MARINERS' MIDSEASON SURPRISE.Byline: Adam Jude The Register-Guard SEATTLE - John McLaren John McLaren is the name of several people:
After 21 years as a major league coach, McLaren had long waited his turn to manage. When that moment finally arrived a month ago today, he didn't embrace it. No, he didn't celebrate. He wept. So shocked was McLaren over Mike Hargrove's sudden midseason resignation that he couldn't help but express his emotions during the press conference that introduced him in his first managerial role. He paused often, bowed his head and wiped his eyes. His voice was shaky, his sentences incomplete. "I've always wanted to manage, but I never felt it would come on terms like this," McLaren said at the press conference. "I'm an emotional guy. I'm so happy, but I'm sad, too." McLaren had become close to Hargrove, who was in his third season as the Mariners manager, and finally achieving some semblance of success after consecutive last-place finishes. The day he publicly announced his resignation July 1, citing fatigue, the Mariners won their eighth straight game. Hargrove recommended McLaren, his bench coach, as his replacement. Even if McLaren couldn't immediately embrace the realization of his dream, the Mariners embraced him. "The guys trust him," closer J.J. Putz said this week. "He really spent a lot of time in spring training getting to know the guys. He knows what they're feeling a lot of the time. If there's a problem, you usually go to the bench coach first, so Mac knew everything that was going on in here." A month after taking over, McLaren said he's settling in and enjoying his new role, especially with Seattle in the middle of a pennant Pennant A continuation pattern in technical analysis formed when there is a large movement in a stock, the flagpole, followed by a consolidation period with converging trendlines, the pennant, followed by a breakout movement in the same direction as the initial large movement, the race. "I love managing here," said McLaren, who is 14-14 as manager after Seattle's victory over the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Angels on Wednesday night. "I'm enjoying myself, I really am. It's been beyond my expectations. I feel very comfortable in this role. I don't feel like I'm out of character or anything. I just try to be Mac every day and act like I always have." To make his move more difficult, McLaren had rotator cuff rotator cuff n. A set of muscles and tendons that secures the arm to the shoulder joint and permits rotation of the arm. Also called musculotendinous cuff. surgery three days before his promotion, and he wore a sling sling (sling) a bandage or suspensory for supporting a part. mandibular sling a structure suspending the mandible, formed by the medial pterygoid and masseter muscles and aiding in over his right arm until last week. Other than that, the transition has been seamless for the Mariners. "Mac is a good guy," Seattle pitching coach Rafael Chaves Rafael Chaves (born January 11, 1968 in Isabela, Puerto Rico) is the pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners. As a professional player, Chaves was signed as an undrafted free agent by the San Diego Padres in 1986. said. "He is a baseball man that has been around for a long time and he's been under a lot of good managers. He knows the game. He's a smart guy." After seven seasons as a minor-league catcher, McLaren began his coaching career with Toronto, spending 14 seasons with the Blue Jays organization. Later, he was the calming voice of reason for Lou Piniella McLaren had the same offer from Hargrove and, ultimately, decided to return to Seattle, becoming the longest-tenured coach in Mariners history (11 seasons) in his third stint with the team. He was on the Seattle bench for two of the club's most memorable seasons, in 1995 and 2001. "The city and the stadium influenced me a lot (to return this season)," McLaren told the Seattle P-I newspaper in spring training. "I think it's the best ballpark in the country. The baseball atmosphere is good, and the passion of the fans ... in 1995, they pushed us and pushed us and pushed us, and would not let us quit." As manager, McLaren has put the emphasis on his players. "This game is about the players. It's not about me," he said. "Nobody cares that I'm out there." That, in part, is what makes most in the Seattle clubhouse a fan of McLaren. "When it comes down to communicating with the players, there's nobody better than Mac," Chaves said. McLaren cemented that closeness with the Mariners last week by participating in a superstitious su·per·sti·tious adj. 1. Inclined to believe in superstition. 2. Of, characterized by, or proceeding from superstition. su team ceremony. In the midst Adv. 1. in the midst - the middle or central part or point; "in the midst of the forest"; "could he walk out in the midst of his piece?" midmost of a season-long seven-game losing streak, the Mariners got together to shave shave (shav) 1. to cut at or parallel to the surface of the skin. 2. to remove the beard or other body hair by such a process. 3. to cut thin slices from or to cut into thin slices. their heads in hopes of reversing the streak. McLaren was in the barber's chair with everyone else, getting a trim and sharing a few laughs. Judging by the buzz cut, it looks like he's finally starting to embrace his managerial dreams. |
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