Sports Talk: Acta's Still Standing

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IF THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS' management learned one thing about its rookie manager during the first half of the season, it is this: Manny Acta is one tough son of a gun.

A half-smile crept across his face earlier this week as it was announced that yet another starting pitcher was going on the disabled list. The latest victim, Micah Bowie, had himself been a fill-in starter but had thrived in the new role.

So, as Acta awaited the coming questions, he wore the look of a fighter who has just taken 10 rounds of punishment and then realized he was still standing.

"When it comes down to injuries, it's been challenging," said Acta, a master of the understatement even in his second language.

The Nationals have placed 10 pitchers and four position players on the disabled list at various points during the season, a mighty handicap for a club predicted to be historically bad, even at full strength. Despite the injuries, the team's record is similar to where it was a year ago. That team included more established veterans on the mound and at the plate.

Keeping the team afloat, players say, is Acta.

"Coming into the season, everyone was predicting we'd lose 100-and-something games or some stupid number," left fielder Ryan Church said. "With all the unfortunate injuries we've had, he's kept reinforcing things to us and letting us know that we are a good team, just to go out and keep playing hard."

When veterans like Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez have struggled, unlikely characters like Dmitri Young and Ronnie Belliard have produced.

When starting pitchers have gotten hurt — and only rookie Matt Chico hasn't — relievers or minor-league call-ups have been adequate to admirable in their places. This team may not be good, but it's better than expected.

"It could have turned out to be very ugly around here," Acta said. "If those guys would have bombed, we'd have been playing a lot of ugly games on an everyday basis."

Team officials have not hidden the fact that losing would be tolerated this year as the club rebuilds before moving into a new park on the Anacostia River next year. Perhaps Acta's most impressive feat is that he hasn't allowed such an attitude to permeate the clubhouse.

"We're going in the right direction, and he's the one that's been there for us," Church said. "He's always been positive, and I think that's really going to rub off on us in the second half of the season."

Written by Express contributor Derek Turner
Photo by Toni L. Sandys courtesy of The Washington Post