Letters: One loss and Bruins are in ruins again?

To the surprise of no one except maybe the UCLA coaching staff, UCLA’s novel strategy of no running game and a porous defense apparently isn’t the recipe for success after all.

Mark Mead

San Diego

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Jim Mora is a defensive specialist, but enough about his news conferences.

Wes Wellman

Santa Monica

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The “Chosen One” is getting a reputation for making bad choices. A couple of those back-foot throws worked out for Josh Rosen against Texas A&M, but his luck ran out against Memphis. The next few weeks will determine if he is everything he and his coaches say he is. Only time will tell.

Dave Farkas

Thousand Oaks

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All of this conjecture why the UCLA football program has been cratering the past two years misses the real reason: While the Bruins were winning nine and 10 games during Jim Mora’s first three seasons, he had Brett Hundley, a brilliant transformational quarterback who carried the team on his shoulders. No Hundley, no contender and a return to Bruin mediocrity. Case closed!

Jack Wolf

Westwood

What a kick

I never imagined a freshman walk-on kicker would decide USC’s win over Texas with two late field goals. Fortunately for the Trojans, he didn’t hook ’em.

Steve Ross

Beverly Hills

Good seats available

Several years ago, the NFL flirted with the idea of bringing not just one but possibly two professional football teams to the second-largest market in the country. I have only one question. When do they plan to deliver on this promise?

Homer Alba

Glendale

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Football fans in Los Angeles told anyone who would listen that the Chargers were not particularly welcome in our city. Don’t now blame us for staying away.

Dave Moore

Santa Ana

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As I was watching the end of the Rams-Redskins game, I was flashing back to the old Jim Healy show.

Who Goffed? I’ve got to know.

Jim Meser

Thousand Oaks

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Chargers kicker Younghoe Koo is known to be proficient with his backflip trick-shot field goals during practices. Perhaps if he replicated that same craftiness in the last two games, the Chargers could be undefeated instead of winless.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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I have a very simple question for Chargers owner Dean Spanos: Where is the bulk of the Chargers’ fan base outside of San Diego? Answer? Orange County! So, instead of striking a deal with Anaheim, and getting your own stadium, being welcomed with open arms and a hungry fan base, making it an easier commute for your current San Diego fans, and with virtually no competition from the Rams, you instead get enamored and obsessed with playing in Los Angeles. So now, you’re still second fiddle playing in a soccer stadium and will be the junior tenant to the Rams.

Rick Solomon

Lake Balboa

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If a tree falls at the 50-yard-line at StubHub Center during a Chargers game, did it make a sound?

Erik Schuman

Fountain Valley

Classic fall guys

So Hillary Clinton has a new book out called “What Happened?” My first thought: Why is Hillary Clinton writing about the Dodgers?

Joe Kevany

Mount Washington

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Clayton Kershaw was most likely one batter away from wrapping up a fourth Cy Young award and ending another Dodgers skid when he gave up a grand slam to the Phillies Aaron Altherr (who?), thus exposing another chink in the Dodgers’ armor and his own invincibility. If Clayton can’t maneuver his way around a triple-A lineup put out by the woeful Phillies, the playoffs seem daunting and worrisome as we head into October.

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Correct me if I am wrong, but it does not take advanced sabermetrics to figure out that going two for 40 with a home run or seven for 90 with a home run would not normally qualify a player for a starting job in major league baseball. So why do Yasmani Grandal and Curtis Granderson keep starting game in and game out with few exceptions. Losing games does not generally build confidence. So what is the “grand design” here? A month ago I was saying that Dave Roberts was a genius. There must be something here I am not seeing.

Larry Weiner

Culver City

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Dave Roberts continues to make questionable moves seemingly all for the sake of showing he hasn’t lost confidence in certain players (or is it to instill confidence in those same players?). Recent prime examples of this are his decisions to keep calling on Pedro Baez for relief in close games. Baez has clearly lost his way, cannot protect a lead, and will not be on the playoff roster. So why does Roberts keep calling on Pedro expecting a different result? That is the definition of insanity, and if the insanity does not stop, the results for the Dodgers this year will be the same as last year, and the year before that, etc., etc.

