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Davey Martinez was in the opposing team’s dugout in Nationals Park last October when his former team, the Chicago Cubs, eliminated Washington’s Nationals with a win in Game 5 of the NLDS battle between the NL powerhouses.
Now that he’s the Nationals’ skipper, after ten seasons as a bench coach in Tampa Bay and Chicago, Martinez has been asked repeatedly since being hired as the seventh full-time manager in the nation’s capital, about getting Washington over the so-called hump and into the NLCS (at least) and hopefully the World Series.
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In a press conference with reporters before this past week’s final exhibition game of the Spring, Martinez was asked about the vibe in Spring Training, and what he learned about his new team in the time they spent together in West Palm Beach, FL.
“For me,” Martinez said, “... from what I’ve learned from them, and we talked about this often in Spring Training, I came up with one word that best describes our team, and it was ‘Habit,’ and what it means is ‘Heart, attitude, belief, integrity, trust,’ and that’s what I believe in this team.”
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Very Joe Maddon of you, young Davey. The quote, and Martinez’s attempt to work out an acronym that’s straight out of a motivational techniques brochure, definitely caught our attention, so we sent the quote to our friends at Breaking T on Twitter, humorously asking when we’d see them make up the first Davey Martinez-inspired t-shirt of the season.
New #Nats' skipper Dave Martinez was asked about the vibe he's getting from the #Nationals early this Spring. How long before his answer results in a t-shirt, @breakingtco #Habit: pic.twitter.com/R1semQGK7Q
— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) March 27, 2018
It didn’t take long:
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— BreakingT (@breakingtco) March 30, 2018
First-year @Nationals skipper Dave Martinez told @federalbaseball, "One word that best describes our team ... HABIT ... Heart, Attitude, Belief, Integrity, Trust."https://t.co/CG5BtqyxQz pic.twitter.com/gvnDIoqfSK
There will be the obvious jokes about the Nationals’ “Habit” of losing in the NLDS, or their “Habit” of switching managers every year or two, we get it, super funny too, but why not attempt to do something positive, which is very Davey Martinez from what we’ve seen so far, and talk about continuing their winning “Habit” of the last six seasons and taking it a little bit further this season, and starting a “Habit” of postseason success this October?
I know, “Positivity on the internet?” But we’re giving it a try.
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Breaking T pitch: What’s the vibe under first-year manager Dave Martinez? As reported by Federal Baseball, he said, “I came up with one word that best describes our team, and it was HABIT ... Heart, Attitude, Belief, Integrity, Trust.”