Angelswin.com Interview with Angels Ron Roenicke

Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke (right) giving Guerrero (left) some love after a home run

Interview conducted by Angelswin.com columnist - Victor Varadi

We had a chance to get in touch with Ron Roenicke after his Tempe workouts with the players on Friday (February 20, 2009) to ask him some questions that pertain to Ron's career as a ball player, third base coach and now bench coach of the Angels after taking over for now Rays manager Joe Maddon. Get to know Ron the person as well and what he likes to do for fun when he's not in an Angels uniform.

So, kick up you feet and enjoy reading this informative interview that Victor Varadi conducted with bench coach of the Angels, Ron Roenicke.

Q: (Angelswin) - What is the role of the bench coach, but also, does your role differ from roles of other bench coaches around the league?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - I think the bench coach job depends a lot on what the manager wants. Some guys don’t do any scheduling, they have a guy that does that. Some guys, the manager wants him during the game to be talking all the time during the game; some guys don’t want that guy next to him during the game to talk to him. My basic role is I do the scheduling, I do the lineups, I do the umpire cards.

Then during the game I make sure everyone is loose. I’m also there to talk to Mike when something is going on, to throw things at him. So our relationship there is kind of “as needed.” I don’t stand next to him all game if there’s nothing going on at the time. I’m also needed to pay attention to the outfield because I’m still the outfield coach. But I look at other teams, I see, for instance, Jim Leyland from Detroit, I see there’s no one next to him going to talk to him during the game. So it does differ from team to team.

Q: (Angelswin) - It sounds like you and Mike talk about in-game strategy. Do you guys ever disagree on in game strategy and do you ever talk about it after the game if you do disagree?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - Oh Absolutely. Part of the question I had when he asked me if I’d go from 3rd base coach to the dugout was ”Mike we’re gonna disagree on some stuff,” because we did when I was a 3rd base coach. And so “are we gonna butt heads too much to the point where it’s not gonna be good?” One of the things that he said was he wants to hear somebody’s opinion, he doesn’t want a bench coach that just sits there agreeing with everything he says. He wants to hear different opinions. And the nice thing is because we are friends, and I think because of the personalities also, even if we did get a little fired up every once in a while, in 10 minutes it’s done. So, maybe he gets mad at me for something I say to him during the game; maybe I disagree with him on something. The next day or maybe that night we’ll talk about it, but the next day I know it’s gone; I know there’s no problems. And it’s a great working environment when you can do that, when you’re not worried, well if I say this to him he’s gonna be mad at me for a week or whatever. That doesn’t happen here.

Q: (Angelswin) - You talked about the fact that you used to be a 3rd base coach, and you did so for 6 seasons with the Angels. Do you miss being on the field? And when you were promoted to become bench coach, was there anything you took from [Joe] Maddon that he used to do when he was bench coach?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - Yes, there [are] some things I miss about being on the field. You’re kind of one of the players when you’re out there. You are in the action and you are part of the action; you win and lose games out there.

Some things I love about being bench coach; it’s a bigger challenge. It’s more of the thinking things, helping out. It’s more of being like a manager. And I really enjoy that part. I really liked my time at 3rd base, but I’m also really liking my time as a bench coach.

And taking some things from Joe Maddon? Absolutely! Joe is without a doubt one of the best coaches I’ve ever been around.

Q: (Angelswin) - And he’s certainly proving that now.

A: (Ron Roenicke) - Yea, well, you know, things can be different as a coach and a manager. I’ve been around some really good coaches and they become a manager and they really weren’t all that great as a manager. Some guys are great coaches and great managers, and Joe is one of those guys. He’s got a different feel, he’s kind of like Mike. They’re very intelligent people, they really know the game of baseball, but they have these great personalities: they have a great sense of humor and they’ve got great common sense. And for me that is very rare to have all of those qualities in a manager. Joe has it and Mike has it.

