Bucky Dent's name is synonymous with the winning ways of the Yankees franchise, thanks to a wind-blown fly ball home run that sunk the Red Sox in 1978. This year Dent rejoined the organization as the manager of the Triple A Columbus Clippers. I had a chance to sit down with him before a rainy game against the Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island. We talked quite a bit about the old days for a book I'm writing, but here is a little Q&A about life in Columbus.

WILBB: You managed the Yankees briefly before Stump Merrill came in. Do you think about managing in Yankee Stadium again? Bucky Dent: My goal is to be a big league manager, whether it is in New York or wherever. When I went back to the minor leagues last year in Omaha, that was one of the reasons I went back: to get back into running the game, managing a team again. I had been a coach for four years with Joe Torre in St. Louis, then seven years in Texas. If it doesn't happen, okay, I might have to say I'm just going to be a coach. But that dream has always been there, still.

WILBB: Yogi Berra said "Once a Yankee always a Yankee." Is that true?
BD: Yes. When you play here and you win, you're part of the tradition of winning. People look at that. I started with Chicago, but they don't remember that.

WILBB: How does managing the Clippers differ from managing the big club?
BD: Down here you are dealing with a lot of movement. You don't have as much of that in the big leagues unless you have injuries. Down here you are managing kids, and six year guys, and guys who are coming back from the big leagues. It's a lot different.

WILBB: What's it like knowing that your best hitter or pitcher could get called up suddenly?
BD: They could be gone tomorrow. But that's a part of being here. Player development, getting guys to the major leagues, that's all part of it. When I first came to Triple A in 1987, it took me a little time to get used to that. You have your team, you're starting to win, and all of a sudden--boom--you have to move people around. But it makes you a better manager. You learn to get the most out of your players.

WILBB: You lost your hot righty. Jason Anderson seems to have won Torre's favor in the Bronx.
BD: He's a great kid. We lost him. Then Almonte came back to us and he got hurt. Saginaw got hurt. We lost some key players, but we've hung in there with what we have. We started off a little slow offensively. We didn't hit the ball the way I thought we would hit the ball. Our pitching's been good, but ... we're hanging in there with what we have. That's all you can do.

WILBB: What team in the IL has given you the most trouble so far?
BD: Louisville is the team in first place. We lost three one run games to them. But you watch the teams in your division. You take your measure from them.

WILBB: Who on your team is going to bust out this year?
BD: We have a lot of baby pitchers I think have a chance. We've been real pleased with their development. If they keep doing what they've been doing, they're going to be all right. Danny Borrell's one of them.

WILBB: Borrell lost a few close games.
BD: Some 1-0. He has been better than his won-lost record shows.

WILBB: The organization seems to like Alex Graman even at 26 years old -- is he a "late-blooming lefty?"
BD: Yeah. Left handers are always late. Overall he's throwing the ball very, very well. Lefthanders, they just develop later. They throw the ball with the wrong hand, you know, so it takes time!

WILBB: Drew Henson was already struggling before you came to the team. What do you tell him to keep him going? What do you think he has to learn most?
BD: He needs positive reinforcement all the time. The thing about Drew is that he's trying to learn to play the game at a high level. Baseball is a very frustrating game. It takes time to learn what you can do, what you can't do. He's trying to learn a skill on the job, day by day.

WILBB: What's his best talent right now?
BD: He's a good athlete, a great kid. The one thing he has done is he's handled all the hooplah with a lot of class. He's done a very good job with that. Getting booed, that kind of stuff, he's done a tremendous job with handling himself.

WILBB: Do you think Erick Almonte's stock went up during his stay in with the big club?
BD: Any time you go to the major leagues your stock is going to go up. He went up there, he swung the bat well. He struggled a little bit defensively, but I think the big thing that happens with a lot of kids when they go up there is they start to understand what it takes to play up there. Everything is faster. When he came back down he had a good attitude. He understood what it was going to take for him to be a major leaguer now. I think he was ready to come down here and really do well, but he got hurt. A catcher fell on him.

WILBB: Do Yankees prospects have a rougher time than guys coming up in other organizations?
BD: When you go to New York it's a lot different, especially for the kids to go in there now. They've won so much that when you go up there, you have to be ready to perform at a certain level. Sometimes it takes them a little bit of an adjustment period. I've always said you gotta have skin like an alligator to be there because of the high standards. You don't have time -- you have to be ready. Mostly you have to be ready mentally.