Norris Clark

Granada Hills

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Dave Roberts, in case you are uncertain, Dodgers fans want World Series home-field advantage. Tuesday was not the time to let Pedro Baez correct his delivery, surrendering four runs to the Phillies. Nor the time to give Alex Verdugo a major league at-bat, only to see him hit into an inning-ending double play. Now is the time to manage to win.

David Adelstein

South Pasadena

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With the Dodgers on the verge of losing home field advantage in the World Series and, possibly, the NLCS, Dave Roberts, on Tuesday night, trots out the maddeningly ineffective human implosion machine, Pedro Baez and guess what happened … again! Was this the decision of the manager of the other year or rather, another brilliant command declaration emanating from the Friedman World Wide Cyber Web country club?

John R. Grush

Mission Viejo

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Last week, reader David Waldowski provided a sanitized view of history when he wrote that “For nearly 60 years, the Dodgers were the people’s team in L.A. Anyone, rich or poor, with a TV followed the team...the Dodgers were part of the fabric of L.A. that united a city’s pride.”

Anyone? Really? What about the government acquisition of Chavez Ravine land for public housing that displaced landowners and renters, mostly Hispanic, but instead became the site of Dodger Stadium, thanks to a sweet deal brokered by City Hall insiders? Countless fans, including Anglos like myself, wanted nothing to do with the Dodgers for many years after that shameful episode. It took decades — and the popularity of Fernando Valenzuela — to draw some of us back. But we haven’t forgotten, and neither should fans looking back through rose-colored glasses.

J.M. Wilson

West Hollywood

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I know that I have only been listening or watching baseball for close to 70 years so I’m still learning. Please, Orel Hershiser, explain to me with a baseball being perfectly round how is a pitcher struggling because he’s throwing the back of the baseball? If you’re running out of things to say, pull a Scully and be silent.

Luis Cruz

La Mirada

Farewell to arms

It has become clear that Mike Scioscia’s pitching philosophy is to pull his starting pitcher after five innings no matter how well he is pitching to keep the pitch count within a computer statistic to save arms. Looking at how well that’s worked with Heaney, Skaggs, Richards, etc. Once he’s got the starter out, in come a slew of relievers until Scioscia can find the one who will lose the game. If the Angels hope to become a playoff team before Mike Trout’s contract expires and he leaves, they need a new manager.

Bruce N. Miller

Playa del Rey

Look for label

Now that the football season has begun, it appears that the devastating dangers of playing this sport are being pushed to the background. Every day an article about UCLA and USC football or the Chargers or Rams —but no mention of what these players are risking. So I would like to suggest that like a pack of cigarettes, every football article be accompanied by a warning, “LEADING BRAIN DOCTORS WARNING: Playing football can lead to early onset Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease. These disorders affect nerve function, resulting in loss of movement or memory.”

Richard Schoenberger

Los Angeles

Wally’s world

While the Dodgers, Angels, Rams, Chargers, Trojans, and Bruins may win or lose any game, it’s a sure thing that photos by Wally Skalij are always a winner. He never fails to capture the big play with impact and resolution. Wally, your wordless stories are a treasure. Thank you!

Ralph Martinez

Arcadia

Women win

On Sunday, the Dodgers lost, the Chargers lost, the Rams lost, the Angels lost. And all this was on the front page of the sports section.

But the Sparks won, reaching the WNBA finals, where they won the title last year. That remarkable information is on the last page, D-12.

Doesn’t someone get it? We have a great team and they’re on the last page? Oh, I get it: Women’s sports doesn’t count.

Unconscionable.

Wendy Averill

Culver City

No room

I thought the Lakers’ new leadership was breaking from the impulse moves of the past (think Mozgov) and building toward the future. But then a shiny thing comes along — Brook Lopez — and they grab it. Then another shiny old thing comes along — Andrew Bogut — and the Lakers grab it. Suddenly young promising center Zubac and rookie Thomas Bryant are at the end of the bench behind two older players, never to be seen on the court again. So much for the “future” strategy.

Ron Pukszta　

Irvine　

Good luck

So the Dodgers sign a multiyear uniform sponsorship deal with wish.com. Log onto wish.com and one will find dozens of items for $1. I wish I could watch the Lakers on TV and buy anything at Staples Center for $1.

Jeff Nuzzi

Pasadena

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