Don Mattingly's disgrace

[slab0meat]

Don Mattingly is largely to blame for the Dodgers failures.

Don Mattingly. I say not most, not some...but ALL his fault.

Sooo.... largely to blame or totally?

He is incompetent. He never won anything as a player, and certainly will never win anything as a manager. It's clear to anyone paying attention that he's already proved that.

I can't count how many times I heard this about Francona with the Phillies. But hey, if you say he certainly won't, who am I to disagree?

[Roady]

Too bad Mattingly didn't pick up a bat and put himself in the lineup. He probably could out hit most of the lineup in the last half of the season.

[onlyalbert]

As they say hindsight is 20/20. If Kershaw has gotten the outs and he left Grienke in and he got outs you would all be saying how smart DM is. Bottom line is the players must execute. They are highly paid to do this. Also, sometimes it seems a team just has your teams number. Maybe God is a Cardinal fan, but in any case.....you guys may pay Kershaw......but the Cardinals OWN him.

[ShaimOnYou]

As they say hindsight is 20/20. If Kershaw has gotten the outs and he left Grienke in and he got outs you would all be saying how smart DM is. Bottom line is the players must execute. They are highly paid to do this. Also, sometimes it seems a team just has your teams number. Maybe God is a Cardinal fan, but in any case.....you guys may pay Kershaw......but the Cardinals OWN him.

I was just re-reading your post, and being a Dodger fan, I have to say the Cardinals definitely have our number.

But just as the 2004 Red Sox proved, streaks and curses and "predictable results" can be changed when someone with greatness takes the reigns and steers the troops in the right direction.

All I'm saying is, Mattingly can't even lead a horse to water. In fact, Mattingly is so inept, he misses the horse completely, jumps on a "cargo-haling" mule, and proceeds to wound the beast to death with his spurs when the donkey won't move.

Then in the news conference, he's questioned:

"But Don, when looking at the gut of the animal you were steering, couldn't you see it was bleeding profusely? Why didn't you jump off and pick another animal to ride?"

"DAAHhh, to heck with THAT! The saddle I was on was EXPENSIVE and comfy as all get up, and quite frankly I've ridden those other beasts. I'm still plucking splinters out of my hind end from jumping on those, so I kicked and kicked that darn expensive mule, and the sum beach up and died on me. Not my fault."

"Um...OK Don. I guess you have many friends in the Dodger org which is why you're still allowing us the opp to ask questions. So we'll move on. So Don, in a MUST-win game, why would you bench your human high-lite reel center fielder who would certainly keep runners at bay if the situation arose?"

"WHO? Andre? I played him, what are you..."

"NO...Don. NO.

PUIG....Don. YASIEL PUIG. You know, DON? Arguably the BEST defensive outfielder in the game today?? The player who single-handedly saved your job last year, DON. The player who, unlike you, actually LIT A FIRE under the team, resulting in he and his teammates going on a record setting 42-8 run, DON...which ironically made an argument for you to (amazingly) be AWARDED a three-year EXTENSION during an obvious moment of confusion on the Dodgers ownership's part?"

(In a level monotone, expression blank, no signs of life, no firing electrons in the nervous system) "I'm not going to get into that. I did what gave us the best chance to win. I picked what I thought was the line-up that gave us....the best chance to win."

The press, embarrassed over the empty response to their obvious inquiry directly shining on Mattingly's failures, sat speechless. What more was there to say? And in the stifling silence, there sat Don, eyes empty, glased-over with a blank numbskull look of stupidity. Finally, mercifully taking on the task of ending the bewildered crowd who painstakingly listened to the buffoonisms coming from a man obviously misplaced in his profession, a press member spoke up.

"Yes, Don, you did.

And how did that work out for you and the Dodgers, Don?"

[ShaimOnYou]

So Andrew Friedman had his big day in front of the media while announcing how happy he is to be a part of the Dodger organization.

The FIRST QUESTION from the reporters was "Will Don Mattingly be the manager of the Dodgers next season?"

I would argue the fact that this, being the FIRST question asked of Mr. Friedman in his new position for the Dodgers as President of Baseball Operations, was a statement in and of itself. It tells me the baseball world is aware of the Dodgers biggest problem going forward.

It makes more of a statement than Andrew Friedman's answer.

