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Together all season, they made the postseason while respecting each other’s personal space

last updated: September 09, 2007 05:18:21 AM

Together all season, they made the postseason while respecting each other's personal space

Entering the Modesto Nuts home clubhouse around 5:30 p.m. was like walking into the same painting day after day.

It was 30 minutes after batting practice, so the players already had cooled off in the air-conditioned room, and all had grabbed something to eat from the Spartan pre-game spread. Yes, peanut butter still rules the minor league menu.

Just to the right of the entrance, catcher Neil Wilson would be sitting in his locker surfing the Internet. At the extreme other end of the room, Cole Garner would be staring into his laptop, sifting and sorting through his substantial music collection.

Daniel Carte and Jeff Kindel would be snipping at each other like twin brothers, keeping the amusement level high at the adjacent lockers of Travis Becktel and Nick Haley. Further up the line, Chris Nelson would be shouting something across the way to Eric Young Jr., who would acknowledge with a nod, a grin, and nothing more as he tended to his bats.

Past Modesto clubhouses have had the feel of a frat house, with several players vying to push the envelope of outrageousness. One would play the stereo at ever increasing volumes until the manager had to step out of his office. Others would fill the CD tray with rap lyrics so profane, teammates would complain.

This year there was none of that. This was less a frat house than a hotel lobby, with players respecting each other's spaces and sensibilities.

There was a reason for that, and in that explanation rests the legacy of the 2007 Modesto Nuts.

Outrageous behavior is common in clubhouses where new players constantly are shuffling in and out. In some ways, it's an alpha male territorial rite of passage.

This crop of Nuts resolved those issues two years ago, when a large portion of this year's Modesto players first became teammates. Most were promoted together to Asheville for the 2006 season, and the 2007 Nuts' opening-day roster included 18 players, who had won, lost, bled and sweated together in the South Atlantic League.

There were no territorial issues to resolve. These guys came to Modesto knowing how to push each others' buttons, and more important, knew which buttons to leave unpushed.

"Just having three years together with a lot of these guys has built friendships and in some cases a little bit more," Young said. "We've met family members and in doing so became family members ourself.

"You know exactly what's going on with each other without asking -- feelings, personalities -- and that made it a fun and easy season. The most difficult part about becoming a team is learning about each other, but we knew each other coming in."

Then, they stayed together.

There's no way to do the research, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any other season since, say, 1970, that a Modesto team went through an entire season without a single player being permanently promoted to a higher level.

Sure, Alan Johnson went to Tulsa for two spot starts, and outfielder Lino Garcia went to Triple-A Colorado Springs for a stint, but both were scheduled to return, and did.

So instead of the constant in-season reinvention of the team, which is the norm in the low minors, the Nuts essentially had one group for 140 regular-season and two playoff games.

"It's an anomaly, so don't expect that to happen again," said Nuts manager Jerry Weinstein. "One of the reasons we were able to achieve what we did was that we were able to keep the team together."

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