光芒翻身記(5/13 Castrovince的專欄文章) - 美國職棒

以下是MLB專欄作家Anthony Castrovince美國時間13號寫的一篇文章，主要是談光芒隊
最近的大復活，跟大家分享。其實像這樣翻一篇文章的確蠻累的，在此跟我在推文中批
評的原po致歉。

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Rumors of Rays' demise were premature
Can-do approach brings Tampa Bay back from terrible start

CLEVELAND --

This is not necessarily a hard and fast rule, but the best teams don't hold
many meetings.
Sure, there are the usual pitchers and hitters gatherings before the start of
each series. And, yes, there is that little get-together at season's end to
talk about playoff shares. But, generally speaking, the harmony that comes
with victory usually prevents the confusion that commands a conclave.
So if team meetings are a sign of instability, then team meetings that take
place in the first week of the season are in a class all their own.

這並非一成不變的鐵律，但最棒的球隊通常是不開會的。
沒錯，每個系列戰之前投手群和打者們會有例行的聚會；沒錯，當球季結束時大夥會一起
討論怎麼瓜分季後賽獎金。但一般來說，球隊打得順、贏得順時，是不太可能需要用秘密
會議的方式來解決困難的。
所以如果球隊會議是種不安定的徵兆，球季開打才一周就開會就顯得更嚴重了，也是一種
更不尋常的跡象。


The Rays had one of those meetings on April 7. They were 0-6. They had just
been soundly beaten by their former teammate and new-found nemesis, Edwin
Jackson, in a 5-1 loss to the White Sox, and were about to be bombarded with
this fun little historical nugget: Only two teams in history have started out
0-6 and reached the playoffs.
Another, much more heavily favored American League East team was about to
hear this same talk, too. The Red Sox were in the same position as the Rays
in the standings. And yet, somehow, the Rays' hole seemed even deeper, by
virtue of their rampant losses in free agency, the complete invisibility of
their offense and the oblique injury that had landed Evan Longoria on the
disabled list.
Oh, and though this hadn't yet been announced at the time the meeting was
called, Manny Ramirez was about to retire after a positive
performance-enhancing drug test.
Not fun times.
"A lot of subplots," manager Joe Maddon said, "were not good."
So the Rays did what all desperate teams do. They met and talked about how
not good things were.

光芒隊在四月七號就開了一次這種會。那時光芒的戰績是零勝六敗，而且才剛以一比五輸
給白襪，還是被也曾經待過光芒、近幾年卻常屠殺老東家的Edwin Jackson徹底擊垮。他
們當時即將面對一個「魔咒」：史上只有兩支球隊開季六連敗卻能闖進季後賽。
而另一支美聯東區球隊，遠遠更被看好的紅襪同樣也要面對這個魔咒。紅襪在開季的兩個
系列賽同樣都被橫掃，和光芒一起墊底。但相較之下光芒的處境卻顯得更加難堪：不管是
先前已經流失了一大票自由球員，靜悄悄的打線，或是隆哥斜肌受傷進傷兵名單休養，都
重挫光芒的士氣。而且在這個會議舉行的當下，他們甚至還不知道Manny在藥檢未過後即
將退休。這可一點也不好玩。
總教練Joe Maddon說的這句話大概是，很多不是最嚴重的事情接連發生，也讓情況變得很
糟。
所以光芒就和所有陷入愁雲慘霧、亟需翻身的球隊一樣，大家聚在一起討論事情到底有多
糟。


It was a guy who had only arrived about six weeks earlier, Johnny Damon, who
called for the players-only gathering, and he passed along the wisdom of
experience that came from slow starts for the 2004 Red Sox and 2009 Yankees
that preceded championships.
"It's really tough to gauge what six games is going to do to you," Damon
said. "You take it in, and you understand it's a roadblock. But you can never
let something like that defeat you. That's exactly how we treated it."
In the interest of full disclosure, 0-6 was just the beginning. The Rays won
their next one but dropped two more to complete their unsightly entry into
2011 at 1-8.
They were seven games under .500. And now, just five weeks later, they're
22-15 -- seven games over and atop the East with a one-game lead over the
Yankees.
Talk about a turnaround.
"By now, it's forgotten," right-hander James Shields said after extending the
Rays' winning ways with a dominant showing against the Indians on Thursday.
"We're doing pretty well."

