When television cameras caught manager Dusty Baker lecturing Corey Patterson in the dugout during Tuesday’s game, the casual viewer might have been left with the impression Baker was upset over something Patterson did or did not do.
“That’s speculation,” Baker said Wednesday.
Asked to explain what went on between him and Patterson in the dugout, Baker declined: “Nope. It’s part of the game,” he said. “It just happens sometimes. We all get frustrated.”
Baker has been less hesitant to criticize his players for poor fundamentals or mental mistakes over the last couple of weeks, though he rarely if ever airs out a player in as public a setting as the dugout, where the TV cameras might pick it up.
Baker was upset Saturday when some players he declined to name missed signs, saying, “Certainly we can’t play winning baseball missing signs and stuff.”
Patterson acknowledged making a mistake Tuesday night that Baker wasn’t happy about, but he wouldn’t be specific. Is there a problem between Patterson and Baker?
“Nothing is going on,” Patterson said. “That was no big deal. We just had a little mix-up, but we got it straightened out and everything’s cool.”
If the Baker-Patterson conversation weren’t caught on TV, no one would have known about it except the coaches and players. But when Patterson later hit a game-tying two-run home run, the cameras showed him entering the Cubs’ dugout at the opening in the middle. A player who hits a home run usually enters the dugout where Baker sits, and the hand-slapping line starts there.
Whatever was said, Baker and Patterson want to keep it between them. Patterson said he and Baker handled it professionally.
“We talked it out the right way [Tuesday] night,” he said, “and then you move on.”
Patterson’s role as a catalyst takes on an added importance down the stretch with the Cubs’ hit-or-miss offense. His wind-blown home run Tuesday may have been the biggest of his young career, though he had a hard time believing it was gone.
“I was shocked,” Patterson said. “It was pretty well hit, but I didn’t know it was going out. I didn’t think it was. I just stood there and I thought, `Just missed.’ When I saw Jason Bay running back, I thought, `Man, I better get on my horse because it might be off the wall, or it might be gone.'”
Patterson followed with a game-winning home run in the 12th inning. He hit four homers on the 10-game homestand.
