Howdy, I’m your host, Iliana Limón Romero, filling in for Houston Mitchell, who is probably busy calculating how many Olympic medals the U.S. will win. Let’s get right to the news.
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From Jack Harris: Dave Roberts didn’t mention Gavin Lux by name when discussing the Dodgers infield plans a few weeks ago.
Given the makeup of their roster, he didn’t need to.
When asked on July 3 about the potential of playing Mookie Betts at second base once Betts returns from a broken hand, Roberts was careful to make no guarantees.
“I’m gonna use as much time as possible [before making a decision],” Roberts said. “Because you have to appreciate the people that it could affect.”
No one, of course, stood to be affected as much as Lux. He had gotten all of his playing time this season at second base. And in the event Betts returned as the everyday second baseman, he seemed most poised to be squeezed out of playing time, given his disappointing numbers in his return from knee surgery last year.
“There’s no sense in me talking about,” Roberts said, “to potentially get into the psyche of another player.”
Roberts might not have addressed it publicly. But in the last couple of days, Lux has looked like a player motivated to change the narrative, following up a big performance Saturday with another highlight showing Sunday that keyed the Dodgers’ 9-6 win over the Boston Red Sox.
“Obviously, I don’t think it’s been any secret it’s been a little bit of a grind for me this year,” Lux said with a sigh of relief. “So yeah, just to get some results and some positive feedback, it definitely helps.”
Dodgers-Red Sox Sunday box score
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Clayton Kershaw delivers a pitch while playing for the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers in Round Rock, Texas, on Friday.
(Angela Wang/ For the Times)
From Bill Plaschke: Less than two weeks until the most important trade deadline in franchise history, and the Dodgers’ heads are spinning.
Where do they look? How close do they look? What is real? What is really dumb?
Things are getting wild at Chavez Ravine, as evidenced by the rapt attention paid Friday to three pitchers during the team’s return from the All-Star break.
Only one of whom actually pitched in an official major league game.
First up was Tyler Glasnow, four hours before the Dodgers played the Boston Red Sox, captivating club officials standing in sweltering heat with a 57-pitch simulated game.
Glasnow is their ace, but he’s fragile, and he has nearly reached his career-high innings count for a season, and the Dodgers sidelined him before the All-Star game because of a strange back injury.
Strange, because he probably wasn’t really hurt, but just needed the time off, which is honestly scarier than any injury.
“I feel good, the time off was good,” he said. “Went out there today and everything felt sharp.”
So he’s fine. For now. Do you trust him? Are you sure?
Next up, 1,381 miles to the southeast, there was Clayton Kershaw in Round Rock, Texas, making a rehabilitation start for triple-A Oklahoma City.
MORE DODGERS:
Clayton Kershaw nearing his Dodgers return: ‘If they need me now, I’ll be ready’
Yoshinobu Yamamoto no longer feeling pain, but his return timeline is unclear
Kiké Hernández caps milestone day with heroic effort in thrilling Dodgers win
Tyler Glasnow set to return for Dodgers, but how will they manage his workload?
Freddie Freeman grand slam powers Dodgers to victory over Red Sox
Teoscar Hernández could have signed with the Red Sox. Here’s why he chose the Dodgers
What’s in store for the Dodgers in the second half? Here are 10 storylines to watch
Dodgers Dugout: Previewing the second half of the season
BASEBALL
Manager Scott Pickler, right, demonstrates his bat grip to a player before a Cape Cod League game.
(Jacqueline Mia Foster/For The Times)
From Mike DiGiovanna: A breeze strong enough to rustle the lush green canopy of oak trees towering over the outfield fence at Red Wilson Field, home of the Cape Cod League’s Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, takes the edge off a humid 83-degree game-day afternoon.
Fans in lawn chairs — some who staked out prime backstop locations hours before first pitch and one woman who has been clanging the same cow bell here for decades — ring the field, while others sit on blankets on a berm down the left-field line.
The smell of grilled burgers and hot dogs fills the air. The grassy areas behind the dugouts are abuzz, with young couples pushing strollers, fans walking dogs, and Little Leaguers interrupting games of catch to chase after foul balls.
The previous night’s starting pitcher, in full uniform, roams the grounds selling 50-50 raffle tickets. Youngsters are pulled from the crowd to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.
It’s a baseball game with the feel of a summer cookout, the look of a Norman Rockwell painting and an allure that continues to charm the stirrups off a grizzled veteran of a skipper who arrived on this syrupy scene more than a quarter of a century ago.
“It’s like heaven,” said Scott Pickler, 74, the longtime Cypress College coach who is in his 26th season managing the Yarmouth-Dennis club, one of 10 teams in the nation’s premier collegiate wood-bat summer league.
“Retirement is overrated. Maybe it would be different if I was a great golfer or had a lot of hobbies, but I’m a bad golfer, and this is my passion. I get to go to the yard and make kids better, and it’s so much fun.”
Pickler was 14 years into a 40-year community college career in which he’s won nearly 1,000 games and five state titles when he got a call — seemingly out of the blue — in 1998 from then-Yarmouth-Dennis team president Gary Ellis and then-general manager Jack Martin, who interviewed Pickler over the phone and eventually offered him the job.
ANGELS
Jo Adell (7) is congratulated by Angels manager Ron Washington, second from left, and his teammates after scoring during the eighth inning of the Angels’ 8-5 win over the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: The ball from the final out safely in Kevin Pillar’s glove, teammate Jo Adell reminded the veteran center fielder he might just want to keep this one.
Perhaps it would be a meaningful souvenir from the Angels’ last scheduled visit to Oakland. And Pillar immediately realized it had to go to manager Ron Washington, the longtime Athletics’ third base and infield coach who still feels so fondly about the franchise and city.
Washington’s Angels rallied to beat the A’s 8-5 on Sunday at the Coliseum, where Oakland is playing its final season before a scheduled three-year stay in Sacramento ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season.
“It was the last opportunity to do something good in this ballpark in my favor and my team pulled it out and got the win,” Washington said. “And when he gave me that ball it was a great surprise and joy. I wrote on it, ‘last out of my last game managing in the Coliseum.’ It was heartfelt.”
CLIPPERS
The Intuit Dome Halo Board is unveiled to media and invited guests on Friday.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
From Marissa Kraus: When Clippers owner Steve Ballmer received the first renderings for the Halo Board at Intuit Dome, his first words to Gillian Zucker, the CEO of Halo Sports and Entertainment, were “make it bigger!”
That they did, creating a massive video board that will leave any Intuit Dome guest wide-eyed and awestruck. It did for the media and guests who witnessed the unveiling of the Halo Board in Inglewood on Friday.
The video board, developed and produced by Daktronics, features the largest-ever, double-sided 4K display in an arena setting with approximately 38,375 square feet of digital space. That’s more than 3,592 60-inch televisions and 233 million LEDs. Rolled out, it’s three times the length of the Hollywood sign.
“When asked what Intuit Dome’s defining feature will be, there are just so many answers,” said Zucker, who is also the Clippers’ president of business operations. “The Wall, the comfort of the seats … but when I think about what fans will be thinking about when they drive home very well may be the size, shape and capability of this board.”
GOLF
Xander Schauffele kisses the Claret Jug trophy after winning the British Open on Sunday in Troon, Scotland.
(Jon Super / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: Xander Schauffele, who faced questions at the start of the season whether he could win a major, now has two of them with the brand of golf that hasn’t been seen in 90 years.
He won the PGA Championship at Valhalla by making a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 65. In a final round at Royal Troon set up for big drama — six players one shot behind, nine players separated by three shots — Schauffele made a tense Sunday look like a nice walk along the Irish Sea.
“I think winning the first one helped me a lot today on the back nine. I had some feeling of calmness come through. It was very helpful on what has been one of the hardest back nines I’ve ever played in a tournament,” Schauffele said.
CYCLING
Tadej Pogacar celebrates on the podium after winning the Tour de France on Sunday.