這個僅限球員參加的聚會是由戴蒙發起，他在六周前才加入光芒隊，卻經歷過2004年紅襪
和2009年洋基兩支開低走高奪下冠軍的隊伍；而也因此帶來了經驗所累積的智慧。
戴蒙說，「六場比賽的影響是很難估計的。你接受它，也了解它是個難關，但絕對不能讓
這樣的事情將你擊敗。這就是我們的心態。」
要說最慘的情況的話，開季六連敗只是開始。光芒贏了接下來的一場但又連輸兩場，打出
了一勝八負的難看開季成績，才不到兩個禮拜，就已經落在勝率五成以下七場。而現在，
五個禮拜之後，他們的戰績是二十二勝十五敗，超過五成勝率七場，還以一場勝差在美聯
東區領先第二名的洋基隊。
扭轉乾坤。
「大家早就把開季忘記了，」Shields在周四投出一場好球、也延續了光芒贏球的氣勢之
後表示，「我們現在打得很棒啊！」


Pretty well, indeed. The Rays have won six of seven and 21 of 28, capturing
eight of nine series along the way. They are 13-5 on the road, the best such
record in the big leagues. They won their last two games over an Indians team
that had won 14 in a row at Progressive Field.
Thursday's 7-4 win over the Tribe was, in some ways, an example of how the
Rays have resuscitated themselves. Shields gave them seven strong innings on
a hot day, preserving a bullpen that was littered with question marks going
into the year. The offense was opportunistic. But most important, the Rays
executed the little plays that light Maddon's fire. Shields picked off two
baserunners to kill potential rallies, and Elliot Johnson executed a perfect
safety squeeze to get an insurance run home in the sixth.
"I'm so pleased with the effort," Maddon said. "What could I ever complain
about? Win or lose, look at the way our guys come ready to play every day. I
just have to sit back and wait to make a good decision every now and again."
Maddon might be underselling his value. This is a small-market club that has
beaten the beasts of the East two out of the past three seasons in large part
because of the culture he's crafted.

是真的很棒。光芒近七場贏了六場，近二十八場贏了二十一場之多，在九個系列戰中有八
個居於上風。就連客場，也打出十三勝五敗，客場戰績獨步全大聯盟。印地安人隊才剛在
主場拉出一波十四連勝，光芒馬上不客氣的在印第安人主場拿下二連勝。星期四七比四贏
球那場比賽在很多方面來說，都是光芒大復活的例證。Shields在炎熱的天氣裡貢獻七局
好投，替開季充滿問號的牛棚節省了工作量。打線也把握了得分的機會。但最重要的是，
光芒隊實踐了Maddon一向奉行的「重要的小事」。Shields兩度用牽制阻止了對手攻下分
數甚至形成大局的機會，而Elliot Johnson（今年才在大聯盟得到機會的菜鳥工具人）點
出了一次漂亮的強迫取分，在第六局搶下了一分保險分。
Maddon說：「我對球員們的努力非常滿意。不論勝敗，這群人都為比賽做好了準備，我夫
復何求？我只要放心的看著，在機會來臨時做出正確的選擇就好了。」
這或許是自謙之詞。以光芒這種小市場球隊能夠在過去三年內兩度擊敗其他東區的勁敵而
稱霸，有很大一部份要歸功於Maddon創造的球隊風氣。


The Rays have holes (and it's fair to wonder how long a bullpen anchored by
Kyle Farnsworth and Joel Peralta can hold together), but that doesn't mean
they won't remain in the thick of things all year.
"The thing that's hard to bet against them on is this attitude that they
always have of proving everyone wrong," an AL scout said. "It's like a
culture there, and it builds chemistry for them that has staying power. I
think Maddon does a good job of playing it up with the guys on that club, and
they bring in guys like Sam Fuld and Casey Kotchman who fit right in."

