Los Angeles Dodgers terminate hitting coach Jeff Pentland – MLB News
Having the third-lowest On-base plus slugging (OPS) in the 2011 regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers fired the hitting coach Jeff Pentland on Tuesday. Having served the team for a long time, Jeff Pentland might have found the news extremely surprising,
if not disappointing.
"The one area that people don't know a lot about is hitting, so we're the first to go," he said. “I have a lot of respect for all of them. We went out there and did what we had to do. They were tremendous workers."
While Pentland had to go eventually owing to the inability of the Los Angeles Dodgers to prove their relevance as the potent hitting side, Dave Hansen has been named to replace him as an interim coach for rest of the year.
If for no one else, a player of the Matt Kemp’s stature found the news totally surprising. While the blame eventually has to go on someone, it was probably Pentland who had to shoulder responsibility for it.
"As a player, when your hitting coach gets fired, you have to take the blame," Kemp said. "Pent doesn't go out there and hit for us. He was a good hitting coach. I feel bad that he lost his job on our behalf."
Dave Hansen, the coach to replace Pentland, has had experience of being a pinch-hitter. The 42-year-old has to drive the team out of a quagmire which has thickened over the period of time instead of receding.
The Dodgers stand 23rd in the MLB ranking with 43 wins on their credit, losing more games which number 55.
In the Western Division, the Dodgers are the last ones in the rank with the San Francisco Giants dominating it with 57 wins. This might well be a reason why the Dodgers thought the time had approached to take big decisions.
The most disconcerting moment that the Dodgers recently faced was their consecutive defeats to the San Francisco Giants. The Giants sparked and defeated the Dodgers four games in a row, making it the longest losing streak for the straining team since 1969.
While a sacrificial lamb was readily available to the Dodgers in the face of Jeff Pentland, it is now intriguing to see how they will regain their confidence and collect enough energy to play the way they are expected to.
The Dodgers are certainly looking forward to the new hitting coach to reorganise the team and prepare them to effectively deal with the challenges lying ahead. Only time will tell if the this latest move by the Dodgers will make a significant impact on their
performance for the remainder of the regular season.
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