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
Everyone in town and the whole team knows what's at stake.
I've got a fine system, ... Short of that, you're weakening yourself and the team if you take this guy or that guy out of the lineup.
It's very intense. It's probably intensified more since Tony and I came here. When you play 18 times against a team that's had a long-time rivalry, and my former manager and my former confidant, that just increases things.
We were one of the better teams in the league on the road. That's usually the toughest part of the equation. We need to play well at home and establish home-field advantage and superiority.
One good memory I have here is in 2002, we beat the Cardinals to go to the World Series. They've had some great teams here. They usually have a lot of speed. I'm curious to see what happens. Sometimes you change stadiums, change atmosphere, and it changes things.
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 was awesome. It seemed like he was having fun, his team was having fun. I'm sure he's glad he went. It's huge. It's probably bigger than the Sox-Cubs rivalries.
Some of it has to do with the fact that we have a strikeout pitching staff. I always liked my teams at the top of the league in defense and double plays. Any time you can get two outs on one pitch, it's a lot less pitches for your pitchers. A lot of times, it gets you out of the inning out of trouble.
It's a good experience for your confidence, especially for Michael, to feel like you're an All-Star. D-Lee's been an All-Star. When you're on a team like that with other stars, that builds your confidence. 'Hey, man, I'm a star.' I think it's better for Michael in that situation confidence-wise and psychologically than D-Lee.
This is the youngest team I've had, which is what I've been yearning for really for years now. The younger the team, sometimes the more mistakes, but the more open and willing they are to be taught how to play. It seems like the older players are set in their ways.
We were a lot closer before I got here. When you play 18 times against teams that have been long-time rivalries, and then it's against my former manager and my confidant before I came here, it increases things.
I'll talk to them all together and come up with something before we leave from here. This is a team thing. It's not an individual thing. That's how I'll treat it, as a team thing.
I'll think about it when the time comes. My thing is if I can keep it simple, don't distract my team, and if the team wins, everything else takes care of itself.
It has gotten more intense since Tony and I got here. Me and Tony were a lot closer before I came here. But when you play 18 times against teams that have long-time rivalries, that just increases (any friction).