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That rumble you might have heard coming from Miller Park in Milwaukee was Don Mattingly MANAGING, darn it.

Mattingly benched slugger Andre Ethier on Wednesday afternoon for the Los Angeles Dodgers' game against the Brewers, saying Ethier was lacking in his approach:

Mattingly on sitting Ethier: "I’m putting out my lineup that I feel is going to be the most competitive and going to compete the hardest."

— Dylan Hernandez (@dylanohernandez) May 22, 2013

This action comes as rumors swirl that Dodgers management is on the verge of firing Mattingly (rumors that have been pooh-poohed by Dodgers writers and Yahoo! Sports' own Tim Brown). No matter, it counts as a different approach for Mattingly, who has been known as a player's manager — i.e., not an intimidator who calls guys out in public.

The Dodgers have a big payroll and an 18-26 record, and SOMEBODY has to answer for it. But should it be Ethier, who is batting .264/.353./.405 with four home runs for $85 million through 2017? His performance seems a bit uninspired, and it's off from his career averages — but not that off. One good month and he's back in line. And he's only missed one game all season, so if Ethier has been banged up, he's been playing through it anyway.

Sounds like a competitor, yes? Not necessarily, Mattingly says, as relayed by Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

Camden Yards on opening day 2013 (Getty Images)

Have a baseball road trip coming up? Well, in a bid to help you with your upcoming journeys, Big League Stew has solicited the help of the locals. Over the next month or so, we'll be hitting up our usual guest blogger crew to feature 10 tips for enjoying each of the 30 ballparks like the locals do. Have a suggestion in addition to the ones listed here? Make sure to list it in the comments below.

So, you’re interested in visiting Oriole Park at Camden Yards? I don’t blame you; it’s gorgeous. We get a lot of visitors at the Yard each year, and as long as you don’t refer to our beautiful ballpark as Fenway South or try to tell us that Derek Jeter will go down in history as the greatest shortstop ever, we don’t mind the company. Stick with me and I’ll make sure you have the best experience possible.

1. Don’t pay $20 for that garage. There are many parking garages in the downtown area that might appeal to a person unfamiliar with the city of Baltimore, but if you’re planning on going straight to the game and don’t mind a bit of a walk, park in the stadium lots. There is a lot of parking available for $8-10 in the lots between Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Ravens). If you want to park in a garage so that you’re closer to the restaurants and other city attractions, check out the Penn Street Garage located at the intersection of Pratt & Penn. It costs $8 to park, the cheapest you’ll find in the area, and you can get back to I-95 or I-295 after the game without sitting in any stadium traffic. But keep that between us, OK? I don’t need my favorite garage to start filling up before I get there.

2. Don’t go to the Inner Harbor. If you’re the sort who wants a meal before the game, head to Federal Hill. The Inner Harbor is in walking distance of Camden Yards, but if you go there you’ll be stuck with Pizzeria Uno, Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and the like. But Federal Hill, a popular neighborhood just south of the harbor, has a lot of restaurants and bars that feature good food and a lot of local flavor.

Pro Tip: Check out Abbey Burger Bistro and get the SimplyAJ, a burger created in honor of O’s center fielder Adam Jones, a frequent patron.

(Getty)Well, ain't that a kick in the teeth. At least Chicago White Sox fans have come to expect it.

Club owner Jerry Reinsdorf reportedly told his family that, once he dies, the White Sox are to be sold — but the Chicago Bulls, which he also owns, should go to his heirs.

But daddy, the White Sox came first!

SportsBusiness Journal (via the Chicago Sun-Times) has the scoop:

The publication interviewed Reinsdorf, 77, about his longtime sports ownerships in Chicago and noted that ‘‘the family succession plan calls for the Reinsdorfs to retain their stake in the Bulls while selling the White Sox. Michael Reinsdorf [Jerry’s son and current president of the Bulls] will take his father’s place [as chairman].’’

While that might happen, Jerry Reinsdorf was clarifying things Tuesday.

‘‘Jerry has said that while it is his recommendation that the club be put up for sale once he is no longer with us, he acknowledges that his vote won’t count at that point in the discussion,’’ said Scott Reifert, the Sox’ senior vice president of communications and a longtime friend of the elder Reinsdorf. ‘‘Jerry appreciates all the care and concern about his future but is happy to still be going strong, and he plans to be around for quite a while longer.

‘‘As he said just today, he recognizes that he may be in the fourth quarter, but he’s playing for triple overtime.’’

Note the basketball analogy. Hey, whatever happened to "extra innings"?

(MLB.tv)

In becoming the youngest person in American League history and the sixth player ever from the Los Angeles Angels to hit for the cycle, Mike Trout required skill, preparation and timing to converge Tuesday night.

A favorable call by an umpire didn't hurt, either.

