Commentary | Rays loss can't spoil Kevin Cash's managerial debut
TAMPA
On this day there was no way Kevin Cash could lose.
The numbers on the scoreboard at Tropicana Field that left his Rays on the short end of a 6-2 game in his managerial debut were irrelevant to his personal accomplishments.
At 37 Cash is the youngest manager/head coach in any of the four professional major league teams in the country. He has never managed or coached any baseball team at any level.
Cash had been grooming himself for nearly three decades though he might not have realized at it age 7.
He was the kid who never stopped asking questions even to the point of annoying his coaches.
Cash's journey to become Rays manager is a compelling tale.
He grew up a not far from the Rays ball park and went to Gaither High and then FSU. Now he is home working in front of family and friends for at least 81 games.
"It was a special day with the amount of people who were here. It seemed like I saw a familiar face every time I looked up and that was pretty cool, especially to my family," Cash said. "I have been part of a few opening days and this was different, but like I said all along it's about the players and now it's time to move on."
On this day, he matched wits with Baltimore's Buck Showalter, who has managed 2,421 regular season games in the majors. The AL East managers Cash will confront have managed a combined 5,299 games; Yankees Joe Girardi (1,296), Boston's John Farrell (648) and Toronto's John Gibbons (934).
Cash didn't show intimidation when his team made a bunch of mental errors and basically took themselves out of the game.
He is considered a players' coach and rationalized their mistakes defending them in cases where they didn't deserve it. But that's what a good manger does.
The opener was a celebration of sorts so winning maybe took a back seat, but that luxury is gone.
As the season moves on Cash will fight to keep Tropicana Field from turning into a ghost town and stop any candle light vigils crying for the return of Joe Maddon.
He defended starter Chris Archer who didn't have his best day and outfielder Steven Souza, who showed, yes, he is a rookie. He defended catcher Rene Rivera, who failed to make a routine tag at the plate giving Baltimore a run.
For a guy whose playing career lasted only eight seasons, Cash received quite the consolation prize when he was named Rays manager last December.
But most people in baseball say he was the right choice. You couldn't tell whether the Rays won or lost by his post game demeanor.
He is part of a trend that has some owners going for younger managers like St. Louis' Mike Matheny, Miami's Mike Redmond and the White Sox' Robin Ventura.
Cash, Matheny and Redmond are former catchers with less than distinguishable careers as players, which might say something about picking up that big mitt for a position most kids don't want to play.
Cash showed during spring training that like Maddon he knows the value of spreading optimism throughout the clubhouse. He didn't show signs of distress when his pitching staff was falling apart with injuries.
He kept the optimism going Monday on a day when his team clearly struggled.
This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Commentary | Rays loss can't spoil Kevin Cash's managerial debut."