...to don mattingly i was one of donnie baseball's biggest naysayers from the beginning and once we got off to that dismal start, i was calling for his head and then something happened yes, the winning has been nice but donnie's demeanor has been the same whether we were 2-8 or 8-2 unlike me, he never got flustered or panicked and yesterday... the way he handled the puig situation was masterful he acted quickly and -- dare i say -- almost unnoticeably and after the game, when he refused get specific and responded only with a cryptic "skip gave us the best chance to win" response... he gained a whole new level of respect from me no one would have blamed him had he alluded to puig's lack of focus or hustle and, to be honest, i kind of expected it but he chose not to -- sparing puig from a potentially humiliating and harmful situation that, to me, spoke volumes about (not only) mattingly the manager, but mattingly the person as well his post-game non-statement said one thing very clearly -- i have my player's backs so donnie... i apologize i was wrong you are the man to lead this team and, in a related matter, props to puig for his maturity in accepting blame i'm sure hanley and uribe had a say in it, but still last add.. vinny said something yesterday about having not seen a dodger team having so much fun in a long time and i, as a dodger fan, feel the same way these are the good old days :soapbox: _
Bravo Irish! Especially that^ part. As bad of a manger I've always thought Joe Torre was he had 2 great managerial traits and that was one of them. A steady demeanor or patience. That is a very hard trait for us as fans to relate too because most of us don't have it in us when it comes to baseball for some reason. The other is the managing of the clubhouse, the various personalities. Something other Dodger managers had no grasp on. Looking at you Grady Little and Davey Johnson! Don seems to have pick these 2 traits up well from his mentor and to me improved in all the other aspects of the game compared to Torre...like firing up umpires when it's needed, beating up opposing coaches in brawls, etc.
Dammit, I need dodgers fans to hate Donnie so he can hopefully come home and we can burn girardis binder.
Im with you irish. I blasted DBB a lot myself. He still makes some boneheaded managerial decisions but he has kept this team together thru good and bad. Mad props to DBB
the way he's handled Puig compared to Torre/Bowa handling Kemp is so much better. I think the team having fun is something that was happening all year, it just is talked about much more now that we are winning. I always, always defended him, up until that moment where it looked like he knew it was his last days here and said "FUCK IT ALL", and to defend myself a bit, he was a couple more losses away from being fired but the Dodgers instead decided they'd never lose a game. Also very interesting to me that in the two most controversial moments of the season (benching/firing away at Ethier/Puig) both players have responded with nothing but positivity and acceptance of it. It says a lot not just about the players but how they respect what Mattingly is doing, which is cool. All the players do wtv he says of them, even with the high salaries and egos. I still think he has some weird managerial decisions but I also think our team is so good we don't even put ourselves in tight need to bunt moments. I'm glad we started winning in the final moments before he was about to get fired, cause a new manager wasn't gonna do much but was gonna get all the accolades of turning around the team, cause it's cool Mattingly got to go through it. Now take us all the way, baby.
Luis Cruz hitting fifth. "It's his game to lose." Grrrr pitching in a close situation EVER. Funny how shit like that is magnified 1000 times when losing. To be fair, Donnie was easy to blame. But like the team he seems to have found his groove. His facial expressions when Puig is doing dumb shit are priceless. I will give Donnie this. He is the best manager we've had by a long, long margin since I became a Dodger fan (2006). Kudos to him.
i think i have probably been on the fence about him with the occasional comment being more negative than positive. but if he was to blame before then he deserves credit now. still i'll wait to see how he does when the decisions are more magnified before i start slurping his semen. he does seems like the calmest guy in the room and thats what you want in a leader. oh and some brains help as well.
