The clubhouse was painfully quiet.
The Detroit Tigers were in a funk after losing three straight games. They had endured a brutal stretch of nasty weather and late-night travel and had gone 22 innings without scoring a run.
Frustration was setting in.
Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire walked through the visiting clubhouse in Oriole Park at Camden Yards after the Tigers lost, 6-0, to the Baltimore Orioles on April 27, and he gave a quick speech.
"All right, turn some music on, get a cold beer, we'll get them tomorrow," Gardenhire told his team, according to several players.
Music? After a loss?
None of the veterans could remember receiving that kind of directive from a manager after a loss, much less after three straight.
"It meant a lot," reliever Alex Wilson said. "It gives everyone in the room confidence again. You are not going to sit there and kick yourself all night."
They cranked up the music and all the stress seemed to disappear.
About 24 hours later, the Tigers snapped out of their mini-slump and beat the Orioles, 9-5.
"As a player, when you have a manager like that, it helps you relax," John Hicks said. "It's a weight off your shoulders."
Gardenhire sent a similar message during the Tigers' recent three-game homestand. After the Tigers lost, 3-2, to the Tampa Bay Rays, a deflating defeat for this scrappy team that had fought back and scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth only to come up short, Gardenhire took a quick lap around the Tigers' clubhouse.
If you clean up his message into a PG-rated version, he said something to the effect of: "Way to play your tails off. Screw it. We'll get them tomorrow."
The next day, the Tigers won again.
"That stuff takes guts," pitcher Warwick Saupold said. "Then, you leave here in high spirits. You come back and it's a new day and it starts fresh. It's a simple statement that everyone needs and your mood changes pretty quickly."
Can a manager's speech win games? No.
But Gardenhire is creating a loose, relaxed atmosphere, while demanding the game be played the right way. It's a tricky balance that seems to be working and should bring rewards over the long haul.
The Tigers, in the beginning phase of a rebuild, have played better than most expected due in large part to their pitching. But it's also because of the never-die attitude that Gardenhire has instilled in these young players, and it has reinvigorated some of the veterans.
Let's call it the Gardy Effect.
"I really like him," designated hitter Victor Martinez said. "And you know what? I'm going to go a step farther, he's one of my favorites."
That is a huge statement from a guy who has played in more than 1,800 games in the big leagues _ but only a handful for Gardenhire.
"He reminds me a lot of manager Jim Leyland," Miguel Cabrera said. "He gives you a lot of confidence to go out there and play. When you are feeling good, when you are feeling like he trusts you, you can do a lot of good things on the field."
Tigers general manager Al Avila is sold on Gardenhire, too: "I hired him, didn't I?" he said, bursting out laughing. Avila had known Gardenhire for decades, watching him from afar. But you don't really know somebody until you spend every day with them.
"I knew exactly what I was looking for _ a guy who is tough but fair, a guy who can lead, a guy who can also keep things loose and make it enjoyable and fun but no nonsense," Avila said. "You gotta do it the right way. We felt that is what we had in him and it's proven to be so. The old school is there, but he's learning and accepting the new stuff and applying it and that's also come true."
Ah, he's an interesting character, the way he has set a tone for this young Tigers team.
This affection for Gardenhire will undoubtedly change over time. They loved him in Minnesota until he stopped winning.
But for now, Gardenhire is in the sweet spot for a manger taking over a new club: there are no expectations, and he has a small-but-strong group of influential veterans who are teaching the youngsters. He also is getting solid starting pitching.
That's a heck of a place to start a rebuild.
There just isn't a whole lot to complain about Gardenhire right now.
Nobody is freaking out about his use of the bullpen, not when this franchise seemingly has gone so long without one. And the future looks even better with Joe Jimenez pitching with so much confidence.
Nobody is complaining about Gardenhire's lineup because, let's be honest, you can't argue about a batting order when the roster doesn't have a prototypical leadoff batter and includes young and inexperienced talent like Dixon Machado, JaCoby Jones and Jeimer Candelario.
"He's one of the best managers I've ever seen or heard," said Tigers great Al Kaline, who has been around the major leagues since 1953. "The way he handles the whole club, how positive he is. How he told the players that we are going to play from the very beginning to the very last out. And we come to the ball park every day thinking we will win, and don't listen to people who say we have a bad team."
In due time, the scrutiny is sure to come, especially if this team starts to play games that matter. But for now, Gardenhire and the Tigers are in the honeymoon stage and all the focus is on development.
