who seemingly has pressed all the right buttons on the way to the 108 regular-season wins. “We played them 19 times, you know? They played the A’s. It was the same team we faced over the weekend.”
Cora wouldn’t say if he was nervous going into his first playoff game as a big league manager last night, but there’s no question he understands the brighter spotlight placed upon him now.
The skipper eventually turned off the video and went to bed, and by yesterday morning, everything was back to normal. He was up by 7:30 a.m. playing with his kids, and everything seemed routine, even though there’s nothing exactly routine about what he was about to face last night at Fenway Park.
“I’ve been saying all along, it’s just a game,” Cora said. “It’s just a game. You come here and you work. But at the same time when it’s over or before you get here to the ballpark, you have to take care of your family. That’s what I did.”
It may be just a game, but everybody will be watching. Even Bill Belichick made sure to note after his Patriots beat the Colts on Thursday night that he’ll be watching and pulling for the Red Sox.
“Was he intense? That’s awesome. That’s cool,” Cora said. “I mean, like I’ve been saying all along, to play sports and follow sports in this city at this time is unreal. The Patriots and the Bruins and Celtics and us. What we’ve been doing the last few years, it’s fun.
“I’m humbled because he’s paying attention . . . . He knows what’s going on, which is cool. I have the utmost respect for him. He’s one of the best, if not the greatest. And for him to pay attention is cool. I know the guys like that.”
Everybody will be paying attention, and Cora embraces it. As he prepared for his first playoff game as manager, he drew on the many lessons from his past.
Cora, who was a bench coach with the Astros last year when they won the World Series, said he talked a lot with Astros manager A.J. Hinch in recent days. One lesson he noted he learned under Hinch is that there’s going to be a point where everyone on the 25-man roster will be needed.
That experience under Hinch will be utilized.
“With A.J., he’s great at saying a lot and then giving you a lot of information after the games, which is great,” Cora said. “He’s awesome. He’s great with the media. He’s great with the players . ... Just being around him last year, not only him, that organization, really prepared me for this.”
And then there’s Indians manager Terry Francona. Cora knows Tito from four seasons he played for the Red Sox under Francona. One thing Cora learned from Francona was his demeanor in big moments.
“I always said that Tito, the way he handled this, he’s the best,” Cora said. “I mean, the way he says a lot and doesn’t say anything, it’s amazing. That always — I mean, he’s unreal. I used to listen to him last year, even this year, I’m like, ‘He ain’t saying anything.’ Whatever. But he’s great.
“I was watching the game earlier. Whatever is going on, how calm he is in the dugout is very important. He did that with us in ’07. For whatever they talk about ’04, but in ’07 we were down 3-1 against Cleveland playing over there. He didn’t change.”
Cora had trouble comparing the two managers, one of which he will be playing against in the ALCS if the Red Sox advance.
“But those two guys, they are different, very different. One is sharp, you know, and the other one is ... Tito,” Cora joked. “And in their way they are great. I learned from them.”