Suddenly, It Feels Like Winter....

Have you ever been hit by a truck?  Head on, full steam, out of nowhere, and it knocks you upside down?  That was what it was like to watch the Dodgers' season end yesterday.

Two piping hot pizzas were in the kitchen, my buddy arrived with beer that was brewed 60 miles from the North Pole (Einstok), more friends were on their way, and our best pitcher was on the mound about to lead us to a win and Game 7 in the NLCS. Life was unfolding as it should, when suddenly - BLAMMO!

All of us in Dodger Nation were hit with a bucket of cold water.  We had the rug pulled out from under us.  We were all shown in the harshest way possible that the Dodgers were fresh out of miracles and Clayton Kershaw is indeed, human.

Sports isn't supposed to feel that sad, but sometimes it does.  It was brutal even for my friend, a transplant from Australia who finally gave in and paid attention to baseball this season.  He quickly became a true-blue Dodger fan, and felt yesterday's kick in the guts as much as me, a lifelong fan of Dodger Blue.  It wasn't just the losing, which was always a possibility, but it was the way we lost.  All of the wheels just fell off at once, and it seemed to get worse each inning.  *Sigh*

That's baseball.  As Vinny would say, "The 2013 Dodgers and their fans went from the basement to the penthouse, and back down to the basement again."   But oh, what a ride it was.

I can't be angry at the boys or start pointing fingers.  They gave us everything they had, and they gave us a season for the ages.  We went from the absolute bottom of the baseball standings, to chainsawing every team in our path in an historic winning run that we won't see again for another 50 years.  The Dodgers brought themselves and all of the Dodger Nation closer to the World Series than we've been in a generation!  It was just too bad we couldn't make it all the way this time.

After the game, a shell-shocked Clayton Kershaw said, "If you don't win, what's the point?"  I know that was the emotion speaking.  But Kid K's sentiment reminded me of a line from one of my favorite movies "Hard Times", starring Charles Bronson and James Coburn.

After Charles Bronson wins a brutal, bare knuckle fight, Coburn, his manager, collects their winnings and remarks to the losing side, "Like mama always said, the only thing that comes close to playing and winning, is playing and losing".

Thanks for the ride boys.  No matter what they say, it was one helluva season.

fantasysportspunter.com

Mattingly vs. Ethier Round One

With an off day for the Dodger Nation, we all get to reflect on the bizarre whirlwind that the 2013 season has become.  Over the past week the Dodgers and their fans have seen everything from the depths of getting swept (again), to the heights of a Clayton Kershaw masterpiece (again), to rampant media speculation over the exact second Don Mattingly will be fired (mostly proven wrong as of this writing), to Mattingly firing his own shots across the bow toward anyone within earshot (the most interesting development of them all). 

Since the  statements made by Mattingly before yesterday's game have underlined and punctuated almost every word said or written about the Dodgers since, here's my dos centavos:

Most folks have rightfully taken those statements to be shots at popular Dodger Andre Ethier and equally UNpopular Dodger G.M. Ned Colletti.  While I agree with the initial assessments, I think some out there are missing the point behind his calling out (and sitting down) of Ethier.

Some folks are presuming Ethier was benched because he's somehow been "dogging it" and not giving enough effort in the field or not hitting well enough with RISP, and then correctly arguing that we've all seen him play hard on defense, he hasn't been the only stiff in the lineup when it comes to RISP, and he's certainly putting up better power numbers than his underachieving teammate, Matt Kemp.  That said, there are definite issues with Ethier's emotional maturity levels - which definitely affect his ability to play at his best. 

How Andre sees himself.

How too many of us have seen him too often.

When Mattingly sat Ethier because he wanted to field a team of  players willing to "compete", I don't think he was referring to Ethier's work ethic or whether or not he dives often enough in the outfield.  Rather, he was speaking about THIS Andre Ethier (credit o.p. Chad Moriyama):

Far too often Andre has allowed his emotions to control his actions.  He may very well see this as his competitive spirit,  but Mattingly is enough of a manager to know when a guy is seeing red, he's effectively taken himself out of the game.  Even if the ump doesn't eject him, a player in this state of mind will stand in the outfield focused on himself and being angry at the world, potentially missing that crucial first jump that is the difference between stealing a home run at the wall and being one step too late to do anything but watch it sail just beyond his glove. 

Mattingly didn't bench Ethier because he doesn't have any fire, it's because Andre internalizes and misdirects it.  All athletes feel the emotion of the game; it's how they handle it that separates the great ones from the Milton Bradleys.

I think that's what Mattingly was trying to say here: Asked if he didn't think Ethier would fight, Mattingly said, "I don't really want to say that, but we've got to compete."

and here:
 “There’s a touch of a difference between saying you’re giving your best effort and you’re willing to fight for something,” Mattingly said. “Some guys go to another level for that price, will do whatever it takes to win a game … that inside, you’re not beating me today. There’s something there you can’t measure with Sabermetrics. You can’t put a number on it.”

