Time to Give Dodgers Just What They Deserve

While reading the letters that you printed last week, one of them voiced an opinion that the Dodgers’ apparent success is a mirage. This is based on the fact that “they’re in a weak division that nobody wants to win.”

After a simple inspection of the standings, the exact opposite appears to be the case. The Dodgers are challenging for the NL’s best record! Was your writer mistaking the NL standings for the AL standings?

Thomas Birke

Garden Grove

*

I am still chuckling over Mr. Michael’s letter that the media is giving the Dodgers credit for being a good team. As Mr. Michael should know from following the broadcasts and reading the box score, the key to the Dodgers is attitude. How are they doing it? There are plenty of reasons, but Jim Tracy is the biggest one. He has brought these guys together through so much, and they’re clearly playing for him all the while with the label of not being a good team.

The bottom line, countering Mr. Michael’s comments about the schedule, is that it is what it is. The Dodgers don’t ask for the schedule, they play what’s given to them.

A team that executes and plays together is more likely to win than one that is deemed a “good team”. I’d rather have one that wants (to win) and thinks it can win, than merely looks good on paper.

John Rowe

West Hills

*

I was amused by Bill Michael’s letter to Viewpoint July 28 claiming that the Dodgers are where they are because of a scheduling fluke. Huh? Michael, what happens during a two- or three-week period is unimportant. It’s the whole season that matters. Your claim that the schedule is responsible for where they are might be valid if the season were two weeks old. But as of this writing the Dodgers had played 104 games! They had 60 wins, along with the Chicago Cubs, more than anyone else in the National League! In all of baseball, only the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees had won more.

It’s OK to hate the Dodgers, if you like. But for those of us who don’t, we are having a great time.

Doug Dunlap

Valencia

*

The additions:

1. Jim Tracy 2. Paul Lo Duca.

The deletions:

3. Davey (I don’t do bunts) Johnson. 4. Kevin (Peter Principle) Malone.

I know a $110-million payroll doesn’t hurt, but just like the Lakers had more talented teams under Del Harris with Jones, Van Exel and Campbell, it took Phil to put it all together. The Dodgers had equal or more talent in the previous years and sputtered, feuded, and sputtered. Enjoy the stretch run.

Harry Bluebond

Valley Village

*

In last Saturday’s Viewpoint, there were six letters printed concerning the Dodgers. Of the six, four were of a negative tone and one was an attempt at humor (neutral), leaving one positive letter. I’m curious--is the low positive percentage (17%) representative of the total population of Dodger-related letters received? Or is it merely reflective of the editor’s choice of which letters to present?

Tom Mueller

La Crescenta