Don Mattingly says he’s ready, but are Dodgers’ fans?

Frank McCourt stepped to the dais, stared down at Don Mattingly, and began another new Dodgers era with a question.

“Are you ready?”

I would propose perhaps a more appropriate question.

Are you kidding?

The announcement Friday that Joe Torre would be quitting as Dodgers manager at the end of this season was sweet and sentimental for the five seconds it took to add that Mattingly would be his successor, at which point it was just scary.

How does a dugout that once was run by the likes of Walter Alston and Tom Lasorda open its top step to a guy with no previous managerial experience at any level? And why do the Dodgers do this without at least interviewing somebody else, anybody else, not even a minority even though baseball approved the hiring process.

“I feel like I’ve been working for this for a long time,” said Mattingly, 49, who has seven years of major league coaching experience. “I’m ready.”

Here’s guessing most Dodgers fans aren’t quite ready for him.

So far, Mattingly’s brief steps into the managerial world have been stumbles. He sent in the wrong lineup card in spring training, then, a couple of months ago, he accidentally made two official visits to the mound on one trip, costing the Dodgers the use of Jonathan Broxton and eventually the game against the San Francisco Giants.

“I’m sure I’m going to make mistakes and plenty of them,” he said. “But I’m willing to learn and keep working and working. I’ll try my best not to let you down.”

No, you don’t need to have managed in the minor leagues to have success in the major leagues, witness world-champion managers Joe Girardi and Ozzie Guillen. But both were dynamic up-the-middle players, a former gritty catcher and shortstop, guys who grew up in the center of the action.

Mattingly, a former New York Yankees first baseman, was a brilliant hitter who spent the game on a corner, a quiet sort with a thoughtful demeanor who doesn’t have bush-league bench experience or the credibility of championship rings — 14 years as a Yankee and not one World Series appearance — to give him the necessary juice.

Usually, General Manager Ned Colletti plays it smart, but this time he clearly played it safe, and for a weary organization that needs more energy and edge, it just doesn’t make sense.

Officially, he hired Mattingly because he wanted someone who already understood the environment, and because he was impressed in watching him work as the team’s batting coach for three years, and because Torre had given him his blessing.

“Getting to know Donnie, we wanted continuity, somebody who understood our players, understood our situations, who wouldn’t have to adapt or adjust,” Colletti said. “And somebody who had the opportunity to sit with Joe Torre as a coach, that’s a pretty good mentorship right there.”

Unofficially, there as many possibilities as McCourt lawyers.

Maybe he hired Mattingly because McCourt wouldn’t give him enough money to hire a proven manager, although McCourt angrily denied that Friday, saying, “C’mon, that never crossed anybody’s mind.”

Maybe he hired Mattingly because it would be too hard to bring a veteran boss into a situation where ownership could soon change, although McCourt also strongly denied that, saying, “I’m going to own this team for a long, long time.”

The only thing certain is that Colletti hired Mattingly on Friday because he didn’t have a choice — he had already given him a three-year managerial contract before this season, promising him this job as soon as Torre left, because he trusted the flawed insider Mattingly more than any other seemingly perfect outsider.

Turns out, playing it safe could be the riskiest move of Colletti’s career.

Since that deal was cut, McCourt turned up broke, Torre turned up tired, and the team went into the tank, and now Mattingly is not only unproven as a manager, but also struggling as a batting coach.

Put it this way: The Dodgers’ new manager has been teaching the hitters on a team that, since the All-Star break, ranks last in the National League in runs, batting average and on-base percentage.

Colletti said he would make the same deal now, but I wonder.

If a future Hall of Fame manager is leaving the team because he says he can no longer reach the players — “I just couldn’t find the key anymore,” Torre said — then what does that say about his protege’s chances?

“There’s a feeling inside me that says I’m ready,” Mattingly said. “I know people are going to question it, and that’s understandable, but in my heart, I know I can do this, and that’s something that I don’t back away from.”

If Mattingly doesn’t work out, Dodgers fans can take comfort in the fact that Tim Wallach, the prized triple-A manager, will be a coach on Mattingly’s staff if Wallach doesn’t take another major league job.

Meanwhile, anybody who is so passionate about the game that he is nicknamed Donnie Baseball deserves a fair shake, and he’ll get one here.

But, inside, yeah, I’m fairly shaking.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

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