Talk about Dodger blues

This, we Dodger fans have been told, is our year. And for a while, most of us won’t get to see it.

Opening Day tends to stir the optimist in the most despondent fan, but much of the Dodgers faithful are missing out today: The Dodgers and Time Warner Cable still haven’t come to terms with other pay-TV providers on carrying the cable channel that will broadcast the team’s regular-season games. For cord-cutters, there’s no hope at all: Free, over-the-air broadcasts are out too.

Taken together with higher ticket prices, the prospect of being shut out from the most promising season in decades hasn’t sat well with readers. As the Dodgers-Time Warner drama has played out over the last several weeks, dozens of readers have sent letters expressing their disappointment (one in poetry). Nearly all of them directed their anger at the Dodgers and Time Warner.

— Paul Thornton, letters editor

Jeff Kahl of Aliso Viejo pines for the voice of Vin:

I haven’t missed watching Opening Day since … well, today.

Thanks to Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers’ owners for putting the fans at the forefront of their shared vision. At least I’ll get Vin Scully for a few innings on the radio.

And speaking of Vinny, what a great gift to the legend as he begins his 65th year in the booth and 86th year on Earth to know he’s reaching 30% of his TV audience.

Redlands resident Jack Richter expresses the frustration of Dodger devotion in poetry:

I was once a Dodger fan
I even bought a mini plan.
We cheered them on through thick and thin
Even when they didn’t win.

We struggled on with Frank McCourt
And witnessed games that came up short.
Along came men with piles of money
Who claimed they’d turn this salt to honey.

After a winning streak of games
The owners then stopped calling Don names.
We like him, they said, and we have good reason
Let’s see how he does in the postseason.

Along came the Cards who packed up their bats
Benching Clayton and Puig, who hung up their hats.
I hope I can stay, Don said with a tear
As his contract would keep him here for one year.

Now the men with the money with a season in the tank
Conspired on how they could fill up their bank.
Let’s raise all our prices! they said, with a wink
And with Kershaw’s new contract, we’ll throw in the sink!

But no more free anything, they said with a grin
No TV or tickets — and this way we’ll win.

Ted Herrmann of Los Angeles feels unappreciated:

The Dodgers played the Arizona Diamondbacks in a game not available on TV to 70% of the local television market. They call it Opening Day — because it sure ain’t Fan Appreciation Day.

ALSO:

Letters: Toyota’s deadly deception

Letters: Occidental college coverage

Letters: A different kind of Cold War