Dusty Baker doesn't believe in 'concern' -- he's all about 'ampedness' regarding Max Scherzer
Game 5. When it comes to the Division Series, the stakes don't get any higher.
That's the situation in front of Nationals manager Dusty Baker, as his club prepares to take on the Dodgers in a winner-take-all matchup tonight (8 p.m. ET, FS1).
During the pregame media presser, Baker was asked about his ace,
Q. You talked about an extra hour of nervous energy, the moment doesn't need to be built up for what you have tonight. But when you look at your starting pitchers, whether it was layoffs or anticipation, they all seemed to tick up at the beginning of the game, the velocity, and Max can do that, as well. Do you have any concerns about that going into tonight; that you can be too amped up for the moment?
DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, well, you know how I feel about that word, concern. That don't really belong in my vocabulary, really, because concern really doesn't do any good. I mean, the ball is in his hands and in his court. Yeah, you think about it, but what are you going to do ... Max is an amped-up kind of guy, but I'd rather have -- I mean, his ampedness, if there is such a word, has worked pretty good for him over the course of his career, and he is a 20-game winner. You know, I'm sure a lot of teams would have liked to have Max pitch this exciting game right here.
There you have it -- "ampedness" may not technically be a word, but it does seem appropriate for someone like Scherzer, doesn't it?
