HOUSTON -- There are some postgame clubhouses that separate themselves. This was one of them.
Back in 2007, the ESPN series about the 1977 Yankees, "The Bronx is Burning," was playing in the Red Sox' clubhouse after a tight win over the Indians in Cleveland. There was no celebrating. There was really no talking. Virtually everybody on the team had immediately shifted their attention from the game they just played to their television sets.
"This is the weirdest winning clubhouse I've ever seen," Eric Hinske finally surfaced.
Thursday night's scene isn't going to be forgotten either, thanks in part to J.R. Smith and Alex Cora's new ring.
The Red Sox' lost, 4-2, to the Astros at Minute Maid Park. It was notable considering we're talking about two of the best teams in the American League finally going head-to-head. It was a tough loss for Cora and his club considering where they had come from and where they think they're going. But the story of this one really wasn't told on the field. (For a complete recap, click here.)
If you want to zero in on the fine pitching performance of Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. (6 innings, 2 runs) go ahead. Or perhaps you would rather try and decipher if Drew Pomeranz actually did take a step forward - as both the Red Sox starter and his manager suggested - despite watching his ERA rise slightly.
And there was certainly the kind of drama one would hope for, with Blake Swihart's tailing line-drive into left-center field with two outs and two on in the ninth inning hanging up just enough for the final out.
But it was after that final out when this night truly started to define itself.
With just a minute left in the NBA Finals, and LeBron James having just given his team the lead, the media begrudgingly tore themselves away from the hallway TV and ventured into the manager's office for the postgame briefing. (Priorities ... I guess.)
The usual kind of questions were asked. Starting pitcher. Injuries. Key plays. But while they were, an enormous, diamond-encrusted ring sat just in front of Cora. You could tell the Red Sox manager wanted this game bad just by his mannerisms in the game's final moments. (The ninth inning must have totaled more managerial claps than we witnessed in the past four seasons, total.) But the reality was that Cora had some other pretty important items -- the ring and a team that he knew was good enough to do better, which certainly didn't seem to be the case the last time the Red Sox swung through this city.
"They're looking at me and laughing," said Cora of the team he served as bench coach for, the Astros. "They know, we know every secret. They know what I look for and what we're trying to accomplish and what we do to be better, and I know what they do. So, they have a good team. That's a good team. Give them credit. They got here at 4 in the morning, I think, and they went out there and played hard. I knew that coming in. But it was a cool day. It was a cool day having my daughter here, being a part of it. I mean, that was a special year, but now I got it here. It's beautiful. They did an outstanding job, by the way. And we can move on, I guess."
And when Cora was done fielding the questions, and the reporters started venturing out of the cramped office, the manager stopped them all in their tracks.
"You want to take a look at it?" he said, pointing the ring. Clearly there was little panic when it came to thinking Houston couldn't be beat.
And that leads us to the players.
Other than a few outliers, such as Swihart (who was still upset his ninth-inning liner didn't result in heroics), the majority of the Red Sox players were laser-focused on the final moments of the NBA game. You know the one. Where Cleveland's Smith forgets the score after grabbing a rebound in the final seconds, fails to get a shot up and sends his Cavaliers into an overtime that resulted in another Golden State victory.
As quiet as the "Bronx is Burning" clubhouse was 11 years before, this version was equally as boisterous. They had a hallmark television event to react to, along with the confidence that Friday was going to result in something different on the field.
If the Astros come back with another win, and then another, and perhaps another, this vibe will be changing. Guaranteed. But for now the Red Sox still have the best record in the major leagues, their manager finally has his ring, and we can all remember where we were when J.R. Smith made one of the dumbest decisions in postseason history.
Steven Wright continued his excellent work out of the bullpen, scoring three more scoreless innings of relief while striking out five. He has now been scoreless in nine consecutive innings.
