MIKE’S FULL
Spanish in clubhouse proves ‘no problema’
ARLINGTON, Texas — Michael Conforto was confused. What possibly could be the problem with building a future around a player like Amed Rosario? The Mets outfielder and the shortstop prospect are likely to become the faces of the franchise in the next few years and to Conforto that’s a good thing.
“He’s a great player, a great teammate,” Conforto said. “I like playing with him. I think it would be great if it works out that way.”
Mike Schmidt obviously hasn’t been a part of a modern clubhouse recently and seen how guys such as Conforto and Rosario work together these days. The Phillies great and current broadcaster made it clear through his ignorant comments — and poor apology —on Tuesday.
Schmidt, who played for 18 years, all in Philadelphia, was asked during a radio interview if the Phillies could build around their flashy Venezuelan outfielder Odubel Herrera, who the team gave a five-year $30.5 million extension in December.
“My honest answer to that would be no because of a couple of things,” Schmidt told SportsRadio 94WIP. “First of all, it’s a language barrier. Because of that, I think he can’t be a guy that would sort of sit in a circle with four, five American players and talk about the game. Or try and learn about the game or discuss the inner workings of the game. Or come over to a guy and say, ‘Man, you gotta run that ball out.’
“(He) just can’t be — because of the language barrier — that kind of a player.”
Schmidt later “apologized,” to Herrera personally and publicly for his comments, clearly not understanding how insulting they were.
“It’s been made known to me that my answer ... was disrespectful to Herrera and Latin players in general,” Schmidt said in a statement. “I’m very sorry that this misrepresentation of my answer occurred and may have offended someone. I assure everyone I had no intention of that.
“Odubel is a dynamo on the field, and as he becomes more comfortable with the language, his leadership skills will improve, and no doubt he will be a centerpiece in the Phillies’ future.”
That “apology,” completely misses the point that baseball is a diverse game that has clearly grown in the years since he has played. The Red Sox had no issue having David Ortiz as a leader, the Rangers are built around Adrian Beltre, and Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes are leaders in the Mets clubhouse.
“There are many ways to lead,” Reyes said. “David Wright is a leader because he’s here every day, he plays hard every play and he plays the game the right way. He is not a leader because he speaks English.
“I’ve always tried to do it that way, play everyday, play hard,” Reyes said. “You don’t have to speak any language to do that.”
It was never a barrier when Reyes and Wright were coming up together as the faces of the franchise. It won’t be a barrier with a team built around Rosario or Conforto either.
When they played together in Brooklyn and Binghamton, Conforto said they sat in the clubhouse and talked baseball. It helped Rosario practice his English and Conforto picked up some Spanish.
“Amed’s English is getting better and better and honestly here (at the major league level) I’ve never had a problem talking to anyone,” Conforto said. “It’s just not an issue.”
League-mandated Spanish translators are in the clubhouse simply to help Spanish-speaking players deal with the media that is largely unable to speak Spanish. Unlike translators for Asian players, translators are not available in dugouts during games.
So Spanish-to-English and Englishto-Spanish is mandatory on-the-job learning for everyone.
Pitching coach Dan Warthen can communicate with his pitchers. Catcher Rene Rivera is bilingual and Travis d’Arnaud made sure he learned enough Spanish to communicate the basics with his pitchers.
“La recta, el cambio,” d’Arnaud said, reciting the Spanish words for fastball and changeup. “Alta, high, bajo, low, el dentro, inside….I have enough of it to get by out there.”
And d’Arnaud sees that as his responsibility.
“We meet each other halfway on this, as a teammate it’s important we learn to communicate with our teammates,” d’Arnaud said. “And they work hard to learn English, but I don’t think it’s just on them to learn English. We all have to work at it.”
Clearly things have changed in major league clubhouses since Mike Schmidt’s day, thankfully for the better.
Matt Reynolds did not stop running. Third base coach Glenn Sherlock kept waving him in on a one-hopper to Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor. It had all the makings of another Mets heartbreaker. Instead, Elvis Andrus bobbled and then dropped the ball at second, blowing the forceout and the Mets escaped Globe Life Park with a 4-3 win, avoiding a devastating third straight loss. “Glenn was having him come the whole way, he never slowed down and that’s what you got to do and one of the reasons why we can run him if some play you got to have a little extra step,” Terry Collins said. “Matty did a nice job of going hard the whole way.”
It would have been a shame to lose on a night when Zack Wheeler threw his best start of the season and Jay Bruce to hit two home runs. It would have been devastating to a Mets (25-32) team that is barely scraping by these days.
“We certainly needed one like that I can tell you. We’ve lost enough games in a lot of different ways,” Collins said. “Zack was tremendous tonight and would have been nice but we’ll take the win any way we can get it right now.”
The drama once again came from the bullpen, but an unlikely goat. Jerry Blevins, who has been the Mets’ most reliable reliever this season, gave up a two-out single to Nomar Mazara and then a home run to Robinson Chirinos.
“It was a shock,” Collins said. “He doesn’t make mistakes in the middle of the plate like that. He just doesn’t do it. Goes to show you nobody is perfect I guess.”
Jose Reyes’ one-hopper to deep second base scored the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth on what should have been an easy out. Rougned Odor fielded the ball well, but his throw to Elvis Andrus was bobbled and dropped, allowing pinch runner Matt Reynolds to score.
Jerry Blevins, who had allowed just four hits to a left-handed batter going into Wednesday night, gave up a twoout single to lefty-hitter Nomar Mazara in the eighth. Robinson Chirinos tied the game with the second home run given up by Blevins this year.
Zack Wheeler held the Rangers to one run on six hits. He walked three and struck out five in seven innings of work. With his best start of the season, Wheeler lowered his ERA to 3.45.
METS AT BRAVES
7:35 p.m., Friday. TV: SNY. Matt Harvey (4-5, 5.43) vs. TBA
STAT OF THE DAY
The Mets have played the fewest road games in the majors this season, going 11-13 away from Citi Field.
UNSUNG HERO
Texas native Jay Bruce hit his 14th and team-leading 15th homer of the season as the Mets’ designated hitter Wednesday night. It was his fourth multi-home run game of the season and the 25th of his career.
Jerry Blevins gave up just his fifth hit all season to lefty batters on the two-out single to Nomar Mazara was the fifth. He cost Wheeler his fourth win of the season. USA TODAY SPORTS