Q: (Angelswin) - It doesn’t happen very often that Scioiscia gets ejected from a game. I know it happened a couple of years ago and you went 4-0 as the manager while he was gone. When it looks like he might be getting ejected from a game, do you start to get a little bit excited that you get to take over?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - (laughs) I don’t know if I’d call it excited. The nice thing, when he is suspended, I know from the get-go that I am the manager. You’re prepared for it, you know what you’re gonna have to do. When he gets ejected you’re not prepared for trying to do this stuff. You’re doing your job, all of a sudden he’s ejected and it kind of catches you a little bit off guard because you’re not prepared to that job that night, versus when he’s suspended, he was suspended for 3 straight games, that was an absolute blast! I knew what I was gonna have to do, I was prepared for it. But sometimes when he’s ejected in the 8th or 9th, maybe you’ve got a tie game and I’m not exactly sure what he’s talked about with the pitching staff or [pitching coach] Mike Butcher and all of a sudden all of these things are thrown at you and you’re scrambling to figure out, ok what are the signs he’s using today with his catchers. And so everything changes in a hurry.

Q: (Angelswin) - When a manager gets ejected, guys are always talking on TV saying, well he’s sitting in his office and he’s managing from his office; is that a reality or are you really handed the keys to the car and you’re on your own?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - I don’t know how it is on other teams. I’ve heard with other teams the guy is maybe managing from back there. Mike doesn’t. I told Mike, “if I’m gonna take this over, I’m taking it over.” He said “yea, I’m out of the game I want you to, you’re running everything.” So that’s the way we do it here. I don’t know exactly the way its run everywhere else.

Q: (Angelswin) - Yea I was curious as to how Mike did it. Talking about being an MLB manager, have you ever been offered any managerial positions in the past? Is it truly the stepping stone, you start as a bench coach, work your way up and hopefully one day become a manager?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - I think that is a stepping stone and it is something that I would like to do and hopefully that is the right situation to do. I am very happy where I am; I’m at home, I’m working in a great environment, I’m working for a great owner, a great manager. The coaching staff is one I enjoy every day. So, I’m in a great spot. If I don’t get that opportunity to manage, I still am really enjoying what I do.

But yes, I would like the opportunity sometime. It’s a challenge for me, I would like to be challenged a little bit more. If I do, great. And if not, it’s something that I’m happy with what I’m doing. You know, those jobs sometimes they come up and they’re right there for you, and sometimes they’re just, guys just never seem to get any offers. I interviewed a while ago with the Seattle Mariners. I needed to start kinda interviewing a couple times. Couple off-seasons there’s a lot of opportunities and some there’s none.

Q: (Angelswin) - In a perfect world, there’s a fantasy type draft, and you have one player to build your team around that’s currently playing, who’s that guy, who’s your first pick?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - (laughs) That’s a good one, that’s always a debate with us. Do you pick a number one pitcher or do you pick a number one player?

Q: (Angelswin) - Well, pick one of each.

A: (Ron Roenicke) - You have your Albert Pujols, you have… pitchers…there’s a lot of different choices there. There’s the Halladay's, the CC Sabbathia's. And in the other league, you got your Peavy’s. So, there’s a lot…that’s always a debate. Do you go for a guy that’s gonna be there every game? And I think you gotta look at personalities too. Are a lot of these guys leaders that you want to build a team around? That’s a good question and one that gets discussed a lot.

Q: (Angelswin) - I’m sure. And it’s one that gets discussed on message boards ad nauseum

A: (Ron Roenicke) - You’re right!

Q: (Angelswin) - You mentioned being at home. You’re from Covina, right?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - Correct, I grew up in West Covina.

Q: (Angelswin) - I read up a little bit on you and I actually think I have a Ron Roenicke Dodger baseball card. So you were drafted 4 times and each time you chose not to go, and then you were finally drafted by the Dodgers. So what was that like, being drafted by essentially a hometown team, if it wasn’t the Angels it was the Dodgers that were your hometown team.

A: (Ron Roenicke) - That’s who I grew up watching. My parents would take my brother and kid sister and I to games. And as soon as my brother was able to drive and we would go to the Dodger games. The other times I was drafted, with the 4 other teams I turned down, I don’t know mentally if I was ready to do that. I was wanting to go to school and my parents wanted me to go to school, also; my brother had signed out of high school.

