Dusty Baker
Dusty Baker
Johnnie B. "Dusty" Baker, Jr.is an American Major League Baseball manager and former player. He is currently the manager for the Washington Nationals. He enjoyed a 19-year career as a hard-hitting outfielder, primarily with the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers. He helped the Dodgers to pennants in 1977 and 1978 and to the championship in 1981. He then enjoyed a 20-year career as a manager with the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, and now Washington Nationals. He...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth15 June 1949
CityRiverside, CA
CountryUnited States of America
They're going to see big league pitching against them, and they'll see big league pitchers throwing to them. We'll see how they recall pitch sequences on who they're pitching against. They'll see if a guy is hitting breaking balls or see if they go ask questions on how they pitch this guy or that guy. Does a guy hit this -- what are his strengths or weaknesses. They have to pay attention because they're big in this equation.
They're externally humble but internally very confident, ... He does everything easy, kind of slow-moving but at a high rate of speed.
They have so many powerful left-handed hitters. Overall, it was a good job (by the staff).
There's always speculation about guys on every team. You say, 'Man, this guy looks bigger. But you don't know. And there are some guys who flunked steroid tests, and you had no idea. You see the guys and say, 'No way this guy was on something.' You don't know until somebody is busted.
They both were very impressive. We'd heard some things about these guys, but the guys improved a lot. Fox was one of the most improved guys in camp. He's a young guy, with very little experience in the Minor Leagues. Those guys are doing good.
They were booing in St. Louis, too. Maybe it's the way of the world right now. I never saw them booing anybody in St. Louis.
You can't put your finger on it. The last couple of years we've played them tough. That's not the team you want to play every day.
You can score a lot of runs a lot of different ways. We had almost everything today but stolen bases.
The easiest time to hit is when you first get there because nobody knows you. After that, you've got to make adjustments. Once you get around the league, 'You don't like this, you don't like that. You chase this ball.' That's when it becomes interesting once people have a book on you.
The frustrating part is you still have memories of how great a player this guy is.
The Cardinals have a fine team, a real good team. We'll come out next year and try to get the lead or at least stay close -- and stay healthy. They're No. 1 or 2 in pitching, and that shows you how important pitching is. We get our starting pitching healthy and we'll be all right.
The final words were that our guys here will pull for them and give them some love. I asked the guys who they were rooting for, and everybody is rooting for their own country.
These guys are getting a chance to play that they wouldn't ordinarily have. If nothing else, they're impressing us and everybody else who has seen them. In order to have a good team, in order to have a good organization, you have to be deep in certain positions.
All day it was just a matter of us cutting down on the walks. It seemed like every time we walked someone, they scored.