Davidoff: Mattingly ready to manage

 PHOENIX

He recorded his first Cactus League victory yesterday, and his regular-season debut doesn’t come until the last day of March. Don Mattingly, first-year manager, can ride the learning curve a little longer.

But as the on-field leader for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the former Yankees great has learned one quick lesson:

Buy more mints.

“Joe always had something in his mouth, whether it was a mint or something,” Mattingly told Newsday after the Dodgers defeated the Angels, 5-0, at Camelback Ranch. “I’ve noticed that my throat’s dry a lot. Because you’re always wanting to talk. You’re always wanting to express something.

“You express an opinion to . Express an opinion to the players. Something on the drill. Talking to the coaches. You just talk, talk, talk.”

For someone more used to leading with his actions than his words, it has constituted an adjustment. For the most part, however, “Donnie Baseball” says he hasn’t altered his personality to suit his new job. He knows the terrain and most of the players after working as Torre’s hitting coach with the Dodgers from 2008 through last season — a move prompted by Mattingly’s losing out to Joe Girardi for the right to replace Torre as the Yankees’ field leader.

“He’s the same. Cool Donnie B,” Dodgers centerfielder Matt Kemp said. “Cool. Laid-back.”

“He’s not that intimidating guy where you’re not sure if you want to go up to him, approach him and ask him something or try to get information out of him,” said catcher Rod Barajas, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Mets last August. “He’s just very approachable, very down to earth.”

“For me, I’ll never back away from where I was as a player and what I had in New York,” Mattingly said. “But I feel like I’m in the perfect place right now. I do.

“It’s a good place for me. I like it here. There are good people. We’ve got good players. It’s a good situation.”

Hmm . . . not that good. The Dodgers’ future is very tenuous because, like the Mets, their ownership appears to be in serious financial trouble. Owner and chairman Frank McCourt still is embroiled in a bitter fight with his ex-wife, Jamie, for the rights to the team, and Major League Baseball reportedly refused to let McCourt take a $200-million loan from Fox.

“There has been no discussion of the ownership,” said Mattingly, who said he sees McCourt occasionally. “It’s been baseball decisions. We’ve been trying to get the best baseball club we could possibly put on the field.”

Mattingly arrives with no bona fide managing experience. It’s far from unprecedented — Torre, Girardi and Lou Piniella are among those who assumed a big-league managing job without working in the minor leagues — but Mattingly might operate under more scrutiny. Many Dodgers fans preferred minor-league manager Tim Wallach (now the club’s third-base coach), and Mattingly offered an inauspicious preview last year during an emergency trial.

On July 20, 2010, Mattingly took over the team in a home game against the Giants because Torre and bench coach Bob Schaefer drew umpire ejections. With his club up a run in the ninth inning, Mattingly visited the mound to speak with closer Jonathan Broxton and the infielders, and when first baseman James Loney asked a follow-up question, Mattingly retreated to the mound. Giants manager Bruce Bochy pointed out that Mattingly’s second “mound visit” meant that Broxton had to leave the game. The Dodgers proceeded to lose, and Mattingly admitted afterward that he simply wasn’t aware of the rule.

“It’s a mistake that you don’t want to deal with. It’s embarrassing,” Mattingly said. “But you know what? If that’s going to stop you, forget it. I’m going to worry about what somebody thinks — that I can’t manage — because of one thing? No way. You don’t let things get in your way.”

Instead, Mattingly said, he dedicated himself to mastering the rule book. His New York baseball upbringing toughened him for these sorts of situations.

“He has such a good vibe to him. He’s so honest,” Torre said Saturday of his successor. “I hope he does well.”