Donnie Baseball to DC?

Nats have asked for permission to interview Mattingly

Is Donnie Baseball on his way to D.C.?  The former Yankees superstar, and current hitting coach for the L.A. Dodgers is set to interview for the Nats managerial job after the Dodgers' post-season run is over, which, depending on which Cole Hamels shows up, could be as soon as tonight.

"Donnie Ballgame" -- as the Post's Tom Boswell recently mis-dubbed him -- has long been considered the manager-in-waiting for the Dodgers. Joe Torre's contract runs out after next season, with Mattingly the favorite to take over.

Despite that, he's kicking the tires on some jobs. Besides interviewing with the Nats, he's already spoken with the Cleveland Indians about their job. Manny Acta has already interviewed for the Cleveland job, which disappoints those Nats fans who relish beating an Acta-led National League team with regularity.

Mattingly's done a little bit of research into some of the Nats.  He's especially high on Jordan Zimmermann, even though Tommy John surgery will force him to miss next season. Mattingly told the Times that the Nats pitching is "pretty good, actually.  The young kid, [Jordan] Zimmermann, I know he's having surgery and stuff, but he's got one of those arms that, when we see it during the season, it's like, 'Wow.' Young guy, good arm, attacks, throws strikes with all his pitches. You look at things -- and again, I haven't gone deep into anybody. You're talking what-ifs. But you see the surface."

If it's young pitching Mattingly's after, maybe the Nats could sell him on this Strasburg fellow. Think Donnie's heard of him?

Meanwhile, Interim Jim still has a decent chance at retaining the job. Jon Heyman said he's the favorite half-a-sentence before admitting that he hasn't heard anything at all about the Nats' search. Good luck finding the logic in that.

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