I agree with Mattingly. I see it with the Yankees.

"But Wednesday morning, Mattingly could no longer contain himself in a pregame briefing with reporters in Milwaukee.

'There has to be a mixture of competitiveness,' Mattingly said. 'It's not, "Let's put an All-Star team together and the All-Star team wins."

'It's finding that balance of a team that has a little bit of grit and will fight you. And also having the talent to go with it. All grit and no talent isn't going to make you successful. But all talent and no grit isn't going to get you there either.'

Mattingly wasn't just talking, and to prove his point, benched right fielder Andre Ethier for Van Slyke, offering this explanation:

'There's a touch difference between, "I'm giving you best effort," Mattingly said, 'and being willing to fight you for that prize, to do whatever it takes to win. It's almost something inside you that says, "You're not beating me today. You're not getting me out."

...

'I'm putting out my lineup that I feel is going to be the most competitive, and going to compete the hardest.' "

I take that to mean Mattingly would bench Cano once in a while, just to prove a point.