Alex Cora knows how dangerous losing focus can be.
The Boston Red Sox manager lamented the number of mental errors the team has made this season Thursday during his appearance on Sirius XM’s MLB Network Radio. Cora cites Boston’s myriad of mistakes as a primary reason why the team almost certainly will not defend its World Series title successfully.
“… for how talented we are, we had some mental lapses throughout the season defensively, not as sharp as last year,” Cora said.
“Running the bases is very important. Not giving outs away on the base-paths because when you’re playing Colorado, you’ve got to be smart. If you’re not 100 percent sure you’re going to advance just stay there.
“That’s part of the game, and the teams that are competing for their division have done an outstanding job throughout the season being consistent at that.
“That’s part of the equation We know that offense is up, but at the same time, the other aspects of the game still matter. For us, it hasn’t happened this year.”
The Red Sox are 77-70 this season and trailing the New York Yankees by 19 1/2 games for first place in the AL East. Boston also is 9 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays in the American League wild card race, with just 15 games remaining.
Although the Red Sox season won’t end until Sept. 29, now is as good a time as any to begin restoring that focus and instilling good habits into the team for next season.
