They Had to Be Nuts to Let These Guys Go

Fire the batting practice pitchers? What’s next, exiling Roger the peanut vendor to the upper deck?

NEIL RABINOWITZ

Mission Viejo

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So Kevin Malone thinks Chan Ho Park and Ismael Valdes “are as good as anybody in baseball”? How many Cy Young awards have these two won? How many 20-win seasons have they had? How many times leading the league in earned-run average?

The fact that he can say this, despite all the evidence to the contrary, says a lot about why the Dodgers have an $80-million payroll and a barely .500 record.

RICK LIVINGOOD

Simi Valley

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Has anybody considered that one of the reasons the Dodgers’ pitching staff has been doing so poorly is that, in an attempt to show whatever shred of loyalty there is left in the organization, in Glenn Hoffman they installed a career middle infielder as the bullpen coach?

RON YUKELSON

Santa Monica

Editor’s note: Apparently, the Dodgers did. Last weekend, they switched third base coach Rick Dempsey to the bullpen, and Hoffman to third base.

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On a championship team, the players dive for balls hit to the them. On a mediocre team, they let the baseball drop in front of them.

LOUIS ABRAMSON

Westlake Village

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As I grew up in Bakersfield, there were two baseball teams one could be a devoted follower of. The Dodgers to the south and the Giants to the north. I selected the Dodgers and have been Dodger Blue ever since. When Fox bought the team from Peter O’Malley, I could have never imagined just how much of a negative impact this would have.

As for the batting practice firings [May 30], this is the last straw. Baseball is a game of tradition, and Fox is going to throw that away in my mind by firing the three men who threw batting practice for $45 a day with 75 years of experience between them.

Maybe I should have selected the Giants.

ROB DARNEAL

Port Hueneme

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So the Dodger problem is that they don’t know one another. As a public service, let me introduce them:

You have a catcher who can’t throw or hit, a first baseman with the range of a statue and the arm of a Little Leaguer, a second baseman with the range of your first baseman, the worst fielding shortstop in the league, a left fielder whose best defensive position is designated hitter, a center fielder who has lost range and his arm and a right fielder who goes ballistic if the manager moves him in the batting order. You have only one starting pitcher with guts, no middle relief and a closer who appears to be wearing out already. Even Lasorda couldn’t put a positive spin on this group.

KEVIN FITZPATRICK

Pasadena