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Steady Scioscia helps Halos persevere

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By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com

08/13/09 2:00 AM ET

ANAHEIM -- Mike Scioscia is eloquent and expansive on a wide range of subjects, but one is kept at arm's length, covered the way he protected home plate back in the day.

That subject is Mike Scioscia.

Ask him about the uncommon, consistent success experienced by the Angels in his decade as their manager, and he'll ramble on about the players' commitment, the owner's generosity, the foresight of two general managers, the collective vision of the scouts, the player development department's steady, nurturing role ... on and on.

Eventually, you throw up your arms like a third-base coach halting a runner and ask him if he can offer some enlightenment on his own role in all of this.

"Ah, leave me out of it, OK?" Scioscia says, earnestly. "Make this about somebody else. It's the organization that's done this, not me."

Leaving Scioscia out of this is like avoiding President Obama in a discussion of the current administration.

Scioscia's handprints and footprints -- two of his pet words -- are all over this operation. The hurdles these Angels have been forced to confront this season are virtually unprecedented, yet here they are, once again leading the American League West heading down the stretch with another shot at the brass ring.

If ever there was a time when the sum total of a manager's work should be recognized and applauded, this is it. What Scioscia has done in his 10th season is even more impressive than taking his third Angels team in 2002 and driving it to the franchise's first World Series championship.

What Scioscia has endured this season goes, as longtime friend and managerial rival Joe Maddon put it, "well beyond baseball. It's not about what he learned coming up in the Dodgers' organization. I think it goes back to his family, growing up [in the Philadelphia area].

"Mike is so well-grounded," continued Maddon, the 2008 American League Manager of the Year for driving the Rays to the World Series in a manner similar to Scioscia with the '02 Angels. "He's always about getting it right. In a difficult moment, a crisis, it goes back to how he was raised. You go through defining moments coming up in a large family. You have to deal with tragedies and difficulties often.

"That's where he has come from and why he has become the person he is today. He is all about taking care of what needs to be done -- and he'll take no credit for it, because he sees it as just the right thing to do."

Scioscia has been consistent from the beginning in separating baseball -- a game and career -- from the heartbreak of a family in the aftermath of the death of 22-year-old pitcher Nick Adenhart in the season's opening week.

"You try to keep perspective when you think about what's happened here with Nick and his tragedy," Scioscia said. "We still get to do what we love; these guys get to play baseball. His folks have lost a son. That really keeps your heart heavy. It always brings me back to his parents and what they're going through. That part has been difficult.

"You never pass over that. It's something that's going to be with us forever."

Reggie Willits is an Angels role player, accustomed to shuttling back and forth from Triple-A Salt Lake to Anaheim. This type of player usually is not a big fan of the system or the manager, but Willits has reverence for Scioscia, routinely calling him "the smartest manager in baseball, always a step ahead."

In the season's opening week, Willits was summoned from Salt Lake to rejoin the Angels, but it happened to come on one of the darkest days of his life.

April 9, 2009 was the day all Angels wept. It was the day one of their best and brightest was taken. Hours after pitching a gem in his season debut, clearly embarking on a career of distinction, Adenhart was killed in an auto wreck, along with companions Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson, while one -- Jon Wilhite -- miraculously survived.

"I was called up to take Nick's roster spot," Willits recalled. "I remember waking up that morning and seeing all these messages flashing on my cell phone. People were telling me how sorry they were about Nick, and I didn't even know what had happened yet."

As details of the incident surfaced and painful press conferences were staged in Anaheim; the series finale with the Athletics was postponed. The club would gather around its manager and resume the schedule with a three-game weekend series against the Red Sox.

"When I got here," Willits said, standing in the home clubhouse at Angel Stadium, "I shook Mike's hand. I didn't know what to expect. It was something none of us could have been prepared for -- we all knew and loved Nick. Everybody was numb, in shock.

"Mike told the team, 'We're going to get through this together.' It was a time when a family draws on the support of each other. Players always look to the manager, and Mike is so calm in every situation. I think that was an important time for us. He was in character, being there for us, as hard as it had to be. He loved Nick like all of us did.

