ARLINGTON, Texas?After spending time with Mike Napoli over the course of a season, it is not completely crazy to think the guy wouldn?t care if the clubhouse showers weren?t working after a game.
He?d just shrug, throw on some clothes and walk out?dirty, sweaty, smelly?and not think twice. After all, this is a guy teammates call ?Dirtbag,? among other inside-joke things.
That?s Mike Napoli, though. Down in the trenches. Nothing pretty. Owner of a scraggly beard. Former keeper of unkempt hair that is now buzzed down to near minimum. Arms full of tattoos.
Texas Rangers cult hero.
Napoli was already that before Game 5 of this World Series with his hitting and his strong work behind the plate. But his eighth-inning two-run double, which pushed the Rangers to a 4-2 victory and put them a win away from the franchise?s first world championship, further cemented his place in Ranger history.
?NAP-OH-LEE! NAP-OH-LEE! NAP-OH-LEE!?
That?s what most of the 51,459 fans at Rangers Ballpark were chanting Monday night as Napoli stepped into the box in the eighth. It was deafening. And when he smoked the ball into the right-center gap, fans sitting right next to each other had to scream to communicate. Chances are nothing except Napoli?s three-syllable name was audible.
?Those ?NAP-OH-LEE? chants are awesome,? said Texas Game 5 starter C.J. Wilson. ?If you have a cool name and people can yell it like that, it helps them like you a lot.?
Listening to Cardinals manger Tony La Russa tell it, it was so loud even before Napoli?s at-bat that he had trouble communicating with his bullpen about how to face him. Why else would he let lefthanded reliever Marc Rzepczynski pitch to Napoli, owner of the majors? sixth-best on-base plus slugging percentage vs. lefthanders during the regular season?
According to La Russa?and La Russa only, because there were conflicting reports in the Cardinals clubhouse?he asked for closer Jason Motte to warm up to face Napoli the same time he called the bullpen to get Rzepczynski loose. The bullpen only heard Rzepczynski because the crowd was so loud.
So Rzepczynski faced Napoli, and Napoli demolished a middle-of-the-plate slider to win the game.
?I?m glad it happened that way,? Napoli said. ?I?d rather face him than Motte.?
And the Los Angeles Angels no doubt would rather have Napoli playing for them than their American League West rivals.
The Angels last January shipped Napoli to the Toronto Blue Jays, who quickly flipped him to Texas. Napoli didn?t have great offensive numbers with the Angels in 2010, but he hit 26 home runs despite not playing every day.
L.A. claimed he was a liability on defense, so Napoli was out. It got a .192 average, 10 home runs and a .555 OPS from its catchers this season.
Napoli? He hit .320 with 30 homers and a 1.046 OPS and was one of the best bats in the league. He also hit .356 with a 1.196 OPS and six homers against the Angels in 16 games. Not only that, he helped sink their postseason chances by hitting four home runs and driving in six over the season?s final two days in Anaheim.
Oh, and the Rangers pitchers love throwing to him, and he has proven to be adequate behind the plate. He has thrown out several potential basestealers in critical situations during the postseason. In Game 5 Monday, he threw out Allen Craig in the seventh and ninth innings, each time with Albert Pujols at the plate.
?I?m sure glad he?s here now,? Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler said. ?He?s been incredible all year. He?s become a premium catcher, a No. 1-type catcher. Honestly, it?s not surprising playing against him for so many years in Anaheim. I was always a little skeptical of trying to run on him when he was there.
?I don?t know why he got that rep but he?s overcome that, (by) leaps and bounds.?
Wilson remembers first hearing about the trade and being ?super stoked.? ?He?s been great in September and in this postseason between single-handedly destroying the Angels? chances at the postseason and also single-handedly demolishing the base runners of St. Louis,? Wilson said. ?He?s a hell of a player, man. I?m so happy to have him on our side and the fans are really digging it.
?He?s sort of an everyman in a lot of ways. He?s not flashy. He?s not one of those dudes that?s really toolsy. He grinds out at-bats. He has the beard and a lot of tattoos. He?s just cool. He?s impossible to root against.?
Napoli is modest and humble when he hears those kinds of things said, or when he discusses why he is such a fan favorite?first and foremost, it's because he produces with the stick, obviously. He is the same way when asked about what the Angels, who not so coincidentally fired their general manager after the season.
Wilson, on the other hand, doesn?t filter much, and that included his response when asked what the Angels must be thinking when they see Napoli in these playoffs.
?They wish they had him now, huh??
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