NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS v BRAVES

October 3, 2002

Dusty Baker

DUSTY BAKER: Quite frankly, I don't know, really. It just happens some guys pitch better on the road than they do at home. You know, I have a theory, I guess, that sometimes guys who have young children don't get the same rest at home as they get on the road. I know that wasn't my case, because you can turn your phone off, you can put your "do not disturb on," you don't have to go to the bank, laundry, nursery, nothing. You just concentrate on baseball. Like I said, I played better on the road than I did at home, because you don't have nearly the distractions. As far as Kirk, you'd have to ask him, and I really doubt if he even knows.

DUSTY BAKER: I listened to Groove Armada earlier and I listened to Tupac later.

DUSTY BAKER: I mean, to me, he's like Tom Glavine. He stays predominantly on the outside part of the plate, changes speeds. He'll come inside, up on occasion. He fields his position exceptionally well, because you're taught to hit guys like that back up, back through the middle. To me, he's one of the top fielders in this league. I've always said, you watch the game tonight, he will catch a couple of line drives, ground balls that there get through. He helps himself at the bat. He's one of our best bunters. Overall, he's good -- he runs good. He's just probably one of the best competitors that I've had on this team here. He competes at all stages of the game.

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know, I can't answer that until after the game, really. I remember one time, I asked Pete Rose -- Pete Rose asked me how many hits I was going to get tonight, and I told him I felt like a 2-for-4. And he promptly cursed me out and told me why not 4-for-4, why give away two at-bats before you even get to the plate? So why assume the plate when you have the chance to win the game? So that's why Pete Rose has 4,000 hits and I got 2,000. We had a contest, he'd get a hit, go to left field, and I'd get one and he would, and then mine stopped and his continued.