New Savannah Sand Gnats Manager Pedro Lopez knows how to win. As the skipper for the Brooklyn Cyclones last season, the Mets affiliate claimed third place honors with a 45-30 record. This season, Lopez arrives in Savannah (along with nine of his Cyclones pitchers) in the hopes of ending Savannah’s playoff drought. After a fast 3-1 start, during which the team pitched back to back shutouts, Lopez sat down with our Ed DeVita to talk about his new ballclub and some of his expectations for 2010.
Ed DeVita: You guys are off to a nice start at 3-1. How important is that start to you and your ballclub?
Pedro Lopez: I think it’s great for them. They have been playing well. Actually, they have been playing well all through spring training. I’m just glad that we were able to maintain that once the season got started.
DeVita: You seemed to have been of balance during these first four games. You had some good hitting as well as some tremendous pitching. I know most of the pitchers were with you last year in Brooklyn; how much of an advantage does that give you knowing firsthand what these guys are capable of throwing?
Lopez: A lot. Usually at this time of the season when you first come out of spring training you are working with guys that you may not have ever seen pitch or have not been on my staff before. With guys you don’t know, it’s kind of hard to tell when they may be running out of gas or when he is reaching back and doing ok. We still have pitch counts for these guys, but there are still times that you are trying to see what each guy is capable of doing. I think that is an advantage that I have this season, at least at the start. To have so many guys that pitched for me last year allows me to know when they are at their best and when they may be in a little bit of trouble. To have four guys in the rotation that were with you before, just gives us an edge.
DeVita: You also spent some time at this ballpark before as a coach. I know we have talked before about some of the changes that have taken place since then, but does that familiarity also play into your favor or has the park changed so much that it doesn’t matter?
Lopez: I was here as a coach in 2008 and I got the opportunity then to see how this ballpark plays and how the ball travels here. There are certain aspects of the park that you can take advantage of and I told the guys that is exactly what we are going to do. There are not going to be a lot of home runs hit in this park, so we just have to go out and pitch well and play defense and be able to drive in runs when we have guys on base. Our pitchers know that no matter where they pitch, that they have to keep the ball down and throw strikes. If they fall behind in the count, chances are that if they make a mistake, that the ball will stay in the yard, but that doesn’t mean that they can leave the ball out over the middle of the plate.
DeVita: The guys seemed to have come out with a lot of energy to start the season. Do you feel that this is a long term characteristic of this team?
Lopez: Oh definitely. That’s one of the things that I am a big believer in. I want to create a good atmosphere for these guys to come in and work and have fun. I feel that we have done that and that we have impressed on them the importance of playing hard and competing every day. That’s something that I will continue to stress every day that we put on the uniform. When it comes to playing the game, I have told the guys that there will not be second-guessing by myself or the coaches. We may ask them what their thought process was when they made that pitch or the play or whatever, but I want them to feel that they can go out there and play baseball without the fear of making a mistake and then coming back to the dugout without having one of the coaches jump on them for that mistake. No, if you are playing baseball, then you are going to make errors or strikeout and you are going to give up a home run or make a base-running mistake. That’s the way the game is set up. Baseball is a game that is set up for failure. The key is to play through that failure and learn from it and that starts by playing without fear. I want them to play with confidence and enjoy the game and whatever happens, happens.
DeVita: I know that player development is a big part of what you do and what you believe; are you pleased to be able to get everyone involved during the first weekend?
Lopez: Absolutely. Let’s face it, there are some guys who are going to play more than others. That’s just the way it is. I am still going to try and keep everyone fresh and give everyone an opportunity to go out there and prove themselves and then hopefully I can find ways of getting them more playing time. I like doing that. For instance (first baseman) Jeff Flagg had a good game the other night but I just felt that it was a good day for him to sit. It was a day game and he can use that time to recover. I did the same thing with (Gnats catcher) Groenour. Even though those two guys had a good night the night before, I felt that it was good for them to sit, watch the game from the dugout and then come in ready to play today. This also plays a role in how they approach the game. They don’t have to fear being benched if they are not playing good because they are also going to sit sometimes when they are playing well. This helps eliminate the feelings of doubt that creep in when guys start to think about being benched if they are playing poorly. Once that happens, they dig a hole for themselves that is difficult for them to get out of.
DeVita: Is that also part of the learning process at this level? The fact that they can sit and watch and learn the game as an observer?
Lopez: Yes. Anything that we can do to help them learn and improve we will do. That’s what we are trying to do. Winning doesn’t happen by accident and winning ballclubs don’t come together by accident. I think that good ballclubs develop themselves into winning ballclubs. We have to come out with a positive attitude and a team game plan. We will be facing a pitcher tonight that we don’t know anything about, so we will watch and learn for the first three innings and then we can have a game plan as a team as to how we are going to approach him. If we can do that every night, keep a positive attitude and execute our plan, then more times than not we will be successful. That’s what our goal is – to continue to improve and win ballgames.
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