McAdam: Red Sox bounce back nicely after crushing loss

After the Red Sox suffered an excruciating defeat late Tuesday night, Alex Cora was asked if he had any concern about the loss lingering and affecting his team in Wednesday's series finale.

It wasn't an unreasonable question. Losing is bad enough, but to do so when the Sox twice led late in the game -- once in the eighth and then again in the 13th -- and to have to play almost six hours and 17 innings in doing so can impact a team.

In addition to the physical toll such a setback takes, there's the emotional cost, too. A game in which you play almost the length of two games without interruption can leave you feeling like you've actually lost two games.

But Cora was undaunted late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning. He was upbeat, too, even suppressing a bit of a smile as he answered the question.

"It was one of those games we're accustomed to,'' said Cora. "We'll bounce back (Wednesday), finish this road trip in a positive way and enjoy Thursday (an off-day). ... It's something where we'll build from this. I know that for a fact.''

Particularly noteworthy was the confidence Cora showed in his team.  "(We'll) finish this road trip in a positive way'' might lack the bravado of, say, Joe Namath, but Cora wasn't the least bit concerned over how his team would respond.

Fair enough. That's how a manager should talk -- full of belief in his team.



But equally noteworthy was the phrase "one of those games we're accustomed to.'' Cora wasn't about to come right out and say it, but that was a clear and obvious reference to Game 3 of the World Series last October.

In that one, the Sox battled and battled, but ultimately lost in 18 innings. They threw everything they had at the Los Angeles Dodgers, rode Nathan Eovaldi hard and still came up short.

Devastated, right? Opened the door for a Dodgers comeback in the Series, correct?

Not exactly. Cora used it as a rallying cry that night in Los Angeles. His message was essentially: it took them the equivalent of two games for them to beat you for the first time in the series.

Turns out, he was right. The Red Sox rolled to two more wins in the L.A. and clinched the title.

Now, again, Cora's way too smart to link a mid-June contest to a World Series game, even if the opponent owned the best record in the American League. But Cora wasn't afraid to send a message in the aftermath of Tuesday's stinging defeat: we've been here before and under much tougher circumstances.

It's not known whether Cora made the same point to his team prior to their 9-4 victory over the Twins Wednesday night, a victory which gave them the series and finished off their road trip with a 5-1 mark and seven wins overall in the last eight games.

The point is, it wasn't necessary. His team had the reservoir of the memory from last October. One loss is one loss; it needn't impact you the next day.

So, it didn't. The Sox came out Wednesday, fell behind, went ahead and fell behind again. No biggie -- they then put up six unanswered runs and sprinted to the win. No panic.

"I think it says a lot about us,'' noted Michael Chavis, one of the few players in the lineup who was not in uniform for Game 3 last fall. "The biggest thing is, we don't get down on ourselves and we don't give up. We had a long game (Tuesday) night. You can't say we didn't deserve to win. I think we played well. It was just a long game that didn't turn out the way we wanted to.

"But we bounced back today and I think we took care of business like we hoped for.''

It's important, too, to not put too much emphasis on a regular season series, regardless of the quality of the opponent. The Sox remain a third-place team for now, on the margins of the wild card chase. There's plenty more work ahead and improvements to make.

But there was a business-like feel to this one.

"It was a good win, very quiet,'' noted Cora. "Kind of like, 'Just do the right thing play the game right way,' and all of a sudden we look up and we had the lead.''

No rah-rah speeches needed, and more importantly, no hangover.

It was almost like they had been there before. Which, in a sense, they had.