In all of Alex Cora's days as manager of the Red Sox he had seemingly never offered that expression that was put on display in the fifth inning.
Complete exasperation.
Now, the innings and moments that followed offered more along the lines of mannerisms we might expect. Talking to one player after another. Trying to uncover evidence on his iPad. And, finally, a matter-of-fact, no-frills postgame Zoom session following the Red Sox' 12-4 loss to the Blue Jays.
But that fifth inning was a dagger. It wasn't difficult to decipher.
The angst was obviously due in part to the nine runs put up by the Blue Jays after the Red Sox had just increased their lead to 2-0. Ill-advised pitches from starter Nathan Eovaldi led to three straight doubles from the bottom of the Jays order, setting the stage for the out-of-nowhere chaos.
It was, however, more than that.
Once Hansel Robles started his jawing with the Blue Jays' dugout, leading to what seemed to be a "are you kidding me" stroll on the field by the Red Sox players, that's when the agony was brought to a head.
The Red Sox were getting blown out again. The team across the field was celebrating with the kind of personality and enthusiasm these Sox were supposed to have bottled. And in the middle of it was a player - Robles - who represented what seems to be one of the biggest trade deadline swings and misses by a contending team in some time.
While Nelson Cruz was homering the Rays to another win, Kyle Gibson was pitching the Phillies past the Mets and the Yankees were riding their newfound enthusiasm to a ninth win in 11 games, Cora was left using the Red Sox' Deadline Day as mop-up men for a second straight day. And, by the way, the Blue Jays seem pretty pumped they added to what was already perhaps the American League's most talented roster.
We get it, Kyle Schwarber was perhaps the best hitter available at the deadline. (Although, Cruz might say something about that.) And, yes, there is Chris Sale on the horizon. But, still, there was this delicate stretch that has led the Red Sox to this point in Toronto.
This wasn't supposed to be like a repeat of 2019, when the Red Sox sat 1/2 game in back of Tampa Bay on July 29 before finishing 12 games in back of the Rays two months later. Why there was no scientific evidence to prove it, but it sure seemed like that team was crestfallen by a lack of trade deadline activity, with an eight-game losing streak leading up to Aug. 6 serving as an example.
The 2021 team was different. It was carrying a circle-the-wagons mentality, setting out to prove the group that toiled in the back fields of JetBlue Park was good enough, even without immediate July 31 help.
What seems to have been misread by the front office was the mindset of the teams they were going against. And in case a reminder was needed, let us present those images from the fifth inning when the Blue Jays were holding a carnival thanks in large part to the stylings of a player that has fallen well below the Andrew Cashner Line when it comes to impactful deadline deals.
Outside of that fifth inning, there was the kind of anger and intent toward their lot in life Red Sox fans should hope would have percolated by now. It was a mentality that stretched to the final out of the game, with Xander Bogaerts showing exemplary sprint speed down the line on a nothing grounder.
They get it. But that doesn't make the sting of the circus tent of a fifth inning any less painless.
“We gotta win," Bogaerts said after the game. "I know it’s not about a lack of effort, a lack of focus, a lack of work, it’s none of that. Maybe we should try harder. Because apparently what we’re doing right now is not enough. Coming from me, it really sucks not being able to produce to help the team because we know this game is about whoever’s putting up more runs. It’s a really, really bad time to be playing bad right now. Like I said, coming in tomorrow we have two games. We gotta try harder and win.”
