SURPRISE, Ariz. _ On Tuesday, just as they had a year ago, Matt Bush and his father, Danny, rose before the sun, piled into a red Ford F-150 and started the five-hour drive east from San Diego toward the Rangers' spring training facility.
There, they are once again sharing a hotel room. Danny Bush drives his son to camp every morning and picks him up in the evening.
The idea is to keep everything the same.
Even though it is anything but.
A year ago, Matt Bush was three months removed from work release after a 39-month incarceration for driving under the influence with serious bodily injury. He was about to turn 30 and was the longest of long shots to reach the major leagues, given a chance only because he threw 95-mph fastballs while wearing an ankle monitor in the parking lot of a Golden Corral restaurant. His story had been mostly one of failure, of unrealized expectations, self-destructive behavior and one final, alcohol-fueled blowout that ended only after he'd had three wrecks, including one that nearly killed a 72-year-old retiree.
Now, he's a budding star and perhaps the Rangers' closer-in-waiting. Perhaps more important, his actions this offseason suggest he is trying to come of age as a man, too.
"I'm in a place I've needed to be for a while," Bush said recently in a sleepy, soft tone. "I feel like I'm doing what I need to be successful, not just in baseball but in life. I've never had a good offseason. I was always distracted by everything else going on in my life, by having a nice car, by wanting to party, to do stuff that wasn't helping me out."
