... Dusty is continuing to lead off the speedy guy (Patterson) even though he has a .281 OBA. Jeff Keppinger, who has a .357 OBA (but little speed) would be a better choice. Heck, right now they’d be better off leading off Paul Bako, who has a .403 OBA and has hit two triples.

To answer your question, I doubt the Cubs will have any problem with Johnson and Pie. Reason: Lou Piniella knows what he’s doing and the players have no problem following his leadership.

Dusty is….well…no name calling. Corey Patterson needs to be released; either that or he should be nothing but a late inning defensive replacement or burner off the bench. Well I guess Shawon Dunston had a career with similiar numbers so why cant Corey.

why Patterson is in the leadoff spot is beyond me. His .281 OBP is terrible…

I agree with Al on Johnson/Pie…Johnson is tearing it up and Pie is a work-in-progress. IMO, you don’t necessarily need blazing speed to be in the leadoff spot…OBP is way more important.

Jay Bruce is on the verge of being called up for good. Talk of Corey Patterson and Ryan Freel is about to vaporize.

importance of what Dusty is doing with the Reds. There is going to be a train wreck, eventually. I didn’t believe a Giants fan, when he discussed Dusty with me, in Mesa—at the start of Dusty’s first year. I wrote off his distaste of Dusty as bitterness from not winning the ‘02 Series.

Boy, was he a prophet. He literally told me how this tenure would play out—some success, probably (but he attributed Bonds for much of it) and a strange clubhouse (this guy was a Giants season ticket holder) which might eventually lead to problems.

until you’ve watched Dusty up close. I remember being ecstatic when the Cubs signed him. Now I consider him one of the worst Cubs managers of my lifetime (and that’s saying something). The part I find fascinating is that the Reds fans are probably going through exactly what we did a few years ago. I think a lot of us probably feell like the Giant fan mentioned above-we can pretty much predict exactly how Dusty’s tenure is going to play out in Cincinnati after watching him flame out in Chicago.
What amazes me is how he’s able to keep getting manager jobs-I guess the “old boys network” must be running as smoothly as ever.

The only thing about Cincy I feel sorry for them about is that Joe Morgan was a Red.

...running the show from the dugout, period. End of story.

I only care what Dusty does when it helps the Reds beat a team the Cubs are battling for position. For now, that’s Milw and StL (enjoyed their win last night vs StL). Later on in the season, it’ll probably still be Milw and will then include the snakes, Mets and Phils.