With Patience, Nats' Acta Manages Fine

In 2005, while coaching for the New York Mets, Acta found something that made sense. Carlos Beltrán had recommended a book. Acta had no interest in the reading material itself, but he had plenty of interest in placating his team's star. So that's how Acta started reading a book by television preacher Joel Osteen, reprinted in Spanish.

Acta, though religious, felt skeptical about anybody selling God. But when he opened the book while on the team bus from Shea Stadium to the airport, his hesitance vanished. Three pages in, he was hooked. He kept reading, 10 pages, then 50. He was still reading on the plane. Later, he looked for a copy in English to give to his wife. Later still, he'd spend mornings and evenings watching Osteen on television, using the can-do sermonizing -- and the message about choosing to be happy -- as an antidote for all the other news out there, some of it about the happenings in his own dugout.

Long before Acta became manager in Washington, he often worried about his failures. Sometimes, he'd stay awake for hours, watching "SportsCenter" four times straight until his wife got sick of seeing the same diving catches. If, as a third base coach, he had waved home a runner who didn't score, he would exhaust his time rehashing the play on video, looking for anything -- a late jump by the runner, an unbeatable throw from the outfield -- to absolve him of blame.

But by the time Acta interviewed for his current job he had dropped the impulse to self-inflict. In fact, his patience helped him win the job. "Lou Piniella has won World Series with a different style," Nationals General Manager Jim Bowden said. "He is better-suited for a team ready to win a championship. He doesn't always have patience for the young players. But Manny is very controlled."

During this season's first 2 1/2 months, Acta sustained optimism during even the most dispiriting circumstances. Underperforming players such as Dukes and Wily Mo Peña received regular at-bats, along with Acta's promise that they would keep coming. When this year's team started 5-15, he reasoned that it was still better than the start in 2007.

Acta, too, said he can live with one break from his patience.

"I'm not perfect," he said. "Just because I have patience, that doesn't mean I can't lose my temper here and there. . . . I can control my emotions extremely well. That doesn't mean that I'm perfect, and I'm not here and there going to snap. Because I do, behind closed doors. When enough is enough, I do have my meetings with the guys. I don't go on an f-bomb tirade, because I don't believe in that. I believe I can get my point across in a calm, easy manner. That doesn't mean I'll never be seen arguing or confronting somebody, because I've done it plenty of times in the past. It's just that nowadays I choose not to do it, because I've found out it doesn't get you anywhere."