BOSTON -- When Mike Napoli chose the photo that he had framed and presented as a gift to third-base coach Brian Butterfield after the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2013, he skipped over the tape-measure home runs he had hit on the way to the title.
Instead, Napoli selected a picture showing him sliding into home plate and scoring on a wild pitch by Detroit’s Anibal Sanchez in Game 5 of the 2013 ALCS. Butterfield loves that photo. He was deeply moved when Napoli gave it to him.
An odd choice for a leaden-legged slugger? Not if you understand what Napoli values most in the playing of this game, which dovetails perfectly with Butterfield’s own philosophy: Games are won 90 feet at a time. Simple in the stating, demanding in the execution.
It is his devotion to that idea, Butterfield said, that makes a 33-year-old, 225-pound first baseman the best baserunner on the Red Sox.
"How is it that Mike Napoli is always able to get on top of a fielder in a double-play situation when this entire locker room could beat him running backwards?" Butterfield asks. "It's anticipation and wanting. It’s like a great rebounder. He may not be a great leaper, but it’s that 'want to.' The ball goes up, he's going to get it, fight for it and somehow get it.
"He's our best baserunner. Isn't that unbelievable? He's always breaking up double plays, always within an eyelash of beating force plays."
Two weeks ago, when the Red Sox were in Tropicana Field to play the Tampa Bay Rays, they won a game, 1-0, when Mookie Betts broke up a double-play, his hard slide causing rookie second baseman Ryan Brett to throw wildly to first, allowing Ryan Hanigan to score from third.
"I went crazy in the dugout," Napoli said. "When he got in, I gave him the biggest hug. And after the game I told him, 'You made a great baseball play. You just won a game by making one of those great plays nobody ever talks about.'
"It's one of the greatest feelings ever, to go into second base to break up a double play and a runner scores because of an overthrow. You gave yourself up for your team. It's just awesome. After Mookie did that, he felt that feeling. He knows that’s how you play baseball."
It was the kind of play Napoli had made just a couple of days earlier in Fenway Park against the Orioles, when he lit out from second base and scored on Xander Bogaerts' flared hit to right field. Napoli made the judgment that the ball would not be caught, and never looked back.
"I’ve never worried about being wrong on a baseball field," he said. "I learned a lot of this from Butter, too: Always trust your eyes in your actions on the baseball field. In everything. There are a couple of plays on defense where I was caught in between, where people would have taken the easy play [at first] instead of getting the forceout. But I trusted my eyes to go in there and make a play.
"That's how I do it on the bases, too. It trust my eyes, what I see. I mentally prepare myself, through the things I've already gone through, I've seen. It's already in my head. I've been there. I'm checking the outfielders.
"When he hit that ball, there was never a doubt in my mind. He hit it, I said, 'Yup, that's a winner. If they catch a ball in the ninth inning, the guy dives for the ball and catches it, I still think it's a good play."
Napoli attributes his dedication to base-running to having come up through the minors in the Los Angeles Angels' system, where the emphasis on knowing your way around the basepaths continues at the big-league level.
"It’s something I take a tremendous amount of pride in," he said.
"Anticipation, knowing counts, just watching the game. Giving what they take you. The best is runners on first and second, I'm the trail guy. If a pitcher is not going to keep me close, I'm going to extend as much as possible and try to get a good lead off of that, so I can go hard into second to break up a double play or try to be safe. That's just routine, every time.
"I go through my whole list every single time I'm on the bases. It doesn't matter I'm a slow guy. My favorite time is when there are two strikes, two outs, I'm on second base. My favorite time ever. Ask Butter who he's most comfortable with on second base. He knows I'm going to break on the swing or if the ball is in the zone. Not necessarily he’s going to swing but if you see that ball’s going to be a strike. You’re already on your front side, anticipating it. That makes him feel so much more comfortable sending me."
Winning, 90 feet at a time. It’s not just about base-running. It’s why Dustin Pedroia was so furious with himself when he struck out in the fourth inning Sunday night with a runner on second and no outs. It didn’t matter that the score was already, 5-0, Yankees. Pedroia was intent on advancing that runner at least 90 feet and when he didn't do so, he went back to the dugout visibly upset.
It's how you can still help a team win games, even when you've been locked in the kind of slump Napoli has been fighting through in the team’s first 25 games, one he hopes might be lifting after the home run he hit Sunday night off Yankees’ reliever Esmil Rogers.
"I'm going through that process where I feel like I'm getting better every day, and just grinding through it," he said. "We've got a lot of games to go."
The Sox had lost 10 of their last 15 games entering play Monday night against the Rays. The starting pitching has been bearing much of the blame, but in the last two weeks five Sox players, including Napoli, were hitting .200 or less. Brock Holt, Bogaerts, Allen Craig and Daniel Nava are the others who have 20 at-bats or more.
Taking the 90 feet at a time approach becomes even more important when the runs are at a premium.
"We talk about it a lot," Napoli said. "That's what you’re trying to get trying, nine guys on the field who play the game the right way, thinking about stuff, anticipating and doing that kind of stuff. We want everyone on the same page."
That brings us back to that October night in Detroit. Napoli’s picture doesn’t tell the whole story, even if it was well-known to him and Butterfield. It wasn't just the scoring on the wild pitch. It was what happened on the play that preceded it, too. With Napoli on second, Jonny Gomes hit a chopper to the mound. Many base-runners would have elected not to try and advance. But Napoli, his weight already on his front foot, his lead as extended as it could be, his focus at its keenest, read the play and determined he could make it to third.
Then came the wild pitch, and the Sox had a 4-0 lead. "We went 90 feet to make that possible," Napoli said. The Sox won, 4-3. Napoli's run had made the difference. The next night, they eliminated the Tigers to advance to the Series.
Mike Napoli, best baserunner on the team?
"You have to ask that?" Pedroia said. "Don't you watch the games?"