Mattingly will stay, at least for 2015. So the Dodgers brass have obviously supported their first financial blunder (Mattingly's 3-year extension after showing he knows how to lose last year) with another, adding a layer between ownership and DON. Is that maybe because Don showed even more convincingly he REALLY knows how to lose this year, so next year when the Dodgers are SURE to be under-performing again, blowing games here and there with line-up juggling, mismanagement of the pitching staff, not base-stealing attempting pinch runners, handing outs to the other teams from sacrifice bunts when the situation doesn't call for them, or whatever else Don's little pea-pod can muster up, that they'll have a guy on board to perform the overdue firing?

Here's one soon-to-be ex-season ticket holder anxious to find out.

But no longer caring. Adios, Dodgers.

[Skizzick]

Is there some deeper layer to your beef with Mattingly? Did he not sign an autograph for you when you were a kid? Did he accidentally run over your dog?

[ShaimOnYou]

Is there some deeper layer to your beef with Mattingly? Did he not sign an autograph for you when you were a kid? Did he accidentally run over your dog?

Nope.

I've been a die-hard Dodger fan all my life. Since Tommy Lasorda retired (as a manager), it's been a painful run, now 26 years, for us Dodger fans. One loser after the other managing the team. And that "loser" list includes Joe Torre. You take away his great Yankee run, when ANYONE could have won with that team, and Joe was a miserable manager too. But at least Joe has personality, is a class act, and could handle the "personalities" in baseball, so he had some measurable success.

My problem with Mattingly is that I see nothing. I see blank darkness when I look into his eyes. I don't know what team or sport you follow, but baseball is not an easy game. You need a cerebral thinker at the controls. One that knows when to act, and more importantly how to not muck things up. Mattingly, in my view, is a complete waste of time. He is too much a "players manager" and therefore he can't make necessary decisions when they need to me made. He won't pull a player when they should be pulled. He benches players who are on fire! He mishandles the Dodgers pitching staff to perfection.

I guess it's not so easy to see if you don't follow the Dodgers on a regular basis. I have nothing against Donnie personally. But I know baseball enough to guarantee you this: The only ways the Dodgers ever win another World Series is if they go find a manager with an understanding for the flow and intricate details of the game. Mattingly manages by the book. He is vacant, without consciousness, asleep at the wheel. Ask ANY serious Dodger fan, and you'll get a similar response. We know were doomed with this guy, and that's my beef. It's frustrating as hell. The Dodgers should have won the National League West by the beginning of September. We all watched Mattingly lose game after game with stupid decisions all season long. And the Dodgers had to wait until the last few days of the season to lock up the Division.

Then...Mattingly struck again. Destroyed Kershaw's two great pitching performance, evaporated Greinke's great shutout, and pulled Ryu too soon in what could have and should have been a Dodger SWEEP of the Cardinals, while he hovered at the bottom step of the dugout each time with that stupid expression of his. So the Dodgers are playing golf as we prepare to all watch the Giants in the World Series AGAIN.

It's the futility of his existence in Dodger blue. I can't understand why ownership can't see it, as all us season ticket holder fans can. The Dodgers will have to put together a team like the late 90's Yankees to have any chance of winning a World Series with this buffoon running the team. And even then, they'll have to win DESPITE Mattingly, not BECAUSE of him.

[helf35]

It is all a game of what if's. What if Mattingly makes the move to the pen for Kershaw and the bullpen emplodes for 8 runs then you would be pissed for not leaving him in. Puig had struck out 8 times in 12 at bats he obviosly wasnt right so why not try and switch it up with a man who is paid 15 million a year to play the outfield in Either. If you want to blame someone blame the gm for overpaying for Either. What will they do with Pederson now. Are they going to run a 5 man outfield rotation again. Just because they have the highest payroll doesnt mean they were the most talented team on the field. The cardinals have owned Kershaw in the playoffs for whatever reason maybe you should just chalk it up to that. There is a reason the Cardinals and Giants have been in the past 5 NLCS. They are good teams too with a smaller payroll.

[scootmagroot]

I wanna read this...but all I see is "wah wah waaaaaah wah waaah waahha sniffle waaahh wahhha waaaaaaaaaah." Then another rant about how the Doyers should be handed the world series ring because they paid for it.

Too bad this is baseball and the Cardinals were and are the better TEAM. Not to mention, if they did get past the Cardinals, the Giants are still a better TEAM.

When that final game ended, I personally could not contain my laughter because I knew I'd see or hear something like this.

And no, I'm not a Cards or a Giants fan....I unfortunately am a Padres fan (another reason why I couldn't contain my laughter)

[beachpetrol]