Trout hit a home run in the eighth inning to cap a historic night for himself, but it was his second at-bat against the Seattle Mariners — which resulted with an infield single — that got Trout's cycle started in the third inning. Only, a close look at one of the replay angles shows that Trout didn't beat lumbering pitcher Aaron Harang to the first-base bag after a grounder to Justin Smoak:

(MLB.tv)

Looking at the play in real time as it happened, from a camera angle along the first-base line, Trout's left shoe appeared to narrowly beat Harang to the base. And that's what umpire Vic Carapazza (what a great umpire name!) called — "safe."

(This was as close as I could get on the screen cap.)

But if a replay is watched in slow motion, from a different angle on the third-base side, Harang's right foot somehow gets to the bag first. Carapazza's call was wrong.

Dan Levy of Bleacher Report made this assertion on Twitter, and asked anyone following to forward an account of the game that

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

Nate McLouth continued his career rebirth with the Baltimore Orioles, taking Vidal Nuno deep for a game-ending home run in a 3-2 victory against the New York Yankees to snap a six-game losing streak Tuesday night.

McLouth, an All-Star and Gold Glove winner with the Pirates in a breakthrough 2008 season, wandered around in decline during the following seasons until the Orioles picked him up as a free agent in June 2012. McLouth helped the surprising O's reach the playoffs, and has kept on helping in 2013 via a stat line of .277/.365/.423, with three homers and a league-leading 13 stolen bases coming into Tuesday. Make it four homers. After blowing three straight saves, Jim Johnson picked up the victory in relief and former Yankees outfielder Chris Dickerson hit two solo home runs.

Kung fu grip: After a killer triple by San Francisco's Gregor Blanco turned the tables on Washington in the ninth, slugger Pablo Sandoval turned the lights out in the 10th with his eighth home run, a mammoth shot to center, sending the Giants to an unlikely 4-2 victory. As Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper said, "He put both cheeks into that one."

Walkoff this way:

(Getty)Running into that fence knocked some sense into Bryce Harper; he said doesn't want to do it again. There's only one problem: He still has to play the outfield. Harper found himself caught between making a catch and making sure of his own safety Tuesday night, and his indecision might have cost the Washington Nationals a ballgame.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Harper pulled up short in pursuit of a fly ball that fell in for a score-tying triple by Gregor Blanco. Closer Rafael Soriano had blown the save, and the San Francisco Giants won 4-2 in the 10th on a home run by Pablo Sandoval. A strong performance by Stephen Strasburg had meant nothing, the Nats fell to 23-23 on the season and the experience revealed that Harper has his confidence shaken.

Quoted by reporter Adam Kilgore in the Washington Post, Harper said:

“I don’t want to hit the frickin’ wall full-on,” Harper said. “Of course that crosses your mind after you jam into a wall. It doesn’t really feel very good. It [stinks] that I couldn’t make the play. I totally put that loss on me.”

Blanco's triple was an echo of another play Harper failed to make May 14, when he famously slammed face-first into the right-field fence at Dodger Stadium, dazing himself and needing 11 stitches to close a gash in his chin.

Many had wondered why Harper — who has displayed a sixth sense in other ways on the baseball field at age 20 — turned around so late after reaching the warning track, just before impact. A combination of inexperience and fearlessness was Harper's undoing. Well, now he has some experience. And he's afraid. It's a mental barrier Harper says he must overcome, or else.

After Mike Trout's monster rookie season in 2012, many believed it wasn't a matter of if, but when he would achieve some of baseball's most distinguished feats. Like, for instance, hitting for the cycle.

Trout can check that off his to-do list after Tuesday night's Los Angeles Angels game. All told, he was 4-for-5 with two runs, five RBIs and a stolen base. His at-bats went like this: strikeout in the first inning, single in the third, triple in the fourth, double in the sixth and in the eighth inning — with everyone watching to see if he could do it — a home run to complete the cycle.

A few notes of historical context:

(USA Today)• Trout is the youngest player in American League history — at 21 years, 9 months, 16 days — to hit for the cycle. Mel Ott, who achieved the cycle in 1929 at age 20 — is the youngest overall.

• Other younger-than-22 cycle-hitters: Cesar Cedeno (1972), Arky Vaughan (1933) and Alex Rodriguez (1997).

• Trout is the first hitter this season to hit for the cycle.

• He's the sixth

(Getty Images, BLS Illustration)The New York Yankees proved Tuesday they won't be confined — not to baseball and maybe not to New York City either.

A $100 million partnership was announced Tuesday between the Yankees and Premier League club Manchester City to create a Major League Soccer team called New York City FC. Yahoo! Sports soccer blog, Dirty Tackle, has more of the particulars. But here's one interesting tidbit that's emerged on the baseball side: This could open the door for the Yankees to play in England.

From London newspaper The Telegraph: