While the Red Wings came out on the short end of a 6-4 extra-innings thriller, and finished the season in second place, there is absolutely nothing I'd take back about the game. I have no regrets. We played our hearts out and, as a team, played our best baseball of the season. I am a proud coach.
The Patsios Family was very kind to host us on Sunday for a festive end-of-season cookout. It was a great way to wrap up what has been an amazing season of baseball. Between games of pickle and wiffle ball, Coaches Gage, Patsios, Shapiro, and I presented awards to our Red Wings. We spoke briefly about each player. I will try to remember more or less what we said.
- The Greek God of Walks Award: Alejandro Diaz. Kevin Youkilis, before he established himself as one of Major League Baseball's premier hitters, spent a few years bouncing back and fourth between Pawtucket and Fenway. What the Red Sox loved about Youkilis during this time was his plate discipline. He had the potential to be a great hitter one day, but at that early point in his career he was already one of the best on-base guys in baseball. His nickname was "The Greek God of Walks." Alejandro practices the same kind of plate discipline. All season, he has made great decisions at the plate. He lays off pitches outside the zone, but always swings at the ones he can hit. As a result, he gets himself on base. He keeps the inning alive, keeps the line moving, and scores runs. Alejandro is our Greek God of Walks.
- The Six Tool Award: Will Dorion. A good all-around baseball player is called a five-tool player. He is a player that excels at each of the five tools of baseball: hitting for average, hitting for power, throwing, fielding, and running. I believe there is a sixth tool of baseball that is just as important as the other five--maybe more important. It's attitude. Will is an excellent all-around baseball player. He's a great hitter, he is reliable anywhere in the field, and he has emerged as one of the better pitchers in the league. He has the five tools. But one of the most impressive parts of his game is his attitude. Will is mentally tough and he is all about team. He's the guy you want in a pressure situation. He's the guy who always has something positive and encouraging to say to a teammate. Every coach in the world wants a guy like Will on the team.
- The Future Francona Award: Drew Patsios. Baseball is a thinking man's game. On the surface the game may seem simple: you throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. But take a closer look, and you see there's a whole lot more going on. Some players thrive on the thinking part of the game. They imagine all the different scenarios is a given situation: With a 1-run lead and a man on third with one out, do you pull the infield in and play it home to prevent the run or go for the easier play at first and get the sure out? Does it depend on what part of the order is due up? Does it depend on how your pitcher is throwing? These are the kinds of things Drew thinks about. He has quite an impressive baseball IQ for a young player. I am certain that if none of the coaches were able to make it to a game, Drew would step up and manage the team to victory.
- The David Ortiz Award: Sam Berezin. Big Papi needs no introduction. Time and time again, Red Sox fans have rejoiced in the heroics of a guy whose smile is big as his bat. Red Wings fans have also rejoiced in the heroics of a guy whose smile is as big as his bat: Sam Berezin. Sam's swing is all power, like Papi's (only I think much better mechanically). I don't know of any other AA player besides Sam who has hit two home runs in one game. Like Papi at Fenway, there's nothing more exciting than watching Sam step in with runners on base in a close game.
- Mr. Clutch Award: Parker Kirstein. Baseball statisticians say there is no such thing as clutch hitting. They say that if you play the game long enough, eventually you will get lucky and hit that walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes and two outs. But when that sort of thing happens over and over again, can you really call it luck? Parker Kirstein is living proof that clutch hitting is real. How many times have we seen him tie the game up or put us ahead with one swing of the bat? The Red Wings came from behind to win more than their share of nail-biters during the regular season and especially in the playoffs. In almost every case, Parker played a key part knocking in the runs that made the difference. There was no luck involved. Parker is a great clutch hitter.
- Jason Varitek Award: Noah Schwartz. Jason Varitek is not a very good hitter anymore, but the Sox keep him in the lineup because pitchers love to pitch to him. He does his homework. He knows what each pitcher should throw to each batter in any count. Pitchers feel more confident and more relaxed when he's behind the plate. There's a reason he holds the record for most no-hitters caught. Noah is the Jason Varitek of the Red Wings. All season our pitchers have felt very comfortable with Noah catching. He offers a steady target for every pitch, stops nearly everything, frames pitches, and hustles after the few that do get past him. He's got a bright future behind the plate.
- Cy Young Award: Jack Morgan. The Cy Young Award goes to the best pitcher in the American and National Leagues. It's no surprise that our Cy Young winner is Jack Morgan. We heard the same comment from every team we faced this year with Jack on the mound: "that kid's the best pitcher we've seen all season." He was consistently dominant. Not a single run all season--earned or otherwise--crossed the plate on his watch. A 0.00 ERA for the season! Cy Young himself never came close to that. By the end of the season Jack was probably throwing in the low 60s, and he could command. How many 9 or 10 pitch innings did we see from him? It became routine. Most importantly, though, Jack was a leader in the dugout and an excellent teammate, always supportive, always cheering on the other guys. Jack was not only a great player himself, but he made the guys around him great, too.