Also, out of high school I was still wanting to play football. I probably was a better football player at that time. So I was kinda wanting to do that. So the Dodgers drafted me and it looked like I was gonna go in a good spot, and I had been to college for 3 years. I was ready to do it.

Q: (Angelswin) - So when you think back, what were some of your finest memories as a player in the big leagues?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - In the big leagues? Well I have a lot of them, both good and bad. Good was that I got to play for a lot of different teams and play with a lot of great players. The bad was that I probably wasn’t good enough to stay with any one team for a long time. I got to play with Mike Schmidt over in Philadelphia. I got to play with Tony Gwynn in San Diego. I got to play with all the great Dodger teams, go to a world series. So, it was probably the players that I was fortunate enough to play with on all those different teams. The great ones and to learn a lot from them and to learn a lot from the managers, too. Things I liked and things I didn’t like about all the different managers that I played for.

Q: (Angelswin) - Switching gears a little bit to what’s going on right now. Spring Training started and I know it’s early and I know as fans we get really excited when pitchers and catchers report, but then we see some of the other guys like Bobby Abreu out there early. You got your eye on anybody that’s standing out, either on the mound, defensively or hitting the ball?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - We’ve got a lot of really good young arms that I haven’t seen before. So it’s kinda fun to watch that. And it’s fun to have Bobby Abreu on our team because of the way he goes about his business, and because of some of the conversations I’ve already had with him. He puts a lot of effort into what he does, he doesn’t just show up and let his natural ability go with the flow. He’s studying pitchers, he’s studying a lot of different things that makes him the professional player that he is, and I enjoy that. Last year we had Torii Hunter in for the first time and I got to go through a Spring Training with him.

It’s nice to change every year, have these different personalities and get to know everybody and try to figure out the best way to go about, “how do I get this guy to perform to the best of his abilities?” That’s one of the challenges of the mental coach, to try to figure out the personalities and how do I get to him the best way. So it’s fun to have conversations with guys that are obviously great players and they’ve done things a certain way for a long time and when you have a disagreement on how something should be done. How do you go about convincing this great player to maybe try it this way? So it’s a challenge.

Q: (Angelswin) - The thing that gets bandied about when people talk about the Angels, and certainly people who don’t watch the Angels on a daily basis, and you’re probably tired of hearing about it, is the big bat. But I look at this team and I think there’s a lot of potential to do a lot of really good things. How do you feel about this team going into 2009?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - Well, I think we all have a good feeling about it. You know, the big bat is really important to have but you need to do certain things with that big bat. If you have a big bat you have to get a lot of people on base for him. If you don’t get a lot of people on base that big bat doesn’t become a big bat anymore. You need to have certain things to complement that kind of a player. And for us, ok maybe we’ve learned that, say what if we would have re-signed Teixera, we could have figured, well his power numbers are there, the RBIs. If a guy is a professional hitter he is going to have so many opportunities if you have a bunch of guys who get on base. There’s a lot of times when there’s gonna be that runner on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and all you need is a base hit to drive in 2 runs. The 3 run homer is great, but the base hit is gonna happen a lot more often than the 3 run homer. So to have good hitters who are going to hit for good average, or are going to be on base guys, those are very important to line ups. You look at our team, I think a lot of our younger guys are getting better all the time, and they need to get better because we’re counting on them.

We’ve got the great pitching staff, but offensively we’d like to score more runs and take some pressure off of our pitchers. The young guys are getting better, add those veteran players in there, you bring in an Abreu and last year it was Torii Hunter. So you’re getting a lot of pluses from the veterans and with these young guys with hopefully the potential we think they’re going to get to, all of a sudden you’ve got a good offense.