That's why Gardenhire pulled several players out of the clubhouse and onto the field for some extra infield work on May 1. It was pitchers' fielding practice, a session in which the first basemen practice flipping the ball to the pitchers at first base.
A few nights earlier, Niko Goodrum had botched a flip to a pitcher covering first base.
Instead of slamming Goodrum in an interview, Gardenhire took him out onto the field and they worked on the play that he had messed up.
Gardenhire stood by first base, watching Goodrum closely, trying to coach him up.
Goodrum slipped while doing the drill.
"We're out there talking about staying under control and he's not wearing spikes," Gardenhire said. "Lesson Number One: Put your spikes on when the grass is wet and you probably won't slip."
Gardenhire seems to find teaching moments everywhere. He is learning that some players need a swift kick in the pants and others need constant encouragement.
"He's the first guy to congratulate you after a hit," catcher James McCann said. "He's the first guy to congratulate you after a hard-hit ball that you get out on. 'That a way, way to swing it. Stay right there.'
"That's a little jab of confidence. 'Keep doing it. They will fall in.'
"He's also the first guy to talk to you after you strike out," McCann continued. "'Keep swinging. You'll get it next time.' ... The vibe you get from him, even in your biggest moments of failure, there is a way to look at it positively."
That doesn't mean Gardenhire is soft. He can still be tough, but he's not a jerk about it. "It's an awesome mix of old school, hard school and also keeping it light," McCann said. "A lot of times old school is bitterness, always angry. But he's got that old-school mentality with a positive spin on everything."
Cut to the core, the players have grown to appreciate Gardenhire because he remembers what it was like to play this game. Gardenhire was a career .232 hitter, who played five years with the New York Mets, after spending seven seasons in the minors.
"He says he was a futility player, instead of utility player," said Tigers bench coach Steve Liddle, who also worked with Gardenhire in Minnesota. Liddle and Gardenhire have been together since the 1980s, when they were playing minor-league ball together.
"Every time the national anthem would play, I would stand beside him and he would say, 'I have a bad game every time I hear this song,' " Liddle said. "I think he got that from Rusty Staub."
In the folksy, affable, approachable world of Gardy, everybody has a nickname.
There's Hicksey and Miggy and Machie and Willie and Jonesie and Candy.
But there is another side of Gardenhire, the old-school coach who demands the game be played the right way _ fight for 27 outs, run the bases hard, never give up, come to the park expecting to win.
Somehow, he blends both worlds together.
"He's coaching the fundamentals," Hicks said. "It might be, 'Hey, when we do the flip, we are going to do it this way or that way.' Then, as you are walking off, he says something funny. It's very rare that you are talking to him and you are both not laughing at some point in the conversation. He keeps it light."
The dugout has turned into a loud, vibrant, trash-talking venue where you better bring some thick skin and a quick wit.
"When things get hairy and locked in, he's the first guy you hear yelling or cutting up, him and Steve (Liddle)," Wilson said. "Both are always down there yelling or causing a commotion in some way, whether it's telling us what to do or cutting a joke. It's a live atmosphere, that's the best way to put it."
Most of the time, Leonys Martin is at the center of that.
"There is a lot of trash talking," Martin said. "When he gave me a day off, I said, 'this is gonna be the last day you bench me because I'm going to be right behind you, screaming all game."
And that's what he did.
Later, Gardy joked that he couldn't handle Martin in the dugout anymore, not with that incessant high-pitched scream.
He put him back in the lineup.
"To me, he's a pain in my ass because he gives me crap about being an Aggie," said Wilson, the ex-Texas A&M standout. "Because he's a Longhorn. He's always questioning my brainpower basically. Last night, he's like, 'Hey, you ever been on the bases?' I said, 'It's been a while, but I think I can handle it.' He goes, 'Do they teach you to run bases down there in Aggie Land?' I said, 'Yeah, we got tired of running the bases around you Longhorns when I was in college.'"
Wilson smiled.
"He cares so much about each and every person," Wilson said. "I think that's what makes it special."
That's an interesting statement.
How the players feel as if he cares about them.
Considering he didn't know who they were just a few months ago.
At the start of spring training, Gardenhire made an important speech to his team.
"At the first day of spring training he said, 'Hey guys bear with me, I'm not good real good with names,' " Wilson said. " 'So if I call you buddy, it's because I don't know you yet.' "
The players took that and ran with it, literally, on their backs.
"That's why me, Michael Fulmer and Jordan Zimmermann wore "Buddy" jerseys one day in spring training," Wilson said.
It made for a fun story.
