Ron Washington taking more relaxed approach

ARLINGTON, Texas

Within an hour or so of every Yankees loss, no matter how grueling or heartbreaking, Joe Torre could be seen wearing his trademark poker face, usually with this thought:

Let's get something to eat.

Yes, perhaps Torre at times was a little too detached from what was occurring. But his veteran players largely appreciated his ability to quickly put aside the past.

It backs up the notion that, as much as we love dissecting a manager's moves and decisions -- particularly here at the World Series -- managing the people in the clubhouse can be just as important, if not more so.

That's why it was interesting to hear Rangers skipper Ron Washington talk Friday about applying his lessons from last October to this one, his and Texas' second straight World Series.

"The less I say, the better off I am. Just stay out of the way," Washington said. "They know what they have to do, they know what's at stake, and I just stay out of the way until it's time for me to step in.

"Other than that, I leave them alone, and I let them play, and I try to enjoy watching them play. I step in when I have to step in and do what I feel I have to do."

Washington added, "I haven't had one meeting" since the Rangers clinched the American League West title.

Pitcher Derek Holland, who will start tonight's Game 4 for the Rangers, said of his manager, "To me, I feel like he's still the same. He's very into it and everything. He hasn't changed all that stuff.

"Obviously, the meetings were a little bit different. But he's still the same guy he was in the regular season, the [ALDS], the [ALCS] and everything. You just see him on the TV. He's very into it, very energetic. Nothing has changed with Wash. He's still the same awesome guy."

(Before we proceed, if you're wondering about the discrepancy between Washington saying he hasn't had any meetings and Holland saying the meetings were different, Holland probably was referring to scouting meetings, Washington to pep-talk meetings.)

Managing in the postseason can be a tightrope walk. You don't want to put extra pressure on your players, as Washington apparently believes he did last year. But you also want to recognize the opportunity at hand. Watching the Minnesota Twins lose to the Yankees in 2009 and 2010, you wonder whether manager Ron Gardenhire did enough to motivate and prepare his players.

Torre liked to streamline the team's October preparation. Sometimes, when sitting in a meeting with Yankees super-scout Gene Michael, he would speed through the reports on certain players. And other times, he would slow down the talk and encourage the group to share ideas, such as when the Yankees faced nemesis Jamie Moyer and the Seattle Mariners in the 2001 ALCS.

Joe Girardi likes to have every piece of data he can find, but he generally doesn't impose it on his players, knowing that different guys possess different philosophies about getting ready for the postseason.

When the Yankees dropped Game 4 of the 2010 ALCS to the Rangers, Girardi held a team meeting. By all accounts, he calmly reiterated his faith in his players and offered a simple "one game at a time" pep talk.

It worked for a game, as the Yankees prevailed in Game 5 before the Rangers eliminated them in Game 6.

Girardi has looked extremely tense during certain junctures of the past two postseasons. But then again, he often looks tense during the regular season.

Does he need to change? It couldn't hurt. Although Tony La Russa -- one of Girardi's mentors -- seems to have done all right for himself, and no one has ever accused him of staying out of the way.