Dusty Baker: Bad Manager

The Chicago Cubs’ game today against the Arizona Diamondbacks served notice once again to the baseball world what it should know already: If the Cubs ever succeed it is in spite of Dusty Baker. The toothpick-munching, wristband-fiend has to be the worst manager in the game.

Let us rehearse today’s mind-boggling 6th inning. With the score tied at 2, MVP candidate Derrek Lee leads off by hitting a tough ground ball to the usually sure-handed shortstop, Royce Clayton. Clayton strangely throws the ball into the stands giving Lee second base automatically. Aramis Ramirez follows with a single, Jeromy Burnitz doubles off the wall, and yet, the Cubs do not score! How is this possible?

With Baker, anything is possible.

Lee was caught stealing third base during Ramirez’s at-bat. Apparently Baker has never heard the often-rehearsed baseball law: never make the first out of the inning at third base. Nevermind the fact that the Cubs second-best RBI man (behind only Lee) is batting (Ramirez) and the team’s third-best RBI man is on deck (Burnitz). Nevermind that the Cubs last two wins had come thanks to game-winning, walk off singles by–you guessed it–Ramirez the day before and Burnitz on Wednesday.

“Lee always has the green light,” Baker said after today’s game.

NO, DUSTY! Give him the STOP LIGHT, just like you should have given Jody “sweet trade” Gerut the TAKE LIGHT on Tuesday! Let’s recap that lovely evening.

On that evening, with the Cubs trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th, in comes LaTroy Hawkins, a former Cub who is always good for a blown save (exhibit A: the night before). Michael Barrett parks Hawkins’ first pitch in the stands, tying the game and sending the crowd into a chorus of “Haaawwwkiinnns!” Hawkins decides he’d better stop throwing the ball across the plate and walks Burnitz on five pitches. He throws two balls to Neifi Perez, one of which Perez bunts to send Burnitz to 2nd. He then throws four balls to Matt Murton, one of which goes to the screen sending Burnitz to third and Murton to first. “Hawkins *#$%^” is now the deafening chant from the Wrigley crowd. Hawkins, visibly rattled, throws three more balls in a row to Jody Gerut, the last of which was hat high. Gerut (I almost choked on my pop-tart) swung at this pitch and popped it up to the catcher. The Cubs, of course, go on to not score and lose in extra innings. If Dusty Baker, during Gerut’s at-bat, is not at the top of the dugout steps screaming “DO NOT SWING!!!,” he should be fired. Hawkins was ready and willing to walk or wild pitch the game away.

But, this "1st and 3rd, 1 out" situation has reminded of another story...

In the two series prior to this weekend’s with the D-backs, the Cubs have watched the opposition score on the suicide squeeze twice in just such a situation. The Cardinals’ Tony Larussa called for it last Friday, and the Giants’ Felipe Alou on Tuesday. On both occasions I thought, “I cannot imagine Baker ever doing that.” He is incapable of either making that sort of decision or preparing his team to execute it. Cubs broadcaster Bob Brenly (former World Series-winning manager and the second straight Cubs’ color-man to know far more about baseball than Baker) finds himself saying “I think someone missed a sign there,” more often than he says anything else. Brenly will soon learn that when the Cubs are acting as though they have missed signs, they may very well be carrying out Captain Wristband's backwards decisions from baseball's "bizzaro world."

One more story from this very typical week...

On Sunday, the Cubs’ Neifi Perez and his game-winning, 10th-inning grandslam in St. Louis saved Baker from absolute managerial embarrassment. After Todd Walker started the top of the 10th with a double, Larussa walked Lee. Baker then asked his clean-up hitter to bunt the runners to 2nd and 3rd never considering that Larussa would instantly (who wouldn’t?) walk Ramirez to load the bases and set up force outs all around. Perez homered after a Michael Barrett strike out, blinding almost everyone from the fact that with the go-ahead run in scoring position, Baker had managed (or been out-managed) to work through his 3rd, 4th and 5th batters in the order and top three RBI men without one of them even swinging the bat.

Again, with Dusty, anything is possible...even winning (although only about half the time).