Althouse: "It's a shame. He took over management in 2008 and he turned the team around, getting into the playoffs..."

October 4, 2013

"It's a shame. He took over management in 2008 and he turned the team around, getting into the playoffs..."

"... but they just can't win in the playoffs. That's very important. That's baseball. They say that about all kinds of things, but when a team does not advance, then it's management. I'm sad for Dusty, because I think this will be the end of his career. He had that heart attack last season, and he's 65 or 64, and now, if you'll excuse me, I have things I need to know, like 5 things I need to know about Jodie Foster's new girlfriend."

That's what Meade said when I requested a quote on the occasion of the Cincinnati Reds firing Dusty Baker. Meade, who moved to Madison from Cincinnati, has been a Reds fan since 1972, when the Reds were in the World Series and — Meade starts talking again — "they were just an exciting team. That was the beginning of The Big Red Machine. Probably what really drew me to them in 1972 was Pete Rose. I kind of hated him, but I was fascinated by him."

"So have you learned anything about Jodie Foster's new girlfriend?"

"Yeah, she's Ellen DeGeneres's old girlfriend...."

"Anything else?"

"She's tall, dark, and handsome."

"That might offend people. Is that in the article?"

"Yeah. No."

18 comments:

Farmer said...: Baker is a good motivator who always delivers winning seasons but always fails in the playoffs. He did the same thing with SF and the Cubs. The guy just can't win when it counts the most. The theory (which I agree with) is that he overworks his pitchers which leaves them fried by season's end (or destroys their careers, like Mark Prior). Whatever the reason, he doesn't get the job done.; 10/4/13, 8:37 AM
Farmer said...: Also, how anyone could've been a Reds fan during the Marge Schott reign astounds me.

And, Pete Rose is the one who sat in the dugout yelling "Fuck you, Shakespeare!" at Jim Bouton on the mound after Ball Four was published.

He must be doing penance for it, or maybe he lost a bet: http://twitpic.com/4fer6m/full; 10/4/13, 8:40 AM
Paco Wové said...: One of the things I find most annoying and enrageful about what passes for news media these days is the seeming mindless parroting of silly tropes like "X things you need to know (today) (about Y)!" No, I don't. Sod off.; 10/4/13, 9:01 AM
Annie said...: Women can be defined as 'handsome'. I thought the same thing of that particular woman when certain hives started buzzing about them. It's a more mature sort of pretty.; 10/4/13, 9:06 AM
Steve said...: Her dad played Felix Leiter in a couple of bond films. The similarities are striking.; 10/4/13, 9:16 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: What Farmer said about Dusty is the truth. He overworks his starting pitchers, and their arms are dead by the end of the season. Stop him before he kills aagin!; 10/4/13, 9:25 AM
Ficta said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/4/13, 9:27 AM
Ficta said...: Nobody can "win playoffs". If you do the math on 50 years of playoff baseball, the playoffs are utter, complete, blind random chance. Of the pool of teams entering the playoffs, they all have exactly the same chance of winning the world series (actually, given the new wild card structure, wild card teams have half the world series chances of division winners, which is as it should be). It's fun to pretend this isn't true, but the statistics are really really clear.; 10/4/13, 9:29 AM
Kentucky Packrat said...: I was VERY close to wondering if the Reds were suffering from an 8 Men Out situation, but I think Farmer is closer to it: Baker wore the Reds out. This year he kept the relievers from getting worn out, but the starting 8 and the starting pitchers were clearly out of gas the last 2 weeks of the year. The only thing that pulled the Reds out of a tailspin sooner was Hamilton (so of course Baker quit using him).

Part of the problem was the Central Division. The Reds had to fight for every game, versus the Braves and the Dodgers who could relax the last 3 weeks. Some of this is the GM's fault: with Broxton AND Cueto on the DL, the Reds needed to trade or buy another pitcher. However, the problem is square on Dusty: he overplayed the people and wore them out.; 10/4/13, 9:40 AM
Old RPM Daddy said...: I was going to say the Nats might have found their new manager, but given the comments, maybe I won't.

