If this is Don Mattingly’s final game as manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, he wants to make sure everyone understands he’s not solely to blame for this mess.
He didn’t call out Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti by name or point fingers at any specific players, but he made it clear Walter Alston or Tommy Lasorda couldn’t win with this bunch of misfits.
“We got to find a team with talent that will fight and compete like a club that doesn’t have talent,” Mattingly told the Orange County Register and other reporters Wednesday before their game with the Milwaukee Brewers. “I felt we got more out of our ability (last season). I don’t know about being tougher, but I felt we got more out of our ability.”
The Dodgers seemed to greatly strengthen their team midseason with their monster trades with the Boston Red Sox and Miami Marlins, acquiring All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford and All-Star starter Josh Beckett. They even took it a step further this winter by signing the best pitcher on the free-agent market in Zack Greinke, as well as Korean lefty Hyun-jin Ryu.
Yet, they entered Wednesday’s game with an 18-26 record (they beat the Brewers 9-2 on Wednesday behind Ryu), with only the Marlins and New York Mets having worse records in the National League. They are just 5-18 in May, and unless they win six of their final nine games this month, it will be the worst May since the team moved to Los Angeles.
They may have a bigger bank account than anyone in the league at $217 million and perhaps more All-Stars, but no one is getting less return on their dollar.
Mattingly knows he’ll be the fall guy but wants to remind everyone that he’s not the one who put together a team constructed like a fantasy league owner.
“There has to be a mixture of competitiveness,” Mattingly said. “It’s not, ‘Let’s put an All-Star team together, and the All-Star team wins.’”
“It’s finding that balance of a team that has a little bit of grit and will fight you. And also having the talent to go with it.
“All grit and no talent isn’t going to make you successful. But all talent and no grit isn’t going to get you there either.”
To make his point loud and clear, Mattingly benched All-Star right fielder Andre Ethier, who signed a five-year, $85-million contract extension last June. Ethier has just four homers and 15 runs batted in. His .405 slugging percentage would rank the lowest for a full season in his career.
“There’s a touch of difference between, ‘I’m giving you best effort,’ and being willing to fight you for that prize, to do whatever it takes to win,” Mattingly said. “It’s almost something inside you that says, ‘You’re not beating me today. You’re not getting me out.’
“There’s another level you can’t measure with sabermetrics. ... But there are certain things you can’t measure.”
The Dodgers will fly home after their game Wednesday with an off-day Thursday before a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The question is: Will Mattingly be putting on that home uniform with them?
