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From Jack Harris: Here’s a list of everything that’s gone wrong for Dodgers pitchers this week:
Tyler Glasnow was placed on the injured list Tuesday with back tightness, reigniting fears of his injury-prone past after a strong opening half to the season.
Bobby Miller was demoted to the minors after giving up nine runs Tuesday night, getting a much-needed “reset,” as manager Dave Roberts put it, given his 8.07 ERA.
Then, the Dodgers’ best healthy pitcher, Gavin Stone, took some lumps in a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, giving up four runs (all of them earned, though at least a couple in which his defense was equally at fault) in less than five innings against a star-studded lineup the Dodgers could very well see again in October.
The good news?
Kiké Hernández got four outs at the end of Tuesday’s blowout.
Other than that, it’s been a bleak week.
Dodgers’ Bobby Miller optioned to triple-A Oklahoma City after another rough outing
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández to appear in home run derby during All-Star Game festivities
Dodgers deadline plans: How a top-heavy lineup could be bolstered this month
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ANGELS
Mickey Moniak and Zach Neto homered and drove in three runs as the Angels ended the Texas Rangers’ season-best five-game winning streak with a 7-2 victory Wednesday night.
Neto finished a triple short of the cycle for the Angels, who had lost four in a row and eight of nine. He combined with Moniak to give the Angels five hits and three runs from the bottom two batters in the lineup.
Moniak, the No. 9 hitter, launched a three-run homer to make it 4-0 in the second inning. Neto added an RBI double in the third and a two-run homer in the eighth, his 12th of the year.
USA BASKETBALL
From Broderick Turner: Before Team USA took the court to meet Canada in an exhibition game, the story of the day was about Kawhi Leonard being sent back to Los Angeles from training camp because he wasn’t healthy enough to compete in the Paris Olympics.
After the fourth day of practice, Grant Hill, the managing director of Team USA, said he informed Leonard on Tuesday night that it was smarter for him and the Clippers that he prepare for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
“We just felt it was in our best interest, but also the Clippers and Kawhi’s best interest to move into a different direction,” Hill said before Team USA defeated Canada, 86-72, Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena. “We tried. I think we all tried and gave it a valiant effort and unfortunately we have to move forward.”
Derrick White is the replacement for Leonard.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis had one of the top performances for Team USA, coming off the bench to register a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
‘Up and down practices’ prompt Kawhi Leonard to withdraw from U.S. Olympic team
U.S. SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: With the 2026 World Cup less than two years away, U.S. Soccer is starting over after firing coach Gregg Berhalter on Wednesday.
“I want to thank Gregg for his hard work and dedication to U.S. Soccer and our Men’s National Team,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement announcing the move. “We are now focused on working with our Sporting Director Matt Crocker and leveraging his experience at the highest levels of the sport to ensure we find the right person to lead the USMNT into a new era of on-field success.”
Berhalter was hired in December 2018, 14 months after the U.S. failed to qualify for the World Cup, and led the team to a Gold Cup championship, two CONCACAF Nations League titles and to the round of 16 in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. With a record of 44-15-13, he leaves with the best winning percentage of any coach who worked more than seven matches with the national team.
Uruguayan players go into stands to fight fans after Copa América match
From Ben Bolch: UCLA is dropping two college football heavyweights from its future football schedules in favor of far more familiar foes.
Gone will be Georgia and Auburn, titans of the Southeastern Conference.
Arriving will be Utah and California, former Pac-12 Conference rivals who joined the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast conferences, respectively, in the wake of UCLA’s departure for the Big Ten. Now they will be nonconference opponents who need no introduction.
UCLA will play Utah in 2025 at the Rose Bowl and in 2030 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. The Bruins will face Cal in 2026 and 2028 at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley and in 2027 and 2029 at the Rose Bowl.
LAFC
From Kevin Baxter: LAFC is on to the final four of the U.S. Open Cup for the second time in franchise history after a methodical 3-1 quarterfinal victory over New Mexico United on Wednesday at BMO Stadium.
