Young Leaders
McLouth, Doumit Emerge in Clubhouse
By Joe Giardina

This was supposed to be about the veteran leaders of the Pirates' clubhouse. It was supposed to be about the established players who have been around this team for a while and have forged relationships.

It was supposed to be about the Jason Bay's, the Freddy Sanchez's, the Ian Snell's.

But it isn't.

Spend some time in the glorified 5,200 square-foot dorm room they call a clubhouse and you can see why. With the 16-bit Nintendo playing on the big screen, and the music blasting over the iPod, it shouldn't come as a shock that some people believe the young players have taken over the team. Two players specifically.

"There aren't a lot of guys in baseball I would pay to watch play," said Pirates' utility man Doug Mientkiewicz. "But I would pay to watch Ryan Doumit and Nate McLouth go about their business everyday. They do it right."

Neither the 27-year-old Doumit nor the 26-year-old McLouth have played an entire season as a starter in the major leagues. Neither has more than 1,000 at bats for their career. Yet they have shouldered the burden of turning around a team that hasn't tasted victory since they both were in middle school.

And who knows, had Jack Wilson, the longest tenured Pirate, not been sidelined for the majority of the season with a calf injury, this story may be different. But in his absence, the team had to find leadership elsewhere.

None of this is a knock the veterans who have been around through the good and the bad - mostly the latter. But if there is one player on the Pirates' 25 man roster who knows what it takes to win, it is Mientkiewicz. He won an Olympic Gold Medal in 2000 with Team USA, hitting the winning home run against South Korea in the semifinals. He won a World Series in 2004 with the Boston Red Sox, catching the final out. He also played on playoff teams with the Yankees and the Twins.

"[Winning] has a lot more to do with personality than it does with talent," Mientkiewicz said. "You can have the most talented guy, but if he doesn't want to fit in with the other 24 guys then he is a bad seed, and you've got to get him out."

Mientkiewicz believes that this Pirates' team is more talented than the up-and-coming teams he was a member of in the earlier part of his career in Minnesota. The same teams that went to the playoffs back-to-back years in 2002 and 2003.

"This clubhouse is getting there," he said. "But it doesn't happen over night. There are a few guys in this room that when they speak, they get a response."

TAKING THE REIGNS

Being viewed as a clubhouse leader isn't something that Nate McLouth set out for, and in fact, was something he was surprised to hear.

"I'm not a real vocal person," he said as he paused briefly, with a look of shock on his face. "You know, if someone would look at me as a leader it would be because of what I do on the field, and more leading by example then anything."

It's safe to say that through the first two months of the season, McLouth has set a pretty good example between the lines. He leads the team in most offensive categories and has blossomed into the type of player you could build a team around.

And Doumit was playing just as well before bowing out, probably for a month, due to a fractured thumb. Maybe it's no coincidence that the Pirates lost five of their next seven games with him out of the lineup. But leading has to do with more than stats. And even though Doumit won't be on the scorecard for a few weeks, he will still be in the clubhouse with the rest of the team while he rehabs.

"There is more to [Doumit and McLouth] than just getting two hits a night," Mientkiewicz said. "They want to win, they want to be a part of something that changes things."

But in order to change, there has to be consistency in management and in the front office. It is difficult for players to know their rolls on a team that has a revolving door to the manager's office. The Pirates hope with manager John Russell calling the shots on the field, and smart baseball people like Neil Huntington and Frank Coonelly operating behind the scenes, the organization is finally moving in the right direction.

The changes are palpable.

"The clubhouse is a lot better," McLouth said. "It's a lot more serious. There is a lot more attention paid to detail. It has definitely improved."

SETTING THE TONE

While Russell might not be the an-your-face manager like Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox or Lou Pinella of the Cubs, he still has an effective way of dealing with his players. And while they are learning to deal with him, he is also learning to deal with them in his first year as a manager in the bigs.

"The bottom line is, whether you're Ozzie Guillen or you're John Russell, as long as you back up your team, no matter how it gets across, that's what you are supposed to do," Mientkiewicz said.

Russell's laid back approach, similar to that of former manager Jim Tracy, has gathered criticism locally by fans. And while Mientkiewicz does think there a few things his new manager could work on, he does feels they hired the right man for the job.

"I would much rather have a Larry Bowa on my butt because you know where he stood and he'd get it off his chest right away. But John will let it linger for a while," he said. "You wish he'd come out and say something. I'd rather have someone get it done, get it over with and let's move on, but John's not like that. John will make you feel like you're six years old and you didn't clean your room up.

"But, you know what, this place needed him bad," he added. "He's got that calming influence, that steadiness, that stability this place needs."

The transition from perennial basement dwellers to contenders requires patience. It starts with a smart front office, management the players believe in and a winning atmosphere instilled in the clubhouse. The Pirates believe they have all three. Now comes the simplest, if not the easiest, part.

Win.

"You want people to start coming to games? Start winning. You want to stop being the laughing stock of SportsCenter every night? Start winning," Mientkiewicz said. "The wins aren't there yet, but the attitude is starting to change. And that's the first step."