Letters: They believe in Yu, but not in us

I read Bill Plaschke’s column after the the Yu Darvish trade and realized that the baseball season was over. The Dodgers won the World Series, Friedman and Zaidi were executives of the year and Roberts the manager of the year. Bill disregarded Darvish’s struggles this year as “ trade distracted numbers” and ignored his poor record against National League teams as irrelevant, I guess.

I felt bad. And then I remembered Plaschke rarely, if ever, knows what he is talking about. The season is back on.

Bert Bergen

La Canada

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Well, there he’s gone and done it again. Bill Plaschke has all but coronated the Dodgers and put them into the World Series, all while Yu Darvish hadn’t even set foot in the Dodgers clubhouse, let alone thrown a warmup pitch. Plaschke’s track record for predicting outcomes is far from spotless and is often the kiss of death. I beseech The Times’ hierarchy to reassign Plaschke, possibly to the Travel section, which might find him out of the country on assignment, at least, until after the conclusion of the World Series.

John R. Grush

Mission Viejo

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Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamed that Yu Darvish developed blisters on his pitching hand after shaking hands with Brandon McCarthy and Rich Hill. He was placed on the DL with no timetable for his return.

Jeff Hershow

Woodland Hills

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Congratulations to the Dodgers on the acquisition of Mr. Darvish. The article on the trade failed to reveal whether it will take him two or three innings to match the combined annual earnings of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale in their holdout year.

Kevin Park

Mission Hills

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With the Dodgers’ recent acquisition, the team now boasts a hurling Darvish.

Don Gould

Claremont

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“Hey, Dave Roberts, I’m your new catcher who just came over in a trade. So, after each pitch, I throw the ball back to who?”

“Yu.”

“How can I throw the ball back to myself? I already have it.”

“No, you throw it back to Yu.”

“I throw it back to you?”

“Exactly.”

“Why would I throw the ball to you? You’re the manager … in the dugout.”

“No. You don’t throw it to me. You throw it to Yu.”

“Ummm….Third base?”

Come on … Yu — oops, sorry — you had to know this was coming, right?

Axel W. Kyster

Bradbury

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“I think it will definitely be an emotional boost for the team,” general manager Farhan Zaidi said.

Like the Carlos Ruiz for A.J. Ellis trade? That was a real emotional boost.

Alex Fernandez

Lakewood

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I just watched the Dodgers again blow a lead and lose the game Wednesday. I could be wrong, but this seems to happen like clockwork once every 54 games they’re leading.

PJ Gendell

Beverly Hills

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The Dodgers’ remarkable 53-game record that they established for winning games where they at least held a lead was great because it reminds me about the great Don Drysdale, and his number 53. Ironically, when they lost by a 5-3 score, Big D might be watching from upstairs. Their special year continues and I am very hopeful that they will win it all.

Nate Gleiberman

Sherman Oaks

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I recall reading a article on the Dodgers’ TV deal not long after it was done, wherein Magic Johnson was quoted as saying, to effect that he would not let the controversy continue. And here we are, four or so years later, no settlement, none on the horizon, and Magic’s never been called out on his remarks.

With all the revenue the ownership has reaped since they bought the team, is it that much of stretch for them to subsidize the Spectrum-DirecTV controversy a buck or so, that all Dodger fans can see all the games? How about a little help here, Magic? It’s time.

David Esterkes

La Canada

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Magic Johnson and his fellow Dodgers owners have thrown a meaningless bone to the team’s faithful. Dodgers fans will be able to watch the last six Tuesday games of the season on free television. Big deal. The Dodgers should have a 25-game lead by then and will be resting everybody including the batboy.

By the way, is that the same Magic Johnson who’s the new savior of the Lakers? Just wondering.

Gary H. Miller

Encino

So don’t watch

Angels’ pet peeves:

Albert Pujols batting in the middle of the order while in a slump.

Kole Calhoun stepping out of the batter’s box after every pitch.

Mike Scioscia’s questionable pitching and pinch-hitting moves.

Ken Blake

Brea

Home for the Games

As is well known, the city of Los Angeles has a serious housing shortage. The 2028 Olympic games will use student dorms at UCLA and USC to house the athletes. A better plan would be to construct a new Olympic village for the Games, paid for by the International Olympic Committee. This housing could then be converted to housing for the poor and homeless at the conclusion of the games. It is not too late to negotiate for this because the final agreement has not been signed between the IOC and the Los Angeles organizing committee. We have leverage over the IOC. Let’s use it!

Bob Lentz

Sylmar

Ram tough?

Hey St. Lou, errr, Los Angeles Rams, what are you doing? Don’t play hardball with the best player on our team! If you can pay Tavon Austin, rewarding Aaron Donald is a no-brainer. If Les Snead screws this up, I’m going to cancel my season tickets and become a Chargers fan.

Victor Segovia

Orange

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As a native Chicagoan who has watched the Rams tootle around UC Irvine in their golf carts, I have to wonder what Dick Butkus would say if he saw them. But I think I can guess. I believe he’d say its fine, the ladies probably need them.

Larry Cahill

Irvine

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You know, it just doesn’t seem right reading about the Rams and the Chargers on the same L.A. sports page. The Rams were gone for so long from LA, then they suddenly show up, and lo and behold, here come the Chargers. Neither team seems very interesting: neither team has been to a Super Bowl recently.

The Chargers at least are usually entertaining until the fourth quarter, and San Diego sits down there with an empty stadium. The NFL needs to expand a team into San Diego, and wouldn’t it be just wonderful if it wiped up West Coast NFL like a tornado?

Chet Chebegia

San Marcos

Era of Ara

The late Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian probably will be best remembered for allowing his team to run out the clock in the infamous 10-10 tie with Michigan State in the 1966 “Game of the Century.” Although he took plenty of flak from the public for not trying to win the big game, Parseghian’s strategy turned out to be a very smart move. That’s because Notre Dame rolled it up on USC the following week, winning 51-0, and secured the national championship. It would be safe to say that Trojan players and fans still around from that era haven’t forgotten that game.

Charles Reilly

Manhattan Beach

The IX factor

With an NCAA demonstrably prejudiced against USC in its over-prosecution of Reggie Bush, we don’t need our own in-house Salem Witch Court, the Title IX Committee following a script from Orwell’s 1984.

Transparency? Accountability?

Robert D. Robinson

Azusa

That hurts

I’m trying to guess how many letters you received with variants of “Gallinari plays and punches the Clipper way” “Gallinari and Griffin, the orthopedic front court” “Two broken hands are better than one” etc. Forty letters? Fifty? Fifty-one, counting mine?

Bennett Tramer

Santa Monica

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