Now Wednesday was an interesting little day, no?
Yet oddly, the one guy who came out of the brouhaha looking the best was Andre Ethier.
That would be the often volatile Ethier, the player who’s been known to smash helmets after strikeouts, snap at reporters, flip the bird to photographers and just generally be handicapped by his own emotions.
Not Wednesday, though. Not this year, really.
Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly called out his team for lack of mental toughness before Wednesday’s game, and specifically Ethier, whom he benched against a right-handed starter.
Asked about the benching, Mattingly said he wanted to field a lineup “that’s going to fight and compete the whole day.”
Mattingly’s one mistake Wednesday was he addressed Ethier individually with reporters before the game without first letting his concerns be known directly to the outfielder.
Yet after the game, when presented with Mattingly’s comments, Ethier responded just as you would...