Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly said Monday that a big reason for right fielder Andre Ethier's success this season -- he is hitting .301 with a .429 on-base percentage -- is that he appears to be taking every at-bat seriously regardless of the situation or the score.
"The main thing is that he is giving away fewer at-bats," Mattingly said. "To me, last year, it seemed like he gave away a lot of at-bats if the game had gone badly or the umpire had (cheated) him on a call the last time or if he had had a couple of bad at-bats earlier. Now, it looks like he is better able to forget about that and focus on the next at-bat." Ethier has been famously temperamental in the past, known for taking out his frustrations on his helmet, his bat or various other pieces of equipment. But he seems to have overcome that as well. His on-field emotional displays have been almost non-existent this year.
Another big reason for the left-handed-hitting Ethier's success is that he has been much better this year against left-handed pitching. He was hitting .316 (6 for 19) against lefties entering Monday, although that slipped to .286 after he went 0 for 2 against Barry Zito.
Ethier also has hit three of his five home runs off lefties, and he entered the day with a ridiculous .842 slugging percentage against left-handers, although that dipped to .575 after he faced Zito.
GIANTS 5, DODGERS 4: After two outfield miscues by Matt Kemp in the first inning led to a quick three-run deficit, the Dodgers, sparked by Casey Blake's two-run homer, stormed back to score four in the seventh and take the lead. But rookie Ronald Belisario let it slip away when he gave up a couple of hard-luck runs in the eighth, the first of which scored when he made a bad decision to throw home on Rich Aurilia's dribbler instead of getting the easy out at first.
