The Associated Press
Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly, joined by son Michael, watches his team workout Monday at Bank One Ballpark. Brenly's Diamondbacks met the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday.

D-Backs manager Brenly goes against the book, with his gut

Former catcher, ex-broadcaster keeps his veteran team loose, ready

CHUCK JOHNSON, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

"Seems everybody wants to second-guess him all the time. But as far as the team is concerned, whatever he goes with is fine. He's mixed lineups inside and out. But everything has seemed to work for us all year." -- Luis Gonzalez, left fielder

PHOENIX -- Nobody can accuse Bob Brenly of being a pushbutton manager.

In Brenly's first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the unusual has become the expected and the result has been a stay-loose-and-ready veteran team that's brought him instant success.

Brenly, a former catcher turned broadcaster, has guided the Diamondbacks into the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series was played Tuesday night at Bank One Ballpark.

If what's ahead turns out anything like what Brenly has shown in the way of managerial strategy, brace yourself for a ride on the wild side.

"He's kind of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type guy," says left fielder Luis Gonzalez. "Seems everybody wants to second-guess him all the time. But as far as the team is concerned, whatever he goes with is fine. He's mixed lineups inside and out. But everything has seemed to work for us all year."

By playing his hunches, Brenly has managed to keep things interesting, his players involved and the fans on the edge of their seats.

A microcosm of his methods occurred Sunday night in the ninth inning of the Diamondbacks' clinching 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the Division Series.

With the game tied 1-1, Matt Williams hit a leadoff double to snap an 0-for-15 slump, triggering a series of Brenly moves that included a pinch-runner, two pinch-hitters and the ultimate stunner -- a suicide squeeze attempt.

Had the game gone into extra innings, the D-Backs' bench would have been thin after using up three players. But while Brenly lost that gamble, he still hit the jackpot when Tony Womack's two-out RBI single drove in pinch-runner Danny Bautista with the winning run, advancing the D-Backs into the NLCS for the first time in the team's four-year history.

To hear Brenly tell it, he never doubted that somehow they'd get the job done. Womack's third hit of the night came to the rescue.

"Even after that (botched suicide squeeze), I felt confident Tony was going to make something happen," Brenly says. "You could see it in his eyes. He was a very focused man. And I was confident he would do something to bail me out."

Doing what his gut says

Whether it's been his constant lineup changes, the way he handles his bullpen, or just going on blind faith, Brenly has kept the pressure on the opposition by doing what his gut says to do at the time.

"Yeah, I've done some crazy things this year, but it's not just doing the unorthodox for the sake of being unorthodox," he says.

"There's always a reason behind it. It may not be immediately visible to somebody outside of our clubhouse. But for the guys in that room in there and my coaching staff, I think most of them agree that's what we've had to do this year sometimes."

Scratching their heads

Many critics scratch their heads at some of his decisions. He used four different cleanup hitters in the five games of the Division Series. But Brenly has believers in the people who count most: his players and himself.

"He doesn't have to do a lot of motivating here and he doesn't have to teach a lot because most of our guys have been around a long time," says Williams, the 14-year veteran third baseman. "He's just gone with it and made the moves he's wanted to make and it's turned out right."

Brenly, 47, stepped out of the Fox TV broadcast booth to become the D-Backs manager last October after Buck Showalter was fired. While Showalter was acknowledged as a solid baseball man, he was a stickler for rules and hands-on everything during his tenure as the team's original manager.

D-backs managing general partner Jerry Colangelo sought someone who would lighten up the clubhouse a bit. Brenly, a free spirit who commands respect as a former player, was seen as the perfect fit to instill an attitude change.

"The first thing he did in spring training was pull out our 80-page rulebook and threw it on the ground," Gonzalez recalls. "Then he pulled a cocktail napkin out of his pocket and said these are the only rules he has: Be on time, play hard and give me everything you got.' That pretty much set the tone for what kind of guy he is."

Brenly was a career .247 hitter in nine big-league seasons, mostly with the Giants. He later spent four seasons as part of San Francisco's coaching staff, one year under Roger Craig and three under Baker.

"I learned a lot from Dusty the way he handled his ballclubs there," Brenly says. "He does a lot by his hunches and gut feelings and lives with it. I think players appreciate it a lot more than if you just sit there and go by the numbers."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Mariners index