The side door opened, Gabe Kapler emerged in his athleisure hoodie and he made a quick study of the room.
He scanned the packed gallery of faces. This was the room where he had been introduced as the Giants’ manager barely two years ago, where he subjected himself to the inquisition, where he confronted every personal and professional criticism, both those well-intentioned and those that snapped with a taste for blood. This was where he defended himself not by justifying past events but by asking people to judge him on present and future merits.
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In this room, an otherwise celebratory event — the hiring of a new public face for the organization — took on the dryly combative air of a deposition.