Alex Cora On José De León’s Start, Red Sox-Yankees Playoff Series

Alex Cora On José De León’s Start, Red Sox-Yankees Playoff Series

Uh so he pitched for me in Winter Bowl, you know, when I was a GM. Uh and throughout his career, you know, he was a top prosper for the Dodgers. It’s been banged up. One thing about him, he keeps going, you know, like surgeries and he he he continues. Um he’s pitched well in this stage before. Uh, I think in the WBC we threw a no hitter in the last one and he was part of it or something, you know, in Puerto Rico. So, he’s he’s such a good kid. And yesterday we called him. He was he was at home. He was in Puerto Rico. He flew to New York last night and then he got here today, you know, and uh he told me that he was playing catch during the week. No chance he was playing catch. I follow him on Instagram. He was at the beach hanging out, I tell you. But, uh, that tells you, right, like the mental side of the game, right, when, hey, man, it’s an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues, you know, uh, let’s go. And he did an amazing job. He he was really good. That was fun to watch. And and obviously the fans, they didn’t miss a beat. You know, that that ovation was great and one that he’s going to remember the rest of his life. It was It was fun. Why Why did you had other options, you know, you had Because we knew he can go deeper into games. Uh the other ones were like 40 50. Uh I asked him yesterday, “How many you got?” He said, “20.” And then when I took him out, he’s like, “I got 13 left.” I’m like, “No, okay, we’re good.” But uh yeah, and it’s not that I don’t trust the other guys, but I knew, you know, like he was going to be okay. He was going to be uh in the stage. He’s he was going to be fine. He was going to be able to slow it down and then give us what we needed. So Worcester season ended. He went home for the winter. Yeah, he was uh I mean he pitches winter roll all the time, so probably de load and then be ready for the season. Our season starts like November 7th, so uh Yeah. Yeah. But that happened. Did anybody mention to you that that at match the careerhigh of innings that he’s had in the big leagues? I had I had a pretty good I mean I Yeah, that was fun. That it was great. What did you say to him when you went out to the uh just proud of him and uh enjoyed this, you know, I like and I I was looking and that was that was loud. It was fun. It was good. It was good. Alex the Ray scored nine runs in the next two innings going to New York. What do you think about kind of that match up for the playoffs? Yeah, I mean uh they have a good team, they have a good rotation. Uh we know what we know each other, right? So, uh there’s no secrets, you know. uh is their lefties against our righties. We got Garrett on on on Tuesday. So, it should be fun, you know. Looking forward to it. Can you tell us at this point who game what game two would it be? Uh we’ll talk about it, but most likely it’s going to be uh Brian, right? Yeah. This is your third playoff run. The first third time you’ll face them in the first round, right? Is that uh Yeah. Right. No. So, I mean, does that help you not make it bigger than it has to be? Um, it’s it’s New York against Boston. You know, it’s going to be big. Uh, we got a bunch of guys that they haven’t uh haven’t uh been in this stage, but they have a a lot of guys over there that they haven’t been in this stage either. So, uh should be fun. It’s going to be loud and um you know, like always, if we pitch, we’re going to be okay. Alex, you guys have played well at Yankee Stadium this year. I mean, I would imagine your team will go in there with a pretty good amount of confidence that you can win that series. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, we play great. Um, we play good defense. We pitch well. We pitch well over there. So, uh, you know, like I told you guys, they tell us where and when and we’re going to show up. And, uh, the guys have done a better job on the road the last month, month and a half, right? So, uh, just to go there and have fun, enjoy it. Alex, you mentioned that the crowd sensed what was happening with your picture and understood the moment. Uh at the same time in the top of the ninth Hamilton’s coming up has a one run league. Nothing’s decided. The other games are still being played and yet the Yankees chant starts permeating around. You hear that? Yeah, I hear I hear all the time here. You know, it’s one of those that I’m like they’re they’re ahead of us. But I get it. I understand. It’s like I mean was it the was it the score 34,000 scoreboard watchers had determined what was going to happen and no I think that they they do they do a lot of things here with the fans but in the eighth there’s always a wave you know I’ll take it I’ll take it and then there’s always a chant you know in every game they do it so it wasn’t like uh they know what’s going on and this is where we go three game series what’s that going to be like no idea never done it before So, uh, it’s a learning experience for me, uh, just like in 21, just like in 18. So, we’ll prepare, we’ll show up, and we go. Alex, any news that you can give us on, you know, roster decisions or anything like that? No, we haven’t, we haven’t met. We were waiting and, uh, um, obviously, you know, it seems like we all know where we’re going, so, uh, we’ll prepare for that. Did you have your the scouts and people come in today to kind of talk about the teams? No. No, not yet. Not yet. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But they’ve been around for for a while. Um, you obviously faced them, you know, faced the Yankees just a couple weeks ago, right? Like how different did they look this time versus the previous more athletic u you know obviously they made some decisions with their personnel and uh you know Cababayro uh he he’s playing well as short running the bases is different. So uh you know the the last team that came here was different in that aspect. in in terms of how you guys do match up against left-handed pitchers, where do you feel you you’re at in terms of in terms of your lineup options? We’re good. Yeah. I mean, we we’ve done it throughout the year and we’re going to keep doing it. And uh you know, obviously, um we have struggled a little bit, but you know, we put good at bats against Free, put good at bats against Rodon throughout the the season, and we expect to do the same thing. So, win the last three series going into the postseason. Do you do you like where the club is at? Love it. We’re in October, so that’s all all that matters. We’re good.

Alex Cora spoke after the Red Sox win over the Detroit Tigers in the final game of the regular season, praising pitcher José De León’s performance in the start, and discussing the upcoming Red Sox-Yankees playoff series.