Easler reassigned, Mattingly to return after break

As always, Mike Easler handled it with extreme class. He's going to stick around through Sunday, then become the organization's third roving minor-league hitting instructor along with Gene Clines and Jeff Pentland, who was added a couple of weeks ago. They're going to continue trying to instill the Torre approach to hitting, that finally is beginning to sink in at the major-league level, in the minors. ... Torre and Ned Colletti met with Mike last night to give him the news, and the fact of the matter is Mike never really had the keys to the car. The door was always open for Mattingly to come back as hitting coach, and although most of us assumed it wouldn't happen until next year, he decided to do it now. Torre said Mattingly and 3B coach Larry Bowa were ``necessary to come in with me,'' something Mattingly had planned to do before it was announced on Jan. 22 that he wasn't coming after all because of personal reasons -- it turned out he was going through a messy divorce. He has been with the club at various stops on the road all season, so it's not like he will be coming into a totally unfamiliar situation.