Register columnist
sbisheff@ocregister.com
Therapy Central of Round Rock, Texas
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Sunday, March 27th, 2005
Orange hero bred to fly with Angels
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STEVE BISHEFF Register columnist sbisheff@ocregister.com |
TEMPE, ARIZ. - They look alike, play alike and talk alike. They have the same first name, the same plucky attitude, the same wide-eyed, big-dream approach.
They even have had the same heart-tugging relationship with their fathers.
David Eckstein leaves, and David Matranga arrives.
"When you see David Matranga, you see a lot of David Eckstein," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
Some of that, apparently, is by design.
"I feel Eckstein and I are very similar," said Matranga, a non-roster, free-agent infielder who has forced the Angels to take a long look at him this spring. "I scrap, I play hard, I hustle. I hope maybe I can do some of the same things he did."
There is one difference. Eckstein, when he showed up, just wanted to make it onto a big-league team. Any big-league team.
Matranga, 28, is every bit as hungry, but he only wants to play for one big-league team.
He only wants to play for the Angels.
"Where I grew up, you could see the lights of then Anaheim Stadium from my back yard," the former Orange High and Pepperdine star said. "When I was 5 years old, my dad took me to my first game there. I looked down at the field and told him I'd play for the Angels some day."
When Matranga was 21 and a rookie in the New York-Penn League after being drafted by the Astros, his father, Dan, died of a heart attack at age 51.
"One of the last things he said to me," David recalled, "was to remind me that I promised to play as an Angel someday."
Someday is coming.
Unlike Eckstein, Matranga isn't quite gifted enough to have forced his way into Scioscia's starting lineup in spring training. He almost assuredly won't make the Angels' final 25-man roster that oozes with proven talent.
But it appears Matranga will survive until the final cut, which means he will get the chance to fulfill his promise.
He will trot onto the field of his dreams April1 wearing an Angels uniform in the Freeway Series opener against the Dodgers.
"I can't tell you how much that would mean," Matranga said. "It would be so wild. It would be the highlight of my career.
"Just to be in this clubhouse now, to feel like you're part of the Angels, is so great."
If that doesn't sound exactly like Eckstein, you weren't listening the past four years. This kid is right out of the same sincere, polite, All-America mold.
If he were any more clean-cut, you would want to offer him milk and cookies.
"Like Eck, he's persevered," Scioscia said. "He's showed us some things. He's put himself in a position to play in the big leagues at some point. When you see a kid like that, you can't help but pull for him."
The manager isn't the only one pulling for him. In his hometown of Orange, David's every at-bat is an event. Even in spring training.
"Orange is a baseball community, and he's our hometown hero," said Ed Howard, Matranga's former coach at Orange High and currently the director of athletics in the Orange Unified School District.
"In high school, David was the same as he is today. Focused, hard-working, spirited. All the great things you can say about a youngman. Even now, before every season, David comes back and talks to our team. He inspires the players. It's unsolicited, but he makes a big difference. I don't think he understands the impact he has."
Howard sees the resemblance to Eckstein, too. But he adds Matranga might have a bit more natural ability.
"There is none of that throw barely reaching first base with him," Howard said. "I think he's bigger, stronger and faster than Eckstein.
"But looks-wise and approach-wise, they're the same. David even is the last one to leave the park after signing autographs, just like Eckstein."
When Eckstein came up in 2001, there wasn't an All-Star-caliber shortstop like Orlando Cabrera in front of him. Circumstances often dictate opportunities at this level, and it is Matranga's misfortunate that the Angels currently have a glut of talented middle infielders.
He understands that, but it doesn't mean he is giving up the dream.
"My original goal obviously was to make the team," Matranga said. "But as a non-roster guy, it's a longshot. My secondary goal was to play as hard as I could and make them notice me.
"If I get sent down to Salt Lake City or somewhere, there will be no hard feelings. I just hope if something happens up here, they'll remember my name."
Matranga certainly will remember theirs. Drafted in the sixth round by the Astros in 1998, he had some decent years in their system, hitting .302 at Round Rock and .273 at New Orleans.
"My contract with them expired this year, and I just felt there was no commitment there," Matranga said. "I was a free agent, and I really never even considered another team.
"My heart led me right to here."
Matranga can play third base, second base and shortstop. He would be an ideal utility type, except the Angels signed versatile Lou Merloni, a veteran with a .273 lifetime average in the big leagues, in the offseason.
When Eckstein showed up in Anaheim, he was listed at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds. Matranga is 6-foot and 180, but in the field, he doesn't appear that big.
"What I like about the Angels," Matranga said, "is that they don't look at the past. They judge you by what you can do right now."
Matranga has done just fine. He has hit .292 and handled himself professionally enough in the field to make it to the final cut. To the last few days of spring.
To the edge of a lifelong dream. And the fulfillment of a promise to his father.
"This is all so cool," Matranga said.
No, David. It is more than that.
It is Eck-straordinary.
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