One on One With the Mad Dog (Part Two)
Published on October 6, 2004 under Atlantic League (AtL)
Newark Bears News Release
After discussing his two years as manager, including the pros and cons of the job, in part one of our interview, Bill Madlock chats about the 2004 season and why he thinks the Bears fell just short of a post-season playoff berth.
Q: If you had to put your finger on one main reason why the Bears did not make the playoffs, what would you say?
A: Defense. We made too many errors, gave away too many runs, gave the opposition too many extra outs in too many innings all year long. That's what did us in. Why couldn't we catch the ball? I don't know the answer to that one. Maybe it was a lack of concentration. Maybe guys could not separate their defense from their offense, where if they had a bad at-bat they took that out with them into the field. If we could have caught the ball better, we would have been in the playoffs. In fact, we could have set our playoff rotation by September 1st because our offense was so good we would have been blowing teams away.
Q: What could you have done to improve the defense?
A: We tried many things. We moved guys around to different positions. It just didn't work out. We had players who did not really have a position where they were comfortable defensively, yet they were good offensively so we had to have them in the lineup and somewhere in the field. And you need strong defense up the middle, and we didn't have that all year long. You see it in Little League, Pony League, Major League...if you catch the ball, then you win.
Q: Which player surprised you the most this season with his play?
A: I don't know if this guy surprised me the most because I knew him from last year, but I'd have to say that Pete Maestrales improved more than anyone else from last year to this year. He really picked it up defensively at third base; and he was killing the ball on offense before he headed to the Olympics.
Q: Was what Keith Maxwell accomplished this season a surprise to you?
A: Well, yes and no. Yes in the fact that he was not even a regular in our lineup at the start of the season; but no in the fact that he was always prepared. Keith would go up to the plate with a purpose at all times. He wasn't just up there swinging. At the start of the season I used him as a pinch hitter 4-5 times before we started to play him and he was just missing; but he kept working in batting practice, hitting to all fields, working with a purpose. Then he got his chance and we couldn't take him out of the lineup.
Q: Was there a turning point in the season that helped the turnaround from a poor first half to a contending second half?
A: I'd say it's when Chris Jones arrived here. Even when he was struggling when he first arrived he still set an example of how you prepare yourself to play, how to act like a professional at all times. That was very important for our team to see. I would have picked Chris as our team MVP because of his numbers at the plate and because of the impact he made as a team leader. There was an umpire this season that said to me on one occasion about Chris, "That's the way to play the game". I couldn't agree more. I like the way he plays; and I think he could still be in the majors as a 4th or 5th outfielder.
Q: Did Jones' arrival change the atmosphere around the club?
A: It certainly helped; but we made other changes, too. In the second half we had guys who seemed like they cared for each other. The guys were excited to get on the field and they really believed in the team. That was great to see. We didn't think anyone could beat us in the second half. We just knew we could win games. Especially with our bullpen, which was the best in the league, in my opinion.
Q: Tell me a little bit about your coaching staff. What did Pete Sierra bring to the table?
A: Sierra brought a wealth of experience and also any stat for any situation that you can imagine. He tracks everything on charts. He would bring the pitchers and catchers together and show them charts of pitch patterns, where hitters hit the ball off of them, how they achieved their most success, things like that. He was amazing with those charts. (Coach) Hector (Tatis) calls him "The Library".
Q: And what about Pete Filson?
A: Pete is one of the best pitching coaches I have ever been around at any level of ball. Just ask (Jose) Lima, (Jaime) Navarro, (Brian) Langen, guys who have pitched in the bigs. They all learned so much from Pete. Everyone would have been talking about our pitching staff if we could have caught the ball behind our pitchers. We allowed 170 something unearned runs. Take many of those away, plus all of those extra outs our pitchers had to get, and our numbers would have been unbelievable.
Q: Along with being a player who contributed on the field, Jose Olmeda emerged almost as a coach himself this season, didn't he?
A: Yes, he did. I think he could be a manager or a coach someday. I had him coach third base at different times this season and he never made a mistake out there. I also really liked how he stayed in the game even if he wasn't playing. He didn't mope ever. He watched the game, offered advice to teammates. After the game he would come in the office and talk about the game. Jose was trying to learn all of the time.
Atlantic League Stories from October 6, 2004
- One on One With the Mad Dog (Part Two) - Newark Bears
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
