Don Mattingly's disgrace

[BaseballNutz]

Right. Mattingly probably thought his best pitcher was man enough to do his job.

I remember 1991, Game 7, Jack Morris taking the mound in the tenth inning. If the manager had tried to take him out of the game, there would've been a physical altercation. And Morris wasn't protecting a huge 6-2 lead either, he was pitching his guts out in a 0-0 tie.

Then there's the famous story of Bob Gibson getting in a little trouble and his catcher, Tim McCarver, starting to go out to talk to him. "Get back there where you belong, the only thing you know about pitching is that it's hard to hit!" Gibson shouted.

Guys like Morris and Gibson loved the pressure. They did their jobs and thrived in tough spots. Instead of blaming Mattingly for Kershaw's failings, maybe Mattingly was just mistaken thinking he had a thoroughbred on the mound who could get his act together.

But apparently, after giving up three straight hits, Kershaw needed a hug that Donnie didn't provide. That might make Donnie a poor parental figure in the dugout, for his more insecure players, but going with your ace, holding a 4 run lead, doesn't sound so dumb to me.

Never heard that Gibson story before, and I'm still laughing.

I highlighted two comments you made above and would like to share my thoughts as an outside disinterested 3rd party. I'm not taking sides here (although being a Giants fan I will admit I enjoyed it ), but I can sympathize with the frustration of the original poster, and Dodger fans in general.

Kershaw in the end did fail for sure. But Mattingly is the manager. And if he can't figure our when his ace needs to be relieved, then who?

Anyone can criticize Kershaw for losing, tell him he's not a clutch player, even personally insult him if they so desire, but at the end of the game it's the team that suffers the loss. Is it Kershaw's fault they lost because he's not Bob Gibson or Jack Morris? Mattingly wasn't managing Bob Gibson or Jack Morris. And Mattingly failed to act on a situation that was out of control.

I think anyone would agree that going with your ace with a 4 run lead is the safe way to play it. But to watch him give up multiple hits until the lead was relinquished? Again, is that Kershaw's fault? Or the manager's, the guy in charge?

I would also add that starting off a play-off series that way is extremely damaging to the team. It's hard to get up off the mat after taking a punch like that. Apparently the Dodgers owners don't feel it was their managers fault. He's still there. 2015 should shed some answers.

Dave

[Mark17]

Kershaw in the end did fail for sure. But Mattingly is the manager. And if he can't figure our when his ace needs to be relieved, then who?

If Kershaw composes himself and gets the next couple of batters out, he gets credit for being a tough, gritty competitor, and Mattingly gets credit for staying calm and showing faith in his ace.

If Kershaw fails, as he did, then Mattingly is blamed for, basically, not being able to see into the future.

Here in Minnesota, Tom Kelly, who won the Series in both 1987 and 1991, is considered the best manager we've ever had, largely because he had a calming influence on his teams. When asked why he stuck with Jack Morris through 10 innings of Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why not, it's only a game."

I'll take the manager who stays calm and has confidence in his superstar players to be the leaders they are being paid to be, over the managers who panic and think it's their job to personally win games by putting reliever after reliever into the game like chess pieces.

Gene Mauch, one of my least favorite managers of all time, was the latter. He considered it HIS job to win games, and over-managed his way through a very long, pennantless career. When you have good players, sit back and let THEM win the game for you.

Again, if I've got a 4 run lead and my ace on the hill, I let him take care of business (unless of course he gets injured or the pitching coach tells me he detects something wrong with his motion.)

[BaseballNutz]

Mark17,

Let me see if I understand where you're coming from.

-The key to winning is never relieve your ace.

-A manager with no foresight will still win world championships as long as he stays calm.

-Those 3-time Cy Young no-stamina MVP ace slackers who rattle easily need not worry when they fail because their calm manager can always reach into their bucket and pull out the plentiful Magic Puckett Ride-a-Long Shoulder to win (those things are simply amazing!)

Finally, when playing chess, don't use any of your pieces. Just let the king win for you on his own. And if he fails, bah, it was just a game.

How'd I do?

[Mark17]

Mark17,

Let me see if I understand where you're coming from.

How'd I do?

Nutz, You did pretty well. A direct hit would've been something like:

"Mark, you're amusing yourself by keeping the discussion going, playing devil's advocate, just to see if you can get a reaction out of Shaim or someone else..."

[Roady]

If you are looking for Shaimonyou to respond it isn't going to happen.
It says "banned" under his name. The last post I saw from him before it disappeared was about auction houses bidding practices.

[suicide_squeeze]

Even Will Ferrell hates Don Mattingly, who can't stand to allow some good fun to continue in the name of charity.

