FOUR innings into it, the Expos had a seven-run lead and Javier Vazquez was no-hitting the Mets. Even so, the Expos had to come from behind to win 9-8 in 11 innings in a game in which the sloppy home team committed five errors, including the routine first baseman-cuts-off-the-throw-from-the-pitcher-to-the-second baseman-who-was-covering-the-bag-on-a-bunt-play error, a had to see it to believe it blooper.
Welcome to the National League East, where sloppy play is the rule, it’s hard to tell the winners from the losers, and on most days the standings read like a motor sports calendar of events: a list of big cities with a .500 next to each one.
On this day, Frank Robinson, back in the manager’s seat for the first time since 1991, was on the winning side. It’s not as if he was bragging about it, or anything else, afterward.
“The thrill of victory,” Robinson said between sips on a bottle of fruit juice. “The agony of . . . “
He checked his tongue’s swing before he allowed himself to finish with something such as, “watching such bad baseball for 11 innings.”
That’s when Robinson’s cell phone rang.
“Hello, Mr. President,” he said after a victory so great he was certain it must have been the White House calling to congratulate him. “Yes, thank you very much.”
He was having a good time, and why not? His Expos won because Vladimir Guerrero homered off Scott Strickland, the reliever dealt from the Expos to the Mets, a trade that put Montreal GM Omar Minaya on the spot, faced with a charge from an anonymous peer that he was helping out his old team.
Omar the Trade Maker had to enjoy that home run as much as any he had witnessed.
“No, Omar doesn’t gloat,” Robinson said. “And neither do we.”
Robinson manages a franchise that is owned by Major League Baseball, and resides on death row. It will take a move to Northern Virginia to save the Expos from contraction. If this were the movies, Robinson would motivate his Expos all the way into the World Series for a showdown with the Twins.
It’s not the big screen. It’s not even 1989, when Robinson managed the underdog Orioles into contention, staying in it until losing the division to the Blue Jays in the final weekend of the season.
That came one year after Robinson replaced Cal Ripken Sr. and managed the final 15 games of a season-opening 21-game losing streak.
The ’89 Orioles didn’t have much in the way of power arms or power hitters. What did they have?
“Attitude,” said Robinson, who played with such a winning attitude he embodied everything that was good about his era of baseball, the best of all eras.
The 2002 Expos would need to develop that to make this a five-team race. Otherwise, they will finish last, as predicted.
“This team has more talent,” Robinson said, comparing clubs separated by 13 years.
More talent, less attitude.
“I’m not saying these guys have bad attitudes,” Robinson said. “They don’t. They have good attitudes. What I mean is that team had that ‘nobody believes in us and we’re going to show them they’re all wrong’ attitude. Roland [Hemond] went out and got a bunch of bargain players and they came together. The crowds got to the point they would give ovations for sacrifice bunts. They were a special team. They were all cut from the same cloth.”
Not right away.
“We hemmed and hawed for the first month-and-a-half of the season,” he remembered. “We couldn’t put two games together and we were still right there because nobody got hot.”
Robinson’s a great resource for the players to tap. They won’t because they think they know better.
“Players listen to teammates more than to coaches,” Robinson said, echoing sentiments expressed recently by Bobby Valentine.
Nobody had to remind Robinson he is managing in the 21st century when he told a player he was being sent to the minor-league side during spring training and the player asked, “I have 72 hours to report, right?”
Technically, yes.
“I’m taking the day off,” the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^player said on his way to an idle day in the Florida sun.