Andre Ethier is not interested in stating the obvious, just in playing obviously well

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There is an Andre Ethier you don’t know, which is OK with him. An Ethier beyond his league-leading batting average and barrage of clutch hits.

This is the Ethier the media sometimes gets a rich dose of, the one who acts like being interviewed is some great bother. Who acts annoyed and delivers one-word answers and almost tries to make the interview as difficult as possible.

Before long, his true inner nice guy just can’t keep it up any longer and he becomes the engaging, bright, even clever interview most are used to viewing on television.

If you think this almost confrontational tone at the beginning of many interviews is deliberate, you are correct. If you think it’s to keep some kind of competitive fire on an even keel, you are incorrect.

Ethier said it’s something of his personal press test.

‘I just want to weed out the people who are really there to get a real story,’ Ethier said. ‘Some people are just following the crowd. It’s like an ambulance scene. People start crowding up. I mean, you can spill milk in a cafeteria and if people start gathering up around it, some more people will come over and wonder what they’re staring at and keep staring.

‘Give short answers at the beginning and let them weed out after a while, see who’s really interested. In the locker room you usually see the same beat guys every day. Some are trying to write stuff for certain purposes, I mean to try and get something -- I wouldn’t say controversial -- but that arouses. Sometimes the plain-Jane story doesn’t always keep people interested.

‘So I’m not going to give them a story to write about. If they want a story to write about, I’ll give them a story about how plain and boring I can be. Who wants to read that story?’

Ah, yes. But just as Ethier ultimately can’t help becoming an engaging interview, he can’t seem to help giving everyone a good story to write about.

Like starting the season as baseball’s best player. Acting like a legitimate triple crown threat. Ethier was leading the National League in average, RBI and was tied for home runs on May 14 when he fractured the pinky on his right hand just above the first knuckle.

Since returning on May 31, he has worn a splint on the finger. He has yet to return to his previous form -- he’s batting .256 without a home run in his first 11 games back -- but has begun hitting the ball hard. He has six doubles in his last eight games.

‘I’m good,’ he said. ‘I feel like I’m at a point where I don’t ever have to think about it. It’s not inhibiting me in any way. I feel like I can go up there and be the same guy I always was player wise.’

Of course, there have been several recent nights when he hit the ball hard, only to see it go right at someone. Friday he lined a hit right to the reaching glove of Angels first baseman Robb Quinlan.

He slammed his batting helmet down in frustration.

‘The good part about his frustration is, he doesn’t try to hide it,’ said Dodgers manager Joe Torre. ‘He lets it out and it goes away.

‘He’s had good at-bats. He has to understand that when you’re hitting .350, if I’m the fly on the wall in the other clubhouse I have to say, ‘Don’t let this guy beat you.’ He has to sort of get used to that approach, and make sure he doesn’t let the frustration get the best of him. And I don’t sense he has.’

Overall, Ethier is still batting a robust .357. After Friday, he had enough at-bats to qualify and again leads the league in batting.

He is also one of three currently leading the outfielders in All-Star voting. In his five-year career, the 28-year-old has never been an All-Star.

Ask him how he would react and he almost lapses back into his difficult interview mode.

‘I don’t think people really want to hear what I say,’ Ethier said. ‘It would be an honor. You have to realize only so many guys get voted in every year. I guess to have not only your fans, but everyone out there recognize you as one of the top guys in the game is pretty special.’

And get you all kinds of good press. Not that he cares, of course.

‘You play well, people are going to write good things about you,’ he said. ‘You play bad, people are going to write bad things about you. Either way, it doesn’t matter to me. I know what’s coming if I’m playing bad, and if I’m playing good it’s coming that way. So, oh well.’

-- Steve Dilbeck