CLEVELAND -- Burdened by one of baseball's worst records, Cubs manager Dusty
Baker was quizzed again before Monday night's game about how he possibly can
expect to end up with a contract extension later this season.
"Why, are you guys going to miss me?'' Baker joked to three Chicago beat
reporters after being peppered with questions about his bleak-looking future.
Told that an extension can't seem to be justified based on the Cubs' position
in the standings, even if there is belated improvement in the next few months,
Baker acknowledged the reality of his tenuous situation.
CUBS
12
INDIANS
8
"Hey, you ain't got to tell me that,'' he said. "I haven't asked
for [an extension]. Have I asked for one? No, I haven't asked.''
So how will it ever work out with the Cubs mired in misery?
"I don't know, man,'' Baker responded. "I really don't know how
it's going to work out. People are going to blame whoever they want to blame.
You can't stop people.''
Sean Marshall gave up three home runs to the Cleveland Indians on Monday to
make it 13 homers allowed in the Cubs' last four games. But homers from Henry
Blanco (four RBI), Jacque Jones and Phil Nevin (his fifth in 14 games as a Cub
and the 200th of his career), plus three RBI from Juan Pierre, ended the Cubs'
six-game losing streak with a rousing 12-8 victory to begin a six-game trip.
Still, one win can't erase a season of stumbles.
Baker was asked if he still would like to stay in Chicago when his original
four-year term expires after this season.
"Oh, yeah,'' he said. "I came here to win it. One thing about me,
you don't [have] to worry about me losing faith. How it's going to work out, I
really don't know. Worrying about it is not going to help it work out.
"Yeah, I think of it. You wonder. You wish you had a crystal ball to
tell you, but you don't. You've got to live it. You've got to believe it and
work at it. ... I do the best job I can. Sometimes your best ain't good enough.
I stay up every night trying to figure out a way to get us together. It's always
worked out for me the rest of my life, so why wouldn't I think it's going to
work out now?''
If Baker isn't retained, youth will have been part of his undoing. Even he
sees the irony in that.
"We were young in the bullpen last year and are young in the starting
staff this year,'' he said. "Everybody says Dusty doesn't like young guys.
We've been young for two years. We're young at shortstop, young in left.
"Some of the young guys are doing as good as they can, especially our
pitchers. Some of them shouldn't even be here. It's up to me to make them
better, to keep teaching and training. That's what me and my staff do every
day.''
Will it take the rest of the season to straighten out the mess?
"Maybe,'' he said. "Who knows? It could start in a week or a month.
Hoping ain't going to get it. You've got to go do it.''
The worst feeling a manager can have is being overmatched by the opponent.
Baker felt that way while being swept by the Detroit Tigers over the weekend.
"I don't always feel outmanned,'' he said. "This weekend I did. But
when your big gun [Derrek Lee] is out, that's a lot. I see why [the Tigers] have
the best record.''
Baker bristled, though, when the "underachiever'' label was put on his
club.
"No,'' he said. "They've played as good as they can play. Everybody
wants to throw 'underachieve' on something real quick. If they were
underachieving, I'd tell them. I haven't told them that one yet.
"They haven't performed as well as some of them can over a period of
time. I can't say they underachieved. Sometimes we lost, and a lot of times we
got beat. These guys play hard. They haven't quit.''
The Cubs had another team meeting before Monday's game. They are becoming
commonplace, and sometimes players shut their ears to the same old sermons.
"I've had too many meetings,'' Baker said.
And none of them has brought a positive response on the field. Maybe the Cubs
are outmanned by more teams than Baker will admit.
