Just the Right Touch

As this is written, I recollect Michael Phelps touching that wall .01 seconds ahead of the Serb and Nastia Liukin doing more things right than all her competitors. Of course, in Olympic competition, there are ample opportunities to witness athletes reaching back for more, calling on reserves they knew they had because they'd done it before, not because it's easy but because they want to win.

Given the opportunity, these types of competitors will win. In professional baseball, the type of effort I'm talking about is witnessed very seldom on a seasonal basis but you can see individual efforts that approach a true hundred percent once or twice each night, sometimes by great players but sometimes by those lesser talented guys who are just tired of losing, or tired of seeing their names in the papers in a negative light.

In 162 games, the duration of the baseball season, you really can't expect to see that kind of effort every night. You CAN expect to see it more than once in a while though. You DO see it practically all the time from some of the greats; I'm thinking of the Mariano Riveras of the world, the Ernie Bankses, those players who really love the game itself and revel in their ability to play it.

More often than not, though, in baseball, you see guys going through the motions, and you hope that will be enough to carry your team through July and August and get you into a position to win in September. The good teams manage the situation with finesse and just the delicate touch needed to carry 25 different personalities to the promised land, which is the playoffs in baseball.

Just the right touch. In 162 games, it means having that touch just a few more times than the opposition. It’s the touch that keeps good players playing well, and great players playing great. And sometimes, in just the right situation, it’s the touch that gets mediocre players to play over their heads.

Does Joe Girardi have it? Joe Torre? Jerry Manuel? Yeah, I think they probably do. Did Willie Randolph have it? I don’t think he did. At least, not in the time he had to demonstrate it.

That touch can sometimes be interpreted as heavy-handedness. When Jerry Manuel honestly talked about having to do something to win games after Monday night’s excruciating loss to the Pirates, even proposing to use starters in relief situations, it appeared heavy-handed to his relief staff, a staff that seemed to be sleepwalking for quite a long time, a staff that was proving to be one of the worst in baseball, a staff that didn’t seem phased by their mounting ERA’s or even the team’s mounting numbers in the loss column.

But they DID take notice of Manuel’s comments. They took considerable offense. They had a meeting with raised voices, the loudest voice ironically being one of the worst offenders, one of the veterans, one of the guys who was successful as recently as a few years ago, but hadn’t done much last year in the Mets collapse, and had done perhaps less as this year’s team was falling into oblivion.

Manuel’s comments were made Monday night. Since then, they’ve won four in a row, and the relief staff has never been better. They had every opportunity to lose Tuesday night’s game but Pedro Feliciano did the job. On Wednesday, they weren’t needed. On Thursday, after a shaky start by Joe Smith, Duaner Sanchez saved the day. And last night, Sanchez and Heilman triumphed again.

It doesn’t matter that the teams they beat were Washington and Pittsburgh. Wasn’t it Pittsburgh who beat them Monday night? Wasn’t it Pittsburgh who rose from the dead against a relief staff too bored with itself to appear to be even trying?

Just the right touch. Are those relievers still peeved with Manuel? Probably. I don’t care. If it takes a left-handed attack on their self-esteem to get them going, that’s not Jerry Manuel’s fault. The Mets as this is written are back in first place again.

It’s very difficult to say what that right touch is exactly. It’s the touch that got Delgado going, that got Reyes playing smarter, that got Perez pitching to his ability, that got more players to play hard, to have fun, to take pride in itself and start winning games.

The right touch; it’s ideas like roles for the pitching staff (until the relievers seemed not to want ANY role), like rest for some of his core veterans, like staying with hot bats, like giving his team a lift with minor-leaguers showing promise. But that’s not all it is either.

It’s visualization too, as Manuel speaks of another long run of wins he feels his team can put together, or a run of good at-bats that Delgado can put together. It’s praise out of nowhere for deserving guys like Beltran and Reyes. It’s praise such as that that gets Reyes to snag that ball in the hole last night; that gets Beltran to charge that ground ball through the infield and fire home to nail that Pirate at the plate.

The right touch. It’s all of the above and probably some other things too, more ethereal qualities such as inspiring confidence just in the thoughtful way he answers questions, or inspiring loyalty in the way he rewards deserving players and sits the rest. It’s a commitment to winning with guys who will get him there, not just filling out a lineup card with guys who’ve been there before.

Thoughtfulness, flexibility, sincerity, commitment….and just the right touch, usually applied at just the right time.

It’s a long season. There’ll probably be times when even this manager may seem to be sleeping, as I’ve thought on a few occasions this year, occasions when he could have walked a batter to face a pitcher, for example.

More often than not though, Manuel will do just what’s needed…. with just the right touch.