Nationals' Matt Williams: 'My job is to guide'

ATLANTA - Matt Williams wants to be considered a bystander, a spare part, a silent partner. Imagine a bus driver, cap pulled down low over his eyes, two hands on the wheel, driving through storms, driving on flat pavement, driving on rough pavement, eyes straight ahead. Williams wants to be considered that guy and only that guy.

In the tumult of the Washington Nationals' division clinching championship here Tuesday night, that guy, who was once known as Matt The Bat because of his steady slugging in the big leagues, kept saying things like, "I just didn't want to get in the way" and "my job is to guide."

While his team reveled in their championship in the middle of the clubhouse at Turner Field, Williams was off to the side, attempting to be obscure.

Mike Rizzo, the general manager of the Washington Nationals, made sure Williams did not go unnoticed, in words at least. His rookie manager, Rizzo said, was more than a tour guide. He was a tour de force in poise, especially when it came to dealing with lengthy injuries to Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, and Wilson Ramos, not to mention pitcher Doug Fister, who has started just 23 games instead of typical 30 at this time of the season.

"There was no panic in him," Rizzo said. "Don't forget this was a multi-Gold Glove guy, a multi-All-Star, a guy who struggled in his first few seasons, was up and down. He can relate to the players, every talent level.

"He has a calmness to him that protrudes through the entire team. When things were at the toughest, he was at his calmest."

On the same night the Orioles clinched the American League East, the Nats added to the buzz about baseball on the Beltway. They grabbed the crown right off the heads of the defending division champion Atlanta Braves with a 3-0 win in Turner Field.

Tied for first place at the All-Star break with Atlanta, the Nationals are now 12 ½ games ahead of the Braves.

The Nationals showed off the characteristics that will make them a tough out in the postseason. Tanner Roark, in his first full season as a big league starter, shut out the Braves for seven innings on five hits. He won his 14th game and yet he is probably considered the club's fourth-best starter behind Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, and Doug Fister.

Ian Desmond mashed a home run 20 rows deep into the left field seats with one on in the sixth inning for a 2-0 lead. An American League scout in the press box was asked about the Natonals on offense and said, "Muscle, man. Muscle. These guys are strong."

There do not seem to be any vulnerabilities, not like there were earlier in the season when the defense looked wobbly and the injuries threatened another season. Williams kept the bus out of the ditch.

"It is easily forgotten that we were without some key players for a long period of time, three of them at the same time," Rizzo said. "Other teams have folded. We grinded it through. It's a testament to Matt Williams, it's a testament those bench players who filled in as every day guys when we were at our weakest."

Williams remembered assembling his team in spring training and talking about what their "DNA" was going to be. It was almost as if he expected calamity and he was preparing them for it.

First baseman Adam LaRoche said the team understood what the approach was going to be. Don't let anything rock the club back on its heels.

"Last year was kind of humbling for a lot of us," he said. "We came out this year with a little more fire and we knew we had to start in March to make this thing happen."

The Nationals did not start well because of the injuries that struck in April. They were 27-28 on June 2. Through it all, Williams was the same guy, according to his players and GM.

"Some strange things happened to us," Williams said. "They had the mindset to try and find a way to win. The guys stepped up. That's not me, that's them. They own this game."

Williams was demure all the way to the end of the party in the visitor's locker room. His team filtered out to the field to listen to a post-game country concert and Williams stayed behind talking matter-of-factly about the season, trying to drown his role like the players tried to drown each other with 30 cases of beer.

"This situation was not broken, it did not work out last season like they had hoped," Williams said. "Two years ago they won more games than any team in baseball and I just didn't want to get in the way.

"My job is to guide and, if I can, help. This year I haven't had to help much because they have taken ownership of it."

The Nationals were going to rest some starters here Wednesday in the final game of the three game series with the Braves and then get on with the business of nailing down home field advantage for the playoffs.

There was one last reminder that Williams is the right guy to lead a talented team. He is business-like, not distracted by the swirl of emotion of one of the biggest nights in the organization's history. There was work still to do.

"For us, this has been a very good road trip so far," Williams said. The plain manager could not have been more plain.