Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Many Cubs fans wonder why Wendell Kim still has a job. Dusty Baker lets us know why.

Baker looks at the blame game as a societal problem and believes coaches often are scapegoats for a player's lack of baserunning instincts.

"I've found a lot of coaches are getting blamed, just like a lot of teachers are getting blamed," he said. "Back in our day, if you didn't do well in class, your dad didn't want to hear it was the teacher's fault. Nowadays if a kid doesn't pass, the parents want to jump the teacher because their kid failed. Hey, man, I have to blame my kid, personally."


Part of the article does discuss how Baker thinks good base runners just know when they should go or not. And I agree with that 100%. However, when you see Wavin Wendel Kim swinging his arms towards home plate with a runner on second on a deep pop up to center field you have to wonder what in sam hell is he thinking?

Basically what Baker is saying, if the base runner looks at Kim for a decision to run or not and gets nailed by a mile at home plate, it is the player's dumb fault for putting his faith in the 3rd base coach.