Ain’t over ’til it’s over
Cora says Sox can win AL East
DETROIT — Despite the roster similarities, we all are familiar with the fact the 2019 Red Sox are nothing like the 2018 Red Sox.
Their performance has been underwhelming, to say the least.
And while manager Alex Cora has yet to find the right spark-to-gunpowder combination that will ignite the team, he has not given up the pursuit.
Or his optimism. Like, on a day when the Red Sox woke up 11 games behind the Yankees, he still believes the team has a shot at winning the AL East.
“I guarantee you that’s the message they have: this is not over, it’s just like the other teams in the division — it ain’t over,” Cora said yesterday. “We know they’re playing great, we know it. You can’t hide that fact. But the fact that we still have the second part of the season, and we know that we’re going to improve, we’ll be OK.
“We’ve got a long way to go to win the division. But, I think if we stay with our goals, our short-term goals, then I think big things are going to happen.”
Cora said motivation after winning a title has not been difficult, adding with a smile, that after winning with the Astros in 2017, he and bullpen coach Craig Bjornson have an active streak to maintain.
“On a personal level, I want to win three in a row — me and C.B., we’re the only human beings in the world that can say we’re shooting for three,” said Cora. “I always joke with them. But they want to be great. I told you guys in spring training, we’ve got a chance — this group especially — to be one of the greatest groups in this franchise, and people are going to remember us. Right now, it hasn’t happened. We haven’t played to the level we know we can, but we know it’s going to change.”
There have been times, Cora said, when his ideas have not exactly clicked.
“I’m trying to find a way to get us going, that’s my job, put these guys in position to be successful,” said Cora. “There’s nights I’m like, ‘Man, what do we need to do?’ I take it personally.
“Sometimes I’m like ‘Why did we try to do that?’’ or it didn’t work out but in the end you trust your information, you trust your coaches, you trust your players. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Cora’s approach is a calm one, one that bears no resemblance to old-school rants and raves and also one that avoids team meetings.
“I just bring details,” said Cora. “It’s something that we did last year. Even when we were playing great, you start pointing out things that we could do better. It seems like this year, we have to point out more, but we did it last year all the way to the last day of the season. It’s something I learned over the years, and I think it’s something that nowadays it works. The constant communication with them, they don’t like team meetings. Nobody likes that. The message, sometimes, it gets lost. But if you keep preaching and talking and teaching the game, then the message gets across and they take advantage of it.”
Until the turnaround Cora expects actually takes place, he will keep doing everything he can to hasten its arrival.
“Just like last year, I take it personally,” he said. “We’ve got to keep grinding every day and show up every day. It’s not that I’m down on myself or down on the team, you’ve got to just keep finding ways, the same way we did last year. It’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. We feel that way. I know there are teams that are playing better than us right now but we’ve got talent. We’ve got talent. Nobody’s feeling sorry for us, it’s the other way around actually, so we’ve got to just keep grinding, keep going and we’ll find it.”