LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hard to believe now http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-khris-davis-jersey , all these wins later, but the Alex Cora Era in Boston began with a loss. A brutal one, in fact.Opening day at Tropicana Field in late March, none of his late moves worked out as the bullpen blew a big lead in a 6-4 setback.No fan in New England would admit it now — still, chances are some had already started to wonder whether he was the right guy for the Red Sox.“It’s baseball,” Cora reassured that afternoon. “We know it’s going to happen. … I guess get it out of the way right away.”Yep, guess so.A calming presence in a boiling sports cauldron, Cora capped off one of the greatest runs by a first-year skipper in leading Boston to the World Series championship.His Cora-nation came Sunday night, when the Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Game 5.The victory set off celebrations all over.While throngs of Red Sox fans chanted “Cor-a! Cor-a!” from the seats and so many more reveled across the country, all of Puerto Rico certainly cheered its native son from Caguas.Cora became the first manager from the island to guide a team to a championship. It came more than a year after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico — when Cora negotiated his contract last October, he asked the Red Sox to help his people with relief efforts, and the team eagerly pitched in.Moments after hoisting the championship trophy, Cora made one more request.“Next thing I’m going to ask ownership is if we can take the trophy to my island,” he said. “That would be great.”Cora again turned Dodger Stadium into his personal party room. A year ago, he celebrated at the park as Houston’s bench coach after the Astros beat Los Angeles in Game 7. This time, he was front and center when Boston lifted the shiny gold trophy.“It’s funny, because when they announced it, we were flying to LA last year between the Championship Series and the World Series, and ironic enough we win it here. So it goes full circle,” he said.Cora became the fifth manager to win the crown in his first season, joining Bob Brenly (Arizona, 2001), Ralph Houk (Yankees, 1961), Eddie Dyer (Cardinals Kendall Graveman Jersey , 1946) and Bucky Harris (Washington Senators, 1924).Called A.C. by his players, Cora has an unassuming presence. He often wears a gray hoodie in the dugout — the one he wore for Game 5 is headed to the Hall of Fame — and he doesn’t raise his voice. Except to yell at umpires, that is.Shouting at his own team?“No, no, I don’t,” he said before Game 5. “I talk to them and I try to stay in tune with them. If I have something to tell them, I just sit with them. Very casual. Very casual.”“I try to do it that way. It feels right. It feels right,” he said. “I never had a manager that was like rah, rah, screaming at guys. They always had good conversations, and I learned from them and that’s what I’m trying to do.”The result, said shortstop Xander Bogaerts, is Cora’s influence is “all positive, no negative stuff going on.”His dugout demeanor is boosted by a combination of analytical aptitude and people approach.“Coralytics” is what it’s called by his agent, Scott Boras.Cora was hired after John Farrell, who led the Red Sox to the 2013 title, was fired following two straight early exits in the AL playoffs.“Alex was the manager that fit for us. He was really good in so many ways,” Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said before Game 5. “He knew Boston. I think he excels in dealing with the media, which in Boston is a bigger job than some other places. It can be cumbersome for a lot of people, and I’m not saying it’s not for him at times, but it’s part of the process and he handles it easily.”Cora was chosen over about a half-dozen candidates that included former managers Brad Ausmus and Ron Gardenhire.“It was a clear-cut choice that he was our guy,” Dombrowski said.After the opening loss, Boston won 17 of its next 18 games and was on its way.Cora steered the Red Sox to a team-record 108 wins in the regular season, then Boston topped the 100-win Yankees and Astros in the playoffs. Along the way http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-jose-canseco-jersey , it seemed Cora could do no wrong.Brock Holt hit for the first postseason cycle when Cora gave him his only start of the Division Series against New York. Cora masterfully managed a bullpen that many questioned before October, then avoided burning it out by leaning on hard-throwing starter Nathan Eovaldi in key spots. And Cora helped coax a breakout postseason from World Series Game 5 winner David Price.