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
You'd rather have too many than too few.
We are very impressed. That's not the issue here. The issue is for him to play and to prosper. And to get better at some of the fundamentals of the game. The only way to get that is to play.
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.
There's good years and there's bad years. There's great years and there's good years. There's fair years and poor years. ... He only had 15 (great years) in a row. Maybe it was time.
There's good years and bad years -- there's great years and good years. This might be one of the great years. ... I don't know anybody who stayed on top and excellent every year in their career, but he's done a pretty good job of it.
There's no miracle drug that will make that thing go away right away. We'll just play it day by day.
We executed that cutoff play perfectly. That was a very athletic play. That ball went into the gap, and it was obvious that they were going to send him. It was a perfect hop, a perfect throw and a perfect tag.
We're almost there. We've got to play through .500, not up to .500.
We have some guys that should get keys to the clubhouse because they beat the clubhouse guys here. It's a little bit different, because we've got some hard-working guys. They influence the other guys, and that's a positive effect.
We had him on the hook in the first inning, and then he got that lead and then he started mixing his pitches in better than he did in the first inning. That lead does a lot for you.
We had almost everything today but a stolen base. We managed to score a lot of different ways.
We had to use Eyre earlier. They have too many left-handed hitters over there.
That's the toughest thing for a young catcher is to take charge of a situation.
That's the most unselfish, smartest spot in the lineup. You have to be able to handle the bat. It's also a position that won't run as much because then they'll walk D-Lee. It's a position for a more established, accomplished veteran player.