Sports letters: Readers split on Clayton Kershaw decision

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins.

April 16, 2022 4:30 AM PT

It’s 9:05 p.m. Two and two to Harvey Kuenn. Koufax spits out sunflower seeds as he rests in the dugout.

In a year that has been so improbable, the completely reasonable has happened. Kirk Gibson sat out Game 1 because his metrics on a bad leg are subpar.

If you have a sombrero, toss it over to Fernando as he watches this ninth inning from the bench.

Ah, yes. The great Dodgers memories we would have had if the current regime were in charge back then.

John Thompson
Downey

Are today’s pitchers as fragile as they are portrayed to be? Clayton Kershaw being pulled out of a game after pitching seven perfect innings and only throwing 80 pitches is extremely disappointing and frustrating.

I understand the rationalization for this move is to avoid future injury and protect players to be able to compete for the entire season. But what about the fans? With the high costs to attend games in person, don’t fans deserve to see performances at the highest level? Pulling a pitcher out of a game that is only six outs shy of a perfect game denies the fans an opportunity to witness a feat which rarely occurs. This new-age thinking in regards to the handling of pitching staffs leaves a lot to be desired.

Kent M. Paul
Costa Mesa

Clayton Kershaw has achieved almost every possible honor in his stellar career, but Dave Roberts has just robbed him of the most elusive … a perfect game. Just 23 perfect games have been thrown in MLB history. That’s 218,400 games over 150 years. Kershaw is at the end of his career. Why deprive him of the most treasured of all pitchers’ dreams? Bad move, Dave.

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Bill Plaschke said it best about Clayton Kershaw being pulled after seven innings: ”He played for the name on the front of his jersey, not the name on the back.” Perfect.

Paul Wozniak
Torrance

It’s a good thing the Lewis and Clark Expedition was not led by Dave Roberts and Clayton Kershaw. If it was, the journey from just outside St. Louis to Astoria, Ore., would have ended somewhere in Idaho or Montana, with Roberts and Kershaw deciding to end the journey because they had seen enough of the new land and trying to finishing the expedition really wasn’t that important or historic.

Erik Schuman
Fountain Valley

All of those expressing outrage at Dave Roberts’ decision to remove Clayton Kershaw in frigid Minneapolis are thinking about one game. Dave Roberts is thinking about 162. The tough call was clearly in the best interest of his team and his future Hall of Fame hurler. That’s his job.

Bud Chapman
Northridge

There can be no greater irony than to discover that in celebrating Jackie Robinson’s legacy of inclusivity, the Dodgers game can only be seen on Apple TV, to which the vast majority of us have no access.

Bill Waxman
Simi Valley

Lamentable Lakers

Rob Pelinka, did you learn nothing from the Karl Malone-Gary Payton fiasco? Bringing in old players never known for playing defense, pair them with old players more prone to injury and this is exactly what you get: no playoffs, no draft picks and no room under the salary cap.

This will set the team back for years. Now Frank Vogel is the scapegoat and got fired, but Rob you’re the reason for this debacle, not Frank.

Doug Nelson
Fullerton

Although the firing of Frank Vogel by the Lakers’ management misfits was expected, it’s still disgusting. To make this the first gesture of overhauling the sorry franchise instead of addressing the core problem of an inept front office indicates the priority of finger-pointing over resolution. Jeanie Buss, as the person in charge, bears ultimate responsibility, but unfortunately we know she’s not going anywhere. What a great example of the seriously negative consequences of employing friends to senior management positions rather than smart, effective managers.

Jim Stryker
Laguna Hills

Poor Frank Vogel, what a disastrous season. The front office thinks it’s better to unload the “glue guys” of Alex Caruso, Kyle Kuzma, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for what? Russell Westbrook, whose game is simply not suited to winning a championship. Can’t shoot, turnover machine, spotty matador defense, the list goes on and on. Was Pelinka strong-armed to make this move? That is the question all Lakers fans need to know now. How can a GM who essentially made all the right moves before this season blow it that bad?

Jeff Butler
Coto de Caza

If the Lakers ownership really understood what they were doing, they would have shown Rob Pelinka the door, not Frank Vogel. It was Pelinka, of course, who put the pieces of this non-“team” together. Vogel did wonders with what he had to work with.

John Taussig
Newport Beach

When it comes to basketball, the name LeBron James pops up with amazing regularity. Not ‘the Lakers won this or lost that,’ but ‘LeBron did this or did that,’ and then there’s the rest of the ballplaying divas assembled under the Lakers banner. Did anybody really think these people would function as a team? Not really, but then again, their names were enough of a drawing power to sell tickets to all these games and that’s the name of the game.

Lutz Moeckel
Garden Grove

After watching the Lakers these last two games it is abundantly clear that they have the talent to win. Actually, they have too much talent. They need to get rid of LeBron James. They have shown they can win without his antics and ego, and they lose when he plays. Maybe they can get one of the first-round picks they gave away when he demanded they do so.

Flora Perry
Los Angeles

Potential Lakers coach candidates considering whether to buy or rent a home in L.A. must be aware of a key consideration: With rare exceptions (Del Harris, Luke Walton), Lakers coaches who fail to win a championship over two consecutive seasons are normally not employed by the beginning of a third season.

Rob Fleishman
Placentia

I’ve been a Lakers fan since Jerry West played. I’ve gotten to enjoy so many great teams and players: Kareem, Magic, Big Game James, Shaq, Kobe, Pau, and now LeBron. But lately it has been really hard to love this team. Personnel decisions that were highly questionable. Clueless management, the best examples being the cancelation of Jerry West’s “lifetime” season tickets and the recent handling of Frank Vogel’s firing (the former done via text message, and the latter first learned about on Twitter).

Now I know how all those lifelong Dodgers fans felt during the McCourt years and the cable TV blackout.

Stephen Greenberg
Santa Monica

I believe the best idea to fix the Lakers is to trade LeBron to a team that needs him. In exchange, we get several young players to build a team around Anthony Davis. Throw in Westbrook for some young, future stars as well.

Is this a good plan? I have absolutely no idea. Why? Because I’m not remotely qualified to build the roster of a pro basketball team, a trait I share with Rob Pelinka.

Doug Dunlap
Valencia

Not automatic

I have been an L.A. Times subscriber for over 50 years. As the Long Beach Grand Prix has grown into a celebrated world-class event, I have watched The Times’ coverage of the event shrink from articles in the Sports section every day of race week and a Times special edition midweek to sparse, uninformed, hard-to-find coverage on Sunday and Monday only, with only a tiny photo of race winner Josef Newgarden. The top 25 high school baseball poll was much bigger than the race results. What happened?

George Johnson
La Crescenta

Parting shot

It will be fun to watch the Lakers in the playoffs: D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Alex Caruso. … Did I miss any?

David Waldowski
Laguna Woods

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Letters to Sports: Readers split on Clayton Kershaw’s not-so-perfect exit

Lamentable Lakers

Not automatic

Parting shot

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