7/1 Dinner with Lou & Dusty

Lou Piniella and Dusty Baker have similar taste in food. The two dined at Joe’s Stone Crab Wednesday night, meeting there by accident. The two faced each other as players in the 1977, ’78 and ’81 World Series when Piniella played for the Yankees and Baker for the Dodgers. The obliged fans at the restaurant by posing for pictures — “The ‘now’ and ‘before,’” Baker said.

They respected each other as players.

“I said, ‘Man, you can hit,’” Baker said, “and [Piniella] said, ‘Man, you can hit.’”

They also respect each other’s baseball expertise.

“Lou was the first guy, when I was with the Giants, who asked when I thought I was going to get a chance to manage because he thought I should get one,” Baker said. “That meant a lot to me.”

Baker, who managed the Cubs from 2003-06, is in town with the first-place Reds.

“I’ve heard the fans have been pretty good to him,” Baker said of Piniella.

– Carrie Muskat