A day off for Phillies manager Don Mattingly allows Dusty and John Wathan to join a select club

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dusty Wathan arrived at PNC Park on Saturday thinking about how to help the Philadelphia Phillies get back to .500 for the first time in over a month and not much else, not even the exclusive club he joined simply by showing up for work.

The longtime Phillies coach filled in as manager for the middle game of Philadelphia’s weekend visit to Pittsburgh while Don Mattingly attended his son Reynolds' graduation from Purdue University.

When Wathan filled out the lineup card before the first pitch, he and his father, John, joined a select group of fathers and sons who have both managed in the majors. Wathan didn't need to do much to move his career record to 1-0, not with ace Cristopher Sanchez throwing a five-hitter and Bryce Harper mashing a 457-foot first-inning homer in a drama-free 6-0 victory.

“Managing's really easy when you have really good players and they play well,” Wathan said with a grin.

The Phillies honored the milestone by signing a bottle of bourbon for their third base coach turned bench coach turned manager — even if that last gig was just for a day.

Wathan called the opportunity to follow in his father's footsteps “neat,” but stressed repeatedly that the game was about the players on the field, not the baseball lifer watching from the top of the dugout steps.

That's something he learned while growing up watching his dad win a World Series ring during a decade-long career catching for the Kansas City Royals. John Wathan went into coaching after retiring after the 1985 season, posting a 326-320 record while managing the Royals and the California (now Anaheim) Angels between 1987 and 1992.

Dusty's baseball journey has been decidedly lower-profile. He played over 900 games in the minors — as a catcher, naturally — and made a handful of appearances in the majors for Kansas City late in the 2002 season. He retired in 2007 and immediately went into coaching, managing at every level of Philadelphia's farm system before joining the Phillies as a third base coach in late 2017.

All things being equal, Wathan was just fine at third base, only shifting to the dugout when the Phillies fired Rob Thomson and Mattingly asked Wathan to join him on the bench.

“I tell everybody (coaching third) is the closest thing to playing when you’re done playing,” he said. “So I think it’s a lot of fun out there. You can impact the game in the middle of the game as opposed to strategically before the game.”

Don't get Wathan wrong. He enjoys his new role. It also gets him out of going out and occasionally warming up the pitchers, a side gig that he joked he's moving on from because at 52 his eyes aren't as great as they used to be and he's “starting to get a little scared out there.”

Wathan misses being at third, but added he's “in a good spot” as he tries to help Mattingly navigate the Phillies out of an early-season malaise that cost the popular Thomson his job.

Philadelphia has responded to the change. The Phillies are back to .500 (23-23) for the first time since April 13 after taking the first two games in Pittsburgh, including a thrilling 11-9 10-inning comeback win on Friday night.

Though Philadelphia is surging, Mattingly knew he couldn't afford to miss his son receiving a Ph.D. in engineering. Mattingly's baseball schedule meant he missed Reynolds' undergraduate and postgraduate ceremonies. The one scheduled for Saturday would be Mattingly's last shot, so he approached Wathan with the idea of filling in a week or so ago.

Wathan — the winningest manager in the history of Philadelphia’s Double-A affiliate in Reading, Pennsylvania — shrugged and said sure. His preparation when he arrived at the ballpark wasn't much different from any other day, and he made a point to redirect the conversation toward the players whenever possible.

Still, it's not every day you join the likes of Bob and Aaron Boone, Buddy and David Bell, and Felipe Alou and Luis Rojas as fathers and sons who have managed in the majors.

The Wathans talked about it a few days ago and texted about it, but nobody flew in for the occasion. It was just another day at work. Besides, Mattingly will be back on Sunday.

Asked if his mind ever drifts to thinking about what it would be like to be a full-time manager in the majors, Wathan shrugged. He went through the interview process for a couple of job openings. It didn't work out.

“I don’t think you can worry about that stuff,” he said. “Stuff happens for a reason, and you’re in the right place at the right time.”

