If there’s one thing that there is no shortage of in the Dodger clubhouse right now it’s frustration. In fact, it’s so thick you can cut it with a knife – although I advise against this, as it may land you on the disabled list.

Now this certainly isn’t to say that the team is not getting along, because they absolutely are, and any talk of a lack of chemistry is a crock. They’re just … frustrated.

Interestingly enough, there is one guy in the Dodger clubhouse who is handling his frustration a lot better than you might think he would and it’s not who you might think. It isn’t one of the seasoned veterans or even one of the first or second year guys; it’s actually the newest member of the Dodgers – right-handed starting pitcher Matt Magill.

After a very dominant outing in his major league debut on April 27 against the Brewers, a game in which he left after 7.2 strong innings and a 3-2 lead only to see Matt Guerrier cough up not one but two two-run home runs to take Magill out of the decision, he got knocked around hard in his second start last Saturday against the hated Giants in their hated ballpark in front of their hated fans. In fact, Magill lasted only 1.1 innings giving up 5 runs on 6 hits while walking 4 and striking out 2, and saw his excellent 2.70 ERA soar to 7.88. Ironically, the Dodgers staged a comeback to tie the game, (losing in extra innings), yet again giving Magill a no-decision.

Dodger right-hander Matt Magill is going to do the only thing that he can do after last Saturday’s rough outing in San Francisco – move on. (Photo credit – Thearon W. Henderson)

And while you might think that such a beating would destroy the confidence of the 23-year-old Simi Valley native, he has already put that bad outing behind him and is looking ahead, knowing what mistakes he made and what he needs to do to correct them.

“I’m just going to make more quality pitches,” said Magill in the Dodger clubhouse prior to Monday night’s game. “I know that’s a pretty standard answer but that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to work on keeping my ball down and make more quality pitches and locate fastballs better.”

Magill, as you may recall, made a lot of pitches in his short outing against the Giants – 63 to be exact. And though several of his pitches missed badly, a lot more just missed the edges and a team with less plate discipline might have chased them. Unfortunately for Matt, the Giants have excellent plate discipline (Pablo Sandoval notwithstanding) and took a lot of these near misses, which led to those four walks – two of which scored.

“Things weren’t going my way the other day but that’s just part of baseball. I was making some pretty good misses but I wasn’t missing by much (on other pitches),” added Magill. “If I can stay with my game plan and keep zeroing in, hopefully things will go my way this time.”

I asked Magill if he received the official word that he will be starting on Friday night against the Miami Marlins.

“It isn’t official but that’s the word.”

When I asked Dodger manager Don Mattingly the same question, he said “Matt”s starting Friday.”

Sounds pretty official to me.

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Dodger Notes:

• Prior to Monday night’s game, Dodger first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said that his MRI earlier in the day revealed a mild muscle strain on the left side of his neck (trapezius). Gonzalez added that it is still quite painful but it’s not getting any worse and he will try to play through it as long as he is not hurting the team. I hope AGon can tolerate the pain because he is 3 for 5 while playing through it.
• Dodger manager Don Mattingly stands by his comments that he made on Sunday after being swept by the Giants when he said that he felt better about his team when he left San Francisco than when he arrived – this in spite of countless attempts by T.J. Simers to get Mattingly to admit that his comments were crazy.
• Mattingly said that Jerry Hairston Jr. will most likely go on the DL on Tuesday, adding that there will probably be a call-up from Triple-A involving someone who can play both corner outfield positions and the infield. Although Mattingly wouldn’t say exactly who it might be, he did say that Scott Van Slyke, Alex Castellanos, Alfredo Amezaga and Elian Herrera fit those requirements. (My guess would be Van Slyke or Amezaga). Mattingly gave no indication that Tim Federowicz is being considered, in spite of the fact that FedEx is hitting an insane .531 with 7 home runs and 20 RBIs with the Isotopes and was just named the Pacific Coast League’s Player of the Week.
• According to Mattingly, Zack Greinke is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a broken collarbone suffered during the benches-clearing brawl in San Diego on April 11. Mattingly said that Greinke threw a 60-pitch bullpen session earlier in the day on Monday and will throw another one on Tuesday. He added that the last thing that Greinke will work on will be swinging the bat and that Zack will not return to action until he can do so pain free. Mattingly said that Greinke would most likely make a few re-hab starts before returning to the rotation but didn’t know when or where that would happen.
• Mattingly said that even though his team is among the league leaders in batting average and on base percentage, most of their hits are singles and that his power hitters “…are not hitting the seats.” (Ya think?).
• T.J. Simmers tried to get Mattingly to acknowledge that he (Mattingly) is thinking more about a contract extension that winning games, to which Donnie B said that he isn’t thinking about that at all. Yet another example of T.J being T.J.
• After Monday night’s 9-2 loss to the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers are now in sole possession of last place in the N.L. West. When asked about the game itself, Mattingly was very succinct – “The game sucked.”
• One of the few bright spots in Monday night’s game was yet another outstanding performance by left-hander Paco Rodriguez. When I asked Mattingly if he plans to use Paco for more than one inning more often (he pitched two innings on Monday night), Mattingly said that he would rather not, so as to keep Paco’s pitch count down so that he can use him on consecutive nights. He added that because Paco only made 26 pitches in his two innings of work in Monday’s game, he will most likely be available on Tuesday night if needed. Being that struggling right-hander Josh Beckett is starting on Tuesday night and because of the D-backs deep left-handed lineup, you can pretty much count on seeing Paco again, but most likely not for more that one inning – if that.
• Former Dodger Vice President of Communications Josh Rawitch was at Monday night’s game now in that same capacity with D-backs. I asked Josh if he would consider coming back to the Dodgers, to which he immediately answered “No way.” (Thanks a lot, Frank McCourt, you miserable…).
• Eric Smith, the Dodgers normally flawless P.A. announcer, made what can only be considered a Freudian slip after Monday night’s Dodger loss when he said “The Dodgers return home tomorrow to take on the Diamondbacks.” Could it be that the real Dodgers left more than just their hearts in San Francisco?