Letters: The Dodgers have the fever, but let's check again in October

Left-hander Clayton Kershaw reached 2,500 career strikeouts and the Dodgers picked up another win Sept. 3, 2020.

Sept. 4, 2020 3:23 PM PT

The Dodgers are red hot! Somebody take their temperature ! Oh, wait a minute. They probably already did that.

Joe Kevany
Mount Washington

Andrew Friedman once again employs his usual double-speak in regard to the trading of Ross Stripling for the dreaded “PTBNL” (player to be named later). He claims he has the utmost respect for Stripling, but what kind of respect is he really showing by giving away a player for nothing (no disrespect intended to the PTBNL)?

After refusing once again to part with Friedman’s “PP” (Precious Prospects), the Dodgers, after so many years of great teams falling short, continue to treasure their potential future over the now. Their one glaring weakness is their starting pitching, caused by the Ryu and Maeda salary dumps. It could have been solved easily but they refuse to go all in. Again. Incredibly, again!

I know one thing. Waiting for your PTBNL and hoarding your PP can lead to only one result for the Dodgers: RIP championship dreams for another season.

Allan Kandel
Los Angeles

Kudos to Clayton Kershaw for being the the third-youngest pitcher to strike out at least 2,500 hitters. He is a no-brainer, first ballot Hall of Famer. However, for him it is no longer about any month of the season except one: October. A month that has been mostly forgettable for him. Until that changes and Dodgers fans can remember 1988 as the last few months of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and not Kirk Gibson’s home run, trying to mention Kershaw in the same breath as Sandy Koufax (or even Madison Bumgarner) is just not something that can be done.

Erik Schuman
Fountain Valley

If the Dodgers win the World Series in this Astroisk season, I wonder if the parade downtown will be in front of cardboard fans lining the streets?

Russell Wiedenman
Hawthorne

In Anaheim

Is it any wonder that the woeful Angels are in last place ?

Why trade three productive players who were doing well in Tommy La Stella, Jason Castro and Brian Goodwin?

The players who are playing in their places are currently hitting .138 (Upton), .158 (Rengifo) and .211 (Bemboom); and Upton is a horrible defensive outfielder.

Hey Arte Moreno: What is your GM doing to make your club better?

Alan Meersand
Manhattan Beach

I think it’s horrible how Angels management is decimating the team roster. First Tommy La Stella, then Jason Castro and now Brian Goodwin. Not to mention Kole Calhoun, who performed well for the team and was jettisoned in the offseason.

If they keep this up the roster will be unrecognizable to the fans, and they risk losing their fan base. And management should not forget there is another MLB team 30 miles to the north. I know the team desperately needs pitching, but aren’t there some other Griffin Cannings in the farm system?

Murray Zichlinsky
Long Beach

I love to speculate on how good the Angels would have been had they gone for need (pitching) over name (Rendon). They could have had Ryu and Maeda for a fraction of the cost and had money left over to go after more. Moreover they trade an All-Star (La Stella) for a minor leaguer!

Tough to be a fan of the Angels right now.

Douglas Murch
Austin, Texas

Playoffs?

Whose bright idea was it for baseball to adopt a basketball-style playoff (eight teams!) and then make the first round only three games? With no fans, there is no home-field advantage. A team like the Dodgers, arguably the best in baseball, could screw up (Kershaw gopher ball?) and end up losing two games.

The whole thing is unfair and ridiculous. Do they actually pay people to come up with such nonsense? Get ready for another 2014 Giants fifth-seeded world champion.

Mike Schaller
Temple City

Bubbling over

The day sports stopped wasn’t monumental. It was a wildcat strike, nothing more. What was accomplished or sacrificed? Very little. Racial injustice is like an amoeba. It has many shapes and forms and is hard to grasp in a meaningful way. Like gun safety, when reforms seem obvious and needed immediately, real change is slow and arduous. No pro athletes retired and announced they’d dedicate themselves full time to police reform and racial injustice. Do you really think someone will give up millions of dollars in salary to do that while in the prime of their careers? It would be noble, but, uh, foolish.

