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April 10, 2009

Under The Knife

Notes and Injuries

by Will Carroll

CINCINNATI—Clubhouses are almost all alike. With the influx of new stadiums, they're all big, roomy, and filled with TVs and comfortable chairs. The clubhouse inside of Great American Ballpark is much the same, though it feels very different without the presence of Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, two larger-than-life personalities who had dominated that clubhouse since the place opened, even after Dusty Baker took over last season. The leather couches and chairs seem empty without those two around, and for the most part, they were.

I took my first trip of the year down to Cincinnati and joined the gaggle of beat writers for a day. It's a great group that includes Mark Sheldon, C. Trent Rosecrans, and John Fay, but augmented by Marty Brennaman, the Reds' longtime announcer who held court. Brennaman was great, laughing about the goings-on of Opening Day, talking about the coaching situation at local Xavier, and explaining to me how Jeff Brantley came to be known as "The Cowboy". (Answer: Dusty Baker hung it on him years ago.)

The writers' group readied for their daily meeting with Baker in his office. It's a typical office, with only the pictures on the wall differentiating this standard desk-and-chair cubicle-style setup from that of any other manager. There's a picture from Easy Rider on the wall, something that seems a bit out of place, but Baker's not an easy one to categorize. We have the audio up at the BP Radio page, so you can hear exactly what it sounds like. Naturally, I got in a question about Aaron Harang's 114-pitch outing, which caused Dusty to raise an eyebrow before answering with more thought than most would expect.

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Out on the field during batting practice it begins to feel as if you have that 'best seat in the house,' standing fifty feet from the cage, over by the dugout, seeing the swings the players are taking, hearing the coaches instructing, and occasionally overhearing something that surprises. Willy Taveras had missed Opening Day with the flu, but as he came out to the field, Dusty Baker stopped him in the dugout and asked "How are you doing? Are you sleeping well? Keeping food down?" It was almost touching, hearing Baker speak in a caring tone to one of his players, while at the same time looking for information he'd need. We often laugh at talk of a manager looking a guy in the eye, but that's what Baker did, and perhaps that gave him enough confidence to use Taveras as a pinch-hitter that night.