Everyone Under The Bus

Dusty Baker must be trying to get people pissed at him.

Last week, he was quoted as saying that he can't teach young players until they make a mistake. He assumes the yoots know everything until they make a mistake.

This is also known as "calling out your GM's Director of Player Development."

It's not Dusty's fault that Korey "Bobble Ball" Patterson can't bunt or slide. It's not Dusty's fault that Mark Prior doesn't know the squeeze sign from a Tastee Freeze sign. It's not Dusty's fault that pitchers can't cover first base.

Then, last night in the post-game comments, Dusty threw Korey under the bus. Despite playing as badly as a Harold Hill brass band, Korey continues to get penciled into the starting lineup. Instead of benching him, what does Dusty do? He tells the media that Korey sucks.

In the seventh inning, Michael Barrett tried to score from second on a Neifi Perez single. Chris Speier sent Barrett home where he was out by 30 feet. On the TV, Bob Brenley said that this was a good call given that Patterson was coming up next. That's strong stuff from Bob. And welcome.

Dusty, the consummate player's manager (he never says any of his players do anything wrong), agreed.

I guess that's what Korey gets for calling his manager a liar.

Then, to make matters worse, DUSTY CONTINUES TO PLAY HIM!!!! The only possible explanation is that Dusty is trying to embarass Hendry. Nothign else makes sense. What does the rest of the team think when they see Korey in the lineup? I recall the team played its best ball of the season when Korey went away!

Despite MacPhail's comments, I cannot see how Dusty / Hendry / MacPhail are all three back next year. With Dusty starting to blame the players AND management, it's pretty clear that Dusty wants out. Grant him his wish, guys.

If, by some stretch of the imagination, they all are back, you can be sure that losing baseball will ensue.

Mark it down.