The wild brawl Wednesday between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees centered around Joe Kelly and Tyler Austin, but coaches had some involvement as well.
Among them, Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin, who was ejected after going ballistic and screaming at the Red Sox dugout after things had mellowed out a bit.
As Nevin was getting tossed, cameras caught Red Sox manager Alex Cora shooing the coach away and telling him to get back in his box. The move was perceived as dismissive by those in support of New York, and as such drew the ire of many.
The Sox skipper addressed his gesture before Thursday’s game, and while acknowledging that it was out of character for him, did not back down from his decision.
“Well after the whole thing, he was screaming at our dugout,” Cora said in his pregame press conference, via WEEI.com. “I don’t know if he was screaming specifically at me, and I took exception. I don’t want to say I overreacted, but that’s not me. I think for 10 games or whatever I’ve managed you guys have seen me very calm over there. There’s something about chain of command. If we’re going to let everybody be screaming in situations like that, it wasn’t a good situation in the beginning, and it can be worse.
“I don’t manage their team, obviously. I manage my team,” Cora continued. “I don’t want any of my coaches to be screaming at Aaron Boone or any of their players. I took exception. I made a signal. I know everybody saw it. Out of character for me, but I still didn’t like the fact that he was pointing at me and screaming at me.”
While the sample size has been small, Cora noticeably has been even-keeled during his time as manager, so his action in the heat of the moment clearly is more the exception than the rule.
And while his gesturing may have aggravated a few on the other side, it’s worth keeping in perspective that it was done due to an opposing coach losing their head.