But underneath the jokes about the jerseys, there was an important message.
"It basically opened the floor up for, 'Hey, I'm going to screw up sometimes but we are going to get through it,' " Wilson said.
In one speech, Gardenhire set a tone of humility and honesty, just being real. And now, players marvel at how much he knows them, how much he cares.
"You just gotta know your players," Wilson said. "He's done great, since the buddy speech, getting to learn every one of us."
Gardenhire has embraced analytics, but he still goes with his gut.
You would expect nothing less from someone who has managed more than 2,000 games in the big leagues.
He put Martin in the leadoff spot, even though there is nothing about him that suggests he is a leadoff hitter. Martin is a career .249 hitter, a guy who has averaged 126 strikeouts per 162 games, the length of a season.
"When I started seeing him in spring training, got to know him and watched him, he hasn't changed one bit," Gardenhire said. "We talked about that. Don't try to be something you are not. You are not a guy who might walk three times in a game ... because he's a swinger. Be yourself. Do what you do.
"I enjoy watching him play. I enjoy having him on the ball club. Is he a prototype leadoff hitter? I don't know what that is anymore."
When Gardenhire decided Martin was his leadoff hitter, the Tigers analytics department was confused.
"Was there push back?" Gardenhire said. "They said, 'Well, that's not exactly the way we would go with it.' Now, after spring training, when I ask them to send me lineups for each pitcher, his name is at the top. I think the computer is liking him a little bit better."
Rick Anderson roomed with Gardenhire in the 1980s when they were playing in the minor leagues.
"He was the same guy, fun-loving," Anderson said. "One time, we were in Triple-A with the Mets and they did an article on him. He brought it out and showed me. It says, 'What do you want to do when you get done playing?' And he said, 'I want to manage. I want to be a big-league manager one day and Rick Anderson is going to be my pitching coach.' "
Anderson was the Twins' pitching coach under Gardenhire from 2002-14.
Now, he's the Tigers' bullpen coach.
"He's like a dream to work for," Anderson said. "He's personable. Back in Minnesota, there would be times when he would say, 'I'm taking all of the security guards to dinner tonight.' He does it in the spring with the grounds crew. He took them to dinner one night. Gardy never forgets where he came from."
And that inspires loyalty from both his players and in his coaching staff.
"I didn't send out any resumes," Anderson said. "I was retired and he called me and said, 'Hey man, I want to put the band back together. I really like what Detroit has going on. It reminds me a lot of Minnesota. The way we were in 1999 and 2000.' "
"It does feel like that," Anderson continued. "We have a bunch of young kids on the way up, surrounded by veterans that know how to play and know how to help the young guys. Victor and Miggy are outstanding with our guys. Willie (Alex Wilson) in the bullpen is outstanding. We just got a young staff. To get Zimmermann, who is always helping guys out. It's a really unique."
There is a significant difference between this Tigers roster and the Twins team that Gardenhire took over in 2002. Gardenhire knew that Twins team intimately, having served as an assistant since 1991. But he still is learning this squad.
"When I took over Minnesota, the difference was I had been in the organization," Gardenhire said. "I had been with those kids as they came to the big leagues. ... But it was a whole lot more over there. We brought a whole big group up together. Seven or eight guys and said, 'You are playing at one time.' "
There are other factors at play with this team.
Tigers pitching coach Chris Bosio has worked wonders, getting this team to be aggressive.
"We have enough young talent in here that doesn't know when to quit, which is the fun part," Wilson said. "When you get the older teams, you expect things to go a certain way. This team has no idea what that means, so it's fun for some of us older guys, who have seen the other side of it, to have these young kids step up and fight to the bitter end."
How Gardenhire is handling JaCoby Jones is fascinating.
After Jones made a poor play in center field last week, Gardenhire went out of his way to praise his effort, diving for a ball. He forgave the absent-minded ball flip that allowed a runner to advance.
On another day, after Jones tagged up on a fly ball to center and was thrown out at second base, Gardenhire praised the aggressive approach.
Gardenhire wants Jones being aggressive. He doesn't want him to be afraid of making a mistake. He wants him to use his speed, to trust his instincts and play with full-blown confidence.
All of that came into play on Thursday afternoon when Hicks put down a stunning bunt, and Jones didn't hesitate at third base. He broke for home and the Tigers won another game.
The bunt?
The break for home?
That's the essence of this team.
"He's all about having fun and playing hard and not giving up," Jones said. "That's the way he preaches and that's the way we play."
It's all part of the Gardy Effect.
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