Eagle-Tribune Blogs: Burt Talks Sports

Alex Cora joined Manny Ramirez in serving as today’s Red Sox hero. It was Manny who hit the game-tying home run, but Cora who supplied the game-winner via a triple to the left-center field gap.

Cora has shown a real good approach thus far this season in his limited at-bats. After teaming with Alex Gonzalez to give the Red Sox the most potent No. 9 spot in the bigs for the month of June, the Boston utilityman really struggled in August and September, hitting .191 and .171, respectively. The most telling sign when Cora that Cora wasn’t going good was his propensity to pull everything, usually ending up with a ground out to first or second.

The triple off of Shaun Marcum was a classic case of Cora at his best. He jumped on a fastball on the outside portion of the plate (scouting reports suggest he often has trouble with pitches on the inner-portion of the strike zone), and rode it the other way. According to spray charts, two of his six Fenway Park doubles last year were hit to the exact same spot, with the three of the remaining four notched with prototypical pull-shots down into the right field corner. (All but one of his extra-base hits came before his August/Sept. swoon.)

Also not to be overlooked was Cora’s conversion of the 8th inning double play which kept the game tied. Taking a slightly off-the-mark throw from Mike Timlin, the shortstop made the exchange even with Lyle Overbay barreling down, clearly out of the basepath. As Cora said in spring training, it is this kind of fielding prowess which his agent, Scott Boras, insists will get him a solid contract even after his current two-year deal is up.

This from a story which ran in The Eagle-Tribune on March 1:

Scott Boras, of all people, has shown Cora the light.

“Scott and I talked about it and he said if you keep your legs and range, you’re going to keep making money,” the Sox utility infielder said. “I turned 31, but if I keep doing what I’m doing, there will be a few options out there, not breaking the bank, but making some money.”

The words of wisdom from Cora’s agent, which came after he signed a two-year, $4 million contract with the Red Sox, led the infielder to change his ways. Using the online guidance of Boras’ conditioning director, Steve Odgers, the Boston infielder altered his eating habits (most notably, cutting out beer and rice), while staying loyal to Odgers’ offseason workouts.

After playing for much of last season at 200 pounds, the 6-foot Cora shot up to 205 immediately after the season. At last check, however, his weight had dipped to 191 with his body-fat percentage dipping from 14 percent last year to 10.

Cora’s journey back to fitness began with Boras, was kick started by Odgers and continued thanks to Cruz, who began working with Cora on Nov. 1 and hasn’t stopped since.

“Scott was the one who mentioned it,” Cora said. “He said, ‘You see this contract we got? This is why we got it.’ I already mentioned I wanted to lose a little weight, and he said that was a good idea. Now I feel good.

“(Boras) just mentioned I could get one more two-year deal, or two more, and then we can go year by year. It all depends on if I can keep my range.”

Also noticed something about Jonathan Papelbon’s performance today. If you recall, pitching coach John Farrell had touched on one of the checkpoints for Papelbon’s delivery, with his lead elbow needing to stay in tight to his body upon delivering the ball. With each of his fastballs, this was the case. But his secondary pitch, the split, allowed for a bit of separation in a few of the deliveries, perhaps resulting in the kind of flat split-finger he had endured early on in spring training.

All of that said, the fact that Papelbon can consistently make hitters look silly on that four-seamer alone is remarkable. He is averaging close to 19 strikeouts per nine innings.

Did you also notice Timlin hitting 94 mph?

Thought you also might want to know Devern Hansack suffered his first loss of the season today for Pawtucket, giving up three runs on eight hits, striking out three and walking one in 5 1/3 innings. Craig Hansen finished up the 3-0 PawSox loss by allowing a hit and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. The reliever has now surrendered one run over 6 2/3 innings.

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