The right place for Wathan on Saturday was in the manager's seat. The right place on Sunday will be back in his usual spot at Mattingly's side. Regardless of where he sits, the goal is the same.

“It's not about me at all,” he said. “We're just trying to get wins. We're just trying to stack wins.”

This story has been corrected. A previous version had an incorrect name for Mattingly's son, Reynolds.

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Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Dusty Wathan, who is filling in for interim manager Don Mattingly, stands in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Dusty Wathan, who is filling in for interim manager Don Mattingly, talks with reporters in the dugout before a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

MADRID (AP) — More than a million people poured into a central Madrid plaza on Sunday for Pope Leo XIV ’s main Mass and a procession highlighting one of the most iconic expressions of Spanish popular piety: flower carpets.

They cheered and shouted “This is the youth of the pope!” as Leo arrived for the Mass, looping around the plaza and surrounding streets in his popemobile to a crowd packed several rows deep behind barricades.

Sunday’s Mass falls on the Catholic Corpus Domini feast day, which often features processions of faithful through towns and cities led by a priest carrying the Eucharist. In Spain as in other predominantly Catholic countries, the processions often feature elaborate floral carpets arranged along the route.

Leo, who arrived in Spain on Saturday at the start of his weeklong visit, has been keen to highlight the long tradition of Catholic devotion here to encourage especially young generations to find their faith.

At a vigil service Saturday night, an estimated 600,000 young Spaniards knelt for several minutes in silent prayer alongside Leo, suggesting that there is indeed interest among young people despite Spain’s heavily secularized society.

“Let me take the opportunity to tell all of you: Don't ever be afraid of thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, or other services in the church!” Leo told the crowd.

Irati Valda and Javier Hormazal, a young couple, held up a cardboard sign announcing they are going to get married on June 13 and were ushered up close to receive Leo's blessing during the vigil.

“To see so many young people together, it's incredible. Half a million people in silence, this is something you will only live once," Valda said.

For Sunday's Mass and procession, local organizers said 1.2 million people had turned out on a brilliant spring morning at the central Plaza Cibeles and surrounding streets, with more trying to get in.

The tradition of laying flower carpets — and destroying them when the procession tramples them — dates back two centuries and is popular also in Latin America, where elaborate sand designs are also made. The painstaking displays are considered an offering to the Eucharist.

Poland has already had its tradition of Corpus Domini flower carpets recognized by UNESCO, and Spain's Galicia region is trying to have its tradition listed along with other countries as part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.

According to Spanish organizers, the 16 flower carpets decorating the half-kilometer (mile) procession route were prepared by a Spanish florists association from Galicia. Florists used more than 30,000 flowers, most the yellow and white colors of the Holy See flag, for the carpets that feature decorations such as the Holy See keys.

Wildly popular religious processions, pilgrimages and feasts continue to be held in most Spanish regions. The most recognizable are Holy Week processions during the final week of Lent where brotherhoods and robed penitents parade ornate statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary through cities, towns and villages alongside marching bands. Such processions draw the faithful as well as droves of non-believers and tourists.

Spanish towns and cities also regularly honor local patron saints with fiestas. Religious pilgrimages to local shrines mix piety with communal festivities and music. In Andalusia, the El Rocío pilgrimage fetches a million people that make a long, dusty journey over the Pentecost weekend on horseback and decorated covered wagons to venerate an icon of the Virgin Mary.

Leo arrived in Spain on Saturday and urged its people to put an end to polarization and work for unity. Later Sunday he is to meet privately with members of his Augustinian religious order and address cultural leaders.

AP visual journalist Helena Alves contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Leo XIV arrives in the popemobile at Plaza de Lima in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, for a prayer vigil with young people on the first day of a seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as he arrives at the Royal Palace in Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the first day of his seven-day apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

People wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV ahead of a Holy Mass and Corpus Christi procession at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

People wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV ahead of a Holy Mass and Corpus Christi procession at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

People wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV ahead of a Holy Mass and Corpus Christi procession at Plaza de Cibeles in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, June 7, 2026, on the second day of his seven-day apostolic visit to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)