Joe Poz on Dusty Baker

This goes hand in hand with Chris’s excellent post last night (definitely go read that one before it gets bumped too far down the page). America’s Best Sportswriter (TM) has weighed in on the ongoing debacle we are witnessing at the hands of our intrepid manager. An excerpt: Still, it’s this latest bit of Dusty magic that has me nodding my head in admiration. Seven times this year — and twice in the last week — Dusty Baker has led off his lineup with center fielder Willy Taveras and followed him, in the No. 2 spot, with shortstop Alex Gonzalez. There’s something awe inspiring about it. In case you are wondering what’s so special about this, well, Willy Taveras has a .279 on-base percentage this year. In case you are wondering, that’s the second worst on-base percentage in baseball (350 or more plate appearances), the worst being the always enjoyable Bengie Molina. Dusty is leading off with a player who makes outs 72 percent of the time he comes to the plate. His OPS+ is ...