The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently tied for last in the NL West, at 42-55. Ordinarily, when teams with high expectations underachieve, somebody from the coaching staff ends up paying the price, and on Wednesday this happened:
Los Angeles Dodgers Fire Hitting Coach Jeff Pentland
The Dodgers have relieved Jeff Pentland of his duties as hitting coach and named Dave Hansen interim hitting coach for rest of year
The Dodgers have the National League’s third-lowest OPS and second-lowest run total. How much this actually had to do with Jeff Pentland is hard to say, but it’s always easier to fire the coach than the players the coach was coaching. I’m inclined to defend Pentland and say he’s actually pretty good at what he does, but maybe that’s just because Jeff Pentland wears glasses.
Replacing Pentland will be Dave Hansen, who I have just now learned wasn’t still sitting on somebody’s bench as the 25th man. Or maybe he’s been on the Dodgers’ bench, and will now serve as a player-coach. The 42-year-old was long one of baseball’s better pinch-hitters, so he should have little trouble explaining to the team how to do three minutes of work in a three-hour game.
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