Playing with small balls

I am seriously stoked about the professional hometown baseball squad right now. Perhaps because last year was the worst sports year for any city ever, meaning teams in this town can't get any uglier and we no longer have any decent expectations, or perhaps because they're just so darn exciting to watch.

When '09 spring training came to a close, a reporter was asked on the radio what she thought the difference was between last year's and this year's teams. She said the atmosphere in the dugout was poles apart from last year. In '08, the clubhouse tension was so thick you couldn't breath, and nobody, including the players, wanted to be there. This year, she said, people were getting along, having fun, respecting the manager, and learning.

On a side note, we also have Griffey. At the moment, I don't care that his batting average is -24 degrees. He's here, and though it hasn't completely sunk in yet, that's all that matters. Back to the column.

Wakamatsu didn't really spark my fancy when he was hired. I think I missed that announcement altogether actually. By about a month. Hearing him speak on "What we have to change to teach these guys about winning, blah blah blah," wasn't particularly inspiring. Sounded like manager talk, which is short for what had we had been hearing from McLaren, Riggleman, Hargrove, and Melvin.

(Good lord, I actually had to google a historical list of M's managers just to remember Melvin and Riggleman, who was the most recent coach. Dag, these guys were forgettable.)

However, Wakamatsu took this team and got them back to basics. I hate that phrase by the way, and it was one that I felt was overused this spring. But whaddya know, he's motivated them to sacrifice, steal, bunt, and so far, stash their egos. He's got them playing small ball, which was what the 2001 team did so brilliantly, until the playoffs.

Homeruns are cool and all, but they don't hold your attention like small ball does. Getting guys on base however you can and doing any manner of things to advance them is WAY more exciting to me, and it always has been. Even when I played little league. If someone's on, you don't know what the batter is going to do, what the runner is going to do, or what the manager is going to do, but you know with this team that they're going to do something.

That not only keeps fans in a perpetual state of anticipation, it drives the opposition nuts. Certainly the defense isn't lulled to sleep when the M's are at the bat, but they'll sweat through their precious beanies thinking about what's coming next.

And that, to me, is good baseball. Scratch that, it's great baseball.