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<< Previous   of   Next >> Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald  (click to enlarge) Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu has helped turn around a franchise that was in disarray.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, October 4, 2009 M’s skipper deserves to be manager of the year By Kirby Arnold Herald Writer Mike Scioscia deserves loads of credit for guiding the Angels to the American League West championship despite the numbing death of a promising young pitcher. Ron Washington should be lauded for what he has done with the Texas Rangers, steering them around injuries to star players to wild card contention until a September swoon doomed them. Jim Leyland appeared to have the Detroit Tigers back in the playoffs before a late nosedive allowed the Twins to catch them in what will be a day of drama for the AL Central title today. All those managers are worthy of the praise they’re getting for the jobs they have done this season. Don Wakamatsu, the Seattle Mariners’ first-year skipper, has rarely been mentioned in company with Scioscia, Washington, Leyland or even the Yankees’ Joe Girardi. But Wakamatsu deserves to be the American League manager of the year. Who else has done more with less? Who else has started at absolutely ground zero and turned a clubhouse full of personality conflicts into a place where everyone will be sad to see each other go after the final game this afternoon? Who else gave players like Franklin Gutierrez and Russell Branyan the opportunity to believe in themselves and, as a result, play the best baseball of their careers? “The 2009 Mariners have had one of the greatest turnarounds in one year in baseball history,” veteran DH Mike Sweeney said. “A big reason is our skipper.” Yeah, but try searching the Internet to link the words “Wakamatsu” with “manager of the year.” You’re not going to find anything. That’s because the Mariners didn’t reach the playoffs, didn’t win 90 games and didn’t truly contend. But they became one of just 13 teams in the past 100 years to produce a .500 or better record after losing at least 100 games. General manager Jack Zduriencik deserves a lot of credit for acquiring young talent and veteran leadership who’ve pulled this off. But it’s Wakamatsu who molded the Mariners into a team with a distinct personality that previous managers — good baseball men like Mike Hargrove, John McLaren and Jim Riggleman — didn’t. The 2008 Mariners lacked the discipline to work deep ball-strike counts, averaging 3.68 pitches per at-bat. Wakamatsu demanded better at-bats and the 2009 Mariners have averaged 3.78 (Tampa Bay leads at 3.95). Last year’s make-little-happen offense produced 36 sacrifice bunts; this year that number stood at 55 with three games to play, all because Wakamatsu mandated a small-ball approach from players capable of doing it. The 2008 pitchers left the impression that anything more than five innings was something to appreciate, and starters pitched seven-innings deep into games 46 times. This year, that number was up to 54 going into this series against the Rangers. The 2008 Mariners were hardly known as a team willing to put forth the extra work — baserunning, hitting, bunting, fielding — that often separates success from mediocrity. This year, Wakamatsu and his coaches had players on the field by 3 o’clock nearly every day working on those things. And it was an all-inclusive thing. Ichiro Suzuki wasn’t exempt from bunting drills and no pitcher except that night’s starter was excused from fielding practice. Wakamatsu had a huge, if not overwhelming, task of changing everything about the team when he took over. At spring training, he held one-on-one meetings with each player, learning everything from his family life to his fastball. Most of all, Wakamatsu and his staff gave every player a chance to prove themselves worthy of the type of team they want to assemble. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt showed as far back as spring training that his lacking work ethic and undisciplined at-bats weren’t going to change, but Wakamatsu gave him a half-season before the Mariners traded him to the Royals. When guys like Betancourt, Roy Corcoran, Jeff Clement, Wladimir Balentien and Mike Morse showed they didn’t fit into the plan, they didn’t make it through the season as Mariners. No star was too big, no role player too small for Wakamatsu’s even-but-stern hand. When pitcher Felix Hernandez fiddled his way through a mid-May loss and allowed the Angels to steal three bases, Wakamatsu criticized him in his postgame comments with the media. “Sometimes you have to ask guys to step up, and I didn’t think he stepped up,” Wakamatsu said that night. Hernandez became a different pitcher after that challenge. Today, he’ll take his 2.48 ERA into the season finale with a chance to win his 19th game and impress Cy Young Award voters one last time. Wakamatsu may get a few votes from baseball writers who choose the manager of the year award, but it’s doubtful he’ll get enough to make a real run at it. You can’t call that a sham, but it would be a shame even in light of what Scioscia has done. The death of pitcher Nick Adenhart could have spun the Angels into a season-long malaise, yet they overcame that along with injuries and dominated the division. Impressive. “They’ve had an amazing year,” Sweeney said. “Nothing against the tragedy the Angels have gone through, but in my eyes Don deserves to be the manager of the year. “A lot of what Don has done here is relational. He had some great talks with (Hernandez) at the beginning of the year. He’s very consistent — not too many highs and not too many lows. A team coming off 100-some losses needed that. He’s kind of like the rudder; he made that ship steady and kept us on course all year. “He’s done a fantastic job. He’s the epitome of a great manager.” Kirby Arnold is The Herald’s major league baseball writer READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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