QUOTES by Dusty Baker
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It is a little strange to be watching baseball that counts at this time of year. I know our guys are really excited.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
Juan has a pretty good idea of when to run. There were quite a few guys who had green lights last year. It's just a matter of them running. I gave guys the green light a lot, but sometimes I was a bit upset when they didn't run. A real base stealer can run better when he feels he can run versus when you tell him to run.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
Guys gravitate towards him. You need those kind of guys. There's a lot he can still do.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
Guys tell me they sleep on the road a lot easier and better than they do at home, ... At home, you end up waking at 7:00 in the morning because you're used to getting up early. On the road, you're not worried about sleeping in and missing batting practice. You're always conscious here of oversleeping. You don't want to wake up in a panic, especially if it's cloudy or dark outside. If it gets sunny early, you're jumping out of bed and it could be 6 o'clock.
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Guzman has missed a lot of time. He's very close. You don't know if he's quite ready. Certain guys need to pitch. He has missed parts of the last three years (with injuries).
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He likes doing that. He's actually been pretty good at it. Right now, we're using him like that. I'm not sure if that's how he'll pitch. We're trying to get guys innings.
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Guys are throwing the ball well. We've just got to cut down on the walks. It seems like we walk somebody and they score.
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Guys get a chance to get more rest, ... Guys get a chance to do life stuff: Go do laundry, go to the car wash, go to the bank, shopping. Regular stuff you don't get a chance to do, stuff that's closed when you get to the park, stuff that's closed when you leave the park.
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He loves to compete, he loves the game. He studies. I don't know anybody who studies that much in baseball. This guy is one of the best guys I can remember having on my team.
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If a young man throws strikes, they can win. There have been a number of young guys who came up and have done quite well, especially if they have the maturity and demeanor to handle it and do it. This is an opportunity for somebody to win a job.
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I didn't have any choice because I had a short bullpen. If we tied the game up, and I'm out of pitchers, where I have to hit for them -- I only have five guys. That's why I double-switched, to get the most innings out of the guys pitching without running out of pitchers and running out of position players.
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I was spoiled by some of the guys I had in the past, like Robby Thompson and Jeff Kent. I know the importance of that infield defense. There's more balls on the ground than in the air. Consequently, you have to play 'D' on the field.
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One of the hardest things in this game is a fallen star. When a guy accepts the position that he's in in his career, it makes it easier on a manager and coaches and very beneficial to the guys on the team.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
Scott Eyre is a fun-loving guy, but the rest of the guys, especially the new guys we've got, they are all business.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
We needed an extra bat, ... We were a little short, especially with some of the guys being hurt. 'Big Ben' has done an outstanding job, especially coming off the bench. With the rosters expanded, we thought he could help us.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
We needed an extra bat. We were a little short, especially with some of the guys being hurt. 'Big Ben' has done an outstanding job, especially coming off the bench. With the rosters expanded, we thought he could help us.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
We were trying everything to get him his victory. It was a great run by Greg. The guys wanted to win for him, and we left him in in the ninth to have that opportunity.
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There are some guys who have the nod because of experience. There are some guys who have demonstrated better control and better stuff than others. We'll see how they do the last couple weeks of spring and how they do when they go to Triple-A or Double-A.
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I hope it comes out well. I hope it's not anything serious. I hope and pray it's something minor and he recovers well.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
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.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
It was frightening at first because you heard that loud sound. They've got a new-style helmet now. I hope it works. It has a little less padding and more holes, I guess to absorb the shock. We got its first test today.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
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.
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You hope it's just a minor setback. We have to stay positive and keep our fingers crossed.
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There have been times in my career when they couldn't find anything and it still hurt, and there were times when there wasn't anything and it was something. We hope it ends up nothing, like it's been.
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We've been doing whatever we can to shore ourselves up, ... Matt's had some pretty good years and we hope he can come over here and rejuvenate our offense.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
We've been doing whatever we can to shore ourselves up. Matt's had some pretty good years and we hope he can come over here and rejuvenate our offense.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
You'd hope so and think so. Usually when it comes down to the last couple roster spots, you go on what you have seen here as well as the past.
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Usually you come right in and face 'live,' but you get into bad habits because you're trying to protect your hands and protect your bats. Basically, this is more for the pitchers the first couple days than the hitters. The main thing is, you hope they can throw strikes.
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He got beat up pretty good today. They hit some balls hard. He was around the plate, throwing strikes. I just hope he's all right.
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I don't think it'll be that long. Hope not. He could come rather quickly. He's five, six weeks behind.
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I'd like to see him get anything he can get, because he deserves it. I'd like to see him get 100 RBIs. He's been knocking on 99 for a while. I just hope he gets that.
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And he has to work on his base stealing. We were told that when he gets thrown out, he shuts it down. He'll be fine. He left with a good attitude and thanked us for the amount of playing time that he got.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
You've got guys studying video and there's some things that you see, some things that you have to put into play, ... Of all the things that I see, they're beating him with the fastball, which is a no-no. And sometimes he doesn't track the ball. Those are some of the things he has to work on.
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You've got to admire him for not quitting. When you're hungry, you can find a way to do things. He was going to have to go to work or play ball.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
He's poised. If he's going to play short, he has to work on getting his throw truer. Right now, it runs into the runner.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
He's the guy who's doing it the most correctly. That's why he has Gold Gloves. To me, and he may not like it, but I point to him all the time as the way to be. It's not his personality to accept that, but I single him out, which I don't do that often. I say, 'Hey, this is how you want to go about your business. This is how you want to perform. This is how you want to work on fielding, hitting, bunting, everything.
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I'm sure something will work out for him. I certainly don't think he's through. Injuries have hurt him the last couple of years. I'm hoping he gets a job.
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You don't want to do all this hard work all through Spring Training and during the season and then come out here with nothing to be proud of.
Quote by -Dusty Baker
A lot of it depends on the strength of your starting pitching. If your starting pitching is good, you won't need 12 too much. Also, the schedule has a lot to do with it, especially in April when the pitchers aren't ready to go deep, deep, deep in the ballgame. You don't even know at that time if you'll need five starters. You might only need four. You hate to lose that guy's endurance by not pitching. It'll work itself out by the time we get ready to leave.
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You've got to throw strikes. That's with most young guys. Throw strikes, throw quality strikes. Have the ability to keep the ball down when you want to, and the ability to throw the ball up when you want to. When you throw the ball outside, you don't want it to creep back inside. The main thing is just relax. Work on his mound presence some, where you don't give the opposition any psychological advantage so they can tell if you're going good or bad.
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The things I want to see out of him is baseball experience and work on fundamental instinctive stuff -- running the bases, hitting the cutoff man, knowing when to run. I've heard that when he gets thrown out, he stops running. When you get thrown out, you need to be more daring.
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