Will Dusty Baker ever get it?
Brian C. Hedger / Times Columnist
Maybe Dusty Baker gets it, and he's just not letting on.
Maybe underneath his nonchalant, toothpick-chomping image, he understands how bitter this White Sox-Cubs rivalry really is.
That's what I'd like to believe, but it's a stretch. Dusty usually means what he says.
And if you're a Cubs fan, that's not a good thing. Baker has again said this "Crosstown Classic" is just another series, and that St. Louis means more because it's a division rival.
If this were any other major league market, he'd be right. But this isn't any other market.
It's Chicago, where the Red Line runs from blue-collar American League South to white-collar National League North in roughly 15 minutes.
In the perfect world, free of corked bats and shirtless field chargers, Baker would be 100 percent correct. The Cardinals do mean more in the NL Central standings, and the Cubs have series against them sandwiched around this intracity showdown.
But here's the reality: If Dusty's boys come into U.S. Cellular Field thinking the Sox aren't pumped, they will leave with sore, reddened bottoms. They may even have Dusty's "Northsider" sandwich from Subway stuffed down their collective throat on the way out, ham and pepperoni included.
It would be just like last season, when former Sox manager Jerry Manuel danced a jig outside the Sox dugout. It was like watching Gandhi do a touchdown dance.
And it showed something about this rivalry. Underneath their laid-back exterior, the Sox savor this matchup, from Chairman Reinsdorf right on down to the players.
Dusty needs to face this reality. When the game is on, the Sox are the ones with fire-red eyes and smoking nasal passages. The Cubs just happen to be there, happy-go-lucky in victory or defeat.
Nothing about the Sox is happy-go-lucky. Their very pride hangs in the balance.
This is their chance to tell the Cubs -- most importantly, Cubs fans -- to stuff it.
Don't think they take that lightly. Why else would Jose Valentin mock Sammy Sosa's home run trot two seasons ago?
Why else would Sandy Alomar spike the ball off home plate after a collision in 2001?
You'd think Baker would've learned by now, after his Cubs were beaten four out of six last year. He sure seemed to get it following the second game at U.S. Cellular. Valentin smacked a game-winning homer, the Sox stormed the field and Manuel morphed into James Brown.
Afterward, Jerry glowed. Dusty burned.
I thought he got it, but evidently not. He's thinking "just another series" again, while the Sox are privately salivating.
Wonder which Ozzie Guillen prefers, Mamba or Macarena?
Go stros!