MLB WORLD SERIES: GIANTS v ANGELS

October 23, 2002

Dusty Baker

DUSTY BAKER: No, all my relievers are available. Some of them aren't as available as long as some of the other ones, but they're all available. Thought about Ortiz, but we'll see how the game goes.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know how that report got started or whatever, but this is a time of year when everybody has something. I think he has 68 to 70 appearances. It's not bothering him. We just got to give him more time to get loose. That's that. I don't know if it's bothering him or not, tell you the truth. There's something bothering everyone at this time of the year. This is much longer than guys are used to playing.

DUSTY BAKER: Are they coming today?

DUSTY BAKER: I think that's great. I'd love to see the veterans, guys that I looked up to, guys that I played against. It lets you really know -- you feel a sense of history when the veteran guys come back, the Hall of Famers come back. Like, you just feel a spiritual bond with those guys because some of us are a different generation, but we're all former ballplayers. If you're ever a ballplayer, I hate to use the word "former," but if you're ever a ballplayer, you're always thinking, being a ballplayer, especially in our eyes.

DUSTY BAKER: We expect the same thing we got every start. Jason is a guy that has been giving us quality starts, he's been throwing the ball great. We'd like to start the game tomorrow 2-2. We'd feel very, very comfortable with Jason on the mound, either way it goes. We have every intention to believe it will be 2-2, we'll give the ball back to Jason tomorrow, which will make it the same spot it was the first game.

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, he's going to be available. I couldn't keep him away anymore, two games he missed on the World Series. He was sick. He had a sinus infection, earache. So, he's doing good. He's on some antibiotics, he was raring to go this morning. He's ready to come to the ballpark.

DUSTY BAKER: I think Art Howe is one of the real quality people in the world, not only in baseball. I think that he is a very underrated manager. He's actually started two teams on a great run, that went through some tough times. He's a very good teacher. Started in Houston. He had all those guys when this were young, Bagwell, Biggio, Finley, that group over there. He's done the same thing over here with the A's. I think it's kind of sad that Art goes through the tough times with these teams and helps build and train these young men how to play, then sometimes doesn't get to enjoy the fruits of his harvest. I just think Art's a very, very, very good manager.

DUSTY BAKER: We had Fultz go two innings yesterday, Eyre go two innings yesterday, which he usually doesn't go. But he's available to go. Fultzy is probably a little more trained to go two innings than Scott Eyre was. But Felix has gone a couple days in a row now. So, we like to keep him very short. We also have some other guys that are in good shape to go, like Tim Worrell, hasn't pitched in a couple days, Chad Zerbe is available, he hasn't pitched in a couple days, and David Witasick's elbow, knock on wood, is fine. He's available. When he got hit yesterday, it was flush on the bone on his pitching arm. Always afraid of bruise and tightness and stiffness. But he came in this morning, and we dodged a very big bullet by the fact that he's able to pitch.

DUSTY BAKER: I think that fits in big, even though it was two years before I was born. Most people, most memorable moments that they were there to witness or in their time and in their generation. I mean, if it wasn't for Jackie Robinson, I wouldn't be sitting up here now. It fits in big. Wouldn't be Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, any number of players that came through baseball after Jackie Robinson. Personally, my most memorable moment was when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record. That's my most memorable moment. Was that in the top 50? It was.