Fourth place out five teams in the National League West Division is not where the Los Angeles Dodgers want to be. The Los Angeles Times coverage of the Dodgers 9-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals shed light on what was going on in the clubhouse after the tough loss.
"After the Dodgers lost by seven runs on Saturday, Mattingly closed the door to the manager's office and had a meeting with General Manager Ned Colletti and player development chief De Jon Watson," (LA Times).
The lede for this article did a good job of telling the reader what happened in the game without becoming a Who, What, Where, When, Why and How lede. It flows nicely into the second paragraph which goes into more detail about what happened after the game.
The only issue that I have with the lede is that it might confuse those readers who don't bleed Dodger Blue and have no idea who Don Mattingly is. It does not say his role in the organization, even though the lede is the first time that he is mentioned. He could be the manager, the general manager, or the owner for all we know.
Dodger fans who read the article are more interested in what was going on after the game than what the score was, because they probably already saw the highlights (or lack thereof) on ESPN the previous night. The writer is consistent with his target audience in this article.
The article provides great stats that explain the lack of enthusiasm the Dodgers organization has both on the field and in the stands.
"There were relatively few witnesses to the latest defeat. The Dodgers announced attendance of 31,614 was the smallest for a Saturday game at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 7, 2002."
The quotes from Mattingly help the reader to understand where he is trying to take the team and what needs to happen from here on. I think the writer was smart to put quotes from the manager up top and go to the losing pitcher at the end. Fans want to know what changes, if any, are going to be made to help their team get out of a slump.
"The solutions might involve personnel changes. Mattingly would only say that he did not expect any roster moves before Sunday's game."
The second source of quotes came from the Dodgers losing pitcher, Clayton Kershaw who was pulled after only 4 2/3 innings. It was a good choice to talk with the starting pitcher after a game where the Dodgers gave up 9 runs, which typically means that the performance on the mound was lacking.
The writer took a really good approach in his introduction of the pitcher, which praised him for his previous performances in his first three starts of the season. He then went on to let the pitcher explain what happened in the quotes that followed.
I also like the way the the story was wrapped up at the end. The writer decided to end on a positive note by shining light on a milestone for one of the new players who got his first major - league hit.
"The Dodgers got to celebrate one milestone on Saturday, the first major-league hit by Ivan DeJesus Jr, who appeared as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and singled off McClellan."
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