He’s Not Toying With Us By Rooting for Strawberry

Further proof that sports is the toy department of life:

The toy department: In a lifetime spent rooting against the Dodgers, few players have irritated me more than Darryl Strawberry. While I always admired his skills, his style of play is maddening if you’re pulling for the other team. And off the field, his attitude has led him to take public positions that I find truly annoying.

The life department: Within seconds after reading that Darryl has cancer, I found myself one of his biggest supporters in the game of life. Let’s try not to take the game too seriously.

JAMES MARTIN

Santa Monica

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J.A. Adande must not watch a lot of baseball. Stating that Randy Johnson is not worth the price because of Houston’s loss in the first round is illogical. Randy Johnson will provide a minimum of 18 wins for whatever team signs him in the off-season. In two playoff games, he lost, 2-1, to a Cy Young contender and followed that by giving up one earned run.

A column asserting that Biggio, Bagwell, Bell and Alou did a disappearing act would have been accurate. Randy Johnson overpriced? I guess you had trouble making a deadline, Mr. Adande, so you took the easy shot.

KEVIN S. BARRY

Los Angeles

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I have absolutely no pity for the Yankees getting the short end of the missed interference call in Game 2 against the Indians. New Yorkers can finally understand how Angelenos felt when Reggie Jackson committed the ultimate interference in the 1978 Yankees-Dodgers World Series by hip-checking Bill Russell’s double play relay into right field. What goes around comes around!

NICK ROSE

Newport Beach