Edgar Renteria knows it very well. Dusty Baker does too.
Renteria gets the start over Zack Cozart on Saturday in spite of the three-hit game Cozart put together on Friday night. Renteria entered the game with only three hits in 18 at bats against Carpenter.
"Carpenter is tough especially if you haven't seen him," Baker said. "Edgar has seen him. I told Zack yesterday that Renteria was going to start. We liked Cozart in spring training. It was just a question of when he would be up here. He needed time in Triple-A. What did he hit last year? .250? It was like Heisey. Cozart has improved."
Cozart hit .255 in Louisville last year.
"It was like Heisey," Baker said. Heisey got the call to the major leagues at Baker's insistence even though he was hitting just .240 at the time in Louisville. "You want to try to match these guys up. I put Heisey behind Scotty (Scott Rolen) to give protection."
Heisey hit two solo home runs on Friday. Baker hoped Heisey would get more chances to drive in runs lower in the batting order.
"Heisey is playing more and more. He still has adjustments to make. I see what they are. You want to match high ball hitters with high ball pitchers, fastball hitters with fastball pitchers. That helps us and helps them."
Baker was put to the fire early in his playing days. Baker had to bat behind Hank Aaron as a rookie.
"That was like a bazooka being protected by a bee bee gun," Baker said. "I learned a lot. Hank told me to not strike out, and stay away from the double play. Don't take it personally when they walk me. Most of the time it will be with a runner in scoring position. Just drive in some runs and they'll stop doing it."
Baker also learned how to handle himself by watching Aaron.
"When reporters would ask Hank about hitting a home run, he would tell them he got lucky. Well he got lucky 715 times," Baker said.
The Hank Aaron Story
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