Don Mattingly's disgrace

[ShaimOnYou]

As a manager I may agree but as a player nothing's better than Donnie baseball. Just saying.

Yeah? Ask Andre Ethier how he feels about Donnie baseball.

I understand a players goal is just to play, but shouldn't winning championships figure in the equation?

Ask the fans who pay the bills how they feel? I know I'm not about paying $12.00 and up for a beer at a game JUST so players can be over-payed exponentially to play golf in October. The ONLY goal that matters to us is winning. And in Dodgerland, that ain't gonna happen with Donnie Doh-Doh calling the shots.

The funny thing is, I guess Dodger ownership hired this Friedman guy (while neutering Colletti) to improve the Dodger roster. If he does a good enough job, even a Donnie Doh-Doh move may work out because the personnel won't matter if they're all great players.

Assuming Andrew fixes the "Donnie move" debacles, that's only half the problem. That still doesn't get us past the Donnie that WON'T make a move when he should. Knowing when to do that is part of being a good manager. When that half fails like the previous two years have shown us all it will, that will be on the Dodgers for NOT making the right move when THEY should have.

I still have nightmares of Donnie calling for Juan Uribe to bunt a runner to second in an effort to TIE the game. It was the 8th inning of the NLDS in 2013 against Atlanta at home, and Donnie can't get his head wrapped around going for a big inning. Small minded small-ball Donnie.

Juan squared around and fouled off two pitches, the crowd wincing all the while at the fact Doh-Doh Don essentially took the bat out of his hands while he represented the winning run.

I always wake up in a cold sweat as Juan connects on the very next pitch and sends it deep into the stands as he clinches the NLDS with that home run. The nightmare ends as I wake up when McGwire is explaining to Donnie what just happened.

[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]

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.

No, Smitty, I'm just SMFH. The Dodgers are LOADED with talent. THAT'S why they've been in the play-offs the last two seasons. If you watched the Dodgers on a daily basis, you'd be SYFH at the loses we suffered as a direct result of Mattingly BAD decisions. The team was STILL good enough to win their division. The reason why the Dodgers haven't won it all is because MATTINGLY is LEADING THEM, and his weaknesses are quickly exposed on that stage.

I have explained until my fingertips are bloody this guys snafu's as manager. His complete and utter lack of understanding how to handle a pitching staff, his line-up changes with no rhyme or reason as he PUNISHES the guys performing with "RIDING PINE" on a regular basis, his dismal decision-making process or lack there of, and the results. Oh GOD, those RESULTS! And you would stick with him, because, WHY exactly? Because he reached into a kid's POPCORN container in a cute video years ago???

He's a BUFFOON. Just when the Dodgers needed a guy with some baseball sense, Mattingly stepped deep in it and the Dodgers LOST faster than you could blink an eye. It's happened TWO years in a ROW.

Ever HEAR the old saying "FOOL ME ONCE, SHAME ON YOU...FOOL ME TWICE, SHAME ON ME? How many FOOL ME'S do we Dodger fans have to live through?

Why not LOOK at how the Dodgers lost instead of "SM(Y)FH"? Ask ANYBODY in BASEBALL what the expected finish of a PLAYOFF game would be when Kershaw is taking a 6-2 lead, on a TWO-HITTER to that point no less, into the 7th. I can tell you this much, NO ONE would ever answer

"I think the manager will FALL ASLEEP and allow Kershaw, tired from 6 full highly pressured innings in 100 degree heat, to implode, NOT get anybody up in the pen in the process, and not even call time OUT to give him a blow until the stink was DEEP. Then, after deciding to leave him in when he was obviously DONE, the Dodger skipper watched Kershaw DIE ON THE VINE, continually PUMMELED until he lost his own lead (now 7-6), THEN is quickly removed! But Donnie wasn't DONE yet with his KEEN baseball insight. Oh HELL NO! He THEN essentially ENDS the Dodgers chances of winning game one by handing the Dodgers SEASON off to a ROOKIE who immediately dishes up a factory ordered 3-run BOMB." Now THERE'S a "SMFH" if there ever was one!! And I won't even REPEAT what he did to GREINKE, or RYU...or the WHOLE DODGER TEAM'S CHANCES!!

I really don't understand how you can't get the concept that he doesn't know what he's doing? Do I need to walk us all through GAME ONE of last years NLCH against the Cardinals, who by the way SUCK. We just MAKE them look FABULOUS! What, do we just let him FAIL over and OVER again until he stumbles over his own mistakes and WINS ONE?

Not me. Fire him. He's a LOSER. And I'm SMH (no "F", admin, please take note!) that you can't make sense of that. Other than to see you're a Colorado fan.....now THAT makes perfect sense to me why you'd like to see him STAY.

[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).

[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]

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".