Major League Baseball

Baker exudes calm in Reds clubhouse

Published Oct. 11, 2010 10:09 p.m. ET

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Dateline: CINCINNATI

Dusty Baker didn't look like a man consumed by worry. When the Cincinnati manager sat down in the interview room before last night's third National League divisional series game with the Philadelphia Phillies, there was no way to tell whether his Reds were up 2-0 or down.

On the Richter scale, that registers about 0.1. Baker has been a frequent visitor to the postseason in his baseball life -- five times as a manager, four as a player and once as a coach -- and he knows a series can turn as abruptly as it can end.

When his critics are railing about the way he handles his bullpen or why he makes some of the moves he does, they don't see the laid-back leader whose demeanor whispers "normal" in the midst of crisis, a guy who isn't infecting the clubhouse with a runaway case of heebie-jeebies.

Owner Bob Castellini and general manager Walt Jocketty see him; that was the guy they saw when they announced that Baker had agreed to a two-year contract extension last week.

"I think we've gotten here sooner than a lot of people thought, getting to the playoffs," Jocketty said. "And I think a lot of it is due in part to Dusty's leadership, his hard work and his staff."

A major-league manager's "leadership" can be different from that of a football coach, whose success sometimes depends on his ability to inject a little fire in his players' bellies. But Baker whipping his hitters into a frenzy would hardly have helped the Reds beat Roy Halladay in Game 1, and it wouldn't have helped them in a 2-0 loss against Cole Hamels last night, either.

A reporter asked Baker if the Tampa Bay-Texas game was on in the clubhouse -- the Rays beat the Rangers to even the series at 2-2 after being in a 2-0 hole like the Reds -- and when the manager nodded, the guy asked if Baker had pointed to the TV and said, "See?"

"I don't think I have to do that," Baker said. "They know. I think everybody knows that it's possible and very probable. It's in the hands of, if you get a good pitched game, No. 1, and you need some timely hitting. And that's the difference in their series. In the first two games, Texas got all the timely two-out hits. And then the last two games, it's been mostly Tampa Bay."

The mechanics of managing are mostly overrated. Everyone knows how to double-switch or trot the closer out there in the ninth to protect a lead. When Baker saw that Laynce Nix was 9 of 17 against Phillies starter Roy Oswalt and inserted him into the lineup in Game 2, he was only doing what 90 percent of his peers would have done under similar circumstances.

When you pay a little extra money to hire a "name" manager such as Baker, you're doing it for his savvy. You're doing it because you want someone in the dugout who has been there, done that, a guy who can handle adversity and can impart quiet confidence to his troops.

This is more important on a young team than on a veteran one, and it still can't work miracles; it doesn't mean the manager can do much when his starting pitcher bombs as Edinson Volquez did in Game 1, or when there is an epidemic of errors, as occurred in Game 2. But again, in the postseason in particular, it's nice to have a guy in charge who has been around.

Infielder Paul Janish described the mood in the clubhouse before the game last night as "pretty light" and said "everybody is going about their business as usual and staying in stride." Next time his critics are inclined to condemn Baker for leaving a reliever in one batter too long, it's worth remembering that he's the one who gets credit for that "business as usual" approach. He was asked after Game 2 if he had talked to his players afterward, and he knew it was time to lay off.

"After the game, what are you going to say?" he said. "Everybody thinks you can give this Knute Rockne speech all the time, and everything will be OK. It ain't like that. Sometimes, you've got to let things simmer down. You don't kick guys when they're down."

Bob Hunter is a sports columnist for the Dispatch.

bhunter@dispatch.com

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