You don’t have to look very hard nor far to find a negative newspaper article, blog post, tweet or other form of written or social media slamming Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. In fact, with his frequent misinformation to the media saying that he’ll do one thing and then doing something completely different – like saying on Sunday that Alex Guerrero would play left field on Monday night and then not so much as pinch-hitting him – it’s usually easy to find several media platforms slamming him. But in Monday night’s series opener against the hated Giants at Dodger Stadium, Mattingly made a decision of the likes seen during the stretch run that had a sense of urgency to it.

After the Dodgers jumped on the Giants for four runs in the bottom of the third inning, including an RBI double off the right field wall by Dodgers rookie center fielder Joc Pederson, it appeared that Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson and his team were headed towards a laugher over Tim Lincecum and the Giants – the same Giants that swept the Dodgers at AT&T Park less than a week ago.

Although Pederson hit his third home run of the season in Monday night’s 8-3 win over the Giants, it was his fourth-inning RBI double that proved to be the game winner.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But in the top of the fifth inning, Anderson began to unravel. After getting two quick ground outs, Anderson gave up a walk, two singles and a double and quickly a 4-0 lead turned into a 4-2 ball game with the tying and go ahead runs at second and third with Angel Pagan, Buster Posey and the newest Dodger killer, Justin Maxwell, coming up.

In an April game only three weeks into the new season, many managers – perhaps even most – might have allowed their starter to try for that final out in order to pick up the win. But in an uncharacteristic Mattingly move, the Dodgers skipper pulled Anderson and brought in recently recalled swingman Carlos Frias to try to shut down the inning.

Through 4.2 innings, Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson allowed no runs and only one hit. But with two outs in the fifth inning, he gave up three runs on four hits before Mattingly wisely pulled him.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Did Anderson lobby Mattingly to stay in the game and try for that third out?

“Not really, I didn’t really give him a chance to lobby honestly,” Mattingly said. “I felt like I’ve got to make the move now, I don’t like doing this but I’ve got to make the move right here and hope he understands.”

As it turned out, the first man Frias faced – Giants center fielder Angel Pagan – hit a chopper over the head of Frias allowing Giants left fielder Nori Aoki to score from third. But Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick made a run-saving diving stop to keep Giants second baseman Joe Panik from scoring from second base. He did, however, take third base on the play. And just when it appeared that Frias might get out of the inning without any further damage, he walked Buster Posey, bringing Maxwell to the plate with the bases loaded.

Frias fired a 97-MPH fastball which Maxwell took for a called strike. He then threw a second 97-MPH fastball which Maxwell hit back to the box. This one did not go over Frias’s head and he made the play and threw the Giants right fielder out at first base to end the inning and the threat.

Frias was followed on the mound by Adam Liberatore, Yimi Garcia and Chris Hatcher, who collectively did not allow a run and only one hit while striking out three.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, added one run in the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run by Pederson, his third of the year, and three more in the bottom of the eighth on a three-run blast to dead center by pinch-hitter Justin Turner, his first of the year and his first-ever pinch-hit home run, to put the game out of reach by a score of 8-3.

Frias picked up the win, his first of the season, while Lincecum took the loss to fall to 1-2 with a 3.27 ERA.

Did Mattingly make the right call by removing Anderson after 4.2 innings, thus denying him of his bid for his second win of the season? By every indication he did. But you can bet that there are those who think otherwise. Thankfully, they are not the ones making the decisions for the first place Dodgers.