Being a Manager is Not THAT Hard, Dusty
Making the decisions of when to hit-and-run, when to pull a struggling pitcher, and how to construct a lineup aren’t easy, and those decisions are the ones for which MLB managers get paid the big bucks. The actual process of managing, though, isn’t hard. Put nine guys in a lineup in some kind of order. Try to have a pitcher in there somewhere. Make sure the guy who bats ninth in the lineup always bats right after the guy who hits eighth in the lineup, even if you’ve switched the guys around. Not hard at all, really.
So how in the hell has a Dusty Baker team TWICE in the last four years batted out of order? In 2004, Dusty’s Cubs batted out of order against the Reds. Remember that one? Dusty made a huge production out of pissing and moaning at C.B. Bucknor, as if it was Bucknor’s fault that Dusty had no idea how to make a double switch. It happened again over the weekend.
What is this, Pony League? I remember one summer while playing with my town league, the guy who was supposed to hit after me stepped to the plate to take my at-bat. One pitch into the at-bat, both my coach and I realized that a mistake had been made. I finished the at-bat down a strike. I was ten years old.
That’s right, Dusty. A ten-year-old kid and a coach who exacted revenge for his own failings as an athlete through a group of adolescents aren’t quite as stupid as you are. Hell, as dying_diehard pointed out over at Desipio, batting out of order has only happened about seventy-seven times in the history of the MLB. Dusty Baker was the manager on THREE of those occasions. That is staggeringly stupid.
Meanwhile, Lou’s Cubs currently sport the best record in baseball, are at the top of the NL Central standings (obviously), and haven’t once lost a single out because their manager is too busy munching on exotic pieces of wood to be bothered to take a peek at a lineup card.
How did we put up with anything less for four whole years?
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Comments
IAN Corey Patterson was charged the line-out that Ross hit. That’s right: Patterson made an out without even having an AB. Fitting.
Rick Do you remember how Chicago Cub fans were viewed as racist because we ran Dusty and J. Jones out of town. Didn’t we actually voice our displeasure with a bad player and a bad manager? Or do they hate blacks in Detroit too, where they cut J. Jones?
Jon I think a good managerial choice for a Patterson at bat is to call for an Intentional Strikeout.
Bad Kermit The outcome was the same, but it’s hard to make the argument that Dusty being an incompetent idiot doesn’t matter.
Jon Yeah, but this is an offensive strategy - it’s designed to keep him from hitting into a double play.
Bad Kermit Or to continue batting him in the leadoff spot over and over and over even when everyone knows he doesn’t belong there.
Thanks for not learning a goddamn thing, Dusty.
IAN Nothing new should have been expected of him. Now, with two or three of the most talented prospects in baseball in Joey Votto, Jay Bruce and Homer Bailey, the Reds hired this douchecannonball? Why, oh why did they do this?
JackB Not to defend Super Jock’s shitty play in the field or at the plate, but he did get some disturbing mail and shit. Some people take their dislike of a player way too far. I don’t think Jock was any near as big a crybaby about it as Dusty or LaTroy Hawkins were, so I actually felt kind of bad for him, except when he was throwing balls into the outfield grass. I don’t think most people wanted these guys gone because they were black. Hell, our best player is black. Still, I actually know a guy who was thrilled when we hired Pinella in the hopes that Lou would “play more white guys”. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that Lou was actually of Hispanic descent and that he would play whoever the fuck was the best player, regardless of color.
IAN Why didn’t you have the heart? You should have punched him in the face, because black, white, green, purple, orange…whomever gives the Cubs the greatest chance to win is fine in my book.
BigFlax Reminds me of the Leo Durocher quote when some Dodgers threatened a mutiny over the addition of Jackie Robinson to the team:
“I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin’ zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What’s more, I say he can make us all rich.”
Jarritos Yeah. Racist Cubs fans are by far the most fucking annoying. The name of the game is winning, not setting fire to huge crosses.
JackB Well, IAN, the douchenozzle in question is my wife’s best friend’s husband, so I try to play nice. They’re like sisters and my wife doesn’t want to upset her friend. I like keeping my wife happy, since she does naughty stuff to me when she’s happy. So there’s one reason.
The other is that this guy has guns, and he’s not the kind of guy who should have guns, if you know what I mean. I don’t own a firearm, and have nothing against people who do, but I think there are certain kinds of folks who shouldn’t have guns. People who have a hair-trigger temper who hate blacks, hispanics, gays, non-Christians and so on and might actually shoot somebody for saying or doing the ‘wrong’ thing in front of them. This guy would fall into that category.
CT
bocaj
StPatrick
TDubbs
BigFlax
In Dusty’s defense…this one didn’t even matter. He was out for hitting a fly ball before he was out for batting out of order.