I've talked to Mike Bianco after a lot of losses. And wins, obviously, but people are always in good moods after wins -- or at least 95 percent of the time. But how he has handled losses has changed over the years and shows growth in him as a head coach. It's my 16th season covering the team and early on Mike would be short with media and we could tell he was griping at the team pretty good in postgame. Not after every loss but often enough after some meh-whatever losses that it stuck out. And it's gradually seemed better over the years and a lot better the last 3 or so. I know last night was UCF and not a league game, so that makes everything less intense after winning 20 in a row, but his agitation used to be more about how they lost instead of who they lost to, and last night would have been a triggering one. Offensively, they pretty much sucked. They couldn't catch up to the fastball even when they knew it was coming and the top of the order -- outside of Justin Bench -- was awful. From story, 2-5 went 1-for-15 with four strikeouts. But after the game, he was optimistic with the team, coached them, positively challenged them and moved on.
The reason it all hit me was the postgame Zoom. After a loss, Mike would be ready to get out of there, and he'd answer everything and be respectful, but he'd also be happy to leave when it was done. Toward the end of the interview, Parrish Alford was having an issue with his Zoom, and Mike waited for it to work out before saying, "Hey, Nick, can you help Parrish out with the Zoom? Some of us old guys struggle with the technology." And then he waited another 10-20 seconds while Parrish explained the issue and to see if there were more questions. It seems like a little thing, but I told Ben Garrett right after that Mike from 10 years ago would have lost patience with the delay and dead time. It's a long season, and there's a certain tone that's required to navigate it, to know when to push and pull and be free and easy and when to press pretty firmly.
One quick final thought... I'm not sold on this offense as it is yet. I think the pieces exist, but I'm not sure they are all on the puzzle or in the right spots. It was my lingering doubt going into the season, and something about it just feels off right now. It's only five games so let's reexamine in a week or so.
The reason it all hit me was the postgame Zoom. After a loss, Mike would be ready to get out of there, and he'd answer everything and be respectful, but he'd also be happy to leave when it was done. Toward the end of the interview, Parrish Alford was having an issue with his Zoom, and Mike waited for it to work out before saying, "Hey, Nick, can you help Parrish out with the Zoom? Some of us old guys struggle with the technology." And then he waited another 10-20 seconds while Parrish explained the issue and to see if there were more questions. It seems like a little thing, but I told Ben Garrett right after that Mike from 10 years ago would have lost patience with the delay and dead time. It's a long season, and there's a certain tone that's required to navigate it, to know when to push and pull and be free and easy and when to press pretty firmly.
One quick final thought... I'm not sold on this offense as it is yet. I think the pieces exist, but I'm not sure they are all on the puzzle or in the right spots. It was my lingering doubt going into the season, and something about it just feels off right now. It's only five games so let's reexamine in a week or so.
