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 can't say that, because everybody will be looking over their shoulder or afraid to answer the telephone, thinking some deal or something is going to happen. These things happen.
I told them what we're looking for. Hopefully, start the season injury-free, you build it up through the season, you'd like to get off to a good start, and we're looking for a championship -- the same thing we're looking for every year.
It's the same with pitching. You talk to Greg Maddux and I'm sure he has a game plan, but he also sometimes can feel when a guy is looking inside or if a guy is looking for something else or it depends on which pitch he takes and how he takes it. Some guys get it early, some guys get it late, some guys never get it.
Back in our day, they called this 'salary drive,' ... Try and continue to have a good year and win as many games as you can win. You are playing for respectability right now. What I'm looking for is you play hard and play for love of the game and respect and try to finish as high as you can.
Ain't nothing on hold. These games are going to go on regardless. They're going to go into the record, wins and losses, regardless. You wish you could stop time, but I'm looking at that clock and that second hand's still ticking.
Some people get better looking as they get older. Maybe he's one of those guys.
I always say I'm looking for a surprise.
Hey, you can't pick where you put them. I try to protect my guys the best I can. If you're in the big leagues, you're under fire every day, no matter who you're playing. Haven't I said all spring I was looking for a surprise?
I had Bo. I know Bo has good stuff, especially if he's healthy. He said his arm is good. The guy knows how to pitch. He can throw every day, he'll never complain, you won't know he's around. He was a pleasure to have on my team. He's looking for an opportunity, and that's what will give him an opportunity.
I'm looking for health, I'm looking for bat speed, I'm looking for leg speed. It's hard to compare a youngster to a veteran player in Spring Training. The advantage always goes to the young player. There are some things I'm looking for. You want to see progress as spring goes on. I've got a pretty good idea of what he can do. I'm looking for what's left.
We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much. He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.
We hung a slider and Albert doesn't miss sliders too much, ... He doesn't miss pitches up in the zone.
We certainly don't need to start having this now.
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.