There’s no cure for these Blues
I remember when an auspicious five-word rallying cry was actually meant to invoke anticipation and inspire excitement. But this season, “it’s time for Dodger baseball” serves more like a danger warning, becoming increasingly ominous and foreboding with every call to the bullpen and runner left on base. Steve Ross
Beverly Hills
If, at the beginning of the season, you told the San Diego Padres that they would be one game behind the Dodgers on May 14 they would be thrilled. If you told the Dodgers the same thing they would wonder how the Padres got so good. And if you turned the newspaper upside down while perusing the standings, it would almost be true. Don Carlson
Mission Viejo
When Dave Roberts said, “I don’t think we’re there yet,” was he talking about last place? Danny Sanchez
Westminster
There is one question Dodgers fans should ask. When do pitchers and catchers report for 2019 spring training? David Perel
Los Angeles
Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi are fast becoming to the Dodgers what Steve Bartman was to the Cubs. The only chance Dodgers fans have to win a World Series championship is if Friedman and Zaidi take a cue from Bartman and fade away. Barry P. Resnick
Orange
I think I have finally figured out the Dodgers’ “analytics” approach to offense. You take strikes early in the count and swing for the fences at balls late in the count.
But alas, I fear that the “launch angle” of this season has become more like a failure to launch. Alan Abajian
Alta Loma
The team of Friedman, Zaidi and Roberts has admitted that they are just as much at fault as the current bunch of big league impersonators wearing blue. And that being the case, why are they not being demoted to Oklahoma City or Rancho Cucamonga for rehab? Lawrence M. Kates
Los Angeles
The Dodgers need a team shrink to help the players stop feeling guilty about the World Series. Notice that Kemp and Buehler, who weren’t on that team, are having great starts. Time for everyone else to stop moping and play ball! Gail Rock Santa Monica ::
The Dodgers’ payroll is $190 million-plus. How many teams have better records and spend less? Don’t allow the front office a loophole by printing that ownership told them to stay under the tax threshold. That is still $190 million and change.
Friedman and his boys were allowed to spend and were clueless on how to spend it. But at least he can rest his laurels on all those championships he won in Tampa Bay. Danny Martinez
Clovis, Calif.
Boy, did Andrew Friedman tap dance around all those questions from Bill Shaikin. Perhaps he would be better suited for politics than baseball management. Tony Towe
Goleta
If the Dodgers were a football team they would be the old “Ground Chuck” Rams: Run off tackle three times and punt. The Dodgers: No matter the score, no matter the situation, swing from the heels and strike out.
Dave Roberts will be managing at Reseda High next year — if he’s lucky. The front office will be running a team in Visalia. Dan Ford
Encino
Can Justin Turner pitch? Oh, wait, that’s that other L.A. team.
Never mind. Jim Brock
Los Angeles
People refer to the 70% of the fans who have been blocked out by the Dodgers and their media as if they actually exist. These fans may have existed once, but no more. A lot of us have moved on. The current “base” is probably not much larger than the number of Spectrum subscribers. Jon Loring
Agoura Hills
At first they wouldn’t let me watch the Dodgers.
Now I don’t want to watch them. Richard Dennison
Goleta
Don’t like Mike
As an Angels fan, I’m fine with Justin Verlander’s complete game win this week. Perhaps after seeing it firsthand, Mike Scioscia will finally understand that you don’t have to pull your starting pitcher in the late innings when he’s cruising only to endanger the win or lose the game as he did the previous two nights. Ron Reeve
Glendora
Tampa Bay’s C.J. Cron is the latest Angel to bloom after leaving Mike Scoscia’s chaotic substitution patterns. Cron says, “Knowing that you are playing every day helps to make adjustments; when you are playing three days a week, your career hinges on that day.”
That’s a not-too-subtle criticism of Scoscia’s platoon lunacy. Players need consistency to develop confidence. David Waldowski
Laguna Woods
You bet
Legalized sports gambling will have an immediate impact in an increase in viewership in all major sports. For those who think not, let me know if you’ll be watching a meaningless Suns-Trail Blazers game at 10:45 at night next year, with the Blazers up by 10 points and one second on the clock hoping that the last guy on the Portland bench misses or makes a free throw. Richard Katz
Los Angeles
So, does this ruling on betting make Pete Rose a visionary who was just ahead of his time? Ira Rosenberg
Cerritos
Mixed up
I live in Southern California but I opened the L.A. Times Sunday sports section and found the hated Boston Celtics on Page 1 while the hometown Dodgers were relegated to Page 3. Shouldn’t it have been the other way around? Rich Rhea
Oceanside
Mother’s yay
Most of the time after reading one of Bill Plaschke’s sports articles my back stiffens. This time, after reading his tribute to his mom, my knees buckled.
Looking good, Bill. Joseph DeAmicis
Pasadena
It doesn’t get much better than Plaschke’s column on his mother. I wish my mother was still alive so that I could send it to her. Jack Walker
Santa Monica
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