Giants will face tests in quest for repeat

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, March 26, 1998 | 9:59 a.m.

As the San Francisco Giants get ready to defend their 1997 National League West Division championship, they find themselves in some very familiar territory.

The Dodgers, with Mike Piazza, Eric Karros, Raul Mondesi and one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, are the pick of many baseball experts to win the 1998 NL West title. Colorado, with Darryl Kile joining the most explosive hitting attack in the National League, gets its share of votes. Even San Diego, with Cy Young candidate Kevin Brown and a healthy Ken Caminiti, has its share of supporters.

The Giants? Most people are still scratching their heads over how manager Dusty Baker was able to get his squad to win 90 games and win the NL West last year.

"Everybody is talking about our of lack respect," said Baker, whose squad faces the Chicago White Sox Friday afternoon at Cashman Field to kick off Big League Weekend. "That doesn't matter to me. We can't do anything about how the experts feel. Just give me victories ... and pay checks."

Respect is something Baker, starting his sixth season as San Francisco's manager after a successful 19-year major league career, doesn't need to worry about these days.

Following the Giants' remarkable 1997 performance, Baker became only the third manager to win the National League's Manager of the Year twice, joining his old Dodger skipper, Tommy Lasorda (1983, 1988) and Jim Leyland (1990, 1992). He also received a contract extension last January that will allow him to manage the Giants thru the 2000 season.

"His record has just been incredible considering the talent he has had to work with," said Las Vegas Stars manager Jerry Royster, who grew up in Sacramento following in Baker's athletic footsteps and is close friends with the Giants' manager. "He's done just an outstanding job, especially when you consider he's been named Manager of the Year twice in just five years."

Although he managed the Giants to 103 victories while earning Manager of the Year honors in 1993, many believe 1997 was Baker's finest moment.

Although he is blessed to have one baseball's true superstars, Barry Bonds, on his roster, most experts felt the Giants would be lucky to win 70 games. But Baker squeezed career years out of the likes of Jeff Kent, Rod Beck, Kirk Rueter, J.T. Snow, Stan Javier and Jose Vizcaino and led the NL West virtually wire-to-wire.

San Francisco dropped into second place by two games with less than 10 days remaining, but bounced back to clinch the division with a day to spare.

"I remember watching them play in San Diego late in the year," said Royster. "I looked out on the field and didn't see a team capable of getting into the playoffs. But the next thing you know, boom!, they're in."

The Giants were swept in the first round by eventual World Champion Florida, 3-0, but lost the first two games in the bottom of the ninth.

The key to Baker's managing success?

"He's what you hear called a 'players' manager," said Giants catcher Brian Johnson, a former Las Vegas Star who came to San Francisco in a mid-season trade with Detroit and hit arguably the two biggest home runs of the 1997 season (both game-winners).

"Everybody on the team or who has ever played for him feels that way. He understands what a player is going through during a 162-game season."

"He demands respect from his players," said former UNLV star Matt Williams, now of the Arizona Diamondbacks. "He doesn't come out and say anything, you just know. In return, he gives unconditional respect back."

Although not much is expected from the Giants in the NL West again this year, Baker remains optimistic.

"We're not going to sneak up on anybody," he said. "We're going to have to steal some bases. We're going to have to bunt. We're going to have to do the fundamental things. Most importantly, we have to stay healthy. If we can do that, we'll be O.K.."