Alex Cora knew he needed to change one thing.
Instead, he modified two issues.
Cora lastly shaved his beard on Tuesday forward of the Sox’ series-opener with the Braves in Atlanta, telling reporters that he was being a bit of superstitious in hopes that the useless offense would flip it round.
He modified the lineup, too.
Kiké Hernandez was again within the leadoff spot, the slumping Trevor Story obtained moved to sixth, Rafael Devers went again from third to second, J.D. Martinez took over within the three-hole and Xander Bogaerts was moved to the cleanup spot.
“Flip-flopping the big boys and we’ll see what happens,” Cora instructed reporters. “Right now, we’re just trying to figure it out. It’s not throwing pasta at the wall to see what sticks. No, it’s that we have some capable guys who right now aren’t swinging the bats well. So hopefully moving them around is going to benefit us.”
Story moved to sixth
Story has unquestionably been the most important disappointment of the season up to now. After signing a six-year, $140 million contract, the longtime Colorado Rockies shortstop entered Tuesday with a .194 common and .545 OPS that rank among the many worst in MLB.
Hitting coach Peter Fatse instructed NESN that he was involved about Story swinging beneath fastballs, however trusted that he’d determine it out. Story is uncharacteristically struggling towards the fastball, hitting simply .171 with a .220 slugging share towards heaters after hitting .269 with a .495 slugging share off them final yr.
Almost all of his injury this yr has come towards hanging breaking balls, which he’s had no bother slugging into the gaps for extra-base hits, however continues to be on the lookout for his first dwelling run.
“At the end of the day you know that was going to happen; it’s going to be bases loaded and he’s going to come up to the plate and we still believe in the player,” Cora stated. “We’ve done this before. We’ll keep trying to move them around and see what makes sense for us. Today it just makes sense against a good pitcher (Kyle Wright) today.”
Different look to Interleague play
It was an odd look to see the Sox in a National League ballpark however nonetheless get to make use of a chosen hitter. They had been 16-4 towards NL groups final season, however that is the primary season the place the NL has adopted the DH, making it simpler for the Sox to maintain Martinez out of the outfield.
The Sox may even play Interleague video games towards groups from the NL Central this yr. They personal a .603 all-time successful share towards the NL, highest in MLB.
Atlanta appeared nearly as good a spot as any for the Red Sox to get their season going. The Braves have been final yr’s Cinderella story after getting into August with a dropping file, however ending sturdy down the stretch and proper on via towards claiming a World Series title.
Bonus baseball isn’t working
The Red Sox entered Tuesday with a five-game dropping streak. They haven’t misplaced six in a row because the dreaded 2020 season.
Six of the Sox’ 19 losses have are available in additional innings. No different crew has performed greater than 4 extra-inning video games this yr. The Sox are 0-6 in extras. Five of their final 12 losses have been in additional innings.
Cora stated in spring coaching that he was in favor of the rule that places a ghost runner on second base to start out additional innings and the league listened, including the rule again for the 2022 season simply earlier than the common season began. Cora joked lately that he made a mistake in voicing his public assist for the rule.
BOH reveals how he obtained his begin
Assistant basic supervisor Brian O’Halloran had a loopy begin to his profession in Boston, and he instructed MLB.com this week that his job at a logistics firm in Moscow was one which helped lead him again to graduate college.
He stated former Sox GM Theo Epstein was the one who obtained O’Halloran his first job in baseball as an intern with the San Diego Padres, however it was Epstein who employed him with the Red Sox for the primary time as a baseball operations assistant in 2002.
“Initially, (Epstein) said, ‘Look, there isn’t really a spot for you — quite literally, there isn’t a spot for you,’” O’Halloran instructed MLB.com’s Executive Access podcast. “‘We have this intern named Jed (Hoyer), so you can come in and use his computer when he leaves for the day, which is usually around 11 at night. If you want to come and chart games at night, that’s wonderful. That’s all I’ve obtained.’
“I said, ‘Yeah, no problem.’ So I used to call Jed at 10, ask him what time he was leaving, then come in and sit on his computer and chart mostly Minor League games until 3 or 4 in the morning. At some point, I think they felt bad for me, so they let me start coming in during the day.”
O’Halloran shortly moved up within the Sox group, turning into an assistant GM in 2011 and named the GM in 2019.
Source: www.bostonherald.com