Bochy deserves a little time to smell the roses
Bruce Bochy says he might manage again, and some Giants fans are confused. Wait a minute, they’re saying: You got a lavish tribute each time you made a final visit to a city, then watched the Giants stage a magnificent retirement ceremony at Oracle Park, but you’re not so sure about things?
In case you missed it, Bochy was interviewed on SiriusXM on Thursday, saying, “I’m just hitting the pause button . ... I don’t know how I’m gonna feel (after a year off ), but I’d love to have one more shot.”
If you listened closely to Bochy throughout the season’s final weeks, it’s not that confusing. He never completely closed the door on managing again. He even said he’s likely to manage Team France during the 2021 World Baseball Classic (held during spring training). He just knew his time with the Giants was done, and he was absolutely serious about spending a
year away from the game.
Never dismiss a solid marriage when it comes to a lifechanging decison. Bruce and Kim Bochy have been married 41 years, and she knows him better than anyone. From all we’ve heard, she’s delighted at the prospect of his retirement. The man has a heart condition, he turns 65 in April, and that was the age at which his father died of a heart attack. Stress makes a lousy companion for anyone trying to ease comfortably into the twilight.
We knew Bochy was serious about a sabbatical when he refused to get involved in the San Diego Padres’ managerial search. That’s his home area, most likely for many years to come, and he’s a beloved figure there after managing the Padres into the 1998 World Series. It’s a potentially dynamic young team with a farm system recently rated No. 1 in the major leagues by mlb.com.
Given the Padres’ history, we’ll never know if Bochy was their No. 1 target. Remarkably, their past six managers were chosen despite not having any managerial experience at the bigleague level, a list that includes Bochy (1995) and 38yearold Jayce Tingler, recently tabbed to take over the club next year. And you wonder if any bigleague club would be interested in Bochy after he’s faded out of sight for a while.
Then again, what do we make of a coaching landscape that includes Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (72), the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich (70), the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick (67) and Alabama’s Nick Saban (turns 68 on Thursday)? That covers an awful lot of successful ground.
The feeling here is that Bochy should embrace everything about his new life: fishing, traveling, expanding his tastes in wine, or simply spending quiet days with Kim in reflection on a life well lived. In a September interview with USA Today, Bochy said, “Really, all I want is a little speakeasy” at the Giants’ new springtraining complex. “I want a little gate on the door. You have to knock. Give your password. And I’ll have a little bar in there.”
He just might find it’s a lifestyle with staying power.
Juiced no more
Narrowing it down to the specifics, somebody did something, somewhere. After a season of juicedball embarrassment, we’re seeing a different brand of baseball in the postseason. Balls clearly crushed are leaving the yard; routinelooking flyballs are indeed that. A number of players have been exasperated at the sight of drives reaching only the warning track, but if you examine every replay in question, the balls weren’t hit
that well. Scientific studies, most notably by Baseball Prospectus, indicate a significant spike in the “drag” on baseballs. A number of players and managers have publicly proclaimed a noticeable difference. And MLB just shrugs, offering no clarity whatsoever. Conclusion: Whatever may be happening, it’s very refreshing. A sense of sanity revived . ... Through the long grind of a season, with fans becoming frustrated by terrible ballsandstrikes calls and forced to acknowledge the different strike zones of various umpires, it sounds plausible to consider the computerized strike zone employed this season in the independent Atlantic League and Arizona Fall League. Then comes a moment of excruciating lateinning tension in the World Series, and you think to yourself: Do you really want a machine deciding this? The answer here: No. Can’t even debate the topic until the technology becomes virtually infallible, and reports suggest we’re a long way from that.
As Dave Martinez’s career reaches a glorious peak, managing Washington in the World Series, here’s a glimpse into his Giants history: Martinez was part of the Dusty
Bakermanaged 1993 team that won 103 games and, with no wild card available, watched the postseason from home. How strong was that lineup? For most of the season, Barry Bonds hit fifth — behind Darren Lewis, Robby Thompson, Will Clark and Matt Williams. Batting sixth behind Bonds, Martinez appeared to have locked down the rightfield job after a memorable midsummer stretch — all on the road — including two homers off the Reds’ Jose Rijo (who led the National League with 227 strikeouts that year), a threerun homer off the Astros’ Pete Harnisch in an 85 win, and a 4for5 night against the Phillies with a couple of RBIs off Curt Schilling. A slumping Martinez lost his job to Willie McGee in September, but McGee hurt his rib cage during the seasonending series at Dodger Stadium. Martinez had a huge Saturday performance, driving home three runs in a crucial victory, but on Sunday — the day Salomon Torres was entrusted to start game No. 162 — Martinez was just another Giant coming up painfully short . ... One of the Raiders’ alltime greats, Willie Brown, died Monday at 78. As a postscript to colleague Matt Kawahara’s excellent obit, here’s the starting defensive unit of the Oakland team that defeated Minnesota 3214 in the Super Bowl of Jan. 9, 1977: Defensive ends: John Matuszak and Otis Sistrunk. Nose tackle: Dave Rowe. Linebackers: Phil Villapiano, Monte Johnson, Willie Hall and Ted Hendricks. Cornerbacks: Brown and Skip Thomas. Safeties: Jack Tatum and George Atkinson. Together, that is vintage NFL royalty.