"Watch [Scioscia] in the playoffs when something goes wrong, even terrible. His expression doesn't change. He's even-keel. Spring Training or playoffs, up 10 or down 10, there's never any panic with Mike. He never overreacts. I think players feed off it."

Angels general manager Tony Reagins was with Scioscia at the press conference that fateful day, and he has been in daily contact with the manager ever since.

"Obviously, we've faced challenges we've never faced in a season," Reagins said. "He's done a great job of keeping guys together and focused, really focused on the day at hand.

"Time obviously heals all wounds. The wounds aren't as fresh. You have to move forward -- but I don't think you ever move on."

Adenhart's presence remains a part of the club every day. His locker is maintained at home and on the road. The black 34 patch, Nick's number, is attached to each uniform. His image on the wall in center field, mid-delivery, is a constant reminder along with the fans' memorial in the walkway leading into the stadium.

"Mike is in charge of the clubhouse," Reagins said, "but there are a number of individuals in the front office, as well as in the clubhouse, who played significant roles in those first two months. It's not necessarily prominent guys in the clubhouse. A lot of the players who knew Nick best were in the Minor Leagues, where they played with him.

"I don't think you ever move on from something like this, but you have to try to move forward."

Moving forward with high character always has been the M.O. of Scioscia, going back to his Dodgers youth. Rare is the catcher in his early 20's who commands a pitching staff loaded with veterans, as it happened in the early 1980s in Los Angeles.

The late Danny Ozark, a successful Major League manager who coached for the Dodgers, once made a telling observation about the young receiver.

"Scioscia," Ozark said, "is like Patton's army. He's a real spearhead."

Very quietly, in their style, the Angels awarded Scioscia an almost unprecedented 10-year contract extension over the winter. Basically, he will manage the team until he's ready to walk away, barring something unforeseen.

"Arte, myself, Mike, we knew we wanted Mike to be here," Reagins said, referencing club owner Arte Moreno. "Arte likes stability and continuity. He's an employer who wants his people to perform at a high level, and Mike's been consistent, professional, a leader. Most important, he knows baseball.

"He's on the short list of the top managers in the game."

Scioscia believes in the Halos' organizational talent and style of play. He would not sign off on quick-fix deals to appease fans and insiders in recent seasons -- including proposals involving Roy Halladay and Heath Bell two weeks ago -- that would have severely depleted the flow of young talent and depth.

Unlike less-secure managers, he does not exist for the moment, for this season. He understands the big picture.

In his 10 seasons in Anaheim, Scioscia has produced a franchise-record 870 wins against 699 losses. His .554 winning percentage is second to Atlanta's Bobby Cox (.556) among active managers with at least 500 wins.

Scioscia has guided four AL West champions in the past five years, his teams winning more regular-season games since the start of the 2005 season than any other franchise.

Prior to Scioscia being named manager in 2000, the Angels had won a total of three division titles in their first 39 seasons.

Arriving as a free agent this season, and making a huge contribution on and off the field, Bobby Abreu has found baseball's version of paradise.

"There's a freedom the players have here," Abreu said, "and it makes for exciting baseball. That comes from a manager who wants his players to play free, not be afraid to make mistakes. Be aggressive. It's a great place to play baseball. I love it here."

One of the game's premier catchers with the Dodgers from 1980 through 1992, Scioscia was a World Series champion in 1981 and '88. He was formed in an organization that elevated assertive baserunning with Jackie Robinson, Maury Wills and Davey Lopes while leaning on power pitching and power hitting, as well.

Ron Roenicke, who succeeded Maddon as bench coach in 2006, has seen Scioscia work through a maze of issues, from the Adenhart tragedy to injuries to starters John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar to open the season, to losses of setup man Scot Shields for the season and stars Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter for extended periods.

"It's been a big challenge on a lot of levels, unlike any other season," said Roenicke, an outfielder who broke in with Scioscia in Dodger Blue. "Mike's always had the ability to keep his focus and create stability -- and he needed it this year more than ever.

"He's got great intelligence -- for the game and other things. Along with that, he's got common sense. They don't always go together.

"He's very secure, very confident in his abilities. He always has a reason for everything he does. He has thought it out thoroughly."

For Scioscia and his troupe, it is a season of moving forward, if not, as Reagins phrased it so profoundly, moving on.

Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.