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From Mike DiGiovanna: Mookie Betts — or, as he’s known around these parts, “Spooky” Betts — returned to the Dodgers’ lineup for the opener of a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night, refusing to stay with the team at the supposedly haunted Pfister Hotel for the second straight season.
Whether ghosts actually exist in the historic, 131-year-old downtown hotel is open to debate, but Betts wasn’t about to take a chance that they do.
“You don’t want to mess with them,” Betts said. “I’m staying at an [apparition-free] Airbnb again. That part is not gonna change.”
Another thing that hasn’t changed: Betts’ ability to make baseballs disappear.
Playing for the first time in seven weeks, Betts deposited a two-run home run over the left-field wall in the third inning to drive in the first runs of an eventual 5-2 win over the Brewers in American Family Field.
Betts, who prepared for his return by taking live batting practice in Dodger Stadium for three days, also hit a two-out RBI single in the seventh to help push the Dodgers to their fourth straight win.
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ANGELS
Bowden Francis pitched seven dominant innings and Will Wagner got hits in the first three at-bats of his major league debut as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Angels 4-2 on Monday night.
Leo Jiménez launched his first career home run and the last-place Blue Jays won the opener of a six-game trip after losing four of their previous five road games.
Mickey Moniak and Jo Adell homered for the only hits by the Angels, who lost for the third time in four games after earning a series win on the road against the New York Yankees.
OLYMPICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: USA Gymnastics’ latest appeal to keep Jordan Chiles’ Olympic bronze medal was denied, but the organization pledged to keep fighting on her behalf.
In a statement posted on X, USA Gymnastics announced the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) notified the organization Monday that “rules do not allow for an arbitral award to be reconsidered even when conclusive new evidence is presented.”
Hours after the International Olympic Committee ruled that the Chiles should return her medal because of a score change, USA Gymnastics submitted its appeal with CAS video evidence showing Chiles’ coach submitted her appeal of the judges’ scoring error was within the time limits required — and not four seconds late as CAS had originally determined.
USA Gymnastics stated the appeal process was far from over.
Flavor Flav wants to make a bronze clock necklace for Jordan Chiles, whose heart is a bit broken
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From David Wharton: The charter flight left Paris on Monday morning, carrying Mayor Karen Bass, local Olympic organizers and a few dozen athletes home from the 2024 Summer Games.
About eight hours into the trip, somewhere over Wyoming, a small group of officials walked to the back of the plane with a bubble-wrapped package. Using scissors, they peeled away the protective coating to reveal an old, burnished-wood box.
Inside was the official Olympic flag, making its way to Los Angeles.
“It’s like a trigger,” Bass said later. “It triggers that now the clock is ticking.”
With four years to go until the 2028 Summer Games in L.A., there is much to do.
Australian breakdancer Raygun responds to critics: ‘I was never going to beat these girls’
After Steph Curry’s Olympic gold win, Adam Pally remains in awe of his ‘Mr. Throwback’ co-star
RAMS
From Gary Klein: A shorter distance apparently makes the heart grow fonder. Or maybe Los Angeles traffic patterns are just too much for Rams coach Sean McVay to scheme against.
The Rams announced Monday that they selected a new dance partner for a joint practice on Wednesday. Instead of working out with the Chargers for a second time in El Segundo, they instead will work out again with the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard.
Per the Rams, the main issue is distance and commuting time.
When the Rams practiced with the Chargers on Aug. 4, the Rams were in training camp at Loyola Marymount, only six miles from the Chargers’ facility.
CHARGERS
From Anthony De Leon: The Chargers face a key decision heading into the second week of the preseason: Will Easton Stick continue to lead the offense against their L.A. neighbors, the Rams, on Saturday, or will newcomer Luis Perez take over?
As of Monday, Stick remains the Chargers’ starter, working with the first-team offense, while Perez — signed last week — already was taking reps with the second team. Both Stick and Perez received a nearly equal number of reps under center.
Perez is now securely slotted as the No. 2 quarterback behind Stick, especially after Max Duggan saw limited action in practice and Casey Bauman was released.
ANGEL CITY
From Kevin Baxter: Katie Zelem and Claire Emslie were supposed to get together in the French Riviera this summer at the wedding of former teammate Caroline Weir.
“We were both bridesmaids,” said Zelem, the former captain at Manchester United. “But Claire couldn’t go because Angel City had a game.”
So the two World Cup veterans decided to reunite in Los Angeles instead, with Zelem signing a free-agent contract with Angel City that will keep her in the NWSL through 2026.
“The NWSL obviously speaks for itself. It’s one of the most competitive leagues in the world,” Zelem said. “I had different options and that was to stay in England, go to Europe, go to the U.S. And for me, Angel City shows huge ambition of where they want to go.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1919 — Upset scores a win against Man o’ War in the Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga. The defeat is Big Red’s only loss in 21 starts.
1933 — Gene Sarazen wins the PGA Championship by defeating Willie Goggin 5 and 4 in the final round.
1935 — The first roller derby begins in Chicago by promoter Leo Seltzer.
1979 — Lou Brock of the St. Louis Cardinals reaches 3,000 career hits with an infield hit off Chicago Cubs pitcher Dennis Lamp.
1987 — Jackie Joyner-Kersee equals the world record in the women’s long jump — 24 feet, 5½ inches — in the Pan American Games at Indianapolis. She matches the mark set in 1986 by Heike Dreschler of East Germany.
2002 — Natalie Coughlin breaks the 100-meter backstroke world record, timed in 59.58 seconds at the U.S. national championships. She is the first American to hold the world record since Catherine Ferguson in 1966.
2008 — Michael Phelps swims into history as the winningest Olympic athlete with his 10th and 11th career gold medals and five world records in five events at the Beijing Games. He wins the 200-meter butterfly and swims leadoff for the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team.
2016 — The U.S. women’s 4×100-meter medley relay team of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Simone Manuel — winners at the Rio Games — delivers the nation’s 1,000th gold medal in Summer Olympics history. Michael Phelps closes the Rio Olympics with a gold medal in the butterfly leg of the 4×100 medley relay. Phelps finishes his career with 28 medals, having won five golds and a silver at these games.
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.