Joe Torre has made it official: he will not be coming back to manage the Dodgers after this season. His replacement will be hitting coach Don Mattingly, who has worked for Torre since 2004.
Torre came to L.A. in 2008 with a three-year contract. The previous year, the Dodgers went 82-80 under Grady Little while fading down the stretch. Torre won four World Series titles with the Yankees, but was more or less forced out of town after losing the ALDS to the Indians, 3-1.
Right away, Torre made an impact. He guided the Dodgers to an NL West title with an 84-78 record, thanks in large part to the torrid run by Manny Ramirez when he was acquired at the trade deadline. They took down the heavily-favored Cubs in the NLDS with a sweep, but fell to the Phillies in the NLCS, 4-1.
The next season brought another NL West crown with an even better record of 95-67. Despite the 50-game suspension of Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers remained one of the best teams in the league the whole season. Even with home-field advantage in the NLDS, the Dodgers were still not favored against the Cardinals. It didn't matter, as the Dodgers got another sweep. However, just like last year, the Phillies took the NLCS in five games.
This season started off with hope of getting to the next level, but reality has been much different. After being only two games in back of the NL West lead at the All-Star break, the Dodgers have gone 23-36 since then to fall 11 games back. The combination of a horrible offense and a shaky bullpen have been the downfall.
I'm not surprised that Torre made this call. I would have been more surprised if he said he was coming back. With ownership in a mess and the financial situation cloudy to say the least, I think Torre just had enough. And who can blame him? He's won enough in his career that he doesn't need to hang on anywhere he doesn't want to anymore.
I'm mixed on how I think Torre has done as a manager this year. It's not fair to totally blame him for the horrible second half. There were so many games lost from either a poor offense or a blown save. But I have to wonder if too many players tuned him out. I just don't see much, if any, fire from too many players. And that's a big problem.
Mattingly has been groomed for this spot for awhile, and despite some rumors for Tim Wallach, he ultimately did get the gig. If he can he can get his players to show the passion and fire that he brought as a player, he'll be great. Someone with as much baseball background as him deserves a shot at some point.
Still, I'm not sure if I'm too crazy about this move. I can't shake the fact that guys like Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier (excluding his red hot start) have gone backwards this year. They're both good enough to be in the MVP race year after year. But this season, they've spent more time striking out than anything else. Mattingly has to take some of that blame.
I hope this all works out for the Dodgers. Change can be a good thing. I haven't had the sense for awhile that Torre would be back, so maybe the players are relieved to have this over with and to have a different voice going forward.
If Mattingly can get the young guns back on track, and if the bullpen mess can be straightened out, the Dodgers can compete next year, even with ownership in flux. Donny Baseball has some of the pieces to succeed, now let's see if he can make things happen in 2011.
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