A difficult season for Martinez leads Nats to a ‘beautiful place’
WASHINGTON — Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez is an optimistic sort, a live-inthe-moment guy who loves his mantras and his mottos, whether it’s telling players to “go 1-0 today” or to “stay in the fight.”
Rough as things were when Washington was 19-31 and people were wondering whether Martinez was in over his head and might get fired, he never wavered.
Just as important, neither did the support he received from general manager Mike Rizzo and team ownership.
And worried as Martinez was — as anyone would be — when his heart acted up during a game in September, leading to a hospital stay, he’s able to laugh about it now. He jokes that each game qualifies as a cardiac stress test.
He points out that he needs to try to avoid booze, on doctor’s orders, during all of those clubhouse celebrations National League wild-card Washington has enjoyed on the way to the World Series, which begins Tuesday against the Houston Astros or New York Yankees.
So it made perfect sense that this is what Martinez said when he was given a chance to address a full stadium and television audience this week after a 7-4 victory completed a sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Championship Series: “Often, bumpy roads lead to beautiful places, and this is a beautiful place.”
Moments later, referring to his players, Martinez added: “These guys cured my heart, and my heart feels great right now.”
There are many players who deserve credit for contributing to this season’s turnaround (including the current 16-2 run) — the Nationals are the fourth club in Major League Baseball history to go from 12 games under .500 to the Fall Classic.
But the 55-year-old called “Davey” also deserves his share of kudos for helping steer the team from where it was in May to this point in October.
“I have had a lot of managers, obviously, and they all come into spring training, and say they’re going to stay this way no matter what: ‘We’re going to be here for you. It’s going to be us. We don’t care what anyone says,’” said Ryan Zimmerman, in his 15th season with the Nationals.
“And then as soon as stuff goes bad, every manager has pretty much thrown that out the window and gone into self-preservation mode, where Davey, honestly, has stayed the same way.
“He’s positive every day, his energy. He always trusts his players and has his players’ backs.”
Hired to replace Dusty Baker before last season after two NL East titles and immediate playoff exits, Martinez didn’t have a successful start.
First came his rookie year of 2018, and an 82-80 record. Then came early ’19.
“A lot of teams could’ve folded. A lot of teams, the clubhouse would have been fractured,” Rizzo said.
“But Davey held this thing together.”