Colletti has seen enough

In case you didn't hear, Ned Colletti is really MAD! He recently went on KABC Radio on Tuesday morning and ripped his team a new one. Here are some of the highlights (bolded words are the more interesting ones):

• "I grabbed a couple of players one-on-one and let them know I'm not satisfied with their approach. It's not an easy game, and when you think you've mastered it and you can take it easy and walk to your position and not hustle, the game catches up to you. And some guys think they're better than they are and they think the opposition will roll over and get beat by them. That just doesn't happen."

• "We lost two of three to Cincinnati, we lost two of three to Washington, we lost two of three to Pittsburgh. No offense to those clubs, but we're better than they are. It's frustrating."

If you thought he was going to stop there, you thought wrong. He then started tearing into Matt Kemp.

• "It's below average. The baserunning is below average, the defense is below average. Why is it? Because he got a new deal? I can't tell you."

• "If this was the last day of the season and you were voting for Gold Glove, his name would not be on the ballot.

To my knowledge, this is the first time in five years that I can recall Colletti going off like this, at least in public. It's obvious that the slow start has been stressing him out, as the Dodgers weren't exactly commended for their dealings this offseason. So, his hope that some minor signings would keep the Dodgers as contenders hasn't paid off yet.

After reading these comments, my first reaction was that Colletti's heart was in the right place. I think it's not necessarily a bad thing that he refuses to sit back and act like everything is OK. Since he's not known as a guy that will bash people in public, you have to listen up when he actually does.

But, I find the Kemp bashing to be a little odd. Maybe Colletti is just trying to light a fire under him, as his defense has taken some criticism this year. And let's face it, he's never been the smartest guy on the basepaths.

Still, I think Colletti would be better off talking about the pitching, which has been atrocious. Last I checked, Kemp isn't a pitcher. There's only a few pitchers who have performed well (Broxton, Kershaw, Kuroda, and Monasterios). The rest range from terrible to downright embarrassing.

So instead of calling out Kemp, I think Colletti should've talked about the need for the team as a whole to play with more fire. When frustration sets in, lots of things are said that could have been avoided, and that may be the case here.

Then again, if Kemp starts playing a better all-around game, and the Dodgers start beating teams they're supposed to, maybe we'll look back at these comments and be happy they were made.