- Hustle Award: Eric Gage. If no one else showed up and we had to play only one guy in the field, Eric could handle it. If he wasn't striking guys out, he'd cover the rest of the diamond. This guy is the very definition of hustle. We saw it over and over again. Going after every pop foul at first or third. Ranging everywhere. He'd rather put himself on a stretcher than give up an out. Eric has the drive and the smarts, but also the speed to make good on it. He was a beast on the base paths for us, regularly scoring from second on balls that didn't make it out of the infield and from first on balls that did. You can't help but be inspired by this guy. He plays the game the way it's supposed to be played.
- Joe DiMaggio Award: Josh Shapiro. Joe DiMaggio had the longest hitting streak in Major League history -- 56 games in 1941. I don't know how many other games he hit in that season, but I'm willing to bet that our Josh Shapiro hit safely in a higher percentage of games. Josh hit safely in 12 out of the 15 games we played (including playoffs). That's 80% if my math is right. Amazing! There's only one way to achieve that kind of consistency at the plate: hard work. At every practice and warming up before every game, we all saw how hard Josh worked to improve his swing. What we didn't see was the hours he put in between practices. We didn't see the extra batting practice he took every week in addition to the work he did at Red Wings practices. Josh, like every great hitter, is truly dedicated to his craft.
- The Carl Yastrzemski Award: Tom Berkley. In Major League Baseball, a hitter earns the Triple Crown if he leads the league in batting average, RBI, and home runs. Carl Yastrzemski of the Red Sox was the last player to win the Triple Crown. He did it back in 1967, and no one has been able to do it since. It is a very difficult distinction to achieve because it requires a hitter to hit very well for average and hit with a lot of power at the same time. Like Yaz in '67, Tom hit very well for average this season and also with a good deal of power. He put in a lot of time outside of Red Wings practices working on his swing. He took extra batting practice on his days off. He worked very hard at it because one of his favorite things in the world (besides sliding) is to swing the bat and crush the ball.
- The Vladimir Guerrero Award: Micah Bernat. Orioles DH Vladimir Guerrero is one of the most aggressive hitters in baseball history. All he wants to do is hit the ball. So he swings at almost everything, and he can hit almost anything. As aggressive as he is, he does not strike out much. He hits. That's Micah. When he steps into the box, the only thing he wants to do is hit the ball. He's not thinking about who's on the mound or even what the count is. He just wants to put wood on the ball--and he's got the bat speed and vision to do it. Keep swinging away, Micah! You've always got the green light as far as we're concerned.
- Jose Oquendo Award: Kenny Crossman. Jose Oquendo was one of the best utility players in Major League history. A utility player is a guy that can play many different positions and plays wherever the team needs him. One day he might play shortstop. The next day he might play right field. Jose Oquendo played every position but catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. He could do this because of his excellent fielding skills and the fact that he was ambidextrous (he could throw and catch equally well with both hands). In fact, he had a custom-made glove that he could wear on either his right or his left hand. Kenny is our Jose Oquendo. He played everywhere for us. As a manager, you love to have a player who is happy and successful in any role. That's Kenny. When we needed him to catch for us, he was there, behind the plate, steady target. When we needed him at third base, he was there, glove down, quick scoop and fire to first. Center field? No problem. He'd line it up and make the catch. He could do it all, and he did it all happily. Whatever it took to help the team. Kenny is the ultimate team player.
- Cal Ripken Award: Alex Kaplan. "Iron" Cal Ripken holds the Major League record for consecutive games played--2,131 games in a row. Alex has not been alive long enough to play 2,131 games in a row, but something tells me he'll surpass that number eventually. The kid loves baseball, and that's the best kind of baseball player there is. He loves to hit, eagerly plays any position on the diamond--just loves every minute of it. He was often the first guy to arrive at practice and one of the last to leave. We've never seen him without a smile on his face. Up by two runs or down by five... It didn't matter, he just wanted to be there in the game doing whatever he could. It is not surprising then the phenomenal improvement Alex made between April and June. When you love the game, you work hard at it, when you work hard it it, you get very good at it. It has to start with the love, though. Alex definitely has the love.
Wings fans, it was a special season. 13-2, so many thrilling come-from-behind victories, playing for the AA Championship. As a coach, I am grateful for all of the success we were able to enjoy as a team. But, I am most grateful to have had the opportunity to spend my spring with such a great group of boys and crew of coaches. Everybody made new friends, everybody supported each other, and everybody had a lot of fun, and that's the only reason we play this game.