“A.C. told us from the first day in spring training we could do it,” AL MVP favorite Mookie Betts said. “We believed in ourselves, we believed in him and we went out and executed.”The clinching win at Houston came on the day Cora turned 43, and his players sang happy birthday to him in the clubhouse.“More than anything, he’s just brought consistency,” ace Chris Sale recently said. “He’s the same guy in the first inning as he is in the ninth inning of a 10-1 ballgame or 3-3 ballgame. I think that’s the overall thing as players that we take from him.“Ninth inning, bases loaded, one out of a one-run ballgame, and he’s sitting there eating seeds, doing the same thing as a 10-1 ballgame in the fourth inning. And I think that goes very well with us as players, when if he’s not panicking, why should we?” Sale said.Cora grew up playing ball with his older brother, Joey, a former big league infielder. Alex spent 14 years in the majors, batting .243 as an infielder with six teams.He got to the plate one time in Boston’s sweep of the 2007 World Series, putting down a sacrifice bunt for a team led by David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez.“Offensively, we did a lot of good things. And then the bench, it was amazing, they had the best utility guy in the bigs in 2007,” Cora said with a playful grin Sunday. “That guy was great.”With the season over, Cora can enjoy spending more time with his twin 15-month-old boys and older daughter. He can do that free from any criticism that comes with such a high-pressure job, too, although he doesn’t stress over it.“I really don’t care if they second-guess me. I prepare. We prepare as a group http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-jed-lowrie-jersey , and you make decisions,” he said after Game 1. “And honestly when I’m done here, I shower, I get in that car, I might get a text and say, “Go to the pharmacy and get some diapers for the kids.” MILWAUKEE 鈥?Here it comes, the blockbuster Game 7 in all its glory on Saturday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers for the right to play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series, and鈥orget nervous stomachs.What the Dodgers really need is for Manny Machado to tame the butterflies in his head.There was always going to be a price to pay for his bush-league behavior in Los Angeles in this National League Championship Series鈥攌icking Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar as he crossed first base in Game 4 and explaining away the periodic dog in him with his infamous hustling is 鈥渘ot my cup of tea鈥?remarks鈥攁nd the first check came due hard in Friday night鈥檚 7-2 Game 6 loss to the Brewers.The Brewers鈥?crowd booed Machado as if he were in town to introduce Prohibition.Machado responded with a dry night at the plate, meekly going 0-for-4 and stranding three.鈥淚t was a tough loss for us today,鈥?he said when asked about the crowd, which was the polite way of checking on the ringing in his ears. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to come back and play better baseball tomorrow night.鈥漁K, well, um, sure.The way the Brewers ambushed starter Hyun-Jin Ryu for four runs in the first inning, another in the second, four doubles in the first two innings and then scored their sixth run when a wild pitch slipped past Yasmani Grandal, who is to catching in this NLCS what a single sandbag is to a raging flood鈥f course the Dodgers must play better Saturday night if they are to return to the World Series.That includes their marquee trade deadline addition, who appeared determined to hit the ball farther as the boos got louder.鈥淣o,鈥?Machado protested. 鈥淢y focus was on the game, trying to go pitch-by-pitch and drive in runs.鈥漈he sellout Miller Park crowd of 43,619 booed early and booed loudly. They hit decibels that made you hope parents were responsible enough to bring earplugs for infants. It was ear-splitting, it was sustained and it sure appeared to work.Within that 0-for-4, Machado fanned twice, never got the ball out of the infield and appeared in need of a good set of noise-canceling headphones.Charlie Riedel/Associated PressHis name was buried in boos during pregame introductions. An avalanche of boos greeted him again as he walked to the plate in the first inning Tony Phillips Jersey , and the deafening noise remained throughout the at-bat, hitting a crescendo when he swung through strike three, a 92 mph heater from Milwaukee starter Wade Miley.He popped to short in the third and whiffed again in the fifth. With each swing-and-miss, the crowd went bonkers.But the topper came in his final at-bat in the eighth with the Dodgers trailing 6-2.He ran hard all the way down the line鈥攖hat shouldn鈥檛 be worth noting in a major league game, but it is now with the self-proclaimed anti-Johnny Hustle鈥攂ut was thrown out.As he went back across the infield to the Dodgers鈥?third base dugout, he was booed vociferously every step of the way.After disappearing into the dugout, he re-emerged to join his teammates on the top step and couldn鈥檛 resist an exaggerated wave with his right arm as if to challenge the fans.By then, a full-throated 鈥淢anny sucks! Manny sucks! Manny sucks!鈥?chant was in full force.When I asked him about the motion afterward鈥擶as it a wave or brushoff of the fans? Was he motioning to a teammate? Did I mis-see something altogether?鈥擬achado gave a convoluted answer.鈥淚鈥檝e gotta play baseball,鈥?he said. 鈥淵ou come back to the dugout and try to root on your teammates. Belly [Cody Bellinger] was having a good at-bat. I always go back to the top step to root on my teammates.鈥淎 lot of things happened in the game. I can鈥檛 remember.鈥漀obody in the library-quiet Dodgers clubhouse could help but remember most of the rest of the evening. Milwaukee鈥檚 faithful came to see that their winter didn鈥檛 come early. By evening鈥檚 end, summer was assured to last one more day, even though it was a chilly 57 degrees with high winds outside.A cloudy, dreary day turned into a red-hot evening, and when it came time for the Milwaukee tradition following 鈥淭ake Me Out to the Ballgame鈥?during the seventh-inning stretch, with the Brewers leading 5-2, everyone sang 鈥淩oll Out the Barrel鈥?with gusto鈥nd the line 鈥渞oll out the barrel, we鈥檝e got the blues on the run鈥?seemed especially apt. The Dodger blues.鈥淭his is what you want to play for, this is the fun time,鈥?Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said of Game 7. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to go play Dodger baseball.鈥滿att Slocum/Associated PressAcross the room, someone asked Chris Taylor about the way the Dodgers have responded all season, from trailing Arizona by nine games in the division a month into the season to chasing down Colorado in September when the Rockies briefly seized first place.鈥淲e have to keep that same mindset,鈥?Taylor said. 鈥淭omorrow is a new day. We have to come out and execute and try to win a game.鈥漅ookie phenom Walker Buehler will start, and you can be sure that ace Clayton Kershaw, who threw a 98-pitch gem on Wednesday, will be available out of the bullpen.On the flip side, another Friday night victory for Milwaukee was this: The Crew beat the Dodgers so badly that they didn鈥檛 even have to use relief ace Josh Hader. So the filthy left-hander will be available in Game 7 for multiple innings. Early? Late? Who knows http://www.athleticsfanproshop.com/authentic-walt-weiss-jersey , the way Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell maneuvers things.鈥淭hat鈥檚 their best reliever, and obviously you would have liked to have kept the game close enough to have them use him tonight,鈥?Roberts said. 鈥淭hey got away tonight because of run differential, they didn鈥檛 have to use him.鈥滺ader hasn鈥檛 pitched since Game 4 and now has a full three days鈥?rest.In fact, when asked how many innings Hader can go in Game 7, Counsell quipped, 鈥淭welve.鈥漌hen the laughter subsided, the manager clarified: 鈥淚鈥檓 just kidding.鈥滿aybe, maybe not. Who knows? For one night, it was party time in Milwaukee. As Game 6 played out and led toward Game 7, downtown the NBA鈥檚 Bucks were hosting the Indiana Pacers in the first game at the brand-new, state-of-the-art, $524 million Fiserv Forum.The Brewers went 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position after going 5-for-35 with RISP combined over the first five games of this NLCS. The Dodgers went 0-for-3 in those situations, making them 6-for-36 over the past four games.鈥淚 think he had to know what was going to be coming,鈥?third baseman Justin Turner said of Machado. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it affected him.鈥滻t sure looked like it did. But then, hey, who knows, maybe Turner was distracted, too. The crowd reserved a little time for him as well. Going into the bottom of the fourth, the giant center field scoreboard focused on a bearded man in the stands hoisting a sign that read: 鈥淛ustin Turner Can鈥檛 Grow a Beard Like Me.鈥漈he crowd roared.Call it a prelude to Saturday night, and Game 7, as the Brewers try to snag what would be only the second World Series appearance in franchise history. Roll out the barrel, indeed. Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Scotton Twitterand talk baseball.