THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 The Boston Globe Sports C5
Red Sox-AngelsseriesthumbnailsCora finding it tough to repeat
game sweep in New York,
those ninelosses in 10 games
since July 28, that mistake
pitch by the one pitcher Dave
Dombrowski managed to ac-
quirefor help, all of themdes-
tinedfor inclusionon the sea-
son-ending postmortem.
And right in the middle of it
will be Cora, the manager who
did everythingrightin his de-
but season in 2018, the manag-
er who cameto Boston and
won a World Series a year after
doingthe sameas a bench
coachwithHouston, the man-
ager who in 2017was general
manager of his hometown
Puerto Rican Winter League
team that wonthe Caribbean
Seriesand the architect of the
roster that earnedPuerto Rico
an unexpected second-place
finish a month later in the
World Baseball Classic.
But he’s also the manager
whohas spent too much of
2019 looking backward for an-
swers, waitingfor a roster so
similar to the one of a year ago
to wake up and play better.
What the Red Sox have done,
or not done, this season has
left the 43-year-old Cora facing
uSULLIVAN
ContinuedfromPageC1
the first real adversity of his
managerial life,a reminder
that nothing is so temporary in
sports as the grace period
earned by a winningmanager
or coach.
Cora hasn’t really opened
an emotional window into any
deep frustration, insisting after
I asked him in the moribund
visiting manager’s office un-
derneath Yankee Stadium Sun-
day nightabouthow he’s han-
dling the adversity, “I’m good.”
He pointed to his experi-
ence a year ago, saying, “Peo-
ple think it was easy last year,
just like that, but it wasn’t. We
had to coachevery day, put
guysin position to be success-
ful. Keep working, keep show-
ing up the next day, stay posi-
tive.
“That’s what I do here.
That’s why they hired me here.
From my end, I believe in these
guys and I know they can do it.
Just keep showingup every
day and put themin position
to be successful. And they will
be successful.”
The small note of defiance
is commendable, showing the
manager’s belief in his players.
But the comparisonsto last
year have doneCora littlegood, a truth that goes all the
way backto that January writ-
ers’ dinner when he pro-
claimed,“If you guysthought
last year was special, wait till
this year.’’
It was bravado that smacks
now of inexperience,of think-
ing one year’s success follows
naturally into the next. Brad
Stevens learnedthat lesson last
season,whenthe Celtics’ex-
pected breakthroughpast
2018’s one-game-short of the
NBA Finals became a roller
coasterregular season and sec-
ond-round playoff exit. Bruce
Cassidywill dealwithit this
upcomingseason,when earn-
ing the chanceto avenge the
Bruins’ Game 7 Stanley Cup
loss is only the first step to ac-
tually getting backto the Final.
Of course, Cora is different.
He won a title.And that earns
him far morepatiencethanei-
ther Stevens or Cassidy. It also
earns him a more direct com-
parisonto Bill Belichick,the
man who has made turning the
page into an art form.
This was Belichickon the
first officialday of defending
New England’s Super Bowl
win, the sixth on his watch, the
day training campopened:
“We’ll just take it one step at a
time,one day at a time. We’ve
obviously got a long, long, long
way to go, but we’re lookingto
make progress every day and
just kind of continue to move
the ball forward.”
This was Belichicktwo
weeksinto camp,whenasked
about implementing his coach-
ing philosophy over the years:
“All that’s in the past. I don’t
really care too muchabout that
now, I’m just trying to do a
good job withour team this
year, get them ready to go.”
This will be Belichickat ev-
ery point this season;whether
it’s a two-game losing streak or
two-game winning streak, he is
always looking forward. That’s
what the best coaches do.
It brought me backto an
early-morningwalkon Feb. 6,
2012, crossing a downtownIn-dianapolis street alongside
Tom Coughlin, who had just
wonhis second SuperBowl
withthe Giants(at Belichick’s
expense) the previous night. I
said something abouthow he’d
just earnedthe rightto define
his Giants tenure, that he’d be
able to ride triumphantly out
of coachingon his own terms.
He scoffed, pointing to the
“what have you donefor me
lately” profession he’d chosen.
Almost exactly four years
later, on Jan. 4, 2016, Coughlin
and the Giants parted ways,
having not madethe playoffs
again. In other words, nothing
is guaranteed.Tara Sullivan is a Globe
columnist. Shecanbe reached
at [email protected].At FenwayPark
Thursday, 7:10 p.m.
NESN, WEEI-FM(93.7)
W-LERA
LHP Dillon Peters2-0 3.20
LHP Chris Sale 5-114.68
Friday, 7:10p.m.
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RHP Jaime Barria 4-5 6.36
LHP David Price 7-5 4.36
Saturday, 4:05p.m.
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TBA——
RHP Rick Porcello 10-8 5.54
Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
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LHP PatrickSandoval0-0 3.60
RHP Andrew Cashner 10-74.68
Head to head:Thisis the first se-
ries this season.
Miscellany:The Angels are on a
six-game losing streak... Angels
centerfielderMikeTrout’scareer
WAR (71.6) is the highestall time
for a position player by his 28th
birthday (whichwas Wednesday).
He alsois secondin the majors in
homersthis season with38.BARRY CHIN/GLOBESTAFFAfter a magicalrun to a World Serieschampionshipin
2018,Alex Cora has lost his goldentouchthis season.
Pedroia undergoesknee surgery againreturningfor threegames in
May 2018, wentbackon the in-
jured list before requiring an-
other procedurelast summer.
Though Pedroiaopened this
seasonon the injuredlist, he
was activated on April9. Yet af-
ter going just 2 for 20 in six
games,the second baseman
landedback on the shelf. When
he started a rehab assignment
in May, he couldn’t reacha
pointwherehe could play for
three straight days without sig-
nificant discomfort.
The fitful nature of his re-
hab — and the lack of steady
progress — led Pedroia in late
May to halt his rehab assign-
mentwhenit becameclearhis
kneewasn’t responding in a
way that wouldpermithim to
remain on the field for a sus-
tained period.
“I’m at a point right now
where I needsome time,” Pe-
droiasaid, acknowledging can-
didly that he wasn’t sure if he’d
ever be able to play again.
Pedroiawill take stock of his
playing futurebasedon how he
responds to the surgery and re-uPEDROIA
ContinuedfromPageC1hab process.
“He’s going to go backhome
and thinkhow it goes and how
it feels,” said Cora. “He’s going
to rehab in Arizonaand let’s see
whereit takes us. That’s basi-
cally where we [are] at right
now.”
Cora said that therewas po-
tentially one othersurgical pro-
cedure that Pedroia could con-
siderif this one doesn’t have
the desired effect, but suggest-
ed that the next option would
be “very complicated, so we’ll
see where this one goes.”
Pedroia, the top Red Sox
draft pickin 2004(second
round), has played parts of 14
big leagueseasonswith the Sox
since his debutin August 2006.
In 1,512 games, the four-time
All-Star is hitting .299/.365/
.439 with 140 homers and 138
steals. He is in the sixth season
of an eight-year, $110million
extensionhe signed in the mid-
dle of the 2013 season; the deal
took effect in 2014and will run
through 2021.Alex Speiercanbe reachedat
[email protected]
himon Twitter at @alexspeier.2008 FILE/JIMDAVIS/GLOBESTAFF
Red Sox four-timeAll-StarDustin Pedroiais hitting .299 in
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