Andre Ethier, Don Mattingly brush off ‘heated dugout argument’

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier got into what has been termed a “heated dugout argument” with manager Don Mattingly on Saturday. The incident occurred during the eighth inning of a 12-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates when Ethier and Mattingly were spotted on camera shouting at each other. According to Steve Dilbeck of the LA Times, it was a lot of fuss about nothing.

Ethier was back in the lineup on Sunday, with Mattingly describing the argument as a matter of two family members expressing their opinions.

“The greatest thing is when you have guys like Andre, he can voice his opinion, I can voice mine and the next day we’re both adults and talking and no problems,” Mattingly explained. “It’s really, in a sense, family. You’re able to argue at home back and forth but at the end of the day, you love your kids. … You discuss something or it gets a little heated at that moment, at the end of the day we’re family.”

Ethier also downplayed the incident after Saturday’s game and chose not to provide details of what sparked the disagreement. Mattingly claimed the 32-year-old veteran was upset about being removed from the game, even though his team was up 10 runs.

“He was mad,” he said. “He wanted to stay in the game. It was simple as that.”

It should be noted that the Dodgers are juggling four outfielders who are probably capable of being starters in Ethier, Yasiel Puig, Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford. That could be causing some friction, though Crawford is currently injured and has missed the last five games.

Mattingly is an old school manager, which is precisely why Puig got under his skin with some of his antics during spring training. Dust-ups are bound to happen with a hard-nosed manager.

H/T Hardball Talk