Letters: Split decision on Clayton Kershaw’s inside pitch

I assume Bill Plaschke (“Proving his Cy Young mettle,” Sept. 16) encourages those of us with children to drill into them the importance of retaliation in sports. To “throw one for the team” — especially when “the other guy started it.”

Truth is both Gerardo Parra and Clayton Kershaw were the ones who were childish.

Robert McArthur

Mar Vista

::

Kershaw should not have backed himself in a corner the night before by running his mouth in the dugout. He had no choice but to hit Parra or lose the respect of his teammates.

And Cy Young would not have waited until the sixth inning to get payback. He would not have been concerned that he had pitched enough innings to get a win. He would have plunked him the first chance he had. The only thing Kershaw is concerned about is the Cy Young Award.

Larry Byrne

Scottsdale, Ariz.

::

To Bill Plaschke: I admire you for your article on Clayton Kershaw. You had everything right this time.

To Joe Torre: You are such a hypocrite for giving a warning to the Dodgers. You played the game, you managed in the game.

To umpire Bill Welke: That was such an amateur move. You deserve to be sent down to the minors. A warning would suffice. Maybe you are afraid of the powers-that-be that are running baseball to the ground.

Jimmy Corona

Diamond Bar

::

It’s not enough that umpires have made a travesty of the strike zone, miss about 50% of the tag plays around second base and home plate and don’t have the guts to call guys at second base safe when the “in-the-vicinity” play happens. They also don’t understand the strategic aspects of the game at all. This becomes evident more often than it should, when the umpires try to read minds.

First, Kershaw was pitching an outstanding game, leading 2-0 in the sixth inning, so he certainly didn’t want to hit the batter and bring the tying run to the plate. Second, if he’s going to intentionally hit someone, he’s going to throw at the hitter. The pitch in question was only a couple of inches off the inside of the plate. If you pitch in the big leagues, you have to be able to pitch inside or you get hit. The umpire in question [Bill Welke] has no business being an umpire.

MLB needs to deal with their umpire incompetence problem — the fans and the game deserve better.

Jim Craft

Torrance

How many fanslike Dodgers polls?

Your article “Dodgers ask ticket holders if owner’s an issue” (Sept. 16) is a question being asked a bit late.

After years of horrible ownership decisions, my partners and I decided before the 2011 season not to renew our season tickets after 27 years. And McCourt is the sole reason. [For me,] a native of Los Angeles and a big baseball fan, seeing how McCourt has conducted himself as owner of this team has been difficult to stomach the past few years. It gotten to the point where we said enough. I’ve been to one game this season. Frank, read the writing on the wall. Sell the team!

B.A. Schoenbrun

Calabasas

::

First, there was a survey on the Dodgers’ legendary broadcaster, Vin Scully, evaluating his performance. Now, the Dodgers are asking season-ticket holders if they might not renew because of ownership, as a possible factor. Why is market research often conducted on the obvious?

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

Serena stirs bothends of spectrum

Serena Williams disappointed many of her fans during her tirade at the chair umpire in the U.S. Open women’s final. She apologized, was duly fined and everyone has moved on.

Serena should be commended for not making excuses for her loss although to me she had a very large one. I’m curious why the women’s final was scheduled barely 12 hours after Serena completed her semifinal late Saturday night. The males lobbied the U.S. Tennis Assn. to give them an entire day off between the Saturday semis and Monday’s final.

Serena’s game is power, her first serves Sunday were much slower on the speed gun and her body appeared sluggish. I’m aware that the U.S. Open prize money is the same for both sexes, but that is where it ends. Serena got jobbed.

Eric Weinsheink

Beverly Hills

::

Shame on the USTA officials. Tennis has reached it’s all-time low. When these officials declared Serena’s infractions “not major,” I could not believe it! A slap-her-hands fine of $2,000 after her outraged showing? She is an embarrassment to the sport and [should be] suspended for at least a year.

Jim Kurz

Riverside

::

Serena Williams is the poster girl for everything that has gone wrong with professional sports and professional athletes. If you want to understand Serena, all you need is one of the milder quotes from her latest episode of childish behavior: “I never complain.” Not if she’s winning, but if she even appears to be losing she is instantly capable of tantrums that make John McEnroe, in his prime, seem Zen-like. Shame on her, shame on us.

Michael Valente

Laguna Beach

Kings fans don’tget AEG math

So AEG has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on a stadium for a football team they do not own, but they are unwilling to spend a few million dollars to sign standout defenseman Drew Doughty for a hockey team they do own? I bet even Tim Leiweke couldn’t spin that mind-boggling lack of commitment to the Kings’ long-suffering fan base. But I am sure he will try.

Warren P. Knell

Manhattan Beach

Toledo oughtto thank him

I never thought I would say this, but Rick Neuheisel is making Bob Toledo look like John Wooden.

Paul Jeong

Beaumont

Oh brother, this is fiction

Chris Dufresne should resign and join his brother Andy in Zihuatanejo if he believes the Trojans are worthy of a No. 22 ranking. Expect to see Syracuse from a much-maligned Big East match them step for step in team speed, spelling doom for the secondary.

Kevin H. Park

Encino

::

The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

By mail: Sports Viewpoint

Los Angeles Times

202 W. 1st St.

Los Angeles, CA 90012

By fax: (213) 237-4322

Email: sports@latimes.com