(Jerome Delay / Associated Press)
From the Associated Press: Tadej Pogacar had no need to attack on the final stage of the Tour de France. Defending a lead of more than five minutes in Sunday’s time trial, he was set to comfortably win the race for the third time and first time in three years, anyway.
But defense has not been in his vocabulary during this race and he simply could not resist another attack.
With his main rival Jonas Vingegaard unable to challenge him, Pogacar celebrated his Tour victory in style with a dominant win in the time trial ending in Nice for the 17th stage win of his already illustrious Tour career.
The 25-year-old Slovenian rider also became the first cyclist to secure the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year since the late Marco Pantani in 1998.
“To win both together is another level above,” said Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates. “I think this is the first Grand Tour where I was totally confident every day. Even at the Giro I remember I had one bad day. This year, the Tour was just amazing. I was enjoying it from day one.”
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1921 — Jim Barnes wins the U.S. Men’s Open golf championship by edging Walter Hagen, Leo Diegel, Jock Hutchinson and Fred McLeod.
1962 — Gary Player of South Africa becomes the first non-resident of the United States to win the PGA championship.
1963 — Sonny Liston knocks out Floyd Patterson in 2 minutes, 10 seconds of the first round to retain the world heavyweight title. Liston took the title from Patterson with a first-round knockout in Chicago on Sept. 25, 1962.
1973 — Sue Berning wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf championship for the third time with a five-stroke victory over Gloria Ahret.
1984 — Kathy Whitworth becomes the all-time winner in professional golf tournaments by winning the Rochester Open. Whitworth, with 85 career wins, passes Sam Snead’s total of 84 PGA tournament victories.
1984 — Seve Ballesteros wins the British Open with a four-round 276, breaking the course record set by Ken Nagle in 1960 by two strokes. Tom Watson and Bernhard Langer finish two strokes behind.
1990 — Nick Faldo wins his second British Open crown in four years, defeating Payne Stewart and Mark McNulty by five strokes.
1996 — Naim Suleymanoglu of Turkey becomes first weightlifter in Olympic history to win three gold medals. Suleymanoglu wins the 141-pound division by hoisting 413¼ pounds.
1994 — Former NFL running back, broadcaster and actor O.J. Simpson pleads “Absolutely 100% Not Guilty” of murder.
1998 — Jackie Joyner-Kersee ends her brilliant heptathlon career with a victory at the Goodwill Games. It’s her fourth consecutive Goodwill title. Earlier, the 4×400-meter relay world record of 2:54.29, set by the 1993 U.S. World Championship team, comes crashing down. Michael Johnson, the anchor on that 1993 team, anchors this United States 4×400 team, which finishes in a 2 minutes, 54.20 seconds.
2001 — David Duval shoots a 4-under 67 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to win the British Open title, his first major championship. He finishes at 10-under 274 for a three-stroke victory over Sweden’s Niclas Fasth.
2005 — Yelena Isinbayeva clears the 5-meter mark at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix in London for her latest world record. The Olympic champion easily clears 16 feet, 4¾ inches on her first attempt, barely nudging the bar.
2007 — Padraig Harrington survives a calamitous finish in regulation and a tense putt for bogey on the final hole of a playoff to win the British Open over Sergio Garcia.
2008 — Candace Parker scores 21 points and DeLisha Milton-Jones adds 19 before both are ejected after a scuffle in the final minute as the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Detroit Shock 84-81 at Auburn Hills, Mich. The WNBA game turns ugly in the final seconds as a collision between Parker and Detroit’s Plenette Pierson turns into a shoving match that has players and coaches from both teams leaving the bench.
2012 — Bradley Wiggins becomes the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France by protecting the yellow jersey during the final processional ride into Paris. Fellow Briton and Sky teammate Christopher Froome finishes second, 3 minutes, 21 seconds behind.
2012 — Ernie Els wins his fourth major championship in an astonishing finish, rallying to beat Adam Scott in the British Open when the Aussie bogeys the last four holes. Els, who starts the final round six shots behind, finishes off a flawless back nine with a 15-foot birdie putt for a 2-under 68. Scott was four shots ahead with four holes to play.
2018 — Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird plays in a record 500th WNBA game.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.