Q: (Angelswin) - As you were talking about good hitting I was thinking about Fox Sports West was recently replaying that 2002 Game 5 ALCS. I was thinking about all those guys and how throughout the season the Angels were not a big homerun hitting team. In the playoffs we got some timely homers, but for the most part they were just a team that hit well from top to bottom. What was it like in 2002, the whole championship run?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - It was definitely a different team than we have now. Offensively we were incredible in 02. We got so many hits, it seemed like we were getting 2-3 hits in every single inning; there were people on base, we were running crazy. I was coaching 3rd at the time. It was an absolute blast to see these guys hitting. And tough outs, nobody was just going up there and making easy outs. Everybody was getting deep in the count, getting big 2 out hits, big 2 strike hits. That’s, I think, what made that season so fun was to watch that offense; especially when we got into the playoffs. Those guys could really hit. And you’re playing against a team that obviously got there with great pitching, because nobody gets there without great pitching. So we were doing that offensively against a bunch of great pitching staffs.

Q: (Angelswin) - That’s for sure. Watching that Game 5 when Kennedy hit that 3rd homerun and broke it open, I think the Angels sent 8 guys to the plate without recording an out.

A: (Ron Roenicke) - That’s incredible. That’s pretty rare in the playoffs to do that.

Q: (Angelswin) - And a lot of them were against a just coming up Johan Santana.

A: (Ron Roenicke) - yea, a pretty good pitcher (laughs).

Q: (Angelswin) - yea, not bad! Just a couple more and we’ll let you go. Both relating to you, Ron Roenicke the person, if you will. One, do you have any rituals or superstitions, and two, what do you do for fun when you’re not thinking baseball, when the season is over and the offseason is here?

A: (Ron Roenicke) - well, I’m not superstitious at all. It’s just something I’m not.

In the off-season I have a lot of hobbies. I love to woodwork. I like playing golf. I like fishing. I like hunting. There’s a lot of things I like to do. I like to cook. There’s a lot of interests I have that keep me pretty busy.

Angelswin - it was an honor to talk to you and good luck this year.

This concludes the interview with Ron Roenicke. For comments or reaction to the interview, check out our message board for the Ron Roenicke interview thread.

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Angelswin.com Interview with Dino Ebel

Interview conducted by Adam Dodge - Angelswin.com Senior Writer
November 20th, 2008

Angels third base coach Dino Ebel took time out of his busy off-season to answer questions exclusively for the Angelswin.com online community.

Angelswin.com: During the regular season we hear so often from (Manager) Mike Scioscia, after a tough loss, things like “we need to turn the page.” You can’t really do that after a post-season loss. How long does a loss in the post-season stick with you into the off-season? Or is it something you get away from pretty quickly?

Dino Ebel: He’s right. In the regular season you turn the page and look forward to the next day. It was tough losing to Boston especially there late in the game. For me personally, it stuck with me for a while. When the second round finished and the World Series began I started watching the games and getting over it. What he says about turning the page I absolutely agree with. It was just a little bit tougher for myself and I know for the team they had to be thinking the same way. It had to stick a little longer than just a normal regular season game where you can turn the page and look forward to the next day because we didn’t have a next day. The season was over.

Angelswin.com: Would you accredit that to the fact that it was Boston again? Or, maybe because of the high expectations for this particular Angels club, which won 100 games for the first time in franchise history?

Dino Ebel: I think that with the season we had and the accomplishments this team went through – the hundred wins, Frankie’s 62 saves, we were expecting to compete in the playoffs. It wasn’t a matter for me who we were playing, whether it was Boston, or Tampa, or the White Sox. Not getting out of the first round was a little disappointing because we felt we had the team to go deeper into the playoffs.

Angelswin.com: And I’m sure there was a lot of confidence in the team going into game four after the tough win in game three.

Dino Ebel: Definitely. The guys were fired up in the clubhouse afterwards…winning the first game in Boston in extra innings. We felt good going into it and it just didn’t happen for us.

Angelswin.com: We typically know what’s going on with managers in the off-season and certainly with the front office. What’s an off-season like for a third base coach baseball-wise?

Dino Ebel: Like any other winter for me from when I managed in the minor leagues and coached in the minor leagues. You take time off mentally and physically. A month has already gone by for me and I’m already biting at the bit and starting to get anxious because the general managers meetings…there’s always something going on in the winter time. There’s trades. There are free agents. I like that kind of stuff.