Robert Bubnovich
Irvine

It would have been nice if, in addition to all the other good things they did, the NBA players association had decided that every player would donate 10% of their salary to a foundation for the betterment of Black lives. And then they could have asked everyone nationwide to donate and the owners to match their donation. Imagine how many millions would have been raised.

Jack Wishard
Los Angeles

With innumerable interviews and tweets and myriad images, isn’t this how the NBA standoff transpired?

NBA players: “We demand social justice and we will not play.”

The NBA: “We absolutely agree and will shut down the season if you wish. However, your pay will stop next week.”

NBA players: “OK, we will play and, oh yeah, you must include in our demands to ask no questions about Hong Kong.”

Warren Larson
Sunland

So I’m guessing Mr. Bond (from last week’s letters) is not a person of color nor, I’m guessing, is every Dodger fan he knows. It’s more than time that prominent people should take a stand and if that means a game or a season is not played, so be it. Maybe if more of us would take a stand, society could change for the better. You know what I’m tired of Mr. Bond – a Justice system that treats people of color differently from white people; like their lives are worth nothing. So sad.

Christina R. Flores
Los Angeles

As a longtime NBA fan, I love the idea of using NBA arenas as voting centers. NBA players should be there to hand out the “I Voted“ stickers too!

Audrey Martin
Oak Park

Doc Rivers has proven time and again to be a man of principle, integrity, and great leadership. While he is also a great coach it seems to me he can provide a larger sphere of influence. The next NBA commissioner?

Joe Blair
Rancho Mission Viejo

What yard line?

Way, way, way back in August, commissioners from the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced their fall football programs would be postponed until 2021. On Sept. 1, Donald Trump tweeted he’d had a very promising conversation with the Big Ten commissioner about reversing last month’s decision. As the president said, “We are on the one-yard line,” meaning college football might be possible starting this month.

Is it any wonder Mr. Trump wants Big Ten football reinstated? It’s a political gold mine for him because schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin are all charter members of the conference. Together, these states represent more than 60 Electoral College votes this November.

If the president honestly wants football to be played this fall, then why didn’t he call the commissioner of the Pac-12? I’m guessing it’s because eight of the teams in the conference are from Washington, Oregon and California — states that typically don’t lean Republican.

In my opinion, you can’t social distance while playing football. To think otherwise is to put politics ahead of science. I hope the Big Ten commissioner will come to his senses and punt on Donald Trump’s appeal.

Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach

The desert “Fox”

Yes, Lute Olsen brought the University of Arizona basketball program to national prominence, but the road to fame was paved by Freddie “the Fox” Snowden, the Black basketball coach who transformed the team from an also-ran to a powerhouse in the old Western Athletic Conference.

Despite his accomplishments, he had trouble finding a house in Tucson because of racial discrimination.

Harrell Reznick
Garden Grove

How tweet it isn’t

Please don’t go there, Vinny! Social media can be a vicious and cruel vehicle. While many of your lifelong fans miss you so much, and would welcome the opportunity to reconnect, there will undoubtedly be some wicked people out there who take pleasure in character assassination. When I think of you as I now approach 70 years of age, I can at that moment be a child once again, sneaking my transistor radio under my covers at bedtime so as not to be caught by my parents. I can at that moment recall the hundreds of games I attended at Dodger Stadium where so many of us in the stands held their transistor radios at their ears so as not to miss Vinny’s colorful expressions of the game.

Let us retain those memories, Vin, and not be subjected to what will surely be, in part, the ugliness of social media.

Rick Cohen
Avila Beach, Calif.

Not that into you

Watching sports on TV these days is like being with a girl who is only dating you to make her boyfriend jealous. Without fans in the venues, the players lack intensity and the games seem like scrimmages. I know they’re trying, but piped-in, inflectionless crowd noise and virtual attendees or cardboard cutouts don’t cut it.

So if you want to continue to hang out with this girl because it’s better than nothing, feel free. I’d rather just stay quarantined.

Brian Gotta
San Diego

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