OC Register: Hoornstra: On his final day as Angels manager, Mike Scioscia finally handed over the script

[AngelsWin.com]

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  Angels manager Mike Scioscia, left, chats with third base coach Dino Ebel before Sunday’s season finale against the Oakland A’s at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Angels manager Mike Scioscia, left, welcomes All-Star outfielder Mike Trout after he was removed from the game in the second inning of Sunday’s season finale against the Oakland A’s at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia stands for the National Anthem before a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia during a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Angels manager Mike Scioscia leaves the dugout after talking with reporters before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia during a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia hugs an unidentified woman as he leaves the dugout after talking with reporters before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  Angels manager Mike Scioscia talks with the media after Sunday’s season finale against the Oakland A’s at Angel Stadium. Scioscia announced, as had been expected for months, that he is stepping down after 19 seasons. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia talks with the media after a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia gets emotional as he talks about his last game as a manager of the Angels after a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia gets emotional as he talks about his last game as a manager of the Angels after a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia shares laugher before a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, left, shakes hand of a young fan before a game against the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium in Anaheim on Sunday, September 30, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Angels manager Mike Scioscia enters the dugout before Sunday’s season finale against the Oakland A’s at Angel Stadium. Scioscia announced following the game that he was stepping down after 19 seasons managing the team. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, middle, fist-bumps players in the dugout before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia,left, stands for the national anthem before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, left, and coach Josh Paul sit in the dugout before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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  Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, middle, laughs in the dugout before a baseball game between the Angels and the Oakland Athletics in Anaheim, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018. It is expected that this will be Scioscia’s last game as manager of the Angels. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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ANAHEIM — Mike Scioscia thanked the Angels’ clubhouse staff, video crew, training staff, medical staff, strength and conditioning staff, then paused. He nervously scratched a patch of skin below his left ear, amplifying the silence while trying to bridge the awkwardness of a speechless pause. After 29 seconds, Scioscia couldn’t pretend this postgame press conference was like the 3,125 that came before it.

Soon a 59-year-old man in a full baseball uniform was crying openly in front of his players, his wife, executives, reporters, and a live television audience. The video boards inside Angel Stadium streamed every tear. Scioscia wiped his right eye, then his left, with little effect. His face was more wet than dry by the time he took a question from a reporter.

So it was that Scioscia did what some considered impossible. At 3:04 p.m. Sunday, on the final day of his career as the Angels’ manager, Scioscia ceded control of the moment.

Scioscia never formally told his players that he would not be their manager in 2019. Mike Trout, Justin Upton and Kole Calhoun only found out in person because they were in the audience for the press conference. The team did not have time to sign a photo, or a baseball, or produce any semblance of a going-away gift besides their 5-4 walk-off win over the Oakland A’s.

Immediately after rookie third baseman Taylor Ward ended the game with a two-run home run, Scioscia shook hands with each of his coaches, then walked down the dugout steps toward his office. Every other soul in an Angels uniform hustled to home plate to celebrate. His final step off the field was as calculated as any other.

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“This game’s about the players,” Scioscia said afterward, his voice quavering. “It’s not about a manager, it’s not about the GM and owner. … It’s not about the coaches. This game’s about the players and it always will be.”

Scioscia’s last day in the Angels’ dugout involved more actual managing than most. Calhoun led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and was immediately replaced by a pinch runner, Jabari Blash. Trout jogged to center field to begin the second inning, then jogged back three batters later so Michael Hermosillo could take his place. Starting pitcher Matt Shoemaker was removed after three innings, leaving four men to tag-team the finish.

Scioscia made none of these moves. Next to the top step of the Angels’ dugout sits a broad platform covered with green foam padding. This is where the manager stands and rests his elbows, where the padding creased perfectly beneath Scioscia’s familiar imprint. The manager was not there Sunday.

Alfredo Griffin, the Angels’ longtime first-base coach, stood at Scioscia’s perch for a couple innings. Bench coach Josh Paul took over in the third. Dino Ebel took over in the seventh. Steve Soliz grabbed the ninth. Meanwhile, Scioscia floated through the dugout like a social butterfly, at once embracing his final day on the job and preparing for all his tomorrows as a free agent.

“I had nothing to do with today,” Scioscia said. “Nothing to do with the lineup. Nothing to do with the pitching changes. Hence, that’s probably why we won.”

Scioscia said he talked to his wife, Anne, about stepping down when his 10-year contract expired, and the decision “came to fruition over the last month.” The decision was Scioscia’s alone, Angels president John Carpino said. As Scioscia declined to address his future in public, his impending departure became the worst-kept secret in baseball.

Fans in attendance Saturday received a Scioscia bobblehead. Sunday, a list of highlights from Scioscia’s managerial career rotated through the digital display above the main stadium entrance. (Among them: Scioscia’s MLB-record second guest appearance on “The Simpsons.”) Between innings, the video boards played a montage of clips over the years, from Scioscia’s dark-haired debut in 2000 to the mostly gray-haired end.

There was Scioscia wearing periwinkle, then red. There he was hugging Bengie Molina after the 2002 World Series, then waving to the crowd after the first 100-win season in franchise history. Any mention of the Angels finishing with a losing record in three consecutive seasons? Poppycock.

This isn’t how you salute a manager who is staying put for years to come – a possibility Scioscia repeatedly, deliberately left open. This was a send-off.

“You look at the wins that we’ve been able to put up in 19 years and it doesn’t point to anything but the players,” Scioscia said. “That’s what I’ll take away from this experience. It’s been incredible.”

In the hours before Sunday’s game, Trout wore a gray sleeveless hoodie emblazoned with the words “PART UNICORN” across the front. Across the clubhouse sat another unique talent: Shohei Ohtani, the best blend of pitching and hitting the game has seen in 100 years. Even they could not compete with Scioscia, whose 19 years with one team defied the longevity of a modern manager in any profession. He fit the unicorn metaphor better than any player

The Marlins cycled through 13 managers during Scioscia’s tenure. The Expos relocated from Canada to Puerto Rico to Washington D.C. Even the Angels changed uniforms, owners, and names before changing managers. It would be stunning if that degree of job security did not beget comfortability.

For a moment Sunday, Scioscia tried to take control of his own press conference.

“So what’s next? Well, Anne and I are going to go back to Thousand Oaks and go out to Mastro’s (restaurant) tonight,” he said, answering his own question. “I don’t know if the whole posse’s going or if it’s just us. Do you know yet?”

“It might be a surprise,” Anne Scioscia said.

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A day that began like any other, with a long drive to the ballpark and a stop at Starbucks, ended with Scioscia showing more emotion than his current group of players had ever seen. The last day of his tenure was unlike the first 6,893. The facade that carefully guarded Scioscia’s candor finally crumbled. The decision to step aside might have been his, but his power to craft a response to each moment abandoned him. As his voice quavered, Scioscia said he was at peace with the possibility that he would never manage again.

Regardless of whether he gets that chance, Sunday marked the end of an era.

Infielder David Fletcher was an Angels fan from birth. His first memory was of the 2002 World Series, watching the games on his family’s television in Cypress. He attended the victory parade in person with his father, Tim, and his brother, Dominic. At 24 years old, Fletcher is part of an entire generation that is too young to remember the Angels without Scioscia.

“When you think Angels, you think Mike Scioscia,” Fletcher said. “Growing up around here, he’s kind of like ingrained in the organization as like a major piece of it.”

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