Letters to Sports: Dodgers might have caught a break but proved they were better

I have read countless letters over the last three years regarding Dave Roberts' ineptitude in running the Dodgers, even after he guided the team to their first World Series title in over 30 years.

If any of these doubters and naysayers were watching one of the biggest games in Dodgers history Thursday night, they will surely acknowledge that Roberts' management of this game was nothing short of masterful as his precision pitching changes were absolutely the difference in this game.

Doc is, will be and deserves to manage this team for the foreseeable future.

Rob Harley

Santa Clarita

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Let’s be real. While it was a bad call to end the Giants game, the likelihood that Flores gets a hit off Scherzer down 1-2 in the count was very slim.

Mark Kaiserman

Santa Monica

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Did Wilmer Flores swing? Probably not.

Were the Giants robbed? Probably so.

Did the Giants cheat with a center-field spy perched in the scoreboard on the infamous Bobby Thomson home run? It’s been absolutely documented.

So, the Dodgers finally caught a break. And, we’re “tied“ 1–1.

Rick Solomon

Lake Balboa

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If the Giants had only had the Polo Grounds scoreboard operator in Oracle Park to relay the pitching signs Wilmer Flores would have known not to even start his swing. Legions of Brooklyn fans now in their late 70s and up should thank Gabe Morales for channeling Ralph Branca and balancing the books.

Bill Sampson

Malibu

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Much has been made by Giants fans and some media members about the missed check swing call at the end of Game 5, but let’s be clear: It cost them a strike, not the game. It wasn’t a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded that prevented the winning run from scoring, as happened to the Dodgers this season. It was an 0-2 pitch with two outs and a runner at first to a batter with a lifetime 0-for-17 record against the pitcher.

Alan Abajian

Alta Loma

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Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of this long, magical season, “when we need something, we always get it.” But the laws of the universe aren’t dictated by magic and, at some point, that thin thread will finally break the wrong way. The Dodgers’ pitching held the Giants to one run; not enough scoring to withstand a break going against them. Kudos to the Giants for having an incredible season. And credit to the Dodgers; they pitched lights out and got clutch hits when they needed them. That shouldn’t be tarnished.

Jerry Leibowitz

Culver City

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We Dodgers fans waited 131 years for this. Sorry, Giants fans, but Tom Hanks said it best, "There's no crying in baseball."

Richard Dennison

Goleta

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Dodgers' to-do list for Game 5:

Mookie gets four hits. Check.

Bellinger knocks in the game-winning run. Check.

Mad Max comes out of the bullpen to close out the game and the series. Check.

Wilmer Flores goes down “swinging” and the Giants lose. Ummm … Check?

Axel W. Kyster

Bradbury

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After watching the end of the Dodgers–Giants game, the only thing you can say is, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.”

Steve Horvitz

Los Angeles

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The Dodgers won 18 more regular-season games this year than the Braves. By all rights, L.A. has earned home-field advantage in the NLCS against Atlanta. But because of an arbitrary rule, the Dodgers (as a wild-card team and not division champion) are being penalized for those wins instead of rewarded for them. It’s wrong and it’s unfair.

David Mayhan

Commerce

For the Halo's sake

Re: "The Day the Angels Fell From Heaven"

When the comprehensive Halo history is written, please let it be from the keyboard of Mike DiGiovanna.

Michael Meilan

Burbank

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Thanks a lot! It took moving to a state with no MLB team for me to get over that game.

Harriet Ottaviano

Hillsboro, Ore.

Gruden's email trail

By now I would hope that there is no surprise that another high-profile person, Jon Gruden, has been exposed by discovery of past racist, homophobic and misogynistic emails.

The surprise should be that people, specifically Rams head coach Sean McVay, are surprised and saddened by the emails. It does no good to society to state, as McVay did in The Times, that "I have not seen that side of him." Obviously a bigoted person does not always want everyone to become aware of this fact.

Our society has to reach a point where these actions are indefensible. We cannot have a statute of limitations on this. Jon Gruden's moral character is exactly what is in the emails, period. Sean McVay needed to say just that. There is no apology, excuse or expression of sadness that can undo the damage that is done.

Only by facing the fact that these actions are unforgivable can we hope to move forward to a society where every person, regardless of religion, race or sexual orientation, is treated as a valued member of the diversity that is America.

Chris Pisano

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Jon Gruden’s arrogance is unfathomable. His emails contained vile, vicious and vituperative language, which gushed from the decadence embedded in his heart. His reprehensible ideology exposed, he’s draping himself in a coward's and charlatan’s garb by offering a non-apology. I reject his non-apology, and wonder why anyone would accept it.

Marc D. Greenwood

Camp Hill, Ala.

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The resignation of Jon Gruden is certainly an unfortunate set of circumstances. Gruden is a great coach, but his private emails are no longer private. It’s hard to excuse the context of his correspondence with another longtime NFL associate, but that’s where we are.

In a world of NFL professionals, your demonstrated conduct means nothing if your private emails are offensive. It would be fair to suggest that most career NFL professionals have similar thoughts about how the game is being changed, and who is changing it. Many jocks are simply studs with more brawn than brain, and when they get together it’s all about testosterone.

So now is the time for the NFL to investigate every NFL coach and front-office executive and dig into their emails, too. If we are going to consider any of this, the NFL office and owners should have to give up their private emails, too. You can be sure Commissioner Goodell’s emails would be exceptionally entertaining, and Dan Snyder’s shorts are bunching about now.

Private and public remarks should be considered in their context. If you cannot have a private conversation, where are we?

Brian J. Goldenfeld

Oak Park

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One might say the biggest mistake Jon Gruden made in writing a series of offensive emails was in not running for president when caught. Had he done so, his supporters could have said it was just Gruden being Gruden and the American people would have shrugged it off.

Bruce N. Miller

Playa del Rey

Trojans lore

In his self-congratulatory interview with Sam Farmer, Pete Carroll talked about getting into "a great rhythm of recruiting, coaching, playing and all that.” I assume by all that he meant the unprecedented cheating and then bailing out when the heat got turned up.

Kevin Smith

Newbury Park

Scheduling blunder

The scheduling of the Rams and the Chargers to both be out of town Sunday and both playing at exactly the same time makes me wonder if the NFL is careless and/or malevolent.

Arthur A. Fleisher II

Northridge

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.