Rams take a quarterback
From Gary Klein: The Rams have a roster that is Super Bowl ready.
So on Thursday, with the 13th pick in the NFL draft, the Rams looked beyond the Matthew Stafford era to the future.
The Rams selected Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, making him the heir apparent to the reigning NFL most valuable player.
“I was just super blessed and super excited,” Simpson told reporters during a videoconference. “The fact that an organization like the Los Angeles Rams believed in me, took a chance on me, it’s just something that I’m so grateful for.”
With Stafford, star receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and a defense featuring star edge rusher Jared Verse and the recently acquired cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams are regarded among the favorites to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium in February.
Rather than adding a player that could potentially help them immediately, the Rams opted to select Simpson, making him the first quarterback chosen in the first round by the Rams since 2016, when they traded up a record 14 spots to pick Jared Goff No. 1 overall.
Chargers take an edge rusher
From Austin Knoblauch: It was no secret the Chargers were searching for a pass rusher in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night — and they found one.
The Chargers selected former Miami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor at No. 22 overall, making him the heir apparent for Khalil Mack in a pass-rushing unit that was hit hard by Odafe Oweh leaving in free agency.
“I finally know where I’m going and I can’t wait to get there and move all my stuff out to the West Coast,” Mesidor said in a conference call with reporters. “I want people to look at me like, man, this guy came to work.
“I am ready to play right now. I have the motor and relentless effort.”
The 6-foot-3, 259-pound Mesidor should provide immediate depth to a edge rushing unit that needs to recoup some of the production Oweh took to Washington. And with Mack’s career being renewed on a year-to-year basis, Mesidor will get the chance to learn from Mack, Tuli Tuipulotu and Bud Dupree before seeing a likely starting role in the seasons ahead.
NFL draft first-round recap: Fernando Mendoza goes No. 1
Kings in a 3-0 playoffs hole after loss
From Kevin Baxter: The Colorado Avalanche rode swagger, poise and the league’s stingiest goaltender to the best record in the NHL this season. And nothing about that formula has changed in the postseason, with goals from Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, Artturi Lehkonen and Brock Nelson giving Colorado a 4-2 win Thursday over the Kings and a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
The Kings, who have lost their last six first-round playoff series, need a victory at home Sunday to extend their season. Their goals in Game 3 came from Trevor Moore in the second period and Adrian Kempe on a third-period power play.
“They’re best team in the league for a reason. But we’re right there,” forward Quinton Byfield said. “We’re a confident group.”
“One game at home. Must-win game,” defenseman Drew Doughty added. “Everyone’s going to give everything they’ve got. We’ve got to win that one, and then hopefully get to go back to Denver.”
The difference in the series has been Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, who was nearly perfect again Thursday, making 24 saves to leave the Kings 60 minutes away from summer.
Anton Forsberg, playing in the postseason for the first time, has been almost as good in goal for the Kings, though he was victimized by two fluke goals and an empty-netter.
Kings playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
at Colorado 2, Kings 1 (summary)
at Colorado 2, Kings 1 (OT) (summary)
Colorado 4, at Kings 2 (summary)
Sunday: Colorado at Kings, 1:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max
*Wednesday: Kings at Colorado, TBD
*Friday, May 1: Colorado at Kings, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Kings at Colorado, TBD
*- If necessary
Ducks playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
at Edmonton 4, Ducks 3 (summary)
Ducks 6, at Edmonton 4 (summary)
Friday: Edmonton at Ducks, 7 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
Sunday: Edmonton at Ducks, 6:30 p.m., ESPN
Tuesday: Ducks at Edmonton, TBD
*Thursday, April 30: Edmonton at Ducks, TBD
*Saturday, May 2: Ducks at Edmonton, TBD
*-if necessary
Dodgers shut out the Giants
From Bill Shaikin: The Dodgers tout Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a Cy Young award contender, and every one of his starts has been a quality start, including the one he made here Tuesday.
The Dodgers talk up Shohei Ohtani as a Cy Young award contender, and Ohtani has given up one run all season. He pitched six shutout innings here Wednesday.
But the pitcher who delivered the best start of this series against the San Francisco Giants, and the one that stood tall between the Giants and what would have been a humiliating sweep, was Tyler Glasnow.
That was one storyline from an eventful afternoon at the ballpark and, for the Dodgers, a sorely needed 3-0 victory on a day they found themselves a new cleanup hitter, a new closer — and on a day a Giants player blasted a Dodgers player for making a “dirty” play.
Lakers playoff schedule
First round
All times Pacific
at Lakers 107, Houston 98 (box score)
at Lakers 101, Houston 94 (box score)
Friday: Lakers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., NBC
*Wednesday: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Friday: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*-if necessary
Still want some Olympics tickets?
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Thousand-dollar tickets and hundreds of dollars in fees shocked some hopeful Olympic fans this month, but they did not keep LA28 from boasting strong sales in the committee’s first ticket drop.
LA28 announced Thursday that it sold more than 4 million Olympic tickets during the first ticket drop. The private organizing committee will have a second ticket drop in August with “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports at a range of price points.”
But after the popularity of the first purchasing period, many of the lower-priced tickets have already been scooped up.
LA28 said roughly half of the total 1 million $28 tickets were sold during the locals presale, which was limited to people living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.
Drop 2, which will begin in August, will have additional tickets across all Olympic sports, including those that may have sold out during the first purchasing windows. The registration period for Drop 2 opened Thursday at tickets.la28.org and will continue until July 22. Fans who registered for the first drop of tickets but did not receive a time slot and fans who did not buy their maximum 12 general ticket allotment will automatically be entered into the random lottery Drop 2. The new registration period is only required for anybody who did not sign up for the initial drop.
