Letters: Don Mattingly is the Dodgers’ fall guy, no matter what

I fully understand that a manager does not pitch, hit, run, throw or, in the case of the Dodgers, cover third base. But the main reason Don Mattingly has to be let go is his constant lineup changes, lack of team continuity and absolutely mindboggling in-game maneuvers. Mattingly changed his lineup each and every game. If a player doesn’t know if he’s playing, where he’s playing or where he’s batting, there is no way for a team to jell.

Only Mattingly knows why he continued to bat a struggling Seager second, third or fifth. Only Mattingly knows why he continued to play Grandal even though he had one hit in his last 32 at-bats and four in his last 61. Only Mattingly knows why he would pinch-hit Carl Crawford, who at the time was one for 11, or Chase Utley, who couldn’t hit his weight. Only Mattingly knows why he put Pedro Baez in with the bases loaded even though he knew his stats against the first batter he faced. Mattingly proved he could not handle a team filled with overblown egos, demanding veterans and coming-of-age rookies. Dodgers fans deserve better.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

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What I don’t understand is the looks on the Dodgers’ faces in the eighth inning of the final game. They had six more chances to tie the game with one swing, and yet they all looked if it were 10-0. The Dodgers desperately need a clubhouse leader, whether it’s a player or a new manager.

Pete Howard

San Luis Obispo

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Anybody who manages people could have predicted the Dodgers’ demise in the postseason. On display in their final loss was a disgruntled player screaming at his manager in the dugout, a superb pitcher who is on record as interested in making even more millions a year, and a gaggle of overpaid sole proprietor players. This is not a team and it showed when it counted most. The Dodgers team may be unmanageable in its present form. But it could have been managed a lot better to perform as a team; from the owners all the way down to the field.

Joe Bonino

Glendale

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With their season on the line, the Dodgers weren’t out-hit. Nor out-pitched. Nor out-fielded. But a mental error proved decisive. Getting outthought in the deciding game bodes ill for the manager. Donnie, it was nice knowing you.

Gary Dolgin

Santa Monica

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Too bad the Dodgers couldn’t scratch out another run. Do you think that Dee Gordon, who hit .427 against the Mets and led the majors in stolen bases this season might have helped?

Ben Browdy

Los Angeles

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Any manager who plays a catcher who is injured and has batted something like six for 90 since he came off the disabled list deserves to get the opportunity to search for other employment. Bye-bye Donnie Baseball. We will not meet again.

Larry Weiner

Culver City

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The Dodgers have come up with a scenario for a new comedy routine:

“Who’s on Third?”

Charles Jenner

Los Alamitos

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So the Dodgers’ season is over. Who cares? Vin Scully, are you feeling better? That’s the only baseball that really matters.

Efren Bojorquez

Phoenix

Sark attack continues

It would be a huge mistake by USC to assume that Pat Haden needs to be shown the door along with Coach Steve Sarkisian. What he has done for the USC athletic program cannot be easily calculated. His support for all sports is reflected in winning seasons and increased grade-point averages among the university athletes. You’ll see him at virtually any USC event that you attend and his regular communications to alumni regarding progress in the athletic department are greatly appreciated. His only mistake in the whole Sarkisian affair appears to be that he tried too hard to give the coach a second chance after the disastrous alumni event at the beginning of the season.

Steve Eddy

Manhattan Beach

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The timing of Sark’s dismissal suggests that, to Pat Haden, losing two of three games is a transgression worse than public inebriation on the job. If the Trojans were 5-0 at this point in the season, the talk of firing would have instead been about nurturing support for a vital member of the USC “family.”

Michael Miyamoto

Mission Viejo

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I have a recommendation for Pat Haden now that there is a head coaching vacancy at USC, the defensive line coach at Louisiana State is probably available. He is familiar with the Trojans program and seems like a smart guy with a good approach to coaching. His name is Ed Orgeron.

Ephraim A. Moxson

Los Angeles

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It is clear that Sarkisian’s alcohol problem is not recent since former University of Washington players have indicated noticeable signs of the coach’s condition. Now the question is what was on Haden’s mind when he decided to hire Sarkisian as coach. Perhaps changes should be implemented, starting with the front office.

Alfonso Izurieta

Fountain Valley

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While this may be an embarrassment to the university, and, as donors and fans, we are frustrated, the underlying problem here is a sick man with a disease. As angry as we all are right now, there is a family in crisis as well as a proud football program in crisis. I feel for the Sarkisian family, our team, their families, the coaches and their families and all of us who expect and deserve better.

Judi D. Welch

Pacific Palisades

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Sark, on behalf of the Trojans Family, get well. When you return to the Coliseum, we will welcome you with open arms and a standing ovation.

Armando Montejano

Colton

Slide was breaking point

Why do I keep thinking that the people absolutely outraged at Utley’s legal (by the current rules) slide were perfectly OK with Reggie Jackson’s deliberate interference with Bill Russell’s throw in Game 4 of the 1978 World Series?

Al Nusbaum

Northridge

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Chase Utley’s slide into Tejada was without a doubt one of the dirtiest plays I have ever witnessed in my 60-some years of playing and watching baseball. It is so clear that Utley aimed for Tejada, with not the slightest pretense of trying to reach the base. Though never a Mets fan, I am now rooting for the team from New York. And shame on the umpires and baseball officials who didn’t disqualify Utley and rule an automatic double play, which would have changed everything in the Dodgers’ half of the inning.

Charles Kent

Rancho Mission Viejo

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Nobody wants to see anyone get hurt but Utley should not have been suspended. That play is made in baseball pretty much every game and no suspension is handed out. A Cubs player broke the leg of a player on the Pirates a few months ago with a late slide. A New York Yankees player (Nick Swisher) broke the leg of a player on the Minnesota Twins a few years ago with a hard slide away from the base. No suspensions were handed down. Actually, no comment from the league on either play.

Rich Hardt

Long Beach

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If Chase Utley had taken out Ruben Tejada with that same slide in June, we could have a discussion about the slide. But it’s October. It’s the playoffs. The Dodgers were down 1-0 in games and 2-1 on the scoreboard in the seventh inning with the tying run on third. You don’t get that, you should be watching something else. Like chess.

Eric Monson

Temecula

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