Show Washington Love For His Work

Lee Porter hosts a baseball chat at Strike 3 Fourms.com on Sunday evening.

When, a couple months ago, a baseball observer asked the panelists about the job Ron Washington has done, a panelist scoffed that anyone can do a good job of managing the Rangers with the hitters on that team.

Talk about lack of respect right there.

Washington is used to it, of course. Everyone credits Jon Daniels, Nolan Ryan and Mike Maddux for the Rangers' success instead of him.

Daniels deserves credit for restoring the farm system and getting young players to build a team around while Ryan changed the losing culture that plagued the Rangers after then-Rangers manager Johnny Oates was forced out in the middle of the 2001 season and then-Rangers general manager Doug Melvin was fired after the 2000 season.

Maddux got the most of his young starters this season by preaching to them to work fast and throw strikes. So, he should be commended.

With that said, a manager deserves credit for making the right choices and getting his players to perform well all season long. That's where Washington should enter the conversation when one mentions the Rangers' success.

When the Rangers hired Washington to replace Buck Showalter after the 2005 season, the Rangers were hoping the team would play better defense and have fun playing the game under Washington's guidance.

For the most part, the Rangers accomplished both of these goals, and they are better off now than they were before Washington came to town. That's why Washington should be lauded for the job he has done in his Rangers tenure.

It hasn't been easy for Washington.

When the Rangers started off poorly in Washington's first season, the Dallas-Fort Worth writers and fans wanted him out of town after an awful three months.

Everyone felt he was overmatched as manager when the team played awfully. When players such as Mark Teixeira disrespected his manager's abilities of running a baseball team by talking about it in public and ignoring his orders when it came to hitting.

Washington survived his first season when Teixeira was traded and when the team played decently the final few months of the season, so he received a reprieve from his bosses.

Teixeira's departure was a good thing for Washington. Teixeira led his teammates to revolt against Washington, which put the manager in a no-win position.

Teixeira acts like he knows a lot about the game even though he has won nothing in his career, and watching him as a Yankee can be described as insufferable.

Washington held firm with his belief on Teixeira, and that brought respect to some guys in the clubhouse, and it made it easy for him to do his job when the malcontent was traded to the Braves for Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Andrus, Harrison and Saltalamacchia shaped the foundation of the Rangers' success for the present and the future, and that trade has been the high point of Jon Daniels' tenure of the GM of the Rangers.

Washington led his Rangers to a poor start for the second straight season last year, and Nolan Ryan was about to fire his manager until the Rangers rolled off series victories often in May, June and July.

The Rangers fell apart in August and September when the starters struggled, but Washington did well enough to stay on for the 2009 season.

Washington entered this season as a lame-duck manager, and it looked like Ryan and Daniels were not excited about giving Washington an extension.

Washington could not afford his third straight poor start so he needed a good April for him to last this season.

The Rangers got off to a good start, and they were in first place for a while.

It was good enough for Washington to receive a one-year extension a few months ago.

Washington has the Rangers in a playoff hunt this late in the season.Yet for whatever reason, no one mentions him as a candidate for the AL Manager of the Year.

Mike Scioscia could be the favorite along with Joe Girardi for that award, and that's unfair.

It's understandable why people would nominate Scioscia because the Angels went through an unfortunate tragedy with the death of Nick Adenhart in April not to mention the injuries plagued the starters.

The Angels are atop in the AL West despite those setbacks, but even then, Scioscia's team has been talented for years so it should be expected that he should win.

Despite hard times in our country's economy, it has not stopped the Yankees from overspending to buy the best players. Girardi should have his team playing well after the money they have spent.

Why should the Yankees manager be commended for doing what's he supposed to be doing?

Answer this question.

Did anyone expect the Rangers to be in a position for a playoff hunt this season let alone by August? Didn't think so.

That should be enough for Washington to be the AL Manager of the Year.

It's time for Rangers fans to stop picking on Washington's flaws. Sure he makes odd decisions and he waits too long to take his pitcher out when he does not have it, but anyone can make the same case for any manager.

Live with it.

Go by with the results of Washington has done overall, and it's hard to argue with the results.

It would be nice if Washington gets his due from someone.