Sox manager Alex Cora and bullpen coach Craig Bjornson to receive World Series rings from Astros

By Bill Ballou The Telegram & Gazette

BOSTON -- Thomas Wolfe was obviously not a baseball fan or he would have known that, in that contrarian game, people go home again all the time.

So it is with Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who has taken his team and its unexpectedly wonderful season to Houston for a long weekend of baseball. For Cora, it is going home again to the place that set him up for his current position as rookie manager of the team with baseball’s best record.

Tonight, Cora and Sox bullpen coach Craig Bjornson will get their rings commemorating their contributions to the Astros’ 2018 World Series triumph. Cora was Houston’s bench coach, Bjornson the bullpen coach.

While Aaron Boone has made what appears to be a seamless transition from broadcaster to manager of the Yankees, Cora doesn’t think he would have gotten to where he is today without the Houston experience.

“I thought I was ready a few years ago but no, I wasn’t,” Cora said Wednesday. “Without that year — no chance. I had no idea how tough it was gonna be. And then the players, they’re great, from top to bottom.”

Until perhaps a generation ago, the resume for a major league manager usually included at least a few years managing in the minors, then at least a few years as a major league coach culminating in waving runners in from third base, sometimes unsuccessfully.

It is a different world now. Bench coaches are next-in-line, with bench coaches from World Champions in particular demand. It is logical to believe that they either a) helped their team win; b) learned what it takes to win; or preferably c) — both.

“It’s about the way they do things,” Cora said of his Houston experience. “I learned that the communication has to be great for everything to happen — medical staff, analytic staff, everybody that’s in the equation and if not, it’s not gonna work.

“The decision making, not only player personnel but what we do on the field, how we’re gonna play defense and the back and forth. People think that in the Astros organization you just get the information and go play, but it doesn’t work that way … you have to do your homework.”

Cora and Bjornson will get their World Series rings at 7:47 p.m. (Eastern time), so Cora has already begun his homework for the Astros series. He anticipates the return will be a happy occasion for everyone, at least except for about four hours a night.

“It was an amazing ride,” he said “It was something. I always tell them, you guys will always have a space in my office somewhere, but obviously they’re a good team and we have to go down there and do a good job.”

Cora packed some Astros memorabilia with him for the move here and some in his Fenway office.

“There’s a few things,” he said. “Actually, I’m taking my jersey from the World Series to be signed down there. I didn’t have a lot of time to hang out (last year). It was the parade, then come here. I don’t know about hanging it in the office. The guys would not like that. Right now, they see this and say, ‘Cmon, cut the cord, man.”

Not every successful bench coach becomes a successful manager — Brad Mills comes to mind immediately as well as Tim Johnson — but Cora has been both and will be a center of attention for the weekend.

“It was a special year,” he said. “I start thinking about what they’re gonna ask me, what was the biggest hit in the World Series, and everyody’s gonna talk about (Alex) Bregman’s walk-off in Game 5. For me it was (Marwin Gonzalez) home run against (Kelsey) Jansen in Game 2. Without that home run we have no chance.”

The 2019 Astros have a chance to be as good as the 2018 Astros but so do the 2019 Red Sox. This could be a playoff preview and Cora has the best perspective on that.

“A complete team,” he said of Houston when asked if he has any inside knowledge that might help. “I guess, yes. I should know. They know how I like to manage and I know how they play. At the end, the guys decide the game.”

On the hill: The pitching matchups for the Houston series are:

Tonight, 8:10, Drew Pomeranz (1-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. Lance McCullers (6-3, 3.98); Friday, 8:10 p.m., Chris Sale (5-2, 2.76) vs. Gerrit Cole (5-1, 2.05); Saturday, 7:15 p.m., David Price (5-4, 4.04) vs. Justin Verlander (7-2, 1.11); Sunday, 7:35 p.m., Rick Porcello (7-2, 3.65) vs. Charlie Morton (7-0, 2.26).

That makes the combined records of the opposing pitchers 18-10 for the Red Sox, 25-6 for the Astros.