The spring of our discontent

No, wait. Here it is: Rangers 6, Devil Rays 4. Everything's gonna be OK. No more must-wins this spring training. "It's the most important win of the year," Johnny Oates says after the game.

The consensus is that he's joking.
"It's much better to win than lose," he adds, not joking.
Fact is, asking a manager about spring training games is a little like asking someone about a waffle he ate six months after the fact. What's the point?

The highlight of this particular post-game press conference occurs when KTCK-AM's George Dunham, half of The Ticket's Dunham and Miller, asks Oates whether he's "testy." The manager grins and says, "I'm still mildly testy today." A little later, he elaborates and even sort of apologizes, explaining that he was acting "arrogant" after the Red Sox game. "What do I know about double surgeries?" he offers.

"I didn't think you were arrogant," T.R. Sullivan tells him. "I thought you were a shithead."

Have you ever smelled tension? John Blake, the Rangers' PR man sitting at the opposite end of a table from Oates, looks as though he's about to explode when Sullivan says this. His body shudders. Is this any way to talk to the manager of a major-league baseball team?

Oates thanks Fraley and Sullivan for not using any of his angrier quotes in their respective papers today, and Fraley tells Oates he'd like a mulligan for yesterday's conversation--a do-over. "You know," Oates says by way of explanation, "my constructive criticism comes across as belittling, sarcastic--at least that's what my kids tell me." Everyone has a little laugh. Everyone smiles. All is well in Ranger land today. A win does that, even a meaningless spring training win.

It is going to be a very long season.