MINNEAPOLIS—Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has gone through a difficult time over the last several weeks, and his bench coach, Fredi González, has tried to encourage him.
González has managed Miami and Atlanta and, with the Braves, managed in the postseason in 2012 and 2013. He also managed another team that suffered injuries to prominent players in 2011.
“We’ve had conversations,” González said. “’Have you ever seen anything like this before?’” Hyde would ask him. “You remember 2011 when I was going through the same things with Atlanta?” Gonzalez said.
“The biggest thing I gave him was, ‘You’ve got to be the same guy because 26 guys are looking at you every single loss or every single win. They’re looking at you to lead and not be one of those guys that all of a sudden change completely.
“You’re throwing tantrums in the dugout, being mean with the umpires. To his credit, if you didn’t know our record…you couldn’t tell if we lost five in a row or won five in a row. I think that’s one of the biggest strengths he had going through all this stuff.”
González, who knew Hyde when they were both in the Marlins’ organization, has been impressed with how he relates to the players
“He really takes care of his guys,” González said. “He really cares about them a lot. You don’t see it publicly. You see the hugs. The pat in the butt, bring him in the office, ‘You’re doing fine.’ Those conversations you don’t see on television.
“This game is hard to play. You don’t want your players to look at the manager going, ‘Who are we going to get today?’ To his credit, he’s been the same guy the whole time.”
González is watching the manic wild-card races with great interest.
“This is what they want,” González said. “Fans to be involved in the last two weeks of the season. In 2011, I was with the Atlanta Braves, and if we would have played that format now, we would have been in the playoffs, but we were out. There was only one wild card back then.”
The Orioles need a win in the three-game series with the Minnesota Twins or a Detroit Tigers loss in their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox to secure home field advantage.
The Orioles don’t know if they’ll play Detroit or Kansas City, which has a three-game series in Atlanta.
“There are three series being played this weekend that are meaningful,” González said.
“It’s fun. We have something to play for to get the home field advantage,” he said.