I like to look back at our scouting reports. I keep track of all the outfielders and where they played against us. What their arms were like. So, I kind of just do a little bit of homework here and there. I’m a baseball man. I look forward to reading the paper and looking at the internet. Then, after the New Year, I start to get mentally and physically prepared to go into spring training.

Angelswin.com: Speaking of spring training, what’s a typical spring training day like for you? What do you do during camp to prepare for the regular season?

Dino Ebel: Well I get there very early in the morning. The staff gets there very early. The bench coach does the scheduling. I help Ron (Roenicke) with the scheduling early in the morning.

Then we get out on the field, and do some defense, some base running, or some fundamentals. Sometimes I’ll be with Ron on the big field to do some things with our players. Sometimes I’ll go with Alfredo Griffin. Sometimes I’ll go down to the minor league field.

So, a typical day for me – I’m there about six in the morning to help with scheduling. Then we hit the field. If there’s a game at 1:00pm, we’ll have a meeting before. Then Mike (Scioscia) will meet with the staff after games.

Angelswin.com: Moving into the regular season and speaking about preparation, as a third base coach do you prepare on a game by game basis or a series by series basis? If, for example, you’re facing a team outside the AL West, is there a bit more that goes into preparing since you don’t see that opponent as often?

Dino Ebel: Series by series. It doesn’t matter for us whether we’re playing in the AL West or a National League team in interleague, the staff meets about 2:30 in the afternoon with every player offensively. At the beginning of a series we go over strengths or scouting reports. For myself, I watch a lot of tape…try to see if they (opponent) play shallow or deep…if they have minus arms or plus arms.

Angelswin.com: Let’s say you’re playing the Royals who have Jose Guillen, who has a strong arm out in right field. Do you get a little pumped for those games? Are you looking to challenge him? How do you treat those situations?

Dino Ebel: If I got a Jose Guillen, Ichiro Suzuki or BJ Upton…guy’s we know have plus arms…depending on the situation of the game – what inning we’re in we’ll be a little more aggressive. For me it’s how hard the ball is hit, whether an outfielder has to go left or right, whether he catches the ball in the air, or is flat-footed. Those are the things I pick up. That’s why when you see me I’m really down the line a lot.

Angelswin.com: Yep.

Dino Ebel: It gives me more time to see the play develop. He (the outfielder) might get a bad hop. The ball might snake on him. He might pick it up flat-footed and depending on who our runner is and if it’s early in the game and we have a two or three run lead I might be more aggressive. If it’s the eighth inning and we’re down a run…it depends on who the runner is. If they have below or average speed… and for me, how they receive the ball, especially an Ichiro. If he’s coming in I might play it a little safe.

Angelswin.com: It has been pretty noticeable that you have gotten a lot more comfortable coaching third base in the Angels’ system in the time you’ve been here – from the first April you were here until now. You had been a manager in the minor leagues prior to joining the big club. How long had it been since you had coached third base? It seems like a position that requires a lot of experience and reps in order to grow into.

Dino Ebel: Absolutely. In the eight and half years I managed in the minor leagues I coached third base. So coming into it I had eight and half years under my belt. Now here, I have three more and you’re right it’s just getting out there…the experience…being in the playoffs in back to back seasons…been doing it now for eleven and a half years straight.

Angelswin.com: Was there ever a point when you were managing in the minor leagues, and hadn’t gotten the call to coach with the big club that you thought about putting baseball behind you and maybe look to do something else?

Dino Ebel: Never one day did I think to take the uniform off and do something else. I absolutely love putting on the uniform and just knew in my heart that if I worked hard and kept battling every day and developing players in the minor leagues - I knew that someday I’d get the opportunity to get to the big leagues. I was fortunate enough in 2005 that Joe Maddon left and Mike called me up in 2006. If I never would have gotten the call I think still today I’d be in the minor leagues and say “hey, work hard and one day I might get the call.”

Angelswin.com: Is managing in the Major Leagues the ultimate aspiration for you?

Dino Ebel: Absolutely. That is the goal that I set a long time ago. I’ve always felt as though my first goal was to get to the big leagues as a third base coach. Second, I would like to be a bench coach someday and the ultimate goal is to manage in the major leagues.

