Major League Baseball

After rocky start, Mariners see trust from Bradley

Published May. 27, 2010 9:29 p.m. ET

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Milton Bradley arrived in Seattle this winter distrusting the world.

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu could see that. He knew Bradley was joining his eighth team in 10 years. He knew many people saw the mercurial slugger as baseball's bad guy. And after suspensions and repeated run-ins with umpires and his own teams, Bradley himself believed he was fulfilling that bad-boy role.

Wakamatsu also knew he needed a cleanup hitter with power to boost an offense that was a liability for a team hoping to win an AL West title.

So the manager approached Bradley in February on his first day in spring training to set ground rules.

``Milton, I told him from Day One there has to be some kind of trust factor,'' Wakamatsu said.

``He was a little like, 'I heard that before.'''

But after two weeks away for emotional counseling set up by the Mariners, Bradley said the team has been more supportive, accommodating and patient than any of his seven other clubs. He's finally trusting his employers.

Just as important for the Mariners, his bat is getting well, too.

``My mind is clear,'' Bradley said. ``It's been a while.''

Tuesday, he hit the go-ahead single in the eighth inning against Detroit. Then he ran from first base into the dugout during a pitching change. His surprised teammates gave him high-fives and back slaps. Bradley then ran back to first base to complete the first in-game dugout celebration from a guy still on the base paths that Wakamatsu or any other Mariner had ever seen.

``The way I was feeling, I needed to share with my teammates,'' Bradley said. ``It was a good feeling. I came through.''

Wednesday, after Mike Sweeney homered in the eighth to spark a four-run rally and another win over the Tigers - Seattle's first series win in a month - Bradley sneaked up behind Sweeney in the dugout while he was conducting a postgame interview. After Bradley unsuccessfully tried to plant a shaving-cream pie in Sweeney's face, he and Sweeney walked out of the dugout laughing together. Sweeney's arm was around Bradley's shoulders.

Is this really the same guy who in March called himself the Kanye West of baseball? Who flipped off fans who were heckling him in Texas during his a slumping start to the season? Who became so uncontrollable following two strikeouts in a game on May 4 that Wakamatsu saw he was unfit to play and removed him from the tight contest?

Bradley left the stadium before that game ended. A day later, he came to Wakamatsu and general manager Jack Zduriencik and asked for their help in controlling his emotions.

The Mariners placed him on the restricted list for two weeks while Bradley received counseling that is ongoing. He said he was having ``unpleasant thoughts.'' He told his wife he was understanding why some people commit suicide.

He returned saying ``I don't have all the answers, I'm not saying I'm cured.''

Yet since he came back he is batting .296 entering Friday's series opener at the Los Angeles Angels. That's 82 points above what his average was when he went on the restricted list. He has hit his first home run since April 13. He says he's as happy as he's been since a 2006 playoff run with Oakland.

Bradley is back in the cleanup spot that created so much pressure and doubt for him in April. He is starting to provide some of the production Seattle desperately needs to climb back into the division race.

``That's where I should be hitting,'' he said. ``If I'm swinging the bat the way I'm capable of, I should be in the middle of the order driving in runs, being a producer. The way I've been swinging it, you can't put me there.

``I have to stay consistent and maintain this, because the way it has been is one day on and two, three or four days off. That's what brings the frustration, but I have to just stay with it.''

Bradley's detractors are waiting for the next big failure, that next frustration, and expect Bradley to blow up yet again.

Yet Wakamatsu sees progress. He cited Sunday's game against San Diego. Bradley struck out, dropped his batting glove and helmet and squatted. He stared for a long, tense minute along the first-base line. But this time there was no eruption.

``I think he believes in us now,'' Wakamatsu said. ``I think it helps that he knows we care about him (after) he opened up and said, 'I need some help.' That was step No. 1.

``We said this was the right environment for him. In the last month, he's started to understand that this is the right environment for him.''

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