Sports

Grateful Baker back in S.F. with his Reds

SAN FRANCISCO — Minus his old signature toothpick, Reds manager Dusty Baker leaned against the batting cage intently watching his players just as he did for a decade while managing the Giants.

Baker is back in the Bay Area for the playoffs, 10 years after he came so close to winning a World Series with San Francisco.

“Well, I really don’t have much choice,” Baker said when asked if it’s a strange coincidence. “I feel comfortable here. I think my team likes coming here. This is a good town.”

Sometimes Baker still feels the sting of that World Series near-miss, even now, two managerial stops removed from his first career gig as a skipper in the place he has long called home.

Tonight, he figures to be cheered by 40,000-plus fans at AT&T Park who still love him — “some of ’em,” he quipped — when the Central Division champion Reds open the National League Division Series against the Giants. Like Cincinnati, San Francisco clinched early and had plenty of time to get everything situated and lined up for the postseason.

“I’ll be honest, I like this clinching early thing,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, whose 2010 World Series championship team clinched in Game 162.

Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto (19-9) takes the ball in Game 1 tonight.

Matt Cain (16-5) pitches the opener for the Giants with plenty of postseason cred to fall back on: The three-time All-Star didn’t surrender an earned run during his team’s improbable title run two years ago. He went 2-0 in three starts and 21 1/3 innings, struck out 13 and walked seven.

These days, the 63-year-old Baker is conserving energy after a recent 11-game absence forced by a mini-stroke and irregular heartbeat. He just rejoined the Reds on Monday in St. Louis, and is ready to go now — with no plans to change a thing about the way he operates during a game on the playoff stage.

“I’m feeling like a grateful man,” Baker said from his spot at the cage on a sunny fall afternoon in the Giants’ waterfront ballpark.

Even Reds general manager Walt Jocketty sees the significance as Baker returns to the place where he started as a manager. The place he was honored earlier this summer during the Reds’ trip to San Francisco, as part of a tribute to the 2002 team.

“It is kind of ironic,” Jocketty said. “I know he’s excited about being here and being part of this. He feels very confident about our club. He thinks this is our year, and I think he’s right.”