Don Mattingly's disgrace

[ShaimOnYou]

Make excuses but, Kershaw doesn't look like a playoff pitcher up to this point. His post season record proves it.

I see.

I'm just curious, did you read ANYTHING I posted to start this thread? Sometimes players and teams need to be MANAGED.

And that would be IN A MANNER TO WIN. Not to destroy someones career, post season or not. Have you ever thrown over 100 pitches in 100 degree heat to professional batters? At some point it does take a little toll on you. It's the manager's responsibility to MANAGE the situation when it's screaming obvious there is a PROBLEM, HOUSTON. Mattingly is incapable. Nothing is more obvious than that. We have two consecutive years of play-off PROOF to back that up.

[xpress34]

We have two consecutive years of play-off PROOF to back that up.

This statement just cracks me up.

So he MANAGED the team for 162 games to get them INTO THE PLAYOFFS, but because they haven't won it all yet, he should be fired.

Makes perfect sense.

SMFH.

[Roady]

Let's compare the revered Tommy Lasorda's first 4 years to the beleaguered Don Mattingly.

Lasorda 1977 98-64 .605%, 1978 95-67 .586%, 1979 79-83 .488%, 1980 92-71 .564%

Mattingly 2011 82-79 .509%, 2012 86-76 .531%, 2013 92-70 .568%, 2014 94-78 .580%

Wonder if Dodger fans called for Lasorda to be fired in 1980? Just think the Dodgers may have not won it all in 1981 if Lasorda had been fired. Who knows.

[Roady]

2014 should have been 94-68 not 94-78.

[ShaimOnYou]

2014 should have been 94-68 not 94-78.

...and the Dodgers may have won in 2013 and 2014 if Mattingly had never been hired.

Your turn.

[xpress34]

...and the Dodgers may have won in 2013 and 2014 if Mattingly had never been hired.

Your turn.

MAY is the Operative word here. For all you know, maybe Colletti was pulling the strings for Mattingly just like the way the Rockies get managed. It's not the Manager, it's the Owner's and the GM's who are making the calls.

Case in point? The way the Rockies went south after their WS appearance in 2007. Was it really all Clint Hurdle's fault? Many fans sounded just like you do about Mattingly and eventually the Rockies did fire him and no Manager since him has done any better as the hired puppet.

That said, look at Hurdle now. He gets another team with small market payroll and he is making them into Post Season contenders - obviously he wasn't the problem here in CO (other than the fact he wasn't going to be the owner's dancing monkey).

[ShaimOnYou]

MAY is the Operative word here. For all you know, maybe Colletti was pulling the strings for Mattingly just like the way the Rockies get managed. It's not the Manager, it's the Owner's and the GM's who are making the calls.

Case in point? The way the Rockies went south after their WS appearance in 2007. Was it really all Clint Hurdle's fault? Many fans sounded just like you do about Mattingly and eventually the Rockies did fire him and no Manager since him has done any better as the hired puppet.

That said, look at Hurdle now. He gets another team with small market payroll and he is making them into Post Season contenders - obviously he wasn't the problem here in CO (other than the fact he wasn't going to be the owner's dancing monkey).

Smitty,

Points well taken.

In fact, I wish the Dodgers would listen to you and send Donnie-the-dancing-Donkey on his way to another team where he can begin his fantasticly successful managerial career!

In all seriousness, I appreciate your comments and I welcome all differing views. Roady's comparison was interesting, but in my opinion, not relevant (but still welcomed and appreciated). A dynamic manager can take any given team any given year to a Championship. The other years in between? Looking at just the win/lost record doesn't tell the story. Injuries, trades, issues off the field, etc., can all play a big part in the reflected win/loss totals. But in any given year, they can win it all.

I just don't see that with Donnie. He doesn't have the ability or brain activity to "lead and inspire". He's nothing more than a spectator.

I think someone in the Dodgers front office needs to sit down with Donnie, hold him by the hands, look him in his eyes and say "DONNIE...it's been brought to our attention you need some clarification on a few things. First and foremost, the "LA" on your cap.....DOESN'T stand for LOST AGAIN".

[Roady]

...and the Dodgers may have won in 2013 and 2014 if Mattingly had never been hired.

Your turn.

I was just making a comparison of the most revered Dodger manager in history's record his first 4 years to Mattingly's record.
There is no "Your turn. ".
I thought it was a good comparison. I didn't mean it to be a knock on the chip on your shoulder.

[coxfan]

I have no opinion on Mattingly, but I want to make a general point. When I became a fan in 1957, there were just 16 mlb clubs. All that was required to make the World Series was to beat out 4-5 clubs during the regular season, since several clubs ( Phillies, A's, etc.) were rarely competitive. Thus, making the World Series was the equivalent of winning a division today, or even less because there were no inter-division games. Thus, a club played only seven other clubs all season.

Now there are 30 MLB clubs and multiple rounds of playoffs. It's much harder to get from a division title to the World Series than it ever was in those past decades. Yet many fans keep applying the same standards to postseason success as were the case in the 1950's. It's a different world now, and a world championship is, in my view, correspondingly more difficult and thus meaningful as a result of expanded competition.

[ShaimOnYou]

I was just making a comparison of the most revered Dodger manager in history's record his first 4 years to Mattingly's record.
There is no "Your turn. ".
I thought it was a good comparison. I didn't mean it to be a knock on the chip on your shoulder.

Roady,

No chip on my shoulder, just living through the pain of being a Dodger fan.

Curious: Who's your team? Short of you being a Cubs fan, or maybe an Orioles fan (they've been starving for success for awhile now too), maybe you can sympathize it's been 26 years since the Dodgers have held up the trophy. Add to that we all feel we have a team that could and should be there at the end, and someone has to start looking at the reasons why we're failing.

I simply believe that the most obvious reason is our manager. I've witnessed his sheer stupidity on numerous occasions. There's just no getting around it.