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June 25, 2008

On the Beat

Beating the g-Nats

by John Perrotto

The Washington Nationals’ performance and luck this season would be enough to make a grown man curse, kick, or cry. Manny Acta, the Nationals’ manager, admits that at one time he would have done all three with his team having a 30-50 record, (worst in the National League), and with the 3-4-5 hitters in the batting order all on the disabled list.

"I’m sure when I was younger I would have dropped a couple of f-bombs and got thrown out of a few games by now," Acta said. "I’ve come to realize, though, that getting kicked out of a game or tearing up the clubhouse isn’t going to make your team better. It has nothing at all to do with performance on the field."

That’s a very mature approach for a 39-year-old manager, one that some skippers more than 20 years his age don’t take. In fact, some managers insist that getting fired up from time to time helps their ballclubs stay focused. So, how did Acta learn to take such a measured approach? By reading Mind Game, the BP book published in 2005 that takes an analytical look at how the Boston Red Sox sometimes eschewed conventional thinking in order to put together their 2004 World Series winner, ending an 86-year championship drought.

"It’s the best book I’ve ever read, and it really changed the way I look at the game and the way I manage," said Acta, the New York Mets’ bench coach when Mind Game was published. "It helped me understand the history of the Red Sox, and it really helped me understand that there are logical reasons for everything that happens in baseball, that there aren’t things like the Curse of the Bambino.

"A lot of the things I read in there, such as how stolen bases only help you in certain situations, and how you should really only sacrifice bunt when the game is on the line, I use as a manager. And the most important thing that I learned is the need to think things out instead of making decisions by emotion."