Angelswin.com: And do you feel like the Angels present that situation for you? We’ve seen Bud Black and Joe Maddon leave to become successful managers in their own right. You seem to be in a system that is producing managers right now. I’m sure Roenicke is next on the list.

Dino Ebel: Absolutely. I’m sure one day Ron’s going to get his shot and I’m blessed to be in the Angel organization and be with a baseball man like Mike Scioscia. I’ve been around Buddy Black and Joe Maddon and Ron Roenicke, Hatcher and Alfredo Griffin. No doubt, I feel like the opportunity is there someday for me.

Angelswin.com: I’d like to talk a little bit about signs. One of your duties as a third base coach is to relay the signs from the bench to the hitters at the plate. We know that other teams, trying to get any advantage that they can, will try to steal your signs. How often do you change signs during a game?

Dino Ebel: I’ve got maybe four different sets of signs for five different players. So if someone is really trying to watch me, it is going to be very difficult because I’ve got certain signs for Figgy, certain signs for Aybar…certain signs for other players. If I feel like something isn’t right…maybe they pitched out or maybe something didn’t work out right I might change those signs. But, like I said I’ve got lots of sets of signs for different players so they’re pretty complicated.

Angelswin.com: And on the other side of the coin, as the third base coach, between innings, when you’re on the bench, are you one of the guys trying to pick off signs from the opponent?

Dino Ebel: Yeah, yeah. I’ve always done that. I watch other third base coaches. If it’s something that helps your ball club…I know there are teams that watch me, and I watch them.

Angelswin.com: Do you look at video to critique yourself and make sure you’re not giving anything away? Do you try to find patterns with opposing third base coaches?

Dino Ebel: No. I’ve never watched video on coaches or myself. It happens so fast and things change.

Angelswin.com: You’re definitely one of the quicker guys at getting them out there.

Dino Ebel: I spend a lot of time – almost every day in spring training and in the regular season going over signs. Just being in the outfield, I’ll go up to Erick Aybar and give him signs and he’ll give them back to me. That’s one of things I take pride in. With a manager like Mike Scoiscia…I get the signs and give them to the player. One of my goals is to never put the blame on the player for a missed sign.

Angelswin.com: Is there a guy on the roster, who in the time you’ve been here has not missed one sign?

Dino Ebel: The guys know the signs. We spend so much time on them. That’s one of the things Mike Scioscia emphasizes. In spring training he’ll have me stand up in the clubhouse just trying to trick guys. You know, because it’s important for our ball club. If we got a hit and run and a guy gets thrown out and we lose by a run I feel like that’s my fault.

Angelswin.com: I assume if that happens there is some sort of fine in kangaroo court…are you saying that you pay the fine if that happens?

Dino Ebel: (Laughs)…Mike calls those guys into the office and, um, I don’t know what goes on there.

Angelswin.com: How would you compare the feeling you had as a player to the feeling you have as a coach in the big moments of games? Is it similar?

Dino Ebel: Yeah. Being on the bases, you’re in the game. You’re making decisions. You’re scoring guys. You see my style…if there’s going to be a play at third base I’m on the ground. I feel like I’m in that game. When I managed in the minor leagues from the bench, you’re watching the game from the dugout. I feel like for me, there’s definitely a different feeling when you’re out at third base. It feels like you’re part of this game. You’re part of this action. The heart’s beating. There are goose bumps. The crowd’s on their feet. Because you’re out there. You’re on the grass. When you send a guy and there’s a play at the plate and he’s safe, the crowd goes crazy. You feel like a player again.

Angelswin.com: Is there a team out there that plays an aggressive style that the staff watches and really respects?

Dino Ebel: One team comes to mind. It’s the Minnesota Twins. They’ve got some guys on that team that can run. Just looking through those sorts of stats around the league you see us and the Tampa Bay Rays but no one ever mentions the Minnesota Twins. They really do a good job of putting pressure on our outfielders. You see them…when the ball’s hit their secondary leads are like ours. You know they’ve got one thing on their mind and that’s to make it to third base. They don’t get the recognition that the Angels get.

