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
It came at the right time. Michael, the last couple of days, came through with some heroics.
There are a couple games, but all in all, I can't chastise them for not focusing and concentrating. I know when things are going poorly, it's a little more difficult to concentrate. We're just not getting it done.
Usually you come right in and face 'live,' but you get into bad habits because you're trying to protect your hands and protect your bats. Basically, this is more for the pitchers the first couple days than the hitters. The main thing is, you hope they can throw strikes.
You'd hope so and think so. Usually when it comes down to the last couple roster spots, you go on what you have seen here as well as the past.
There are some guys who have the nod because of experience. There are some guys who have demonstrated better control and better stuff than others. We'll see how they do the last couple weeks of spring and how they do when they go to Triple-A or Double-A.
He needs to pitch. Even though he has the skill and ability, he needs the innings. He needs to be in certain situations. He's missed more than a couple years here on and off. He needs the endurance. He needs to be in there with bases loaded with no outs and be in all kinds of situations and adverse situations. The main thing is we want him healthy, too.
We're in the process of making that decision now. We'll have an answer in a couple days.
I have learned from hamstrings that when a guy says he feels good, you give him a couple extra days. Invariably, you top a ball and have to beat it out. It happens every time.
We're going through a real tough stretch now. We've got to find a way against two tough pitchers the next couple of days to try and get out of this.
We are still leaning probably toward 11 pitchers. Anything can happen these last couple days. But you don't want to tell somebody something and then say, 'Oh, so-and-so got hurt, and you're back on the team.
We had Roger in trouble a couple of times, but we managed only one run. Roger knows how to pitch, and he knows how to win.
We have a couple of guys already in the process of being developed. You just have to choose one that's the best, and...
Now with as much parity as there is now if you gain a couple of key players and remain healthy you can go from worst to first now.
is in the process of making a decision. We should have an answer in a couple of days. It's not about Kerry as much as about where we are realistically.