The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Dusty Baker: The More Faith You Have The Better Things Turn Out

Episode Date: October 14, 2020

Dusty Baker: The More Faith You Have The Better Things Turn Out

The Houston Astro. The Astros. The Astros. This exclusive Astros segment on Sports Talk 790 is brought to you by Expedity, the future of awesome. That's awesome. 2.15 on Sports Talk 790. We have had the pleasure all season long to visit with Dusty Baker. We wish you'd been able to forge a little better relationship, but COVID and Zoom have kind of interrupted that a little bit.

But we've always appreciated him spending at least some time with us throughout the course of the season, and he's with us here on 790. Dusty, it's Matt. Good afternoon. So many things I want to say, but I'll just say it right out the top. You've run into, and you know this, this Tampa Bay team has not cheated you.

They have played excellent baseball. They have defended their position well. They've gotten the key out. So it's not like anything gimmick he's happened, or the umpires have overly favored them, although the Altube Strike 3 was a joke in the night, but that's not in the hearing or there. You're just playing a really good baseball team

and you've come up just a little bit short. I mean, give us your assessment of the series. Well, my assessment is, you know, they got a lot of interchangeable parts. You know, they got like a couple guys that can play first base, third base, like three centerfielders. They got a very good bullpen combination of right-left. But, you know, we could have won all three of these games. You know, like we get a hit in each game, you know, hit batsman or a ball that, you know, that falls in there or deer balls tip off our guy's glove.

And like I said, we could have won all three of these games. So, you know, I'm not going to take credit from them, but I'm not going to give them too much credit either, you know, at the same time. You know, when you're hot, things are going your way. When you're cold, you know, things aren't going your way. We turn cold like all of a sudden, you know, as far as getting breaks and as far as finding, you know, some holes. And so, I mean, this thing is,

It's not over yet. You know, I mean, we're not conceding nothing until that final out. So, you know, my boys are some fighters here. They got a great attitude. And, you know, we just got to find some, you know, get some breaks. Are you, and have you been a guy that does a lot of speaking before games? And would it be out of character if you didn't speak before a game and then maybe you spoke on a game? And what is the last routine bit for you as a manager with this team in particular,

knowing that this is a clubhouse that knows each other very, very well. Well, I mean, you know, I think as society, I think we need too much period. You know, I mean, you know, most of the time you're a state in the obvious. It's not like we have a bunch of rookies here that need to hear it. You know, these guys have had their backs against the wall. I mean, they know what happened to the Yankees a few years ago, you know, with the Boston Red Sox. So I'm kind of torn between having a meeting and go around and just talking to the guys individually and just giving them support. You know, right now they need support, you know, as much as anything.

And, you know, it's a matter of you got to have faith. I mean, that's what I've learned in this game. You know, the more faith you have, you know, the better things turn out. You know, just like I never forget when Derek Jeter is sitting next to you. to Booney in New York, and he said the ghost will come. And you've got to believe, I mean, we don't have a ghost, but I believe that, you know, we've got the Holy Spirit behind us. And there's a lot of people that are pulling against us, but there are a lot of people

that are pulling for us. So if people are pulling for us, you know, I urge them all to, you know, pray for us and that things work well and come out well. And, you know, we just do, you know, one game at a time. next thing, you know. I mean, in my mind, it'd be tied three to three and going into game set. Well, of all the sports that we like to watch, streaks happen in baseball more than any other way.

You mentioned the personal conversation. Can you just give us a small glimpse of what it's been like talking to Jose the last couple of days? Well, yeah, I mean, not really. That's kind of between me and Jose, you know. But, you know, you just want to just, you know, you know, hug him and give them support. And, you know, Jose, you know, is a very, very spiritual guy. A great guy, everybody in the clubhouse was pulling for him.

And, I mean, even a guy yesterday asked me, you know, am I going to play him today? And I'm like, how you don't play, even entertain the thought of not playing Jose out too And so I'm just hoping that, you know, like he finds the, you know, the strength inside to put all this behind him because it's all temporary. I mean, I mean, this all seems so so permanent at the moment. But when you look at, you know, all the deaths that's happened, you know, Jimmy Lee Solomon and, you know, Jimmy Wann and fever and Bob Watson and, you know, all my friends. that are passed, you know, in the past couple weeks, I mean, you know, we put a lot of importance on it, you know, which, which it is important, but it's, I mean, this is all temporary. And so, you know, the, you know, the less importance that you can put on something,

the less pressure that you, you know, less pressure that you'll put on yourself. So, let's just, let's just think positive. And certainly that is the case. And the question has been brought up, and I've been listening to your Zooms after games and people say, does Jose have the iips? When I think of that, Skip, I think of Steve Sacks and Chuck Knoblock's inability to throw the ball even to first base. I thought you phrased it well and I want you to expand on a little bit if you can that guys go through offensive slumps and defensive slums. You played the defense for many years. Obviously it's at your career. You obviously might have had a slump at some point. How do you go through a

get rid of a slump when it's the most important time of the season, when all the eyeballs on the sport are watching you in particular? Well, you know, a friend of mine sent me something from Steve Sachs yesterday, and he said it's not the Yips, it's not mental. It's, you see, what it's actually said, because, I mean, he's one of the experts on talking about the subject. He just said that, you know, you've lost confidence. And, you know, confidence is the key in this sport. And, you know, you can lose confidence stealing bases if you get thrown out a couple times.

You can be over-age hitting or throwing a ball or catching a ball. And, you know, the main thing is you've got to be confident. And it's hard for us to give somebody confidence. You know, the confidence comes from within and comes from the spirit. And, you know, Jose, I mean, that's the only reason why he's made it as far as he has, you know, with the guy that's, you know, short of statue, they told him he was too little. All his life, he's been told he's too something.

And so, you know, like we love Jose Altuv. And, you know, quite frankly, you know, talking about it's not going to help him. You know what I mean? And so, you know, let's change the subject and hopefully Jose went the game for us today. Well, I'm going to give you something positive to talk about because I believe you're going to win this baseball game.

And I'm going to ask you, Have you thought about who's going to start for you in game five tomorrow? No, not really. We've got to win game four years first. Yeah, I mean, it's all hands on deck. Yeah. Then we'll worry about game five tomorrow. I will say this.

I know Anoli struggled yesterday replacing Jose, but the bullpen for you, and frankly, your starters, have really made your life pretty easy in terms of figuring out who to step on the mound for you. Well, yeah, it's never easy. But, you know, Anoli, you know, it may have. It doesn't look like he struggled, but, I mean, what he had was the two-strike blues yesterday. You know, like he had two strikes on almost everybody. He had one and two on the fire on Diaz, and then he had 0 and two on Kiermire and hit him with the pitch.

Let me see, he had 0 and two on Wendell, and he hit that ball off of Gregman's glove, which would have been a double play. so it wasn't a real struggle and he hit Adamas in the finger, barely tipped him in the finger, so it wasn't a little stronger. I mean, this kid was throwing the ball great. And, you know, it was just a matter of inches or a matter of hitting people at the wrong time.

Well, Skip, I look forward to hearing who your game five star is going to be in about, say, seven hours or so. We'll just leave it at that. How about that? I appreciate your time. Thanks a lot, and good luck, because I will talk to you soon. All right. Thank you. You got a Dusty Baker with us here on the Matt Thomas show.