the joy of sox: 2018-10

[More pictures below.]

Think about it. The New York Yankees ... yeah, the sky was falling. You know, we lost Game 2, and it was panicking here (waving his arms in mock panic), everyone was saying, "Whoa, it's over!" ... We scored 16 at Yankee Stadium. Suck on it. (cheers)

And then, for how much I care about those guys in Houston, well, we went to Houston and we swept them down there. (cheers) And to finish it off, we go to this historic ballpark that holds 55,000 people. I played there for six years and I know how special Dodger Stadium is. And when Steve Pearce hit that home run in Game 5, it felt like we had 40,000 fans cheering for us at Dodger Stadium. (cheers)

It was an amazing run, it was an amazing year, and you guys made it that special. Thank you very much! Enjoy!

Alex Cora, Boston Red Sox World Series Victory Parade

Tom Verducci, Sports Illustrated, October 30, 2018:

[F]or all [of the Red Sox's 119] wins it was one defeat that defined the team's soul and spirit. To deeply understand these Red Sox, not just remember them, you have to hear the hidden story of the longest, most grueling, most absurd loss any team ever suffered in 665 World Series games.

It was half past midnight at Dodger Stadium, and more than an hour after the trains in Boston stopped running and the bars stopped serving, when the Red Sox, still jet-lagged from the 2,611-air-mile trip to L.A., trudged back to their clubhouse with a 3–2 walk-off loss that had taken 18 innings and seven hours, 20 minutes, Series records for toil and time.

"Everybody, clubhouse!" Cora shouted in the labyrinth under the first base stands. "Meeting!"

Cora is a rookie manager who abhors team meetings, so the call to gather, especially at such an hour after two fitfully long days, hinted at the importance of the moment. What happened next will make for the best stories these championship brothers tell when they gather years from now, as their bodies and competitive edges soften. ...

"It's a big reason," Holt says, "why we won the next two games. It's a great example of how the whole group played for each other and would do anything to help the team." ...

No team ever invested more in a World Series loss than did the Red Sox in Game 3. It had all the marks of a devastating defeat, one that had cut their Series lead to 2–1 and had given L.A. an apparent edge in Game 4, since Price and Eovaldi had just pitched. Nobody knew who was starting Game 4 ... Most people saw a beaten team. Cora saw a proud one, which is why he called the team meeting. ...

"There were tears," Holt says. Porcello was one of those crying. ...

[Porcello:] "We just lost a World Series game in 18 innings. But after that [meeting], it didn't feel like we lost. It felt like we won."

A short while later, as Cora unwound from the game, he looked up to see a line outside his office. There stood Price, Porcello and Sale, whose combined contracts are worth $332 million. They all told him they were ready to pitch the next game. ...

About 15 minutes [after the final out of Game 5], on the field, Porcello was crying again. During the last week of the season Porcello, Moreland, Price and second baseman Ian Kinsler—all of whom had been to the World Series with other teams and lost—made a vow over "three, four, five, 13 beers," Porcello said, "that we would do everything we could to win it this time. I can't hold back the tears. ... This . . . it's beautiful."