Baker Praises Former Teammate’s Work

Giant Manager Dusty Baker, a former Dodger, thinks interim Manager Bill Russell has done a good job filling in for Tom Lasorda, recovering from a heart attack.

“He’s doing pretty good, I mean they’re winning and that’s what it’s all about,” Baker said of Russell. “I’ve talked to some people here and they all say that Billy’s doing a great job for them and the players are responding for him in Tommy’s absence. They’re playing good baseball.”

Baker, who received a two-year contract extension last week, thinks Russell would make a good manager.

“I think most of the guys on our [Dodger] team that I played with would make good managers, Reggie Smith, Davey Lopes [and] Billy Russell,” Baker said. “I think at some point in time there might be a chance for all of us to be managers somewhere.”

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The Dodgers, who’ve had four consecutive NL Rookies of the Year with Eric Karros in 1992, Mike Piazza in 1993, Raul Mondesi in 1994 and Hideo Nomo last season, have another candidate in outfielder Todd Hollandsworth.

Hollandsworth is the National League’s second-leading rookie hitter with a .284 mark behind Pittsburgh’s Jason Kendall, who is batting .292. Hollandsworth has five homers and 32 RBIs; Kendall has one homer and 26 RBIs.

Rey Ordonez of the Mets, touted as rookie of the year candidate because of his defensive play, is hitting .263 with no homers and 13 RBIs.