Ramon Hernandez not only played, he hit a homer and got on base four times. You’re damned right we’re leading with a picture of him, if only just to prove he exists.

On what has to be one of the oddest days in recent Dodger memory — you’ll understand that this not a statement to be taken lightly given that this is a franchise where “Russian faith-healing psychics” were part of a real news story not that long ago — we at least have this, a surprisingly unsatisfying 9-2 victory.

I say that not because the rare outburst of offense wasn’t fun, because it was. Aside from Hernandez, Carl Crawford, Matt Kemp, Nick Punto, & Scott Van Slyke each had two hits and a walk, with Van Slyke’s two doubles and two driven in a welcome payoff for Don Mattingly‘s unexpected decision to sit Andre Ethier against a righty. That righty, Wily Peralta, was bounced out of the game in the midst of a five-run second inning, and Hyun-jin Ryu was effective once again while working into the eighth inning. The fireworks might have been even more had Ryan Braun not taken a home run away from Adrian Gonzalez with a spectacular play in left field.

…and yet, I’m having difficulty enjoying this, because it seems to change little. Mattingly didn’t just bench Ethier, he seemingly went into full “screw you” mode with his pre-game comments:

I don’t know what happened with Ethier behind the scenes, though anyone surprised that he’s got a reputation as being difficult hasn’t been paying attention — and yes, they did try to trade him over the winter.

But whether or not you agree with what Mattingly is saying, it’s hard to look at this as an organization that’s all on the same page right now. I can’t imagine what Ned Colletti’s reaction was to that, and while a 9-2 victory and taking the series is nice, I don’t really see how it changes much — and I’m still far, far from certain that Mattingly is the manager when the St. Louis series kicks off on Friday back at Dodger Stadium.

Jon Weisman ponders:

I don’t actually expect this to happen. But if the Dodgers lose Saturday and Sunday, I’m not sure Don Mattingly will be managing the team Monday.

While we’ve spent weeks talking about how unlikely it is that a managerial change would make much difference — it’s not like Zack Greinke or Hanley Ramirez or Mark Ellis or Chad Billingsley or Jerry Hairston would magically have remained healthy had Tim Wallach or anyone else been calling the shots — I do agree with Jon that at some point, public perception is going to overwhelm the very reasonable excuses Mattingly has. If they drop the next two, they’ll not only have been swept by one of the worst teams in baseball at home, they’ll have tied the atrocious 1992 club for the longest losing streak in Los Angeles Dodger history.

If that happens and Mattingly goes, I won’t have any cause to argue with the move, though I’ll stand by my opinion that it alone is not going to make much of a difference. (Actually, with Greinke just about ready to return, that will then set us up for months of arguing of whether the team’s likely-improved performance is due to a managerial change or simply better available talent, a fate I’m eager to avoid.)

Still, it got me thinking. When a managerial change does happen in-season and things turn around, what makes that happen? It’s not something that happens all that often, because generally if a team is so bad to fire their manager in the middle of a season, that team has enough problems that they continue being bad for the rest of the year. A good example of this is last year’s Houston Astros club, who fired Brad Mills on August 18 at 39-82, then continued limping along by dropping nine games further under .500 with Tony DeFrancesco at the helm. Teams win with talent, not because of managers.

That said, there has been at least one case in the last few years where a club has changed leadership and seen a drastic improvement in performance. That would be the 2009 Colorado Rockies, who fired Clint Hurdle on May 29, with the team sitting at 18-28. Under Jim Tracy, they became red-hot, going 74-42 and making it to the playoffs.

Nevermind that Tracy is well-known to be an atrocious tactical manager who quickly wore out his welcome in Los Angeles, Colorado, & Pittsburgh over the last decade. The narrative goes that Tracy brought “a new voice,” and that suddenly motivated his team to play better. Right?

Well, not exactly. That Rockies club turned around because of real, actual moves that were made…

He improved the defense by making Stewart the third baseman and Barmes the second baseman.

Gonzalez, a versatile player with the range of a center fielder, was promoted from Class AAA in June and took over in left field, teaming with rookie center fielder Dexter Fowler to cover the expansive Coors Field outfield.

…and because a star performer who had been struggling got his game together…

Tulowitzki was hitting .227 when Hurdle was fired and since then is hitting .304 with 18 home runs and 52 RBI in 74 games.

…and because of improved pitching:

Of course, it has also helped the Rockies immensely that their pitching, the bedrock when it comes to success or lack thereof, has been superb. The rotation has solidified with the starters going 19-5 with a 3.51 ERA and averaging 6.6 innings per start in June.

So are there similar moves that Mattingly or any other manager could make? The Dodgers don’t have a Carlos Gonzalez type at Triple-A ready to step in; the closest comparable is Yasiel Puig, and we all know the reasons why he isn’t ready yet. (Even if you don’t care about the attitude issues, he’s slumping in May, hitting .182/.289/.333.)

