Dusty Baker Good Quotations

So it can?t be good. There?s no way it can be good. It?s not good for our country. It?s not good for the game. It?s not good for your system, and it?s certainly not good for these kids. I?m definitely against them.

If someone is doing a good job them you tell them they are doing a good job. If they are not doing a good job then you tell them that too without tearing them down and criticizing them in front of other people. If there is a problem you call them in to the office and you deal with it one on one.

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.

He expects the ball to be hit back to him and he gets in good position. He reminds me of a guy I used to play with, Fernando Valenzuela . They expect the ball to be hit back at them and they practice it. Perfect practice makes perfect results.

He's a fine young man and he's going to be a very good ballplayer.

He said, 'Hey, man, there's a good chance he can relate to you and perform. There's a bunch of talent that's left there, he's only 27, 28 years old.

He's got the legs (to be a power hitter). We know he can hit the ball to right field, he's got a good eye for the strike zone and he can run and he's making fine progress for a young man who came out of Double-A.

He's got some skills, definitely. He's got great range, quickness. His bat has really improved over the last year and a half. Fundamental stuff? There's still a few things he needs to work on. He'll probably get a pretty good shot of that here.

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.

Harold Reynolds told me that maybe he should have gotten a Gold Glove over Bret Boone. That's pretty good company right there.

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.

Marshall has shown control and poise. He has a very good delivery, and it looks like he has three pitches he can control pretty good. He doesn't seem in awe of being here. I'm very impressed.

I was very pleased to see Woody. He looked like he was doing pretty good. He didn't look like a guy who was operated on. It shows you what modern medicine can do. They told us when Woody went in, there was a good chance he wouldn't have much swelling because he didn't have much swelling on his shoulder.

I think he can become a very good player. He can hit, he can run, I think his power is coming, especially when you're strong in the lower half -- that's where the power comes from. You have to learn how to do it, how to use it without abusing it and losing what got you here which is base hits.

The Angels are a team that doesn't quit. They have a fundamentally sound team defensively, offensively, good team speed, good young bullpen that nobody knows that much about, ... And young pitchers, which is to their advantage, and most people don't know that much about them.

We have to take a chance, especially since Corey (Patterson) isn't going too good right now.

You know he's better than he's pitching. The good thing is his arm feels good and he's in great shape.

We're not going to call up a lot of players. We'll try to call up guys who deserve it and guys who have had good years and merit being called up. We're not in the giveaway business -- we're in the earning business.

Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. I'm just not going to say right now. We still have time to see. It depends how the rest of the club shapes up and what we need offensively, defensively and speed-wise.

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.

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.

When we hit it hard, it was right at somebody. He (Lowe) got strike one low and away. He had good stuff today.

Todd did a good job playing first base in Spring Training. He likes playing first base. He'll play first most of the time and second base some of the time.

You get a good setup man and sooner or later someone is going to want him as a closer. You got a good middle guy and you or somebody is going want him to be a setup man. You see bullpen guys move in this game more than any other players.

There's good years and there's bad years. There's great years and there's good years. There's fair years and poor years. ... He only had 15 (great years) in a row. Maybe it was time.

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.

I've always said it's harder to get a good leadoff man than anything,

Sometimes change is good, ... Sometimes change is good for everybody involved.

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.

The money doesn't make you play. You play for the love of the game. A lot of times you see money change people. But I don't see anything changing him, and if it did, his dad would take care of it. They're good and humble people. He's still their son.

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.

That's not overrated. One thing's for sure. Good hitting really beats bad pitching. You can count on that one.

That's not only bad for baseball, it's not good for him either,

Zambrano threw a heck of a game. I tried to let him get his 15th (win). We just played a good game, an outstanding game. Pettitte threw a good game, and it was all knotted up. Michael B. (Barrett) got a clutch, clutch hit.

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.

You're always ready for games. Practice is something that's very necessary to get you ready for games. They've practiced very good and very hard so far.

You're always hoping for a no-hitter when a guy goes that deep in a ballgame. We figured it'd be Eckstein who would break it up. He's a good little ballplayer. It's hard to corral him.

You're always hoping for a no-hitter when a guy goes that deep in a ballgame, ... We figured it'd be Eckstein who would break it up. He's a good little ballplayer. It's hard to corral him.

They're playing hard, we just didn't play good defense. You can't give runs away in the major leagues, even at the end of the season. You have to play to win every day, and our defense didn't do that.

They have so many powerful left-handed hitters. Overall, it was a good job (by the staff).

A couple of balls caught too much of the plate early, ... but we were still in the ballgame. We ended up giving away 4 runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues, and we didn't play very good defense today.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early. We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early, ... We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.

It's just not playing good defense. They're playing hard. Playing hard isn't good enough. You have to play to win and play to win every day, and that's what we're here for.

It was supposed to be a promotional thing, but it's hard to be out there and be good at it and not do something. It's too late now, but I'm sure they won't have any other promotions.

It was a very good meeting. We covered some good areas, we covered some problematic areas, and we realize the possible risk and I explained that to him as well.

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.

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.

For a while it didn't look too good because we were hitting the ball hard and on the nose, but right at people. We scored when we had to and the bullpen did a good job.

It's good for us because we're counting on them. They're on the team, and we feel they're ready to handle it. The more success they have, the more comfortable they feel, and the more comfortable all of us feel.

New York hasn't been too good to us. It hasn't been too good to a lot of people.

That's a good time to talk to people. They're usually loose.

That's a real good sign. It shows the kind of guys we have here.

The last few days, we haven't been as sharp. Baseball players aren't used to getting up at 5, 6 o'clock every morning. You have one day off in six weeks, that's a pretty good grind.

I like a lot about him. I like his speed, like his attitude, he switch-hits, he plays all outfield positions, he asks good questions, he's hungry to learn and he enjoys playing.

I like his speed and his attitude, and he switch-hits and plays all three outfield positions. He asks good questions. He's hungry to learn.

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.

I'm seeing a fresh start to me. I've got a pretty good idea, watching him hit, of his strengths and weaknesses. When the games start, I'll get an even better idea. The thing I don't know yet is, is he a fast starter? Slow starter? It's like with D-Lee -- how many at-bats does he need?

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.

He still has a shot, but it's not nearly as good as it would have been if he was healthy.

He's one of the premier leadoff men in the game. Anybody that follows baseball knows it's tougher to find a good leadoff man than a good power hitter. We're very, very excited to have Juan Pierre.

He throws strikes, he's not afraid. He doesn't pitch away from the bat. He knows how to pitch. He has three good pitches. He's still trying to get a feel of his breaking ball some. He's been impressive. It's the first time I've seen him and I like what I see.

If he's in long relief, that's just like starting. If he's in long relief, we have a pretty good idea as far as time to get loose and get ready. It's not like I have to hurry up and get him ready for one batter.

He's got a good tempo, good rhythm going, great control, great movement. When things are going good, you don't worry about why they're going good -- you just keep on going good. It's like surfing -- you ride it to the beach instead of worrying about when you're going to fall off.

These guys are getting a chance to play that they wouldn't ordinarily have. If nothing else, they're impressing us and everybody else who has seen them. In order to have a good team, in order to have a good organization, you have to be deep in certain positions.

The Cardinals have a fine team, a real good team. We'll come out next year and try to get the lead or at least stay close -- and stay healthy. They're No. 1 or 2 in pitching, and that shows you how important pitching is. We get our starting pitching healthy and we'll be all right.

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.