Dodgers Get Lots of Advice

Memo to Jim Tracy:

1. You can’t use or warm up the same relief pitchers every day and then lament your bullpen is tired. That’s under your control, though it wouldn’t hurt for pitchers to have an efficient inning instead of those 30-pitch jobs we’ve been seeing.

2. In Philadelphia, Hideo Nomo had retired the last eight batters and hadn’t given up a hit since the third inning. But you removed him after seven and it took the bullpen less than an inning to lose the game.

3. Am I the only one to notice that every time Giovanni Carrara comes in with the game on the line it spells defeat for the Dodgers?

Richard Turner

Fontana

If there were performance clauses in baseball, and not just incentives, Eric Karros and Kevin Brown would owe the Dodgers money.

They should give Karros a fungo and let him hit infield practice. He does it so well for other clubs, he should at least do it for the one he’s employed by.

Karros is about as graceful as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” and Vice President Cheney is a picture of perfect health compared to Brown. Brown will be back on the DL the first time he squares around to bunt.

Greg Melton

San Francisco

The Dodgers should learn from previous seasons of unsuccessfully attempting to insert Kevin Brown into the rotation during a late-season wild-card race.

Two alternate solutions: (1) Bring him out of the bullpen for two weeks; (2) Expand to a six-man rotation.

Himanshu Singh

Diamond Bar

Jim Tracy may have to be conked on his thick skull with a baseball bat to make him realize how stupid it is to save Eric Gagne to lock the barn in the ninth if the horses are escaping in the eighth. Sure, Gagne is valuable as a closer, but in an earlier crisis he can be absolutely indispensable.

George W. Feinstein

Altadena

I’ve been a Dodger fan for more than 40 years, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of this season. But it’s time for the manager and his veteran staff to be creative with the offense. It’s time for fundamental baseball. Maybe it’s time for the staff to watch a few tapes of the 1963-65 Dodger teams.

Joe Huisenga

Moorpark

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Story Came Along in the Nick of Time

Re: “Name Dropping,” [Aug. 8] the story on sports nicknames: First, a little history lesson: Owner Charlie Finley thought of the nickname “Catfish” for pitcher Jim Hunter in the 1960s, when Finley’s Athletics were still in Kansas City, not in the 1970s, after they moved to Oakland (in 1968).

Speaking of which, the story brought back to me the day I attended an Oakland baseball game in the early 1970s. Sitting next to me was an exuberant A’s fan, who was marveling about the flamboyant nicknames given to members of the A’s pitching staff.

“We have Catfish Hunter,” he gushed. “Blue Moon Odom, Mudcat Grant, Diego Segui ... “

John Cressy

Ventura

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Players Agree to Test? Read the Fine Print

As baseball management and players continue to reprise their roles of “Dumb and Dumber,” it is the fans who are being played for the fools as the union allegedly agrees to steroid testing.

The players’ union did not agree this week to random testing for steroids. They agreed to test to see if there is a problem with steroids. The plan calls for testing in 2003 and if 5% of the tests come back positive, there will be a follow-up survey in 2004. That means no firm action until at least 2005. And the proposal has no terms for penalties when players are found to be “on the juice.”

Congratulations to the players. Once again, thanks to the power of your union, you are being allowed a few more years of being on a substance that is illegal to the rest of us in this country.

Tony Siracusa

Pasadena

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There’s a Will, but She Might Not Be the Way

Linda Will’s refusal to acknowledge that supplements played an important part in the death of her son Rashidi Wheeler [“Test of Will,” Aug. 4] shows everyone that it’s not about safety and closure, it’s about the money.

John Julis

Bellflower

In reading the article about the death of the Northwestern football player and his mother’s crusade for the safety of players, I couldn’t help wondering why Johnnie Cochran is involved. Then it occurred to me: “If the player dies, mom’s bank balance must rise.”

Bob Skube

El Segundo

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Hey, Jacques: Fix This

Headline: Russian mobster accused of fixing Olympic ice dancing results. IOC President Jacques Rogge says he might yet change the figure skating medals if the U.S. proves its case.

Hey, Jacques, instead I’d like to take up the case of the 1972 Olympic basketball gold-medal game. Will you consider awarding the correct medals there too?

Gordon Kass

Los Gatos, Calif.

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The Last Word on Chick

With all due respect, at least one good thing has come with Chick Hearn’s passing. It has allowed the public to bear witness to the fact that T.J. Simers, like the Tin Man, does indeed possess a heart.

While reading Page Two on Wednesday, one could almost hear the drip of tears on Simers’ keyboard as he wrote his touching ode. Chick is probably looking down from above right now, smiling, headset in place, knowing that his final act on earth caused the mustard to come off the biggest hot dog of all.

John R. Grush

Mission Viejo

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