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The Nats' Clubhouse Comes Alive
The Nats' clubhouse last year was a "morgue," but under new manager Manny Acta, above, it's done a "180."
(By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)
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"But I'm sure anywhere you go, there's always a guy or two that can either stir things up on a team or can bring it down. There are people who are good and you want to embrace and be around, and then there's people you just kind of try to block out, people who kind of rule the clubhouse thinking about themselves."
When Acta spoke to Robinson in the offseason, the former manager told his successor that he thought the situation Acta was entering into would be positive, in large part because of the departures of the domineering veterans. Acta, too, has added his own twists. He is entrusting leadership of the club to a group of players that includes Kearns, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, second baseman Felipe Lopez and catcher Brian Schneider. Other than Zimmerman, who is entering just his second full season, those players have relatively the same amount of time in the majors, a group of peers who, Acta and General Manager Jim Bowden believe, can set an entirely new tone.
"It's a completely different clubhouse," Bowden said.
Putting aside the different faces, the can't-we-all-just-get-along theme at Space Coast Stadium might be traced back to something as simple as the music, low, unobtrusive, sometimes inaudible. "You got it blasting," Church said, "and first thing in the morning, your day's off on the wrong foot."
Acta knows.
"I just really don't want Austin Kearns to force his country music onto Beltran Perez," he said, "and I don't want Beltran Perez to force his merengue onto Austin Kearns."
So in Camp Acta, nothing is forced. The music wafts into the air harmlessly, bothering no one. The new manager, though, can think of one instance when he would allow it to change.
"We win a game," he said, "they can bring down the roof if they want to."