But I grew up near Dayton, so I was a Reds fan before I was a Nats fan. The first ballgame I ever saw was in 1972 at Riverfront Stadium. I still remember: Reds versus San Diego. Joe Morgan hit a home run, and the Reds won the game.

I also remember my dad pointing to the ruins of Crosley Field on the way to Riverfront. I was just a little boy, but seeing it made me sad.; 10/4/13, 9:59 AM
traditionalguy said...: At night we can get WLW Cincinnati Radio over its clear channel AM station. The sports talk call in shows are the most negative towards the local Teams that I have ever heard. Is it a contest to condemn the losers as losers the best, even when they are winning?

Sammy Wyche was the Bengals last winning coach all the way to the Super Bowl. Sammy invented the hurry up offense that year. I went to High School with school with Sammy, and he still says great things about the people of Cincinnati.; 10/4/13, 10:50 AM
Mountain Maven said...: Dusty was a great recruiter and motivator. A "players' manager" He was not a good in-game manager. In 2002 he brought the Giants close to the championship but didn't have the strategy chops to win it all. Manager needs to have all the skills to win championships, a la LaRussa and Bochy.
He was brutal on pitchers.; 10/4/13, 11:30 AM
Richard Lawrence Cohen said...: Kelly McGillis when young was prettier than Alexandra Hedison, but not anymore. Kelly, Jodie, and Whitney Houston legendarily had a nasty triangle during the filming of "The Accused." Kelly is still prettier than Dusty Baker, however.; 10/4/13, 1:25 PM
eddie willers said...: Back when the Braves were perennial 100 game losers, a crowd of 55,000 would come out to the ballpark when The Big Red Machine rolled into town.

Best team not named the '27 Yankees.; 10/4/13, 1:55 PM
mgarbowski said...: My favorite part of this account is the "Yeah. No." at the end, because I knew exactly what he meant before I clicked to the article. Yeah, because he determined from the photos accompanying the article that she was in fact, tall, dark and handsome, and No, because the article doesn't specifically say any such thing.; 10/4/13, 2:56 PM
SeanF said...: Ficta: Nobody can "win playoffs". If you do the math on 50 years of playoff baseball, the playoffs are utter, complete, blind random chance. Of the pool of teams entering the playoffs, they all have exactly the same chance of winning the world series (actually, given the new wild card structure, wild card teams have half the world series chances of division winners, which is as it should be). It's fun to pretend this isn't true, but the statistics are really really clear.

You're crazy.

As non-wildcard contenders (since 1969, when divisional play started), the Mets, Blue Jays, and Yankees have won the World Series about 40% of the time they made the playoffs.

The Reds 30%

The As, Orioles, Giants, and Pirates about 25%

The Twins, White Sox, Diamondbacks, and Phillies about 20%

The Cardinals, Dodgers, Tigers, and Royals, about 17%

The Red Sox, about 15%

The Braves, about 6%

The Angels, Rays, Indians, Astros, Mariners, Rangers, Nationals, Cubs, Brewers, and Padres have made the playoffs but not won the World Series.

As an example comparison, the As have won the World Series 4 times in 16 non-WC play-off appearances. The Braves, meanwhile, have won only once in 17 appearances.

The Yankees have 18 non-WC play-off appearances with 7 World Series victories. The Rays, Indians, Astros, Mariners, Nationals, and Brewers have a combined 18 appearances and a combined 0 WS victories.

That's not what you'd expect from "utter, complete, blind, random chance."; 10/4/13, 4:22 PM
LarryK said...: So every time the Reds fire a manager Jodie Foster gets a new girlfriend? Is that like every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings?; 10/4/13, 4:25 PM
tim maguire said...: I started following Indians baseball in the 1980's, the Marge Schott era, after the Big Red Machine was done. Because they are an Ohio team, I follow them more closely than most teams outside of the division and my thinking is it's a minor miracle whenever the Reds make the playoffs and they need to hold like grim death onto anyone who gets them there.

Then again, there are a number of small market clubs in the playoffs this year, which I love, and the Yankees are at home watching it all on TV, which I love as well.; 10/5/13, 6:21 AM