Green Apparently Not Only One Sore

As much as I respect Shawn Green as a player, I don’t see the wisdom -- or even the point -- of waiting until Labor Day to announce that his shoulder has been injured since spring training and that, while the injury is not an “excuse” for his subpar offensive numbers, it’s definitely been a “factor.”

Either announce that it hurts on opening day or keep quiet until the season’s over. With only 27 games left, and every intention of playing out the season, why even mention it?

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

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So The Times’ sportswriters are after Dan Evans like a pack of hungry wolves. Well, what else is new? It wasn’t that long ago that Bill Plaschke was happy when Mike Piazza, the best hitting catcher of all time, was shipped out. Then Plaschke and his poison-pen buddy Simers decided to snip at the heels of Kevin Malone, not for that GM’s total lack of ability, but rather his inappropriate response to a San Diego fan who was harassing him. Malone departed shortly thereafter.

Well, as usual The Times scribes have it all wrong. Evans inherited a once-proud organization that was ravaged by his predecessors Fred Claire, Tom Lasorda and the aforementioned Malone. All Evans has done is assemble the best pitching staff in the majors and field a respectable team while waiting for the farm system to replenish itself. And he did it without trading the cream of the minor leaguers as, most surely, Fred, Tommy and Kevin would have done.

Stay the course, Dan. Every time we see Pedro Martinez throw a pitch or Piazza knock it out of the park, we’re glad you’re not trading the future for a few extra wins.

Skip Usen

Santa Monica

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I’m a little bit bemused by the outrage caused by the Dodgers’ failure to reveal Shawn Green’s injury until now. Sure, we were all surprised to hear about his bad shoulder, but if they had told us two months ago, would it have made any difference? I don’t think so.

I can’t imagine what else the Dodgers could have done, other than keep him in the lineup. After all, the medical staff, the general manager, the manager, and Green himself declared he was able to play, so what would you have them do -- bench their right fielder, hitting almost .280, leading the league in doubles and having driven in more than 60 runs with more than 20 games to play just because his home run total is down?

Dan Evans has made his share of mistakes, but letting Green play was certainly not one of them.

Joel Rapp

Los Angeles

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If the Dodgers should have to “make public the news” of Green’s MRI because “those who buy tickets deserve to know,” then The Times should have to post warnings that today’s paper may include columns written by Bill Plaschke.

Adam Platts

Northridge

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It figures an organization owned by Fox would hide the news of Green’s injury. Isn’t putting a biased spin on the news business as usual at Fox?

Mark Temple

Huntington Beach

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Now, I’m not going to say that every move Dan Evans has made has been brilliant (where have you gone, Eric Karros?), but I do think the recent criticism of him goes too far. Does anyone seriously think that acquiring Brian Giles would have given the Dodgers enough offense to reach the World Series?

Evans made the right decision when he refused to trade his best minor league prospects for second-rate hitters. And how was he to know that Shawn Green, Brian Jordan, Fred McGriff and Dave Roberts would all get hurt, that Alex Cora’s average would drop 70 points, and that Adrian Beltre would hit .225? (OK, he should have known about Beltre.)

Let’s bring back the days when Dodger fans could recognize the players without having to buy a program (just a metaphor, Dan, don’t worry) because the players came up through the system and were trained in the fabled Dodger Way to Play Baseball. Now if only we could bring back Peter O’Malley....

Paul Goodwin

Culver City

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Jim Tracy says that the quality of Todd Hundley’s Class-A Vero Beach at-bats is better than his stats indicate. What part of .083 am I missing? Even a Class-A pitcher can do better than that. My Aunt Audrey can do better than that.

Stuart Weiss

Los Angeles

Boy, if only Eric Gagne could hit too.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills