Letters: Will Albert Pujols bust out or is he just a bust?

My text to my friend Joe Carillio at 9:37 Wednesday night: “How bout them Angels! no hitter!”

Joe’s reply 10 minutes later: “Weaver or Pujols?”

Joey Almeida

Santa Barbara

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“El Hombre” is looking more and more like “El Mendoza.”

Anthony Moretti

Lomita

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Albert Pujols has turned into MLB’s version of Lamar Odom, and he’s not even married to a Kardashian.

Gary Wosk

North Hills

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Wait, the McCourts are really gone and the Dodgers actually reduced the cost to park? The next thing you’ll know Dee Gordon has one more home run than Albert Pujols.

It’s a Magical world indeed.

Steve Ross

New York

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The Times quotes the Angels GM saying it was hard for the organization and Arte Moreno to swallow the $9-million contract of Bobby Abreu. I wonder how difficult it will be to swallow $240 million?

V.J. Carollo

Upland

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It’s obvious that the Angels tossed everything into an effort to take over the Los Angeles market, unseating the Dodgers as the No. 1 baseball team in SoCal. Using fan and media anger over the McCourts, Arte Moreno gave it his best shot, but the law of being first is a difficult one to overcome. Add to that the Dodgers are no doubt the most historic franchise in baseball and Moreno is left in second place in the market.

If the NFL deal falls through and the Angels move into a downtown stadium [April 29], then Moreno can look up toward Chavez Ravine and realize the Angels are not the Dodgers. If he wanted to be No. 1, he should have bought the Dodgers.

Steve Buffalo

Quartz Hill

Bad call

When is someone going to inform Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza that they are announcers, not players?

While there is a long-standing baseball tradition that teammates not mention to a pitcher that he has a no-hitter in progress, that does not apply to announcers not mentioning such a dramatic event to their listeners as it unfolds.

An announcer’s job is straightforward. Inform. Rojas and Gubicza failed to do this during Jered Weaver’s no-hitter. Just as they failed when Ervin Santana was pitching a no-hitter last year.

Can you imagine Vin Scully not mentioning that a no-hitter was in progress? His call of the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game is legendary.

Rojas and Gubicza’s calls of no-hitters are simply embarrassing.

Arne Larson

Simi Valley

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So Angels announcers Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza decided to stick to the unwritten baseball code of not mentioning Jered Weaver’s no-hit bid as it might jinx it. Just wondering if they would also extend the same “courtesy” to an opposing team’s pitcher. If not, they would be breaking the unwritten broadcasting code of being cheerleaders.

Ron Tom

Pasadena

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A pitcher for a team with the third-worst record in the AL pitches a no-hitter against a team with the worst record in the AL. Sorry, but that’s not something to brag about.

Raul Perez

Chino

New management

At Wednesday’s news conference at Dodger Stadium, Mark Walter was asked repeatedly about Frank McCourt’s continuing involvement with the parking lots. He evaded questions as best he could, until Magic stepped up and assured us, “Frank is not here anymore. He is not part of the Dodgers.”

The map on the front page of the April 16 Times says otherwise. With the first step you take outside the stadium doors, you enter McCourt’s 230-acre spectacular dupe. As of this writing Wednesday night, the Dodgers will not reveal the details. However, Magic did add that we should trust him because he’s 6 foot 9!

Lee Harris

Burbank

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In the great movie “The Sting,”Robert Redford recruits Paul Newman to help him get revenge on Robert Shaw for killing his friend. Newman accepts, but he cautions him that, whatever they take him for isn’t going to be enough. At the end of the movie, after they’ve “stung” Shaw’s character for $500,000, Redford tells Newman, “You were right. It’s not enough.” Then he breaks into a big smile and adds, “but it’s close.”

That’s how I feel about finally being rid of McCourt, in spite of him leaving with tons of money: It’s not enough, but it’s close. (And then a big, big smile).

Eric Monson

Temecula

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After changes upon changes, some things thankfully stay the same. If the Dodgers’ changing-of-the-guard news conference told us anything, it is that through all of the turmoil and embarrassment, the one constant has been the humility and class of Vin Scully.

Bud Chapman

Northridge

Let’s get physical

Come on, you guys, it’s not like the Clippers’ game Wednesday night wasn’t on television and no one saw it. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to write a headline that indicates a more accurate portrayal of the game than “Clippers pushed around.” Something like, “Clippers play physical basketball, and the Grizzlies push back.” Of course, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin don’t seem to like it when the opponents push back. They cry to officials about it. Maybe a more appropriate headline could have been “Pushing begets pushing for the Clippers.”

Chet Chebegia

Long Beach

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The most fantastic “dunks” that Blake Griffin has made this season came from 15 feet away from the basket in Game 1 against Memphis. The two free throws Griffin made with 1:30 left in the stunning comeback should have been shown as a top-10 play on ESPN. Free throws down the stretch of a game are of greater value than dunking over anyone at any time.

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

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Could The Times show a different picture of Ralph Lawler [May 1]? It is the same one each time. The photo does not do him justice. He looks like an aging vampire with a classic overbite. “Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Count Lawler.”

Brent Montgomery

Long Beach

Off the mark

Before the baseball season had even started, T.J. Simers lazily cloned one of his old F.P. Santangelo columns and criticized the Dodgers’ new second baseman Mark Ellis as a stiff who can’t hit (totally ignoring his solid historical offensive stats).

After getting four hits Tuesday night against the Rockies and then saving the game with his glove in the ninth inning, and then singling in the first run in Wednesday’s game, Ellis was hitting over .280 (and was even more valuable due to his intelligent ability to move runners along).

I presume we can now expect another “deja vu” Simers column to the effect that “I am responsible for motivating Mark Ellis”?

Peter Rich

Los Angeles

Bountiful Bruins?

So Jim Mora thinks what the Bruin football team needs is more “viciousness” (May 2). So much for the idea that athletic competition is about skills, rules and good sportsmanship. Maybe Mora should return to the NFL because he doesn’t seem to grasp the idea of collegiate competition. I hear New Orleans has some openings for a coach of his inclinations.

Glen Mowrer

Santa Barbara

Remember

Pat Haden, a few years ago, the big jersey of one of USC’s Heisman winners had to be removed from the Coliseum for reasons a Cardinal & Gold fan wants to forget. Why not add No. 55 to the East end of the Coliseum in memory of a Trojan great that we’ll always want to remember?

David Gomez

Duarte

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It is time for the NFL to build a facility for treatment of depression symptoms. A place where current and former players could seek private treatment to deal with their specific needs. How many more suicides do we have to witness?

W. Lee Miller Jr.

Inglewood

The jury is out

I can hear him now, should the jury deciding Roger Clemens’ fate find him not guilty: “I told everyone that I never used steroids, and now I’ve proven it, so this should end the matter once and for all.”

Actually, no, Roger. A verdict of “not guilty” is not a verdict of “innocent.” It just means that the prosecutor was not able to remove all reasonable doubt, as required before a man can be sent to prison for his actions. It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do it. Just ask O. J. Simpson.

I have been a Red Sox fan for more than 40 years. And it is very sad to see that one of their greatest pitchers simply refuses to admit the truth, regardless of how clear it is to the rest of the world.

Edward A. Ruttenberg

Rancho Palos Verdes

Name game

How interesting that in last Saturday’s letters, Rick Henderson wrote about stolen bases and Joe Bucz wrote about an announcer. Will we soon see regular letter writer Rich Karlis writing about a kicker?

Ken Feldman

Tarzana

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