Dusty Baker Great Quotations

The only mistake 'Z' made was on Delgado. It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it came back over the plate. He made some great pitches and had a big triple for us. It's a great feeling to have that kind of offensive support from everybody.

He deserved to win that one. That's hopefully a makeup for some of the great games he's thrown and didn't get a decision or got a loss. I'm glad for him, glad for us, and we can hopefully win a series before we go on the road.

He did his part in all ways. He pitched great, he made some great fielding plays, he stole a base, he got our first hit. He did everything he could to put us in position to win.

He did a great job in that inning.

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's as hard-working a guy as I've ever seen. He wants to do very, very good. Seems that no matter what he does, he still has the hunger and enthusiasm of a rookie. With that nature, that'll take him to great heights. I haven't been around him that long, but he appears to be a guy who's never satisfied with where he is.

Our bullpen did a great job, and we dodged some bullets,

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

That was great pitching from both sides. You know Harden is one of the top young pitchers in the American League. We had a couple guys out there who were dealing.

We were trying everything to get him his victory. It was a great run by Greg. The guys wanted to win for him, and we left him in in the ninth to have that opportunity.

It was very symbolic. It seems likes we get in that situation and we don't get anything. It's very frustrating. We had a great chance to win that game.

Boy, that was a great comeback victory especially after we kind of gave it to them in the (sixth) inning with those two runs.

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.

You're playing against guys who are younger than you, so you can set them up. You get to a certain point in your career and you almost know what's coming. You learn to trust your feelings. Hank Aaron told me you don't become a great player until you learn to trust your feelings.

This guy is in great shape -- this is the best shape I've seen him in. Our trainers went down and checked on him. They saw him this winter. He's doing pretty good. He hasn't played baseball for awhile so we still have to break him in slowly.

They've done a great job of not only him pitching well there but getting ready for us, too, which they promised us they would do.

Sometimes he has great command of the strike zone, and the next time ... It's a matter of being more consistent. He is throwing the ball good.

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.

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.

It's great having his presence and having him in the lineup, just having him on the field.

He's such a great human being that you want him to go out on his terms. Very rarely do guys get to go out on their terms, how they'd like to go out. He just told me it was time.

He struggled some last season. He made some mistakes he doesn't usually make, and they didn't miss them. He's in great shape.

I don't know if anybody is going to pitch that long. That's No. 1. He's a great competitor, a great guy and a great teammate.

It was hard real hard. Rem was great about it. He's a real pro.

It was a great comeback victory after we gave them those two runs. 'Z' pitched outstanding. Our bullpen did a great job.

The frustrating part is you still have memories of how great a player this guy is.

The incentive is the game. You've got to play the game. Regardless of where you are. It seems like this month of August has been horrible and we've been fighting uphill the whole time. Tomorrow is Sept. 1, and hopefully we'll have a great September.

It's not over with yet. You don't know if somebody is going to offer Sammy a job here soon or what is going to happen. But Sammy has been one of the great players of the game for a long time and a guy who meant a lot to Chicago and a lot to the game. . . . I just hope he gets a job somewhere.

It's a great run by Greg. The guys really wanted to win for him. We left him out there to give him a chance ... to win.

It's a great sight to see on this side. We saw it on the other side all the time. We're just glad he's on our side instead of cursing him on the other side.

The young man has done a great job as far as not being affected by outside influences.

They are both throwing the ball good. It's just a matter of location most of the time. I'm confident it will come. They've pitched well in the past, so why wouldn't they pitch well in the present and future? I'm not too worried. You want them to be in great form right now, but we do have some time. They have a couple of starts left.

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.