Daily News-Don Mattingly: It's best I missed out on Yankees job

[Lil Bit Special]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/02/09/2008-02-09_don_mattingly_its_best_i_missed_out_on_y-2.html?print=1&page=all

BY BILL MADDEN

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Saturday, February 9th 2008, 4:00 AM

UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Don Mattingly said Friday night that in retrospect, not getting the Yankees manager job probably was the best thing that could have happened to him.

Mattingly - who recently filed for divorce from Kim Mattingly, his wife of 28 years who last week was arrested after an ugly incident on the front lawn of Mattingly's Evansville, Ind., property - said it has become necessary for him to stay at home and care for his youngest son, Jordon, a sophomore in high school.

"As it turned out, it was just as well I didn't get (the Yankees) job," Mattingly - who last month had to withdraw as Joe Torre's batting coach with the Dodgers - told the Daily News at Mohegan Sun, where he was the honoree at the Connecticut Sports Foundation's annual cancer charity dinner. "That's because I would've had to walk away from it because of these issues."

Kim Mattingly, 45, was arrested last Saturday and charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct after police say she refused to leave her estranged husband's property in Evansville.

A probable cause affadavit signed by a Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Deputy said Kim Mattingly smelled of alcohol and screamed at officers. Kim Mattingly claimed at the scene that her husband had her phone and she was trying to get it back. Officers spoke with Don Mattingly, who said he did not have her phone.

Police had warned Kim Mattingly earlier in the day not to come to the property.

Two days after the incident, a court granted Don Mattingly a protective order against his wife. In his filing, Mattingly cited three instances in which his wife had come to his house, including an incident on Jan. 22 during which she tried to kick down his door.

"It's unfortunate what's happened," Mattingly said, "especially for my kids, being in the papers and all that. But we've just got to deal with it. And we will."

Then, in reference to 1995, when he left the Yankees and baseball to go home to Indiana for a self-imposed eight-year exile - after hitting .417 with six RBI against the Mariners in his one and only postseason series - Mattingly added: "This is not the first time we've all had to go through this" - suggesting his family's problems have lingered for years.

The Mattinglys filed for divorce in November, on grounds of irreconcilable differences. The filing is still pending. The couple has three sons - Taylor, 22; Preston, 20, who is a prospect in the Dodgers organization; and Jordon, 16.

Shortly after her arrest, Kim Mattingly was released from Vanderburgh County Jail after posting $50 bond. She made her first court appearance on Monday, with a second court date scheduled for March 3.