`I’m like Colin Powell,” White Sox manager Terry Bevington advised.
How is that?
“He doesn’t do hypotheticals. Neither do I. And if it’s all right for Colin Powell, it’s all right for me.”
Could he explain further?
“I saw him on a television show and the reporters kept asking him if he would run for President. He kept answering, `No! No! No!’ And someone asked if his wife approved, would he run?
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“And he said, `My wife didn’t say `Yes.’
“Well, what if she had said yes?”
“And Colin Powell said, `I don’t do hypotheticals.’ “
Bevington was reminded no one was asking if he was running for president. The question was about pitcher Jason Bere who, on Tuesday night, made his first, long-awaited, post-surgery appearance. Bere worked 5 1/3 innings for the victory.
“Jason did a nice job,” Bevington said. “He made some good pitches. Everyone was pleased.”
And then a reporter asked if Bere is now capable of running off a five- or six-game winning streak.
Which is when Bevington began quoting Colin Powell.
“I have to play it by ear,” Bevington eventually replied. “I never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
It was not a surprising response. The White Sox have been swirling in controversy. Yet, Bevington has remained above the fray.
“I don’t get upset,” Bevington conceded. “All kinds of stuff has been going on but it doesn’t bother me because I don’t want to get caught up in that. So, it doesn’t affect me.”
Is he upset when the Sox load the bases with one out and are unable to score? Does that affect him?
“When I played it did,” he said. “But when you’re the manager you can’t do anything about it. It’s in someone else’s hands.”
What does affect him?
“What’s happening to my kids,” he said. “I want them to be healthy. That’s what’s important. I’m upset when they’re at school and someone makes a derogatory remark about their father.”
I was reminded of what Randy Johnson, Seattle’s star pitcher, said about “pressure” several days ago when the Mariners were at Comiskey Park.
“It’s a word used by media people and some athletes who don’t know what pressure is,” Johnson said. “They are always using that word. Pressure is when someone is lying on an operating table, battling for his life. The way I perceive it, that’s pressure.
“There are no life or death situations in baseball. It’s more of a challenge. When the bases are loaded with one out and their best hitter is coming up, that’s not pressure. I kind of laugh when I hear that word. It’s a challenge–that’s all. If I fail, I’m not going to die.”
Bevington understood.
“Maybe it’s an adventure, not just a challenge. Or maybe it’s a combination of both,” he said.
This is Bevington’s third season as the Sox manager. Is he managing better?
“I don’t know. You manage according to your personnel,” he said. “Everybody does. If you have speed, you steal more. If you have power, you’re more inclined to wait for the big inning. The players determine how you manage. You can’t expect a guy to hit a home run who’s never hit one.”
People who know Bevington best insist he is without fear.
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“That’s right,” Bevington acknowledged. “I have no fear of winning and I have no fear of losing. I have no fear of having a job and I have no fear of losing a job. That’s the way I am, I guess.”
As for Jason Bere, he said he had nothing but the “regular aches and pains” the day after he pitched. His velocity wasn’t 100 percent but he had better control than in the past, which is more crucial. He will pitch again Sunday in Texas.