光芒是有漏洞的，而且懷疑一個以Farnsworth和Peralta（都是生涯成績不穩定的老將）
為主力的牛棚並不為過。但這並不表示他們不能整年都保有競爭力。
一個美聯球探說：「要打敗他們最難的地方就在於，他們永遠有能力也渴望證明其他人的
期望是錯的。那就像他們的球風，而光芒已經以這個觀念建軍許久。Maddon非常懂得運用
手下的球員，而光芒也不斷補進適合他們球風的球員，就像今年的Sam Fuld和Casey
Kotchman。」


Fuld and Damon were instrumental in getting the bats going in the wake of
Manny's abrupt exit. But even as Fuld's bat has calmed from its
legend-building output of April, Matt Joyce (.457 average with four homers
and 11 RBIs over his past 13 games) and Kotchman (.396 over his past 14
games) have been excellent, Ben Zobrist (.292 average, eight homers, 27 RBIs)
continues to redefine what a super utility man can contribute and Longoria
has returned.
"The offense was non-existent [the first week]," Maddon said. "But Sam and
Johnny created a lot of energy. We were scoring early in games a lot. That
became contagious."
The Rays have fielded the ball even better than they've hit it, and that's
another reason they've climbed back from the depths.

Fuld和戴蒙在Manny退休後在進攻上扮演了重要的角色。就算Fuld的打擊表現在開季神人
等級的表現後最近已經有下滑的趨勢，Matt Joyce、Casey Kotchman都繳出了不錯的表現
，Ben Zobrist更是持續的證明超級工具人不只能在防守上為球隊帶來貢獻，而隆哥也歸
隊了。（Matt Joyce近十三場比賽打擊率0.457，敲了四支全壘打，打回十一分；Casey
Kotchman近十四場打擊率0.396；Ben Zobrist今年打擊率0.292，已經敲出八支全壘打，
打下二十七分打點。）
Maddon表示：「第一個禮拜我們根本毫無打擊可言，但山佛和戴蒙為我們的打線注入了能
量。我們常常在比賽的前段就打下分數，而打擊的好表現是會傳染的。」另外，光芒的防
守表現甚至比打擊更好，這也是另外一個他們能鹹魚大翻身的原因。


But the biggest key -- and the reason the Rays could not be counted out of
the East picture, no matter how many free-agent losses they endured or how
many free-agent additions the Red Sox made -- is the starting staff. David
Price (5-3, 3.12 ERA), Shields (4-1, 2.08), Jeremy Hellickson (3-2, 3.72) and
Wade Davis (4-2, 3.07) have consistently gone deep into games, and that's
allowed the Rays' relievers to work the third-fewest innings of any bullpen
in the AL.
Farnsworth -- who has not officially been dubbed the closer but nonetheless
has seven saves -- and Peralta have been pleasant surprises in the back end
of that 'pen, after the Rays acquired them in not-so-high-profile signings
this past winter.
"Our [front-office] guys are really good about breaking people down," Maddon
said. "When you see us make an acquisition, it's really well thought out, and
it's not a superficial decision."

但是最重要的，是先發投手群。光芒的輪值讓他們不管損失了多少主力，或者紅襪簽下了
多少大咖，都仍然能在美東保持競爭力。Price，Shields，Hellickson和Davis（和
Niemann甚至最近拉上來的Cobb全部都是光芒自家農場的產品）經常能吃下長局數（這些
人的成績在上面原文中），讓光芒牛棚負擔大大減輕，投球局數是美聯第三少的。
Farnsworth雖然沒有被正式賦予終結者的任務，但已經拿下七次救援成功，他和Peralta
兩位老將是今年光芒牛棚的驚奇亮點，兩人都是以便宜的價碼被光芒在近幾個月所簽下，
卻都有好的表現。
Maddon說：「我們的行政部門真的有識人之明，當我們簽下球員時，是經過深思熟慮的，
並非莽撞草率的決定。」


And there's nothing superficial about the way the Rays are now winning games
at a rapid rate. Tampa Bay continues to defy the logic of payroll limitations
in the game's most brutal division and remains one of the game's great
stories, even after a disastrous opening week.
"The record," Maddon said, "is no fluke."
And these days, the meetings are not necessary.

而光芒隊如今如此頻繁的贏球，也絕對不是表面成績而已。光芒在大聯盟最野蠻競爭的分
區中持續的反抗薪資總額帶來的限制，就算第一個禮拜打得無比淒慘，仍然繼續創造奇蹟
。
Maddon說，光芒的戰績絕對不是運氣好而已。而最近，球隊會議當然也不需要了。

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