By Jack Magruder
FOXSportsArizona.com
David Hernandez gave up a single and two walks in the first inning of his major league debut with Baltimore in 2009. After the second walk loaded the bases with two outs, Orioles third baseman Melvin Mora called time and sauntered to the mound. Hernandez was not sure what to expect.
"He goes, 'Calm down. I've got somewhere to be after the game. I've got a hot date,'" Hernandez said.
Two pitches later, Hernandez induced a lineout to end the inning, and he went on to his first major league victory while giving up one run in 5 1/3 innings of a 5-1 decision over Detroit.
"I really needed a joke to settle my nerves. It could have been a different story if I didn't get out of that first inning," Hernandez said.
You think Hernandez will ever forget that? If that is what Diamondbacks general manager Kevin Towers means by adding veteran leadership to the clubhouse, Mora fits.
And about that hot date. Mora was talking about going home to his family of six children, including quintuplets delivered by his wife, Gisel, on July 28, 2001. He works at fatherhood because he knows the other side. Mora lost his father when he was 6-year old, when his father was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity in their hometown near Caracas, Venezuela.
Mora, 39, was signed to play third base hours after the Diamondbacks traded Mark Reynolds on the first day of the winter meetings, and he has done all his work there so far this spring. But if the D-backs need more, he is no stranger to multitasking on the field -- he has played all positions but pitcher and catcher in a 13-year major league career -- or off. He does the grocery shopping, takes the kids to school and helps with homework. Math is his specialty.
"Numbers, I can do," he said.
Mora has put up his share, mostly with the Orioles, where he had 158 home runs and 662 RBIs in 10 seasons. He was an All-Star in 2003 and 2005, playing mostly outfield in 2003 and third base in 2005. He won the Silver Slugger with a .340 batting average and 104 RBIs in 2004.
If that seems like a few years ago, Mora showed the same production in the second half of 2010 in Colorado, hitting .307 with six homers and 31 RBIs while playing third base after Ian Stewart suffered a rib-cage injury. Mora hit cleanup some of the time in the Rockies' stretch run that came up just short. He finished at .285 with seven homers and 45 RBIs.
"I don't know this for a fact, but I think halfway through spring training, there were probably many people that thought he wasn't going to make their team," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "I played against him enough to know he knows how to play the game. He likes to play the game, more than anything. He's very confident. I've watched him for years. I know what he's capable of. He's going to get his at-bats, trust me. He likes to have fun."
Fun in the right proportion, Mora said.
"You have fun every day. This is a game, but you have to take it serious. You have to go hard every day. It's a three-hour game. Play the game. Do whatever you want to do after three hours. Come back and do what you need to do for the next three hours," Mora said.
He observed and learned from the veterans he was exposed to, such as Jeff Bagwell in Houston, Rickey Henderson, Robin Ventura and John Olerud with the Mets, and Cal Ripken Jr. in Baltimore.
"I watch people and was able to learn. When I got to Baltimore, forget it. Cal Ripken Jr.
