Lou in the Sky With Diamonds
By Tracy Larsen, for Seattle Insider
Originally published by Cox Interactive Media, August 1999
Congratulations
must go out to the Mariners' intrepid manager, Lou Piniella, on earning
his 1,000th win as a big league manager. It seemed to create nary a blip
on the Seattle radar scene, but understandably so, what with devastating
earthquakes and Blair Witch sightings running amuck. Still, it's worth
a notice to us here.
More than half of
those thousand W's (521) have been with the Mariners and were hard-fought.
We should all feel lucky that he's hung in there long enough to get them.
All those "classic" M's fans (the pre-1995 folk) had been praying forever
for the owners to find an inspiring, hard-nosed manager like Lou, considering
the early-on cellar years lead by Darrell Johnson, Del Crandall and the
like. Then later, the embarrassing .395 winning percentage (if that can
truly be called a 'winning' anything) of Bill Plummer's '92, Just-Prior-To-Lou
year was, I think, the owners' long overdue wake-up call. At that time,
Piniella was just a couple of years out of leading the Cincinnati Reds
to a World Series victory, so M's fans saw a glimmer of light in that supremely
dark, Rene Lachemann- and Dick Williams-graffitied tunnel.
Who else did Lou
have to endure prior to his appearance on the Seattle stage? The Yankee
baron and most omnipresent of owners, George Steinbrenner. Anyone who has
survived that managerial storm has paid his dues enough and deserves a
chance to shine, in my book. And Piniella has, with a winning percentage
being a happy .505 over his 6+ seasons here.
So it's strange to
hear whispers among fans of letting Piniella, the only manager in Mariners
history to have a career winning percentage above .500, go, once his contract
is up after the year 2000. There's been some grousing about him micromanaging
his players, about him letting his temper get the better of him and getting
the boot from the umpires just a little too often.
Others might be saying,
"Heresy! Who else but mild-mannered Lou could guide those guys you gotta
love to a World Series title?" And to those people I say... not many
managers today, really. Few managers will rise to the occasion of taking
a line-up of sluggers like we have, guys who on a yearly basis break the
team home run record, and try to teach them "little" baseball, the game
where you earn runs with bunts instead of blasts, one at a time instead
of in bunches. Lou has tried to do that, and this season, it seems to finally
be sinking in. You'll never turn that particular line-up into a bunt-'em-along
team, but they're learning to play it when necessary, and credit should
be given to Lou for that one.
There are other great
skippers out there, of course. You have your nearly-canonized managers
like Joe Torre, but he seems happy in New York, even with Steinbrenner.
There's Mike Hargrove of the Cleveland Indians, a very fine manager, but
someone tenacious (and adored, atleast in Cleveland) enough not to leave
until he earns that special ring with that particular team. And of course,
those guys, I'm sure, make the BIG moolah. Mariners owners cough up that
kind of money for a guy who spends most of his time swinging his legs underneath
the dugout bench? Please.
So after looking
over what Lou has had to work with over the years, what ownership has bestowed
upon him -- those players other than the Griffeys (both Sr. and
Jr.), ARod, Edgar, The Big Unit et al -- he should be amazingly proud of
his accomplishment.
But there have been
a few eyebrows to be raised over these last few seasons, to be sure. The
major case in that point? Bobby Ayala.
The right hander
made not only Lou's but most of Seattle's life a struggle, to say the least,
during his final three seasons ('96-'98) that he was a reliever for the
Mariners. But it must be remembered that Lou brought him from Cincinnati
himself -- on purpose. And it was Lou who kept calling on Bobby to come
in from the bullpen, much to the chagrin of nearly every Mariners fan.
Ayala's especially disastrous run during the '98 season -- leaving with
a 1-10 record and a 7.29 ERA -- left a bad taste in the collective mouth
of M's fans everywhere. I'll admit that I often questioned Lou's sanity
when I would see him gesturing toward the bullpen for Ayala, even though
I knew he was just trying to give a guy he liked personally a chance at
redemp... nah, he was just temporarily nuts. I'm trying to ignore that
feeling of Yogi Berra's pointed "It's deja vu all over again" in regard
to our current closer, Jose Mesa.
But it should be
noted here that Ayala's current ERA with the Montreal Expos is a
not-bad 3.74. Go figure. Did Lou know something we didn't? Possibly, sure,
but my guess is that Ayala simply needed a change of venue, for whatever
reason. His overall record of 1-6 this season, however, is a clear reminder
of what was.
It's certainly true
that Piniella's style can be volatile, getting him thrown out of enough
games to make even Earl Weaver smile. Every couch-bound manager is convinced
that he or she could better make 'this' move or 'that' decision, "to pull
or not to pull" a pitcher, or to bunt, sacrifice or swing away. But that's
one of the things that fans (not to mention columnists) do. We're always
certain that we could have somehow made that perfect tactical decision
to win that nailbiter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
But that's also why
Sweet Lou is the manager and the rest of us are not. He's never been one
to take center stage, talking in mellow, understated terms to reporters,
giving his ballplayers -- superstars or not -- the credit and a chance
to shine. In this era of showboating, where managers are just as apt to
have publicists and public relations experts working for their interests
as are the sports stars themselves, I can live with Lou's occasional moments
of insanity.
Because somewhere
along the way and amongst all of the dirt-kicking, hat-throwing and expletive-filled
scenes on the field -- moments I'm sure are meant to inspire his team when
it's lagging -- Lou's done alot of things very right. He's steered the
Mariners from bottom-dwelling laughingstocks to legitimate ALCS contenders.
When all is said and done, I'd like to see him get his 1,100th win while
clinching the AL West title for the Mariners for the third time, just prior
to depriving Mike Hargrove of yet another ring-sizing. I'm actually looking
forward to a little red-faced dirt-kicking in the World Series. It might
make Earl Weaver smile once again, but more importantly, Steinbrenner just
might blow a gasket. That's worth just about anything.
©2000. Tracy Larsen & Cox Interactive Media. All Rights Reserved.