Getting Marysville's Dave Rodriguez away long enough to celebrate his 11th wedding anniversary with his wife Melissa wasn't easy.

Fortunately, as head coach of the 9/10-year-old Hard-90 traveling baseball team, Dave Rodriguez had a decent fill-in who was available on Saturday - much to the chagrin of Cincinatti Reds fans.

Cincinnati Reds manager and former Major League Baseball all-star Dusty Baker sat in the dugout next to his son Darren, and Dave Rodriguez's sons, Demetri and Drew Rodriguez, in a tournament at Sunnyvale this past weekend.

"(Dusty Baker) is great," said Rodriguez, who has also spent 12 years working with the Yuba City High baseball program, where he is currently the head coach of the freshman team. "We've talked a little strategy, but he's a parent. He just likes to watch his kid play."

The pressure of coaching Baker's son can't be easy, but Rodriguez says that the former Gold Glove Award winner (1981) has made him feel very comfortable.

"The Bakers have given us full confidence," the coach said. "When Darren came to our program, we wanted to show that we had the best product, and I think it's a tribute to our program because he stayed. A lot of programs would love to have a guy like that associated with it."

Rodriguez has been coaching the team for three years, Darren has been with the Hard-90 Academy for the past year and a half. Dusty Baker, who managed the San Francisco Giants from 1993 to 2002, owns a house near Roseville, where the academy is based.

"Darren is a great kid. He's always smiling. He's just a great joy to have on the team," Rodriguez said. "I think Dusty has done a good job with him, emphasizing team play, because he really gets that. We really feel comfortable treating him just like everyone else."

Baker is a two-time all-star (1981, '82), a three-time NL Manager of the year ('93,'97 and '02) and he won a World Series ring with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1981.

And while coaching his own two sons is exciting enough for Rodriguez, the idea that they be around and pick-up techniques from a baseball icon, is extremely rewarding.

"It's a great feeling," Rodriguez said. "Dusty is a great parent. When his team isn't playing, he's just like everyone else — he watches and supports his son. And after every game, he signs autographs, and if there's 500 people there, he'll sit around to sign every single one."

Rodriguez's mission statement is to prepare the youngsters for the high school level, where he says the largest discrepancy between the two levels is emotions.

"Pretty much, at this level, you have to be patient with these guys," he said. "You have to keep players in longer and let them experience different situations and outcomes, so that by the time they are a freshman, they are controlling their emotions. There is a big difference there."

The team is ranked No. 1 in the state and No. 4 in the nation by the United States Specialty Sports Association.

Rodriguez's team will play in Manteca on Nov. 1.

Contact sports editor Bryan DeMain at 749-4715 or bdemain@appealdemocrat.com