Budding Bore-ass Matt Sosnick is lovingly portrayed in Jerry Crasnick’s “License To Deal” as a former teenage ticket scalper turned caring-surrogate-dad to the likes of Dontrelle Willis.  While Sosnick’s compassion didn’t extend to one cock-obsessed Mets farmhand, he’s come to the defense of Pittsburgh catcher Ryan Doumit (above), facing accusations of chronic helmet-tossing. “People should know that Ryan Doumit’s not the kind to not care or not hustle,” argues Sosnick to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic :

“In reading a couple things, there’s a lot being said about Ryan dogging it or not playing as hard as he could. Ryan’s shocked about that,” Sosnick said from Cincinnati, where he had dinner with Doumit after the game last night. “He’s also shocked that there are people saying he isn’t happy playing in Pittsburgh or that he’s gone into some shell. It is true that a lot of his closest friends on the team got traded. But he understands it’s a business. He’d be the first to tell you he makes as much money in a year as he’d hoped to make in his life.”

Doumit is in the first year of a three-year extension that guarantees $11.5 million.

“He likes being in Pittsburgh,” Sosnick continued. “It’s tough not being competitive this year, and he takes that kind of stuff very personally. But he came back from an injury probably before he should have.”

Doumit missed 2 1/2 months to a fractured wrist. He has batted .212 since returning July 9, and his overall average is .215, with eight home runs and 26 RBIs.

“He came back because he’s very competitive,” Sosnick said. “And the fact that his average has gone down, that he’s not playing up to his standards, is what’s bothered him the most by far. But there’s no correlation between his numbers and his effort. He’s not dogging anything. He cares a lot. When he goes 0 for 4, he wears it more than anyone else does. And the combination of not being successful, of being hurt and now having people question his work ethic, I think it’s ticked him off. But, more than anything, it’s really hurt his feelings.”