AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 9, 2023

Dusty Baker

Target Field

Houston Astros

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Do you have a Game 4 starter yet?

DUSTY BAKER: No, not yet. Some of it might depend on tomorrow's game. You know how it goes. So we're kind of still wrestling with -- between a couple of guys.

Q. Dusty, as best you can tell from the flight and the workout, what's the feeling of the guys after a 1-1 split as the series shift here?

DUSTY BAKER: The feeling is good. We decided to come in this morning, get up this morning, versus coming in late last night. Workout was a little abbreviated because of how we got here and what time. We were supposed to give the field to them at 4:00. I think we had about an hour's worth of trying to learn the field and sight lines and get accustomed to the outdoors and the weather.

So things are good. We've been here -- it's warmer than when we were here in April because it was freezing in April when we came through here. Yeah, the mood is good.

Q. Depending on how tomorrow goes, would Verlander on short rest be a potential option for Game 4?

DUSTY BAKER: Probably not. Because you have to try to keep him on the best rest that you can, and also you don't want to take a chance on hurting the guy. Everybody has a job to do. Everybody is part of this team that you depend on when you try to make guys feel as important as possible and that they're all part of this.

Q. How different does this postseason feel in terms of your starting pitching? You had like seven guys last year. Javier's been a little iffy. Then you might have to have -- possibly could start a rookie in Game 4. It just seems like it might be a little bit of a Wild Card with your starting pitching compared to last year.

DUSTY BAKER: It's a little different. It's a little different. Every year it's different. We started the year not knowing we were going to lose Garcia from the very beginning, not knowing we were going to lose Urquidy from the very beginning, not knowing that we were going to lose Lance from the very beginning. So we've mixed and matched and pieced it together the best that we could and the best with the ability that we have.

We'll continue to do that. It helps to have Verlander and Urquidy -- I'm sorry, and Framber at the top of your rotation. The last two to three starts, Javier's been excellent, been very good.

Q. Dusty, the weather conditions will obviously be pretty similar to what they were out here today for the workout. The shadows, do you expect that to be a bit of a factor?

DUSTY BAKER: That's always a factor, more than the weather, I think. There's two things, the shadows, you really can usually pick up the breaking ball. You see this kind of from experience, the sun doesn't help, and the lights don't help. You can't see the dot on the breaking ball to determine between the breaking ball and the fastball. That's where the major difference comes in and speed differential.

It's tough on a hitter. It's tough on the umpire. Probably the nod goes to most pitchers in the shadows.

And I'm just hoping there's no wind because that adds another factor in there that's tough to deal with.

Q. That game in April, there was definitely some shadow issues. What do you remember about that? I think Maldonado had maybe two off the glove even.

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I remember nobody could see. I just hope nobody gets plunked, nobody gets hit. In those situations, you don't have much time to get out of the way of things, especially if you don't see. I'm just hoping that we play a good, clean game, which I anticipate.

But the shadows are a factor. They're always a factor, especially when you're playing fall baseball because the sun's setting lower and it's setting earlier, and we're way north. We're not as far north as Seattle, I don't think, or Canada or Alaska, but we're north.

Q. Dusty, Javier is a fastball first guy, and I know fastballs can be a little bit easier to pick up on shadow days than breaking balls. Does that at all change the approach with regards to the pitch mix?

DUSTY BAKER: Can't tell you that. They might be listening, you know what I mean? It's impertinent that you get your off-speed secondary stuff over. It's impertinent to get your secondary pitches over against Minnesota probably.

Q. What are the challenges that Sonny Gray presents?

DUSTY BAKER: Sonny knows how to pitch, and Sonny's not scared. I've watched Sonny for a long time. I watched Sonny when he was a local. I watched Sonny when he was with Cincinnati, the Yankees. He's been around for a while. The guy knows how to pitch.

Him and Graveman, I didn't know they were such close buddies. They're Southern boys, and Southern boys usually don't be too scared.

Q. You've been asked a lot about your home and how come you guys didn't play as well as home, but what about on the road? Why do you think this team has been so comfortable on the road? You've seen it plenty of times when you got swept by the Yankees, you go on the road and beat the Rangers. You go to Atlanta and sweep that series. Why do you think they're just able to rise to that occasion on the road?

DUSTY BAKER: That's one thing I ask them in Spring Training, to be the best road team in the league. I wish I asked them to be the best road and home team, but I assumed they were going to be a good home team.

I've tried to think about it. I know it was easier for me to play on the road because there weren't any distractions. All do you is just think about the game, sleep, and eat. There's no go to the laundry or the bank. I know my daughter used to wake me up when I was at home, like 5:00, to tell me the sun is up, you know what I mean? I was like, that's good, honey, and I could never go back to sleep.

On the road, I can turn my phone off. I can just sleep and feel rested and just think about baseball and baseball only.

Q. Dusty, you spoke before Game 1 about how the Twins Game 1 starter kind of shifted some of your lineup decisions. How do you see a guy like Yainer Diaz making an impact? You're fitting him in through the rest of the series.

DUSTY BAKER: That's the universal question. You can only play nine guys at a time. When I got Michael back, it cut down some of his playing time in the DH role. And in the fact that our three main starters are usually caught by Maldy, and you want experience in the playoffs and World Series.

I pulled up something there's only been one catcher since 2010 that was a rookie or inexperienced catcher. It was Buster Posey who was the Johnny Bench Player of the Year when he was in college, and he honed his skills in college, where Yainer learned his skills through a very advanced course to the Big Leagues, but it's more advanced on his bat than it was on his catching knowledge, which isn't his fault. Experience does matter.

As a matter of fact, Yainer was supposed to play in the first game, if it was Ryan, because I got matchup sheets. Then they changed to Ober. And then he was supposed to play, supposed to catch in Arizona, but J.P. France's wife got sick. So it was an emergency, so he got scratched there.

He's DH'ing tomorrow because of the matchup that Sonny Gray is better most of the time against left-handers than right-handers.

Q. I was just going to ask if you plan to have Brantley in there tomorrow, but you said Diaz will DH tomorrow.

DUSTY BAKER: And then Brantley will be in there the next day and the next day if necessary.

Q. Dusty, we don't often get to see you in street clothes. How often do you wear your ring?

DUSTY BAKER: Not very often. I wear this one a lot more than I wore my other one with the Dodgers. '81 my fingers were a lot skinnier then, and the other one doesn't fit. So I wear this one.

Like my daughter used to watch She-Ra when you want some power.

Q. So some significance to wearing it on this trip?

DUSTY BAKER: I was wearing it yesterday. It didn't work. Sometimes I wear it when I want to feel like a champion. I got a few friends around that want to see it. Like I said, I don't wear it at that often. It's big. It's beautiful. But I'm recognized enough. When I have this one, it's a topic of conversation I'd rather not be recognized.

If you recognize me, fine. If you don't, I'm not going to show off. Plus sometimes it snags on my clothes.

Q. You mentioned Graveman earlier. Is he doing anything as far as throwing?

DUSTY BAKER: No, I don't know yet. He's here. And I haven't checked with the trainer. Sometimes with the guys, you get tired of asking them and they get tired of being asked. You tend to spend more time with the living if that can help you today versus guys that can't help you till tomorrow. We hope so.