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
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.
That was great pitching from both sides. You know Harden is one of the top young pitchers in the American League. We had a couple guys out there who were dealing.
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.
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.
(Zambrano) struggled early. He made a couple young mistakes. I guess that comes with young players. He started working his breaking ball and had them off-balance. In the sixth and seventh, he probably had his best stuff. Fortunately, we got a couple runs in the top of the seventh.
They'll have to get some concentrated at-bats. Every year, I send guys who I don't think are ready down to the Minor Leagues to hit at the top and bottom of the order so they get nine to 18 at-bats at a time. When they get back, I'll find out exactly how much they played. In the case of a catcher, you have to get his legs ready squatting up and down in a game, too. We'll do whatever we can to get them ready.
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.
I've seen some greats leave the game. You never want to see them leave and you'd rather see them leave on their terms and leave on top. It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. ... I just hope he gets a job somewhere.
I've never heard anybody booed in St. Louis.
I've never seen or heard of an assault with a belly. ... That's a tough sell in court -- assault and battery with a belly.
I've never seen him that wild. Anybody is capable of losing their control. He doesn't lose it that often. I don't think I've seen him blow one ever. We'll just take it and savor it.