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
I understand how they feel. I was sitting there last year seeing things I haven't seen since junior high school. I completely agree with them.
Pressure is what you put on yourself. You can't do anything about what the Sox did. And you can't do anything about the last year of your contract.
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.
You learn the hard way then. We had a long discussion last night. The thing about temperament, which you guys don't believe, but I was very similar. You have to constantly work on it as a person.
Maybe I shouldn't have cursed. I had just given him the highest compliment last week when I said he's one of the pitchers I respect most in the league, because he doesn't clown, he doesn't showboat. He just pitches.
Carlos was awesome last night. It seemed like he was having fun and it seemed like the team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went.
Carlos pitched great, certainly well enough to win, ... It was just a matter of too much Chipper Jones. They said Chipper was hot (.469 in his last nine games). He's certainly hot. He is hot.
I would say he's not where he was last year at this time, yet. Sometimes you have to hit with your mind. I'm sure he can do it.
No. He pitched so well the last time out. This time out, he's a different pitcher. Sometimes you have to figure it out yourself. He has the stuff. You could see from the last time out. It was just a bad day.
Some of it depends on how healthy Todd's legs feel. He is still recuperating from last year. The hard ground down here puts pressure on your legs.
Missing almost the second half of the season last year really slowed his progress some. Skill-wise, he has the skill. We know that. It's just a matter of him playing and doing the little things. He works hard.
We want to get him in the position to give him the best chance to make the club. He worked hard last winter. We know he can help this club. I can tell he's helping some of the young guys and the veteran guys about how to go about their business and how to play this game.
I've got a game plan. Some of it depends on how healthy Todd feels, how his legs feel. He's still recuperating from last year at the end of the year. With the hard ground down here, it puts pressure on your legs.
It's similar to what happened last year. We'll see today. It's sort of out of our control some.