Where Did It Go Wrong?

The Dodgers put up another clunker of a performance tonight.  They lost 6-0 to the New York Mets in a vacant Dodger Stadium.  It was another pathetic output by a flawed roster that is so typical of the 2011 Dodgers.  How did it get to this? 

The easy answer is Frank McCourt.  He is the cause of most of the problems the Dodgers have.  McCourt doesn't seem to care about wins or losses on the field.  These days he is more concerned about court appearances.  Even before his divorce, he seemed to care more about money and smiling in front of cameras.  He always came across as a politician.  McCourt always wanted to say what he thought was the right thing to say rather than do the correct thing with his actions.  He still doesn't get understand that he is supposed to be more of a caretaker of the Dodgers as opposed to being an owner. 

The poor decisions made by Dodger ownership is not just a McCourt disease.  Fox, which owned the team before they sold hit to McCourt, made an awful move by dumping Mike Scioscia.  Now Scioscia has been the manager of the Anaheim Angels for about a decade.  He has won a ring and always seems to have a pretty good team. 

I would love to blame Frank McCourt for Scioscia managing the Angels but, that would be unreasonable.  When Fox was dumping him and Scioscia was teaching the Angels how to win games, McCourt hadn't even known baseball was played west of Chicago.  This move by Fox totally changed the modern Dodger history books.  Things would be different if Mike Scioscia stayed in the Dodger organization.

Jim Tracy managed the Dodgers in the first half of the 2000s.  Except for the 2004 Dodgers, most of Tracy's teams would come close to a playoff spot and then fall just short.  The teams he managed always seemed to fall apart in the second half.  He seemed like a nice man though.  But, nice guys finish second, I guess. 

Tracy is probably happy to be out of LA.  I don't blame him.  I wouldn't want to work for an owner that views winning as not the main goal.  Winning for Frank McCourt is down on his list of priorities between buying a third country club membership and hiring a tenth public relations person.

When Joe Torre was hired as a manager prior to the 2008 season, he brought over his coaching staff from the Yankees.  Don Matingly tagged along and for some reason McCourt promised that he would be next in line to manage the Dodgers.  Once again, Matingly seems like a nice guy and a smart baseball man.  He has done an okay job given the flawed roster that GM Ned Colletti put together.  It just seems like pure laziness that you would give a man a manger's position despite having no experience at that job on any level.

I believe Frank McCourt did this to save money.  That always seems to be what drives his decisions.  He was probably too cheap to bring in an experienced manager because they cost more money.  It also probably costs money, time and resources to even interview different candidates. 

He didn't even interview Dodger hero, Kirk Gibson, for the job.  Gibson is now at the helm managing the surprising Arizona D-Backs.  It is kind of similar to the Scioscia situation a decade ago.  Someone with Dodger blue in there blood isn't given a chance to manage the team.  I am sure McCourt probably doesn't even know recent Dodger history and know how much it irks Dodger fans to see Scioscia in Angel red.  Gibson would have been a fine choice over the Yankeeness of Don Matingly.  McCourt blew it again! 

I am just kind of ranting at this point.  This season is already wearing on me.  The McCourt regime is just pissing me off so much.  He is whats wrong with so many things surrounding the Dodgers.

Ok....deep breath...deep breeth....

The card above is from the 1988 Mother's Cookies set.  It shows Kirk Gibson as a player wearing the uniform that he should be wearing now.  Those were happier times in Dodger Land.  It was a time before McCourt was getting weekly $150 haircuts.

Ok...deep breath....deep breath....

This is a blog about baseball cards not about raging against Frank McCourt.  There are many other great sites doing that a lot better than me.  The first half of this post may have lost some people expecting just to see some cardboard and a couple remarks about each card.  I'll get on track towards the end here.

Tommy Lasorda has been quiet while the McCourt mess has been going on.  Which is surprising because he is always loud and opinionated.  I also wonder what he has been thinking about the current state of the Dodgers.  I view Tommy as the president of Dodger Land.  He seems so happy on this card.  Once again, this card is from a happier time not the 2000s.

Fernando isn't a current or former major league manager like the guys shown previously.  He is now a Dodger broadcaster on Spanish radio.  When I first started writing this post, I was hoping that it would be about the wrong choices the Dodgers have made with managers.  It was a half assed attempt with a lot of anger and negativity.  So, I wanted to end it with a card of a smiling Fernando.  It is a smile that would light up Dodger Stadium whenever he would take the mound.

I also wonder if Fernando would be smiling if he unloaded his famous screwball right at Frank McCourt's face.  That would be awesome!  Frank McCourtColletti!  He passed over Kirk Gibson!  He put the team in poor financial standing!  Oh no, the anger is coming back.  Sorry!

Ok....deep breath....deep breath.....