TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Always Living In The Moment

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOEY JOHNSON jjohnston@tampatrib.com

Published: October 28, 2008

Each night, he stands next to Rays manager Joe Maddon, usually in the same place. He's the trusted confidante, offering suggestions, contributing to strategy, helping with the lineups, pointing out the subtleties.

Dave Martinez is the bench coach.

When Martinez broke into the big leagues 22 years ago, the position didn't exist.

"Bench coach?" Martinez said. "I had never heard of such a thing."

But now bench coaches are in vogue (sort of like quality-control coaches in the NFL). The most notable bench coach was Rays senior adviser Don Zimmer, who once sat next to Yankees manager Joe Torre, almost Yoda-like, during the Bronx Bombers' most recent golden era.

Zimmer joked that his main duty was complimenting Torre on successful strategy. When something didn't work, he retreated to the other end of the bench.

Torre, of course, regarded Zimmer as an invaluable resource.

Maddon feels the same way about Martinez.

"David understands my brain," said Maddon, a former bench coach himself with the Angels, when he was Mike Scioscia's right-hand man during the 2002 World Series. "He knows when to interfere. There's an art to that."

It involves listening.

It involves instincts.

Even though Martinez and Phillies bench coach Jimy Williams are probably the most anonymous dugout personnel at the World Series, nobody is closer to the decision-making process.

Williams, a Dunedin resident in the offseason, has seen and done plenty in his baseball career. He was manager of three teams - the Blue Jays (1986-89), Red Sox (1997-2001) and Astros (2002-03) - and third-base coach of the Braves when they won the 1995 World Series.

In Williams' first major-league at-bat, he struck out against Sandy Koufax. His first major-league hit came off Juan Marichal.

"It's good to have Jimy around," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "You can't put a price-tag on that type of experience."

Martinez, an original Ray, is in his first season as a full-time coach.

But Maddon said Martinez will be an excellent manager for somebody one day. For now, Martinez wants to continue filling his generally unknown role.

"I'm not one of those guys who just sits there and goes, 'Yes, sir,'" Martinez said. "I'm very opinionated. Sometimes, I like to do things differently. Joe likes that.

"It's almost like I'm managing the game, in a way. Joe has a lot of things he's worrying about. I worry about getting the guys ready for situations. I'm trying to always think several steps ahead."

Usually, Maddon and Martinez split the field in half so they can concentrate on little things. Martinez takes the third-base side.

There's non-stop chatter, thinking about scenarios, watching the tendencies of players, noticing what pitches are working (or not working).

"Joe and I have a great rapport," Martinez said. "We stand in the same place out of habit. We don't want to change that. He'll turn to me quite a bit and bounce some ideas around.

"If things ever get quiet, I'll just say, 'Hey, Joe, what's going on, buddy? Start communicating with me.' That mind is always working. People think Joe does all this off-the-wall stuff. But believe me, this is a guy who does his homework. He's incredibly prepared. I'm so grateful that he brought me on to work with him. It has been quite an experience."

Even if Martinez sometimes struggles to explain his role as bench coach. Sometimes, it looks like nothing. Really, it's everything.

"There are times to shut up, and there are times to speak up," Maddon said. "Dave already knows that difference. He has been a huge part of our success."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT