The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

D4 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019

on rival teams in season. “If I

don’t know you, I want to bury

you,” Suzuki said.

Of Scherzer, he said: “We’ve

gathered respect for each other.

Our personalities mesh.

Sometimes I can fire him up. In

games, he knows I’ll tell it how it

is. And he can say anything to

me. No problem. I don’t know

everything.”

If it were possible to know

everything about baseball,

Scherzer and Suzuki are two

fanatics who would be up for the

job. “We get deep with it. I’ve

talked hours with him,” Suzuki

said, grinning at “ hours.”

“Max has got his math and all

his calculations. He’s not grab,

grunt and throw,” Suzuki said.

“I’ve got all the stuff I’ve learned.

We look for a balance — can’t go

all analytical or all old school.”

Only one thing bothers

Suzuki, but, since he’s a fitness

fanatic, it’s not age or injury,

despite being one of the more

durable catchers of his time

(1,469 games). He hates that

baseball often takes him away

from wife Renee, daughter

Malia, 8, and sons Kai, 5, and

Elijah, 3, who are “home in

California. We want a stable life

for our children. But I miss

them.”

How does his wife feel about

her husband’s old-age

transformation into a sawed-off

big bopper with a career that, as

a hitter, is at its peak, not

ending?

“She misses having me

around,” Suzuki said. “But she

loves it. She says, ‘Ride the wave.

Because when you are done, it’s

going to be sad.’ ”

That’s for someday. This is for

now — watch Kurt Suzuki and be

very happy.

[email protected]

Fo r more from Thomas Boswell, visit

washingtonpost.com/boswell.

selection, sequencing and usage

ratios. Sánchez signed as a free

agent with the Nats — but not

until Suzuki already had. After

early-season mechanical glitches

and an injury, Sánchez and

Suzuki have teamed up for a

3.18 ERA in his past 15 starts,

very similar to his 2.83 ERA last

year as a pair. Pitcher whisperer?

Fortunately for the Nats,

Suzuki and Gomes both seem to

have natural battery pairings.

Patrick Corbin always works

with Gomes and is having a

stellar season, helped by Gomes’s

reputation as a marvelous

handler of sliders in the dirt.

Stephen Strasburg has clicked

with Gomes, too. Erick Fedde

has an ERA one run lower with

Suzuki than all the other

catchers who have handled him,

but Gomes has done far better

than Suzuki with Joe Ross.

How much of this is noise,

how much signal? Baseball has a

wonderful way of making you

believe that almost every aspect

of the game is filled with

personality and psychology as

well as athletics.

Can an all-time great pitcher

be improved by a special

relationship with a simpatico

catcher? Seems dubious. But

some great pitchers believe it

and act on it. Bob Gibson’s ERA

in 1,614^2 / 3 innings pitching to

“personal catcher” Tim

McCarver was 2.44. With every

other catcher, 3.26 in

2,269^2 / 3 innings.

“I knew [Suzuki] had a really

high baseball IQ from playing

against him,” Scherzer said. “But

now I realize it’s even way higher

than I thought.”

“Max is the fiercest

competitor I’ve ever been

around. I try to match his

intensity,” said Suzuki, whose

demeanor hides a similar fire.

He’s played on several teams but

only chats up a few old friends

Burkleo, Brian Snitker and the

Nationals’ Kevin Long, plus

many others, Suzuki, piece by

piece, learned how to hit with

tension-free hands, drive the ball

with backspin so it won’t hook

and pull the ball in the air but

without current launch-angle

theories that exacerbate his

natural swing tendency to hit

too many popups. It took years

to convince himself to look for

counts “to do damage,” not just

make solid contact.

But the project is endless. On

Tuesday, Nats assistant hitting

coach Joe Dillon said, “You

haven’t hit a home run in a

while.” So Dillon suggested a

drill to fix it.

“Getting my hands tight to my

body,” s aid Suzuki, who credits

Wednesday’s home run “to Joey.”

If Suzuki could have let Dillon

do the Nats’ dance line, he

probably would have. Instead, he

picked the Bollywood “for my

friends from India.” By nature,

Suzuki, born in Hawaii, is a

natural multicultural clubhouse

glue player.

Perhaps the closest new bond,

one the Nats did not anticipate,

is between superstar Scherzer

and journeyman Suzuki. The

pair have synced personally and

professionally. In 15 games with

Suzuki, Scherzer has a 1.83 ERA,

by far the lowest of his career

with anyone who has caught him

for even a dozen starts. His ERAs

with four previous Nats catchers

over 131 starts range from 2.57 to

2.84. In eight games with Gomes,

it’s 3.67.

So this tandem may have

some legs in D.C. Suzuki is

signed through 2020. One of

Scherzer’s oldest friends in the

game, Aníbal Sánchez, already

has Suzuki as his personal

catcher; Sanchez’s career was

reborn in 2018 in Atlanta after

he and Suzuki applied analytics

to drastically alter his pitch

plate. Manager Dave Martinez

calls him “an RBI machine.”

“He has power, but he’s a

wonderful situational hitter, too.

... It just drives him crazy not to
get a man home from third base
with less than two out,” Martinez
said.
In the past three years, only
the New York Yankees’ Gary
Sanchez has driven in runs at a
faster rate (among catchers with
750 at-bats). In that span, per
575 at-bats, Suzuki has averaged
30 homers and 100 RBI.
For stat-loving folks (who hate
RBI as part of their religion),
let’s look at wOBA (weighted on-
base average), perhaps their
favorite offensive number. Since
2017, Suzuki ranks third among
catchers (.345), a hair behind
Willson Contreras and
Minnesota Twins masher Mitch
Garver and ahead of the justly
celebrated J.T. Realmuto and
Sanchez.
“I don’t strike out a lot. I fight
guys,” s aid Suzuki, who’s
understating, as usual. Since
2017, among all players who have
enough power to hit a homer
every 20 at-bats, Suzuki is the
third hardest to strike out.
One of the pitchers who
respected (but hated) Suzuki’s
stubbornness, especially with
runners on base, was Scherzer.
“When he was in Atlanta the last
two years, I saw how he
competed, what a tough out he
was for me,’’ he said. “Since he
got here, he’s been so great.”
This year, with runners in
scoring position and two outs,
Suzuki is hitting over .400 —
unsustainable but indicative.
Suzuki grasps every nuance of
a career full of continuing
hitting education, endless new
drills, picking the brains of a
dozen hitting coaches whom he
never stops praising as if they
swing his bat.
From Don Wakamatsu, Ty Van

The great Kurt

Suzuki homered,

doubled, drove in

four runs and,

behind the plate,

aided pitcher Max

Scherzer through

89 worrisome

back-from-injury

pitches at

Nationals Park on Wednesday

night.

The “great” Kurt Suzuki? Well,

sort of.

Suzuki, a modest, diligent,

studious vet who only became a

threat as a hitter three seasons

ago, may be baseball’s least

appreciated half-time star. In a

sport more reliant on youth than

ever, he is a true late bloomer.

Even “surfing” t hough a

tunnel of his Nats teammates,

then dancing the hula or the

Bollywood after his home runs,

Suzuki hasn’t garnered the kind

of attention appropriate to his

elite clutch production and

pitch-handling gifts. In just

254 at-bats, he has 14 bombs and

52 RBI. To sense how good that

is, feel free to multiply by two for

a full year of a 150-game player.

Suzuki is, in a sense, the Nats’

backup catcher because he plays

a hair less than 2018 all-star Yan

Gomes. Some backup.

“I have no ego,” Suzuki

shrugged. Maybe he deserves to

develop one, but it would clash

with his personality. Some

players are team first. Suzuki is

team only.

Because Suzuki, who turns 36

in October, was known for his

first 10 years as all brains and

not much bat, long on durability

but glad to be devoid of glamour,

we need to smack everybody

around with a few hard facts to

do this guy justice.

This season, he’s second

among catchers in RBI-per-plate

appearance — he drives in a run

every 5.38 times he steps to the

BY JESSE DOUGHERTY

Something changed for the

Washington Nationals on May 24,

something subtle, something that

only matters in a world where

superstitions are treated like ev-

eryday currency: Ali Modami, one

of the team’s batting practice

pitchers, began taking out the

lineup card before each g ame.

You may have heard that date,

May 24, thrown around a lot in the

past couple of months. It’s t he day

the Nationals’ season began to

turn around. It’s t he day the team’s

official Twitter account has men-

tioned a few t imes — or 50 times —

as a reminder that Washington

has been baseball’s best team

since. It’s the day that started a

55-27 stretch that put the Nation-

als atop the wild-card s tandings.

And it’s the day Modami be-

came a key part of Manager Dave

Martinez’s master plan.

“Shhh,” Martinez said, putting

his pointer finger to his lips, when

asked about Modami before a

game in Cincinnati in late May.

“A li’s my good luck charm.”

(Modami, 39, doesn’t do inter-

views. When told there was going

to be a story about him taking out

the lineup card before every game,

he grinned and said, “It’s about

time someone noticed.” When he

realized it was going to be public,

he grinned and said: “No, don’t

put that out. It’s a secret.” When

told that thousands of people see

him do it and he had no say in

whether it was publicized, he

grinned and said, “Well, then, just

make me look good.” He grins a

lot.)

So what’s so lucky about walk-

ing a lineup card onto the field?

Te chnically, nothing. But hang on

a second.

The Nationals typically rotate

who takes the card to home plate

before each game for a meeting

with the umpiring crew and a

representative from the other

team. Bench coach Chip Hale was

a regular in the role. Modami was

part of the mix, getting a chance

now and then. Then the Nationals

lost and lost some more and

limped home after being swept in

a four-game series by the New

York Mets. They were playing the

Miami Marlins and scraping the

bottom of the barrel for answers.

It was — you guessed it — May 24,

and Martinez told Modami he was

in charge of the lineup card that

night.

The Nationals won before tak-

ing three of four from the Marlins.

They won back-to-back games in

Atlanta that next week. They w ere

on a roll, and M odami has brought

out the lineup card for all but one

of the 82 games since that sweep

in New York.

Not changing something that is

working is an unwritten rule in

baseball, whether it’s using the

same equipment or wearing the

same shirt or having a left-handed

batting practice pitcher walk

50 feet with a small piece of paper

in his hand.

Washington’s record is 54-27

when Modami does.

“Whoa, is that a real stat?” Na-

tionals right fielder Adam Eaton

asked. “That’s the best kind of

superstition, the ones you don’t

notice. I love Ali. I’ll have to start

rubbing his head before every

game.”

So who is Ali Modami?

He played first base at Okla-

homa State in the early 2 000s. His

manager with the Cowboys, To m

Holliday, once told the Tulsa

World: “He’s a character I haven’t

had before.” Modami joined the

Philadelphia Phillies in 2007,

helping them win the World Se-

ries the next year and becoming a

clubhouse favorite. He was the

guy who threw great batting prac-

tice. It helped that he’s a lefty. It

helped even more that h e’s always

good for a laugh.

Modami was with Philadelphia

for four seasons, left when the

front office shook up the staff in

2011, then landed with the Nation-

als with the recommendation of

good friend Jayson Werth. Moda-

mi later s ued the Phillies and Gen-

eral Manager Ruben Amaro Jr. for

defamation and ruining his job

prospects. He s oon b ecame a team

favorite in Washington, just like in

Philadelphia, and grew close with

Bryce Harper after feeding him

balls for the f irst seven y ears of his

career. Harper departed for the

Phillies in the offseason. Modami

did not.

You may have seem Modami on

TV r ecently, wearing No. 86, when

either second baseman Brian Doz-

ier or first baseman Matt Adams

hopped onto his back before he

sprinted through the dugout. Mo-

dami has become a prop in Wash-

ington’s viral post-home run

dances.

But the t eam knows h im best by

one phrase, repeated over and

over, both in the early afternoon

and when games are heating up:

“Whatever you need.”

“A li is indispensable, a nd I real-

ly mean that,” said Dozier, who

estimated that Modami throws

around 1,000 pitches of batting

practice a day. “You see him icing

him arm after every game; he’s

tired. That’s b ecause the man puts

in an honest day’s work. He’s one

of us.”

So what’s the job of a batting

practice thrower?

It’s a busy role for Modami.

There i s, of course, the throwing of

batting practice before each

game. He will have players for

early work around 3 p.m. He will

throw the bulk of his pitches

around 5 p.m., especially if the

Nationals are facing a left-handed

starter, and helps out with infield

drills by playing first base. He

hangs in the batting cages

throughout games, tucked be-

tween the dugout and clubhouse,

doing whatever’s needed. He

helps the video team facilitate

clips t o players.

As opposing relievers enter in

the late innings, he adjusts the

scouting reports written on a row

of whiteboards. He gets pinch hit-

ters ready, whether with flips or

full-speed pitches, and is some-

times roped into home run cele-

brations. All the ice you could

want is his end-of-the-night re-

ward.

Then he comes back the next

day and does it all again, lineup

card in hand.

[email protected]

In May, Modami became Nationals’ lucky charm

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

The Nationals are 55-27 since May 2 4, with 5 4 of those wins coming when batting practice pitcher Ali Modami delivered the lineup card.

As ‘RBI machine’ and pitcher whisperer, Suzuki makes Nats better

Thomas

Boswell

NATIONALS ON DECK

vs. Miami Marlins

To day 7:05 MASN2

Tomorrow 7:05 MASN2

Sunday1:35 MASN2

vs. New York Mets

Monday 1:05 MASN

Tuesday7:05MASN

Wednesday1:05YouTube

at Atlanta Braves

Th ursday 7:20 MASN

Sept. 67 :20 MASN

Sept. 77 :20 MASN

Sept. 81 :20 MASN

Radio: WJFK (106.7 FM)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Naomi Osaka smacked a fore-
hand winner into the open court,
bringing Colin Kaepernick and
Kobe Bryant to their feet in ap-
plause.
Osaka has power in her strokes
and star power in her corner.
The defending U.S. Open c ham-
pion moved into the third round
Thursday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory
over Magda Linette, setting up a
possible third-round showdown
with Coco Gauff.
With Kaepernick and Bryant
sitting with her team just a few
rows off the Louis Armstrong Sta-
dium court, Osaka did her part
and waited to see whether the
15-year-old Gauff would win her
match later t hat night.
“For me, when I hear people
talking about someone, I want to
have t he opportunity to play them
just to assess it for myself,” Osaka
said.
Kaepernick, the former San
Francisco 49ers quarterback who
three years ago began kneeling
during the national anthem be-
fore games, has been working out
in the area in hopes of getting
another shot in the NFL. Bryant,
the retired NBA superstar, came
to the U.S. Open t o promote a new
book, “Legacy and the Queen,”
that he conceived and that Osaka
supported.
Osaka said Thursday was the
first time she had met Kaepernick,
though she has developed a
friendship with Bryant.
“It’s just funny to me,” Osaka
said. “You know, like, last year
compared to this year there is no
way, like, Kobe would sit in my
box. Yeah, Kaepernick, too.”
Osaka was grateful for their
attendance, she s aid, and motivat-
ed to win quickly so she wouldn’t
keep them in the sun too long
watching.
Her next match should be well-
attended too.
Osaka will face Coco G auff, w ho
became the youngest player to
reach the third round since 1996.
Gauff, a 15-year-old from Flori-
da, edged Timea Babos of Hunga-
ry, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 by earning a break
in the last game of the nearly
21 / 2 -hour match at Louis Arm-
strong S tadium.
The partisan crowd backed
Gauff loudly, chanting, “Let’s go,
Coco!” during the final change-
over.
She is putting together another
captivating run, just as she did on
the way to the fourth round at
Wimbledon last month in her
Grand Slam debut.
Gauff vs. Osaka is scheduled for
Saturday.
While Osaka moved on, an-
other two-time Grand Slam cham-
pion was eliminated when No. 6
Petra Kvitova was upset by Andrea
Petkovic 6-4, 6-4.
And Wimbledon champion Si-
mona Halep fell to American Ta y-
lor To wnsend.
The 116th-ranked To wnsend
unleashed an aggressive net game
— coming forward more than
100 times — to upset the fourth
seed, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), and move
into t he third round.
To wnsend, who hasn’t always
lived up to expectations, took a big
step toward turning that around
by employing an aggressive serve
and volley, chip-and-charge game
that’s a rarity on the baseline-cen-
tric w omen’s tour.
To wnsend moved in a gainst the
Wimbledon champion at every
chance. She came to the net
106 times, including 64 in the
deciding set alone, and it paid off;
she won 60 percent of those
points. By contrast, Halep came
forward j ust 10 times.
On the men’s s ide, Rafael Nadal
and his upset-filled bottom half of
the men’s draw were in action
Thursday, along with a number of
matches that were postponed a
day by the rain that wrecked most
of Wednesday’s schedule.
The second-seeded Nadal ad-
vanced with a walkover after sec-
ond-round opponent Thanasi
Kokkinakis pulled out before
their match with a right shoulder
injury.
Kokkinakis, a wild card from
Australia ranked 203rd, retired
from the first round of this year’s
Australian Open with the same
injury.
Nadal’s match in Arthur Ashe
Stadium will be replaced by a
second-round contest between
No. 22 Marin Cilic and Cedrick-
Marcel Stebe that was previously
scheduled in Louis Armstrong
Stadium.
Nick Kyrgios had a relatively
easy victory in his first match
since he called the ATP “corrupt,”
beating Antoine Hoang, 6-4, 6-2,
6-4, to reach the third round.

U.S. OPEN

Top-seeded

Osaka has

star power

on her side