MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS ASTROS

October 31, 2022

Dusty Baker

Citizens Bank Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 3 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for Dusty.

Q. The Weather Channel doesn't look that good. In case it's postponed, doubleheader tomorrow and Cristian would be the late pitch?

DUSTY BAKER: No, I don't think it's a doubleheader tomorrow. (Laughing.)

Probably if we don't play today, that they would postpone it definitely until tomorrow. We're waiting to hear now exactly what we're going to do.

Q. You believe this group of guys is capable to put it in your finger, the ring that you always miss up to this moment?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I think so. That's why we are here. We are here to play and when you get to this point, both teams believe that they're the best. So that's the position that we're in.

Q. If today's game is postponed, will McCullers still start tomorrow?

DUSTY BAKER: Yes.

Q. And then what would that mean for Game 4?

DUSTY BAKER: That means Game 4 that we would have to make up our minds what we're going to do at that time. We don't know yet.

Q. With the struggles of your DH spot, getting Hensley in there, just what are you hoping to get out of him? I mean, he's a guy that I think you've kind of always been in his corner a little bit. Just what do you kind of like about what his style of play and his at-bats?

DUSTY BAKER: Well, I like his approach, his aggressiveness, and his overall fight to give you a good at-bat. He'll foul off some pitches. He'll put some others in play. He uses the whole field. He's a guy that has risen to the occasion, especially when I had asked him to pinch hit, which is very, very tough for anybody, but especially tough for young players to pinch hit.

But he's done well in that role. Like, if I give him four at-bats, he does well. If I give him one at-bat, I know it's going to be a tough at-bat. And that's what I, tough at-bats over the course of a game, if everybody has tough at-bats, especially today in the new pitch counts that they're implementing, then theoretically a pitcher could be out of there sooner.

Q. I know a lot is up in the air and you guys haven't decided how Game 4 would be affected if tonight is postponed, like you said, but Justin Verlander would potentially be on regular rest. If that were the case, is that a scenario that you guys would have to consider, pitching him again?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I mean, we're considering it. We're also considering would the extra day's rest do him well too. So that's kind of up in the air right now.

Q. With talk of extending the runner-on-second and extra-inning rule, are you in favor of keeping it or not?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I'm kind of in favor of it because it saves your pitching as much as anything. It makes you play a different game at home than you do on the road. So yeah, I'm in favor of it.

Q. How do you play differently at home than on the road?

DUSTY BAKER: Well, at home you can bunt, you can play for that one run. On the road, one run doesn't mean that much. I mean, it can mean something, but basically they have an opportunity to tie it up, so you can go back and forth, back and forth. So you probably play for not the big inning, but probably a crooked number on the road, where at home you get the last at-bat and that could be the game.

Q. When you're in this position back in another World Series, do memories of 2002 or even 1981 kind of come flooding back to you?

DUSTY BAKER: No, not really because you got to leave that back there where it is, and you got to live in the present here. So, no. I mean, it comes in your mind every once in a while, but you try not to look back. You got to look to today and look forward.