Collins Deserves to Win This Race

Terry Collins was in Cleveland Thursday, so close once again to the postseason action without participating.

Collins always comes close, from his three consecutive second-place finishes with the Houston Astros to keeping the Angels in contention for the American League West pennant until the final week of the season this year.

For that last accomplishment, close is good enough. At least it ought to be good enough to get Collins the AL manager of the year award.

“I am admittedly biased,” Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi said. “But from my point of view, he’s not a strong candidate . . . he’s the only candidate.”

Certainly the pool is larger than one, the most notable entrant being Baltimore’s Davey Johnson. Johnson’s presence sets up the classic battle between two examples of good managing. There’s the ability to blend talented individuals into a team, as Johnson has done. And then there is the ability to get the most out of good and average players. That’s what Collins has done. And that’s what makes him the best choice for the award.

Johnson’s team met expectations. Collins’ exceeded them.

The Angels have some nice young bats in the lineup, but they had no business competing with the talented Seattle Mariners. Collins went without three of his original five starting pitchers for most of the season and finished with a fourth, ace Chuck Finley, on the disabled list.

The team’s leadoff hitter and sparkplug, Tony Phillips, was arrested and charged with cocaine possession and the organization found itself butting heads against the players’ union over whether Phillips should be suspended.

The team traded Jim Leyritz and put the catching duties in the hands of Todd Greene, only to have Greene break his wrist.

Through it all the Angels plugged away, to an 84-76 record. They were in first place as late as Aug. 15. They weren’t eliminated from postseason contention until Sept. 23.

Most observers figured this team would be out of it by the all-star break.

As Collins watched his team go through spring training, he didn’t think it would be that bad.

“I saw these guys work,” Collins said from Cleveland, where baseball people have gathered to talk shop during the World Series. “I saw how they went about getting ready. They put some effort into it.

“I thought, in spring training, we were going to be OK. I said, ‘I think we’re going to be better than people think we are.’ ”

But he wasn’t ready to proclaim them contenders.

“Because I didn’t know the league, I wasn’t sure,” Collins said. “I didn’t know anything about this league. I felt that the physical ability was more than I was reading in the newspapers and periodicals. We had some good young talent.”

Collins gave them direction and an attitude. They took the extra base and they took out the second baseman on the double-play ball. He also maintained a professional approach in the clubhouse.

“What you end up asking for is preparation,” Collins said. “Then the execution side of it, every time a player takes the field, he believes he’s doing his best. He does if he’s prepared physically and mentally.”

Even if the baseball writers don’t validate it with their award (which will be announced Nov. 5), the Angels can feel good about their hire.

The Angels snatched up Collins a month after he was let go by the Astros.

(Sports must be the only business where a man can be considered a desirable commodity when he has just been fired).

Collins and Anaheim proved to be a perfect match.

The intensity that made him unwelcome in Houston made him appealing to the Angels.

“We felt we needed to raise the level of intensity, yeah,” Bavasi said. “I’m not sure if lighting a fire under some guys is the right word. We did feel the whole environment needed to be intensified. It wasn’t any individual that needed it. The whole thing needed to be lit on fire.”

Collins brought the matches. And a team that finished in last, 19 1/2 games behind the Texas Rangers, had little choice but to listen to him; the old way sure wasn’t working.

“It was a team that was real frustrated with what had happened the year before and was looking for a change,” Collins said. “They said, ‘Hey, we’ve had a bad year.’ They’re looking for some leadership. And I think the players just came into camp with an open mind, with something to prove--that they were better than last year.”

Collins had an open mind about coaches. He didn’t totally purge the staff, keeping the likes of Marcel Lachemann and Rod Carew around. And he didn’t stock his team with lifetime assistants who will never be perceived as waiting in the wings to take over if the boss is fired. He brought on Dave Parker and Larry Bowa, an aspiring and former manager, respectively. The players responded well to both.

“I really believe you have to find people that can make an impact,” Collins said. “I don’t think you can be intimidated, as a manager, by the aspirations of the coaching staff.”

Collins has goals of his own. Next year he wants to be in the World Series, not just at it. Collins’ mentor, Jim Leyland, finally made it, and Collins even got a chance to talk to him and share some of the excitement this week--even if it’s secondhand.

The only negative statement that came from Bavasi Thursdaywas, “We did not finish where we wanted to finish.” It wasn’t an indictment. Just an indication of what he feels this team, with Collins as the manager, can do.