LAFC got first-half goals from Timothy Tillman and teenager David Martínez and a second-half score from Mateusz Bogusz to run its unbeaten streak to 13 games in all competition. Wednesday’s victory also was its third straight over a USL Championship side in the tournament, after wins over the Las Vegas Lights and Loudoun United in May.
OLYMPIC BOXING
From Kevin Baxter: There was a time when the U.S. dominated Olympic boxing. In the three Summer Games the Americans took part in between 1976 and 1988, U.S. fighters made the podium in 26 of 35 divisions, winning 17 gold medals.
Among the boxers who won Olympic titles, then went on to win world championships as professionals, were Sugar Ray Leonard, Michael and Leon Spinks and Pernell Whitaker.
But lately? Not so much. The U.S. has won only 10 medals since 2004 — or one fewer than it won in 1984 alone. And Claressa Shields, a two-time women’s middleweight champion, is the only American to strike gold in that span.
That could change this summer. Although none of the eight boxers the U.S. is sending to Paris have fought in the Olympics, at least half are solid medal contenders. Their success will rest in large part on the draw to determine the bracket for each weight class, which is held the night before the first bout.
OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The day after hearing their names called as members of the 2024 U.S. gymnastics team in front of a sold-out crowd in Minneapolis’ Target Center, Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey and Hezly Rivera assembled on an NBC stage in front of an exclusive audience. Each gymnast received a red box labeled with a gold plate that read “made exclusively for” with their name. On three, each gymnast opened their box.
A sparkling, star-spangled leotard glittered inside.
“They were in awe,” said Jeanne Diaz, the design mastermind behind the U.S. Olympic leotards.
While trying to recapture team gold in Paris, the Americans will wear an eight-piece leotard collection that aims to take the Olympic leotard to new heights of both fashion and function. Don’t let the crystals — up to 10,000 on one — be a distraction. These bedazzled bodysuits are just as tough as the athletes who wear them.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1914 — Babe Ruth makes his major league pitching debut for the Boston Red Sox against Cleveland, getting the 4-3 victory over the Indians.
1950 — Red Schoendienst hits a home run in the 14th inning to give the NL a 4-3 victory in the All-Star game.
1967 — Tony Perez homers in the 15th inning off Catfish Hunter to give the National League a 2-1 win in the longest game in All-Star history.
1981 — Britain’s Sebastian Coe breaks his own world record in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:12.18 in a meet in Oslo, Norway. Seven runners shatter the 3-minute, 51-second barrier in the mile led by Steve Ovett at 3:49.25. Steve Scott finishes third and sets an American record in 3:49.68.
1982 — FIFA World Cup Final, Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain: Italy beats West Germany, 3-1 in front of 90,000.
1985 — Nolan Ryan of the Houston Astros becomes the first pitcher in major league history to reach 4,000 strikeouts when he fans New York’s Danny Heep in the sixth inning.
1992 — Treboh Joe, a 9-year-old gelding, makes harness racing history by losing his 162nd consecutive race. Treboh Joe finishes fourth to break the North American record of 161 straight losses held by Shiaway Moses.
1993 — Alain Prost gets his 50th Formula One victory by taking the British Grand Prix.
1995 — Maryland quarterback Scott Milanovich, the most prolific passer in school history, is suspended for eight games by the NCAA for gambling on college sports.
2010 — FIFA World Cup Final, Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa: Andrés Iniesta scores an extra time winner as Spain beats the Netherlands, 1-0 for first World Cup title.
2012 — Future Basketball Hall of Fame guard Steve Nash is traded by the Phoenix Suns to the Lakers.
2015 — Serena Williams wins her sixth title at the All England Club, beating Garbine Muguruza of Spain 6-4, 6-4 in the women’s final. For Williams, it’s her second “Serena Slam” — holding all four major titles at the same time. Overall, it’s the 21st major title for Williams, one shy of Graf’s Open era record.
2021 — Novak Dokovic beats Matteo Berrettini of Italy, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Wimbledon Title. The win is Dokovic’s 20th Grand Slam title.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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