Angelswin.com: Is there another third base coach in the league that you really admire and pay attention to?

Dino Ebel: I watch them all. I watch their styles. If they do things I like I’ll watch them and try to do it. I think most importantly for a third base coach is positioning yourself so that that player knows where you’re going to be at all times. So if a ball is hit to the gap or down the line he can look to a spot and know you’re going to be there.

I know I really admired Joe Amalfitano when I was with the Dodgers. Jimmy Williams is another guy. Coming up in the minor leagues I always took pride watching those two guys coach third base. Joe Amalfitano especially, coming up with the Dodgers. Every spring training, he’d spend 30-40 minutes with the minor league coaches and managers just going over how to coach third base.

Angelswin.com: As a third base coach you really get a bird’s eye view of the left side of the infield of your opponents. Who’s the best defensive third baseman is the best in your opinion? Is it Adrian Beltre? Scott Rolen, perhaps?

Dino Ebel: For me it’s Adrian Beltre. All the major league third basemen do a tremendous job, but for me Adrian Beltre is probably the best. This guy is really in the game. You notice every time I do signs with a runner on third base this guy is on the bag trying to listen to what I’m telling our players. If we’re going contact…if we’re going squeeze…or whatever play it might be, he’s in your ear. A lot of third basemen will just hang out a couple feet from the base. They might give you a look and try to pick up your signs. But if you watch Adrian Beltre over there just doing the job day in and day out…what a great set of hands and a gold glove to go with a cannon arm. Here’s a guy that takes tremendous pride in trying to be the best third baseman he can be.

Angelswin.com: Who’s the third baseman that’s maybe the best guy, who will chat it up with you…that you look forward to playing that team just for the entertainment value?

Dino Ebel: For me, every one of them are great. They’ll all say “hi.” But, for me this year was Evan Longoria. For whatever reason he and I just started talking. It was pretty cool. As a rookie he came up and in the games we played he came over and said a little more to me than just “hi, Dino.” He asked questions that were pretty cool about the game and about the players around the league. He and I have a good relationship.

Angelswin.com: Talk a little bit about the grind of the season.

Dino Ebel: It’s a grind. East Coast to West Coast for us…it takes a day to get back in a groove. You lose those three hours. As for family, you always miss your family. This is my 22nd year in the game. My wife does a great job with the kids at home. I call home 3-4 times per day and talk to them. Getting into a city early – at four or five in the morning, then playing that night. It’s kind of tough. After that, your body gets adjusted.

Angelswin.com: Do the kids watch dad on the TV every night?

Dino Ebel: Yeah. My daughter does. She’s sixteen. And I’ve got two little ones. A fifteen month and a six week-old. My wife and daughter don’t miss a game whether we’re at home or on the road.

Angelswin.com: Okay, last question for you. When you got the sign for the squeeze in game four vs. Boston, what was going through your mind? Did your heart rate jump up? Were you excited about it? Was it something where you thought “are you kidding me? Right now?”

Dino Ebel: Not at all. I thought one hundred percent when Mike put it on…that’s one thing when I’m at third base – I don’t think as a manager. My job is getting the signs from Mike. My job is to make sure those players get the sign. After I put the sign on I thought “absolutely. Aybar’s gonna get a good pitch here and put it down. You know, he missed it. But, not for one second did I think it would turn out the way it did. And you know for me I’m just thinking “I hope Aybar gets the sign.” And, I knew he would.

Angelswin.com: And, was Willits safe at third? Because, I saw the rule and I’m paraphrasing here, but it states that a defensive player must voluntarily release the ball after applying a tag, which Varitek definitely did not do.

Dino Ebel: That’s why I thought for a second…I don’t know how he explained it to Mike because when Mike got out there I backed off. Welke was the third base umpire that night and he had just started to tell me that Varitek had the ball long enough when Mike got out there and I backed off.

Angelswin.com: Dino, thank you very much for your time and we’ll see you in Tempe.

Dino Ebel: Thank you.

This concludes our interview with third base coach, Dino Ebel.

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