The Game Remains The Same

Garner survives despite bad year

While the JetHawks were compiling a 153-128 record during the 1997 and '98 seasons and claiming back-to-back Valley Division wildcard berths into the California League playoffs, Darrin Garner was having plenty of success of his own.

Garner led the Mariners' rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona League to back-to-back, secondplace finishes with a 30-26 mark in 1997 and a 31-24 finish in 1998.

But now Garner, like every purple- and red-clad fan at Lancaster Municipal Stadium, has had to watch his team flounder through the first 89 games of the '99 season.

"It's been frustrating," the Lancaster manager said. "There's no doubt about it. I had high expectations for this team coming into this season. Things just haven't worked out that way."

Rather than the dream season the JetHawks were hoping for when they began the season April 8 at Bakersfield's Sam Lynn Ballpark, '99 has turned into a nightmare. Lancaster's 30-59 record entering tonight's series opener at Lake Elsinore isn't only the worst mark in the Cal League, but the worst winning percentage of all minor-league teams playing a full season.

The JetHawks find themselves 10 games behind Lake Elsinore in the wild-card chase with 51 games to play.

Lancaster has the worst team ERA (5.66) in the league and is sixth with a .270 team batting average and seventh in runs scored.

Individually, only Justin Kaye's name appears among the league leaders in any offensive or pitching category. Kaye is fourth in the league with 10 saves.

"We have done some things good at times, but we haven't done it all consistently well enough to win ballgames," Garner said. "The first half was really rough on all of us. I liked what I saw from us offensively, but we just didn't have the pitching. You can't win in this league without good pitching. And when we did get good pitching, our offense didn't produce. It's been very frustrating."

But just like he didn't let success the last two years in the Arizona League change him, the 33year-old Garner isn't letting this season's struggles force him to alter his approach either.

"I told you during spring training I was always going to be the same guy, no matter if we win or lose," Garner said. "I still try to approach each game and each day exactly the same way. I haven't let this season change me."

That means talking to the team about what they did right and wrong immediately after each game in the clubhouse.

It also means not taking the frustrations of the season home with him.

"I never take it home with me," said Garner, who is in his fifth season coaching in the Mariners' organization (third as a manager) and eighth year of coaching in minor league baseball. "After each game, I fill out my reports, and the minute I walk out the clubhouse door, it's behind me. I don't care if you're in baseball or you work at Circle K, you can't carry problems from work home with you. That wouldn't be fair to my family and would take away from their time. I just worry about baseball when I'm here."

While he is at the stadium, Garner prefers to focus mostly on the player development part of his job.

"Winning is important, even at this level, because you want to get these guys accustomed to success," Garner said. "But the top priority is player development. As a manager and a coach, the No. 1 thing you have to do is take the players you are given and help make them better.

"You'd always like to win, but development is the key. As a coaching staff, all you can do is work with the players and give them the information they need to become better. Whether or not they take that information and improve is up to them."

Garner feels that he and hitting coach Dana Williams and pitching coach Greg Harris have done a good job of trying to teach the players they've been assigned.

"You can learn from every game, every day," Garner said. "I know I try to learn from my mistakes every time out, and I watch how other managers handle certain situations. But you have to take what you learn and apply it. That's how you get better in this game."

And despite what the records might show and any unfulfilled early-season predictions, Garner believes his team has shown signs of improvement.

"That's all I can ask out of these 25 guys, just like that's all I can ask out of myself," said Garner, who was an infielder in the Texas Rangers' farm system for six years before moving to coaching. "You focus on what you did right and your mistakes, you learn from it and you move on. Win or lose, you push it hard every day. That's all I can ask."

That's all Garner has ever asked from his team this season.

"This season has been frustrating, there's no doubt about that," he said. "But I'm the same guy I was in spring training. This hasn't changed my personality or my attitude about this team. I still have faith in these guys."

Uploaded July 14, 1999