Debunking the Lunkheads

Halfway through the season, the Dodge are at .500.  It's as if the season hasn't happened.  Oh, it has...but you really had to follow them each and every day to see the tide lay flat, go low, and rise again.  If you didn't do that, and you were just looking at how LA is playing of late, you'd foolishly attribute this to the manager.  As a CBS Sports.com employee, you'd then be motivated to write tripe such as this:

"Dodgers' decision on Don Mattingly among first-half bests"

Of course, I could just post this article and we'd all have a laugh and return to the beer in front of us and enjoy life.  But to let this stand is to give acceptance of someone taking the uneasy task of writing about all big league teams, and in doing so, thinking they're right.  I know fuck-all about the Pirates...you notice I don't write about Pittsburgh's team.  Who'd have the time to KNOW about all teams?  

"It was mere weeks ago when Mattingly was so close to being fired that he was last seen at the end of a plank on a pirate ship. At least, that's pretty much what everyone wrote, said and thought. Now, the guy could wind up being NL Manager of the Year, and wouldn't that be something?"

How the shit would this happen?
1. The Dodgers win 40 games in a row.
2. I don't know...I'm at a loss.

As it stands, there are 6 teams in the NL with a better record than the Dodgers.  At this point last season, the Dodgers were 47-40.  So...Donny Mustache is doing better this year, I guess?  That makes sense when you consider last year we didn't have Gonzo, Puig, Greinke, Crawford, Hanley...should I go on? 

"Against NL West opponents, the Dodgers are 14-3 in their past 17 games. On June 22, they were a season-worst 9½ games out of first place. Sunday, they were 2½ back. That's a net gain of seven games in the standings in 22 days."

Funny, but it was the same man who managed the team at the start of the season...when the Dodgers were getting swept at home by San Diego and Arizona, looking like poop against the Giants.  What were Manager of the Year and his pal Ned doing during this start?

Being as stubborn as a toddler.

No one likes to be proven wrong.  It's inevitable in life, and certainly in a sport where you play 162 games...but home many times did Brandon League have to simply take a dump on the mound?  How many losses did he have to single-handedly create for Donny to pull the trigger for anyone else?!  How long did guys such as Cruz, who simply didn't have it anymore, remain in the line-up? 

When injuries started the season, and there were plenty, you got to see the REAL Donny manage.  He had to manage a real situation.  He turned to Ned, who simply brought the same old revolving door names from seasons past to LA.  No one was anticipating Justin Sellers to match Hanley's numbers...but you get neither the hitting nor fielding.  To watch things get worse showed the lack of action in this group.  I remember a Dusty Baker quote from his days with the Cubs.  They weren't winning (there's a shock).  Dusty said he just needed his starting pitching to be healthy.  He needed Prior and Wood to throw 180 pitches a game while he gnawed on toothpicks...then he'd be a good manager! 

"Even with Greinke missing several weeks earlier with a broken collarbone, Dodgers starters rank third in the majors with a 3.40 ERA."

Yes, Greinke has returned to form.  But if your starters are that good, how are you not winning games?
1. You can't score.
2. Your bullpen fucks up.

When the starter leaves a game for the Dodgers, that's when it gets interesting.  Donny (as I've written more times than I care to remember) learned from the mind of Joe Torre.  Joe had likely the finest closer in history in New York.  He had a DH.  So he sat on the bench...waited for his team to get the lead...and knew it was money in the bank.  If there were other bullpen pitchers in the game, they had to go by the 9th for you know who.

Watch a Dodger game (if Bud will let you find it) from the first half of the season: Late innings become The Donny Double Switch Show.  Players and positions move, Donny never confident that a relief pitcher can last more than an inning because no matter what, the ENTIRE LINE-UP WILL HIT THIS INNING...MARK SAID WE'RE GETTING HOT.

It has totally screwed us in games...and not just series like the Atlanta trip in May which was painful.  By continuing to double switch throughout the game, you're making it harder for yourself to continue line-up & bullpen if a close game arrives in the 9th or beyond.  Donny never seems to realize that, because of said switches, he has the pitcher's spot up AGAIN.  Well, better take that guy out and...gimme the guy off the bench who can't hit .200 - any of them.

If you say Donny isn't to blame for having no depth on the bench or minors, look at Ned, who is still operating most days in a McCourt haze.  The Nolasco trade stunned me because Ned was actually making a move.  What took him so long?!  Waiting to see if he should do a fire sale? 

It doesn't take a genius to know if a player isn't performing or is injured you need someone else in there...and if THAT player isn't working, you don't stick to your guns.  You get another fucking player.  Anyone...just try.  How the hell would you know if someone wouldn't work unless you tried it?

That short-sighted view (that so many old-time baseball fans and employees stick to) does no good when you're 9 games under .500 in June.  Instead, we saw minor deals, players mercifully sent down or cut, and our heads just at the horizon line. 

All this - Manager of the Year?!