Dusty Baker

Dusty Baker denied a news report that the Dodgers have contacted him about managing next year. "Unless you hear it from these lips, don't believe anything," Baker said. At the same time, Baker's status with the Giants for next year is still undecided. His contract with the Giants--which pays him an estimated $750,000--is up after this season and Baker would seem to be in a terrific negotiating position.

The San Francisco Giants are making their first appearance this season at Dodger Stadium in a series that might help determine the National League West division title. And next season's Dodger manager. The Dodgers will pursue Giant Manager Dusty Baker unless the club qualifies for the playoffs, baseball sources said, making life more difficult for Davey Johnson. Johnson is under contract next season and doesn't plan to retire, but he might lose his job to his longtime friend. Or someone else.

If the San Francisco Giants stay healthy, Dusty Baker believes, they won't need any of the manager's usual mirrors and slight of hand--as some have described it--to remain in contention in the National League West. A young and rebuilt rotation features five pitchers capable of winning 15 games each, Baker says. A lineup anchored by Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent includes six players who hit 20 or more home runs last year.

The San Francisco Giants move into Pac Bell Park on the water near China Basin next year. They have already sold 19,000 season tickets and are hopeful of reaching 28,000 in a 42,000-seat park. In baseball's battle of the bucks, some would have expected the Giants to join the big spenders this year, building on the new park's momentum to bring in some quality free agents for the final, merciful year in 3Com Park--more widely known as the dreaded Candlestick. It didn't happen.

Dusty Baker seemingly should be among those most discouraged by the Dodgers' groundbreaking signing of pitcher Kevin Brown. Brown has tormented the San Francisco manager's ballclub, going 6-0 with an 0.58 earned-run average against the Giants in his career. And now Brown has signed a record seven-year, $105-million contract that keeps the former San Diego Padre ace in the National League West, and his presence is expected to elevate the Dodgers to the top of the division.

Welcome to the National League West, Davey Johnson. We know you have the credentials to manage the Dodgers. We know you have a World Series championship ring from your days managing the New York Mets. We know you have a reputation as a players' manager. But, as you well know, impressive managerial credentials are not unusual in your new division, where managers not only match wits, but can match resumes as well.

The San Francisco Giants have the best defense in the National League, according to the fielding statistics, but this is a team that tends to be defensive in another way as well. Suggest that the team's recent success--the surprising Giants won the West Division title last year and lead the league's wild-card race this season--is proof that a team of limited talent consistently overachieves, and first baseman J.T. Snow says, "I don't know if you can overachieve as long as we have.

Dusty Baker looked at stat sheets Sunday morning and thought it would be a good game to start Rich Aurilia. "He was hitting .313 and swinging the bat with authority. So why not?" the San Francisco manager said. Aurilia responded with the first two-homer game of his career and matched career highs with four hits and four RBIs as the Giants pounded major league earned-run average leader Tom Glavine and defeated the Atlanta Braves, 12-8.

Dusty Baker was voted National League manager of the year for the second time Thursday after leading the San Francisco Giants to a worst-to-first finish in the NL West. The Giants went 68-94 in 1996, then traded away star Matt Williams in the winter. Forecast to finish far back, San Francisco became one of the biggest surprises in baseball, going 90-72. The Giants finished two games ahead of the second-place Dodgers.