There isn’t really anyone on the bench who we’re clamoring to jump into the starting lineup in the way that Ian Stewart replaced Garrett Atkins, and the rotation is certain to improve once Greinke replaces Matt Magill. The batting order, which Tracy also tinkered with, is not something I’ve had much cause to complain about with Mattingly this season. The options, no matter who is in charge, are limited.

I’ll grant that the linked stories contain less-tangible praise of Tracy’s approach, though there’s always going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy of good things being said about winning teams. What I mean by that is that Tracy could have come in and changed the style of the clubhouse in the exact same way as he did, but if the performance didn’t happen on the field, no one would have cared about it. But if there is anything in there that I will say that I can completely buy into, it’s this:

When Hurdle was twisting in the wind, Rockies players say that after every loss at home, they would be in the clubhouse and would think, upon seeing O’Dowd or assistant general manager Jeff Bridich pass the clubhouse on the way to the manager’s office, that the moment had arrived, the ax was going to fall and, with that done, the team could go out and play.

We’re not in the clubhouse, and Mattingly is known to be very popular among his players, so we can’t say with any degree of certainty if this is happening in Los Angeles, but I would believe it if it were. If the losing streak continues, the questions about his status — particularly in the last year of his contract — are only going to continue, and it’s hard to argue that it won’t be a distraction in and out of the clubhouse.

As Jon says, I still don’t think the team will fire him, just because there’s about 300 other reasons why the club is struggling. If they get swept by Miami and let him go, so be it — you’ll get no argument from me. We’ll just need to keep in mind that no managerial change is ever a silver bullet, and if this team is going to win, it’s going to be on the strength of better health, no matter who is in charge.

You might be wondering why, after all that happened tonight, I’m using a picture of Matt Magill to lead this post. Why? To remind you that Magill even appeared in this game, because it seems like it was about four weeks ago.

If you were lucky enough not to sit through this entire thing, just check out the FanGraphs WPA chart to the right to realize what an endless cardiac event this was.

I suppose we could look at the positives here, including the fact that at least the club showed a lot of life in even coming back from the 5-0 deficit the obviously overmatched Magill put them in.

You can look at the homer A.J. Ellis hit in the fourth to even get the club on the board, one of his two hits, and you can absolutely look at Paco Rodriguez, who came into a bases loaded, zero out mess handed to him by Javy Guerra and struck out two, allowing only one run to score on a wild pitch. And you can definitely look at Dee Gordon, who offset some shaky defense with #spark, collecting two hits (including a triple) and two steals, as well as dashing home to score a run few players could have managed. One game doesn’t substantially change my opinion on any player, but that was unquestionably a good start for Gordon. Every Dodger starter had at least a hit, actually, with Ellis, Gordon, Skip Schumaker, Carl Crawford, Juan Uribe, and Jerry Hairston all getting two.

But other than Gordon, we’re not going to remember the good. We’re not going to remember that Brandon League got Buster Posey to ground into a double play with the bases loaded in the ninth, we’re going to remember that he allowed Guillermo Quiroz (!) to hit a walkoff homer in the tenth. We won’t remember that Matt Kemp drove in two with a big hit in the wild fifth, we’ll remember that he went 1-6. We’ll definitely remember that Hairston had to leave early with what appeared to be yet another injury.

For me, I think you all know exactly what I’ll remember. In the bottom of the eighth, after the two sides had traded runs in the seventh to make it a 9-9 tie, Andre Ethier led off with a walk. Ellis came up — remember, he’d already hit a homer and he’s been probably the most consistently productive Dodger all season long — and Don Mattingly ordered him to bunt.

I need to reiterate that here. Mattingly preferred the idea of one out with a man on second, the risk of getting the bunt down, and the generally awful Schumaker at the plate, followed by the pitcher’s spot, than he did having the reliable Ellis up with a man on first and no outs.

If you’re wondering why that sounds familiar, may I present to you the infamous Game #161 that ended last season…

“Please tell me that Don Mattingly didn’t force A.J. Ellis to bunt in the bottom of the ninth in a misguided attempt to have Elian Herrera or Bobby Abreu swinging away instead of one of your better hitters, right? Right?!

It didn’t work then; it certainly didn’t work now, as Ellis bunted into a double play. Put some blame on Ellis for the poor execution if you must, but that’s not the point here. This isn’t second-guessing; an entire army of fan voices came up in unison as soon as the call was made.

I try to defend Mattingly, because everyone who calls for his head either can’t answer the question of “who is obviously better and available” or places far too much importance on what impact a manager does and does not have. I didn’t even mind sending League out for a second inning, because he hadn’t pitched since last Sunday and the bullpen was nearly exhausted after Magill’s short outing screwed the team.

But that? That’s game management of the worst kind, and we all know he’ll defend it. I’ll remind us all that the bunt call was just one moment of hundreds, and let’s not forget that A) Magill screwed the pooch and B) the Dodgers had no business being in this game anyway. But at the end of the day, this team has lost another game to a division rival, and perhaps another player to injury as well. The last thing they need is to be shooting themselves in the foot, too.