This game was great... nuff said

For as great as he looked last night, he was equally as awful against Boston. I really want to see him improve, but until he can do this every time out I’m going remain pessimistic about him. Lets see if he can do this against a team that can hit.

I have been thinking about this question for a while. Leaving aside the hyperbole of “genius”, I think Maddon may well be an excellent manager. I use the conditional because as with players, the sample is too small to be certain. If the question is about his first two years, then I unequivocally say he was an excellent manager, but the situation is new so we have to see.

As for why I think so, I will ignore any discussion of in-game tactics, a discussion I consider both inane in most cases and focusing on the least important aspect of his job. In fact, I could discuss many different aspects of Maddon’s work to demonstrate my view, but will only focus on one.

That one is identical to my view of the entire organization. I think Maddon was hired and renewed because he matches perfectly the organization’s approach to the team, the keystone of which is to have the courage of their convictions. By that I mean they trust their judgment and do not flit from choice to choice because of frustration or panic at short term disappointments.

Some may call it stubbornness; I see it as persistence.

From the start, they allowed players whom they thought had the ability ample time to prove themselves. This led many fans to criticize, for example in the cases of McClung, Waechter, Camp, Stokes and others who failed over and over. But it also meant that they did not give up on players like Upton, Navarro, Sonnanstine, Jackson and this year Bartlett, Iwamura, Pena, Gross et al.

Instead, Maddon (and here I think Maddon and management are inseparable) tries to find ways to maximize their usefulness. So he initially worked Upton in as a super sub after his disastrous 2006. He stuck with Navarro through an awful half. We should not forget that after a good start to his career, Shields suffered through an awful 4 game slump. Another manager might have buried him hoping to catch lightening in a bottle with some other prospect, of which there were plenty. But not Maddon. And he maintains stability without sacrificing flexibility, moving Iwamura to 2B, Upton to the 3 hole in the lineup and so on.

It is in his faith in his own capacity to identify talent and figure out where it can benefit the team that Maddon has demonstrated great skill. We still do not know for sure that it will all work out, but there are good signs. I am not arguing that he is an excellent manager any more than I am saying that Longoria is a super star. But on the evidence so far, there is plenty of reason for optimism.