Columnist leaves much to be desired

I am writing to express my disappointment with your new columnist, Laura Vecsey.

I look forward to reading Mike Preston's articles, and I felt much the same way about The Sun's previous columnists. In contrast, Ms. Vecsey's articles are uninspiring and I am increasingly inclined to skip over them.

Consider some of the topics of Ms. Vecsey's recent columns: ThunderStix, player profiles of Jeff Kent, Troy Glaus and Barry Bonds (four times), little Darren Baker, wild-card teams in the World Series and whether this year's World Series was a "classic." Nothing edgy, no opinions, all safe fluff.

When The Sun introduced Ms. Vecsey as its new sports columnist, I thought she would really turn out to be something special. After all, she's a woman working in a male-dominated profession who is not a native Baltimorean - possibly a risky hire for The Sun.

In her initial column, she hit all the right notes and showed real promise. Since then ... well, let's hope her best writing is to come.

Martin Book Rockville

Intentional walks cheated Bonds, fans

The Anaheim Angels may have won the World Series, but I wonder if they would have if they had not walked San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds 11 times.

It shows they were scared of him, or else they would have pitched to him.

I feel bad for Bonds and feel the fans were cheated. Maybe he would have struck out or not gotten on base those 11 times, but he should have been given the chance.

When it comes to the World Series, they should eliminate the intentional walk for the good of the game.

Charles J. Ripple Sr. Salisbury