If you hear a rapping noise odds are it’s the sound of the nails on the coffin encasing Don Mattingly’s job as Dodgers manager closing.
Mattingly broke a cardinal rule and shredded his own team in the midst of their struggle, instead of taking the blame.
During Wednesday’s pregame Mattingly ranted like a man who’d given up on his 19-26 team:
“We gotta find a team with talent that will fight and compete like a club that doesn’t have that talent,”
“I felt we got more out of our ability (last year). I don’t know about being tougher but I felt we got more out of our ability…There has to be a mixture of competitiveness. 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 talent to go with it…All grit and no talent isn’t going to make you successful. But all talent and not grit isn’t going to get you there either.”
Attacking your own team’s fight and heart is a low blow, especially when it’s Don who’s public enemy number one throughout this rough patch.
His days are surely numbered.
H/T: NBCSports