Mattinlgy has challenged Ethier to dig down inside himself and stop reacting like a disappointed adolescent.  He's asked him to sit a bit, reflect on his actions and play the game like a man.

That said, I'm encouraged (and I wager Mattingly is as well) that Ethier took the  high road (mostly) in reacting to his benching.  Ethier says he's disappointed that Mattingly spoke to the press about this before speaking to him privately, and  some are taking him at his word, in turn criticizing Mattingly for this supposed slight as well.

However, Mattingly's stated that he's spoken to Ethier about these issues a few times in the past.  It's entirely possible that Ethier is simply not making the connection between those past conversations and this week's disciplinary action.  Regardless of who's right on that particular angle, it's still incumbent upon Andre to step up and prove himself worthy of remaining in the lineup the next time he gets the chance.

"Put me in, coach."

One last note: Had enough negatives and speculation? Read a great piece here  at True Blue L.A. about "What has gone right for the Dodgers". 

Never Thought I Would See The Day...

It is now becoming one of the strangest Dodger's seasons I've ever seen - and I've seen plenty.

I've come to the bewildering conclusion that a "bases loaded" situation is the worst thing that can happen to this squad.  I'll say that once again, because I'm pretty sure on every other team in MLB, the opposite is true...

BASES LOADED IS THE WORST THING THAT CAN HAPPEN TO MY TEAM!  The season is officially upside down.

Before today's game, the Dodgers were 1 for 21 with the bases loaded.

On the bright side, these 2013 Dodgers have loaded the bases 21 times.   That's pretty good for an early season stat.  However, the Dodger batters have gotta DO SOMETHING with that.  Matt Kemp - who didn't even start in the final game against the Padres - came up TWICE with the bases juiced, and both times crapped out.

The situation arose yet again in today's game.  The newest Dodger, Ramon Hernandez, got his shot at a bases loaded situation.  Every batter wants that, right?  Ramon officially joined the boys when he fouled a pitch back into the catcher's mitt and the inning was over.  Now 1 for 22.

You're probably saying, "Don't gimme one stat and say these super talented, highly paid Dodgers are not the team we want them to be."  Fair enough.  I won't focus on one little tree, let's look at the forest.  With runners in scoring position, before today's game, the Boys in Blue are batting a ridiculous .171. Hell, they're not even batting MY weight!

Yes, I know it's early and anything can happen.  But the Casey Stengal inside of me fears nothing's gonna happen until something happens!

 Where to look for answers to what ails this team?  Matt Kemp is one target, for sure.

Yes, him.

The L.A. mainstream press has been verrrryy forgiving and patient of Kemp up to this point.  While they obligingly list his abysmal stats, most articles pointing fingers at the anemic Dodger hitting have let Kemp off easy.

Most Dodger fans say Kemp will come around...eventually.  As a Dodger fan myself, I certainly hope so.   There was a good sign as Kemp was credited with three hits in today's first game of a double-header with the Orioles.  Maybe he'll break out - starting today.  But did we really have to lose 3-5 games while Kemp kept killing rallies and innings in all those other games up to this point?

All that said, Kemp's just one guy.  Surely one big bat in a slump shouldn't sputter a club as much as this.  Especially when the club has other guys hitting pretty well.   Guys like Adrian Gonzalez,

 Carl Crawford,

 and almost-hitting-pretty-well Andre Ethier.

Don't look at me. I hit a home run today. 

So why isn't this club winning more games?  Why do Dodger pitchers have to work harder than necessary, more often than necessary?

When a stable of starting pitchers or a bullpen is not doing well, the press will occasionally look up the pitching coach.  Well, since we're not hearing from the bats he's supposedly coaching, why aren't we hearing something from this guy?  

simply 'roid up and swing fer the fences!  Right?

 When word first hit the wires that Cheater Mcgwire was hired to be the Dodger's new batting coach, I asked if we were going to hire a cheater, why the heck didn't we hire Pete Rose, the Hit King?  That debate aside, McGwire's the man, and he's MIA in more ways than one.



I've come to the conclusion this guy isn't a very good manager.

He's certainly not a World Series caliber manager.  This team was assembled to be a World Series caliber tam.  We've got a Formula Series race car with a Manhattan cabbie for a driver.

In a basic test of managerial capabilities - Mattingly has shown he simply won't tweak a batting order to capitalize on hot hitters (see Luis Cruz in his moment of brilliance last season), nor is he willing to drop an inning-killing liability out of a prime hitting spot (see Matt Kemp end of 2012 and start of 2013).

But it's more than that. The team is starting to not believe in itself.  It's one thing for fans at home to change the channel when the Dodgers are down by 2 in the 6th.  It's another when you get the feeling the team isn't so sure it can come back also. 

A manager's job is to give his team the best chance of winning on any given day.  That means intelligently managing a line-up and a bullpen, and handling the unique psychology of a clubhouse full of major league egos.  Mattingly can't do those things and chew gum at the same time just yet.

It's time to consider the possibility that he learn his craft elsewhere.