Erstad looks pretty good now

By the outcome of their choice between center fielders who abused their own bodies -- Darin Erstad, through unrestrained hustle, and Gary Matthews Jr., allegedly through pharmacological means -- Angels management has made a statement of its priorities and future direction of the team.

Most Angels fans would take the unspectacular over the unnatural any day.

MICHAEL MIYAMOTO

Mission Viejo

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As one who counts the long, slow days between the end of one baseball season and the beginning of the next, I was disheartened to see the two top baseball sports stories in the March 1 edition, one of an Angels player allegedly implicated in a potential criminal matter and the other of Tommy Lasorda’s alleged use of the services of a convicted madam.

While the Gary Matthews story may have legs down the line that may affect the team, clearly the Lasorda story (which he has denied) had virtually no place in any part of The Times. It is unverified, highly suspect with a less-than-credible source and can have no impact whatever on the performance of the Dodgers in 2007. I have never met Lasorda, but I would like to.

PAUL N. YOUNG

Brentwood