Poor Will doesn't know that Don's M.O., to pull a pitcher while he's having a perfect outing.

http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/articl...for-la-dodgers

[suicide_squeeze]

So here we are....another year, another early exit for the team with the largest payroll in MLB.

Mattingly is once again on the "hot seat". And rightfully so. As most of you saw, the Dodgers, leading the Mets 2-1 with deGrom pretty much wobbling on the mat, made one of the most unforgivable mental blunders in the history of post season baseball. It was the 4th inning. Daniel Murphy singled in his at-bat, leaving him 2-for-2 in the game. So...on first with one out, Duda stepped into the box.

Someone in the Dodger organization, presumably Mattingly, called for the now infamous "shift" with Duda batting. I say presumably because I can't imagine the guy has enough firing electrodes upstairs to come up with that on his own. But the stupidity of it would fit, so I'm not sure who was behind it. I'm assuming it was a team effort led by the little Sabermetrics clowns that Dodger brass bought into somewhere along the line. This group of number pushing idiots likely influenced the decision to adopt this great shift strategy (SMH). So over to shallow right field our third baseman Justin Turner went, in his designed position between A-Gone and Howie Kendrick. Corey Seager, our rookie shortstop called up just a month prior, slid over closer to second. Dead pull hitter set-up. Nice call Friedman, or Mattingly, or whoever!!

Greinke was a bit too careful with Duda, a guy who during this series couldn't hit sand if he fell off a camel in the middle of the Sahara...and Greinke walked him.

Rendering the shift a complete waste of time. Do you think the Sabermetrics geniuses crunched numbers on what happened next? The "shift", in all it's futility in practice, quickly became a more momentous play in the series than the "slide".

As Murphy jogged to second, and Duda started his trot to first, the Dodgers went comatose, making absolutely no effort to get back to their normal positions while the Mets runners took their bases. Time out had not been called. The world watched as Murphy, a guy who had been killing the Dodgers physically the entire series, now showed them just how mentally unprepared skipper Mattingly had the "West Coast finest". He hit second in stride and sprinted on to an unmanned third base, easily setting himself up to NOW be scored on a simple fly ball.

Which is of course, like a horror movie us Dodger fans keep having replayed for us over and over the past three seasons, exactly what happened. Mattingly's brain failures as manager led to the perfect presentation of "Murphy's Law".

And that brings up a whole other can of stink. The next batter, d'Arnaud, hit a lazy fly ball down the right field line...in FOUL TERRITORY, yet deep enough to maybe score the run. Without as little as a glance at home plate, Andre Ethier ran over...and CAUGHT IT. In foul territory! The tying run scored, with no throw to home. Instead, the throw went to second to hold the runner on first. In catching that ball, the baseball world saw that the Dodgers had evidently been trained to TRADE an OUT for a RUN. Good, right? Err....maybe if you were leading by 4 or 5 runs!!!!

In game 5 of a 5 game series, facing no tomorrow should they lose, consciously deciding to make a catch that scores a run while standing in foul territory....is an absolute disaster. If you guys are all going to jump at me with "Andre made that decision on his OWN. HOW is that MATTINGLY'S fault!??"

Here's how...

A month ago, I was attending a game between my Dodgers and the Angels at Anaheim Stadium. Chris Heisey, one of our young power-hitting outfielders who was called up a few times during the season and at roster expansion time, was playing left. It just so happens the exact same scenario played out that game. With one out, men on first and third, a fairly deep fly ball was hit down (this time) the left field line. Chris ran it down, but did a very smart thing. As he approached the ball, he realized it was deep enough to score a run. So he stepped aside and let it bounce in foul territory and into the stands. He consciously chose to not let that run score. As he turned to jog back to his position, he gestured with his hands back at the dugout in a manner of asking "Did I do the right thing? Is that what you guys want from me in a situation like that?" Obviously, he made that choice on his own. He wanted confirmation he did what was expected of his team. It was also obvious that that scenario hadn't been a topic discussed during work-outs or practice since Heisey was brought to L.A. HE had to make his own decision.

The interesting part is not what happened next in the Angels game. The interesting part is that Mattingly and his coaching staff had been introduced to this exact type of play, at a time less serious, and gave them an opportunity to devise a team philosophy on how to handle that exact scenario should it ever arise again. Like...maybe at a critical time in the POSTSEASON!?

And what do you know?

Back at game 5, when Andre caught the ball, and threw it in to second, I noticed something that stuck in my mind. Something very telling. He jutted out his left hand in front of himself with his index finger and pinkie extended, signaling two outs. But he did so in a manner that made it seem like he himself disagreed with having to make that catch, so he emphasized the fact in disgust that yeah, we got two stupid outs now, but the score was tied! A great pitching duel, tight and for all the beans...and we just gave them a free run to tie the game?

Andre should have never had to make his own decision, and apparently didn't based on his actions. If body language means anything, he acted on instruction, even though it ate at his very soul.

I don't think Andre makes that catch unless he was instructed to. I think that had something to do with that well-televised rant at his manager in the dugout during the game. I'm not saying the rant was directly because of that play, but I do believe it added to Andre's frustration as to how the team is being managed. You can just SEE the players are done with him. Kershaw sure is. He has gotten into it with Don several times this season. When the players don't respect their own manager, you have a problem. When the players can see their chances of winning are being hurt....well, you have a disaster.

The Dodgers had an opportunity to teach their players what to do in that exact scenario. If Andre lets that ball drop, apparently as they would have done in Cincinnati (Heisey came from the Reds), then the Dodgers would still have runners on first and third, and a shot at a double play, which would negate the run from scoring should they get it. In Cincinnati, they aren't giving anyone a free run, by God.

More importantly, if the mental snafu doesn't happen on the shift, the fly ball is caught. If Murphy tags to third, no run has scored yet. The next batter, Conforto, grounded out to short. We gave them a run for nothing. And if Andre hadn't caught that foul fly ball, maybe we get the double-play ball to get out of the inning even AFTER the mental snafu.

Isn't trying to keep the other team from tying the game, better than absolutely MAKING SURE they tie the game??

But there are no efforts to win, no sense of urgency being shown by Mattingly in his managerial style. Just "Lefty vs. Righty" brainless sabermetrics managing, no matter who's calling the shots. Let's CHANGE the LINE-UP on a daily basis, sitting some of our hottest players in the process! Let's treat em ALL like a group of second stringers!! If I'm a manager for a big market team, and I'm being controlled by strings attached to my arms and legs by a Friedman-run GM group who thinks they know better on paper how to manage a live baseball team, then I have no self respect anyway. I should just move on and let this experiment crash short of a Championship as it has perpetually done in the past. Whichever way you cut the cake...Mattingly must go.

These are the kinds of things that end seasons. The lack of BASIC preparedness and lack of leadership, the failure to plan and play out every scenario so your players know what to do when faced with every play possible on a baseball field!....rests souly on the shoulders of Don Mattingly the manager. These issues and how they are dealt with is what separates the good managers from the bad. The winners from the losers. Don Mattingly...is a loser. He doesn't possess the skills or ability to prepare a team to win, and certainly doesn't have the basic intelligence to manage a team of the Dodgers stature...a team that is EXPECTED to win.

I'll go one step further. So now we're in the sixth. Still a 2-2 tie. Murphy is up with one out. This guy has been pounding the Dodgers the whole series. He already has an RBI double in the first, a single in the 4th, and both balls he hit off Greinke were scorched. Greinke isn't fooling him at ALL. He's owned the Dodgers to this point, already having hit two home runs off of Kershaw. So what does a good manager do in a tight game like this, facing this scenario? Continue to PITCH to him while sticking your head in the sand and hoping when you come up for air, everything will be smelling like roses??

We all know how that worked out. 3-2, Mets.

How about get up off your butt and yell out to your catcher, "HEY GRANDY!" When he looks over at you, you hold up four fingers and point to first! You TAKE the m'er f'ing BAT OUT OF HIS HANDS. At LEAST go talk to your pitcher, tell him "Everything low and outside, try to get him to chase. If you walk him, you WALK HIM, but this SON-OF-A-B&#@H is NOT GOING TO BEAT US." You show the team that your brain cells are firing, that you support them, that you are ON IT and want to WIN. You actually MAKE A MOVE to HELP THE TEAM. Then pitch the next two batters who you have been getting out all series long (save one home run by Cespedes off a lessor pitcher) in a manner to illicit a double play ball, or strike outs which is exactly what Greinke did again to both.

But back in Donnie Baseball's reality, Murphy is now 3-for-3 and one triple away from a cycle, and your team is down 3-2. These kinds of snafu's, oversights, and missed opportunities to help the team win can escape scutiny during a 162 game season. But when you're in the play-offs....in a short 5-game series no less, there's nowhere to hide when you don't know what you're doing.

It's time, Dodgers. Fire Mattingly. And while you're at it, take a good long look at your "GM" team. This Sabermetrics crap isn't all that. It's a TOOL, and should be considered, but to make it the whole basis of running a large market team??