UCLA women’s basketball team adds a key player
From Marisa Ingemi: UCLA women’s basketball team has added some star power as its revamped roster begins to take shape.
Former Iowa State forward Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top players in the portal.
Brown averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She played just 21 games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way players in the nation on the transfer market.
The 6-foot-2 forward co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a part of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.
How USC men’s basketball team added a big man
From Ryan Kartje: Earlier this month, days after Connecticut lost to Michigan in the national title game, Eric Reibe said Huskies coach Dan Hurley came to him with an offer. Hurley wanted the 7-foot-1 German big man to stay in Storrs and anchor the Connecticut frontcourt next fall.
It was a tempting offer at such a prestigious hoops powerhouse. Especially after spending his entire freshman season scrapping for minutes behind All-Big East big man Tarris Reed Jr.
But Reibe turned Hurley down.
“I just decided to explore a better fit, for me and my game,” Reibe told The Times.
That exploration ultimately led him to USC, where Eric Musselman and his staff view the 7-footer as a centerpiece of their third portal haul in L.A. Reibe is joined so far by Georgetown transfer KJ Lewis and former Colgate point guard Jalen Cox in a class that’s sought to directly address the misses of Musselman’s first two forays into the transfer portal.
Angel City expands pro-immigrant campaign
From Eduard Cauich: Angel City Football Club announced on Thursday the expansion of its “Immigrant City Football Club” campaign, unveiling a limited-edition apparel collection featuring the slogan “Los Angeles is for Everyone” written in 13 languages representing the city’s diverse communities.
The T-shirt and cap, available in the club’s colors, feature languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, Armenian, Farsi, Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Yoruba, and Zapotec — the latter representing one of the city’s largest indigenous migrant communities, originating from Oaxaca, Mexico.
“Los Angeles is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and that diversity is our strength,” said Chris Fajardo, Angel City FC’s vice president of community relations, in a statement. “This campaign is more than a t-shirt. It’s about showing up for our community, celebrating our differences, and making it clear that everyone belongs here.”
This day in sports history
1963 — Bob Cousy ends his 13-year career by scoring 18 points as the Boston Celtics win their fifth consecutive NBA championship, beating the Lakers 112-109 in Game 6.
1967 — The Philadelphia 76ers win the NBA championship in six games with 125-122 comeback victory over the San Francisco Warriors. Billy Cunningham scores 13 points in the final 12 minutes as the 76ers overcome a five-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
1974 — Tampa, Fla. is awarded the NFL’s 27th franchise.
1981 — San Antonio blocks 20 Golden State shots to set NBA regular season game record.
1988 — NFL Draft: Auburn tight end Aundray Bruce first pick by Atlanta Falcons.
1993 — George Branham III becomes the first Black bowler to win a PBA Triple Crown event when he beats Parker Bohn III 227-214 in the Tournament of Champions.
1994 — David Robinson scores 71 points to win the NBA scoring title as the San Antonio Spurs end the regular season with a 112-97 victory over the Clippers. Robinson, the fourth NBA player to score more than 70 points in a game, edges Orlando’s Shaquille O’Neal for the scoring title.
1994 — NFL Draft: Ohio State defensive tackle Dan Wilkinson first pick by Cincinnati Bengals.
1996 — Petr Nedved scores a power-play goal with 44.6 seconds left in the fourth overtime, ending the longest NHL game in 60 years and giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.
2003 — Petr Sykora scores 48 seconds into the fifth overtime as the Ducks outlasts Dallas 4-3 to win the opener of the Western Conference semifinal series. The game is the fourth-longest in NHL history.
2004 — NFL Draft: Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning first pick by San Diego Chargers.
2010 — Jamaican Usain Bolt dazzles a capacity crowd with a lightning-fast final leg, overtaking USA Blue’s Ivory Williams to win the 4×100-meter relay at the Penn Relays. A quartet of Mario Forsythe, Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson and Bolt finishes in 37.90 seconds for Jamaica Gold, setting a Penn Relays record. Trailing entering the final leg, Bolt takes the handoff and finishes the final 100 meters in an unofficial time of 8.79 seconds.
2016 — Klay Thompson scores 23 points and the Golden State Warriors set an NBA playoff record with 21 three-pointers to overcome another injury to Stephen Curry and beat the Houston Rockets 121-94 for a 3-1 series lead. The Warriors made eight threes in the third quarter alone to set a franchise playoff record for three-pointers in a period. Thompson led the way from long range, going 7 of 11, and Draymond Green made four.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1901 — Chicago defeated Cleveland 8-2 in the first American League game. Three other scheduled games were rained out. The game lasted 1 hour, 30 minutes in front of a reported crowd of 14,000 at the Chicago Cricket Club.
1911 — Battle Creek of the South Michigan League turned two triple plays in the first two innings against Grand Rapids.
1917 — George Mogridge of the New York Yankees pitched a no-hitter against the Red Sox in Boston, winning 2-1.
1947 — Johnny Mize of the New York Giants hit three consecutive homers in a 14-5 loss in Boston. It was a major league-record fifth time in his career that Mize hit three home runs in one game.
1957 — The Chicago Cubs set a National League record by walking nine batters in the 5th inning of a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Redlegs.
1962 — Sandy Koufax struck out 18 Chicago Cubs and pitched the Dodgers to a 10-2 victory at Wrigley Field.
1965 — Casey Stengel recorded his 3,000th victory as a manager as the Mets beat the San Francisco Giants 7-6.
1978 — Nolan Ryan of the Angels strikes out 15 batters for the 20th time in his career.
1994 — Julio Franco and Robin Ventura twice hit back-to-back homers in Chicago’s 7-6 loss to Detroit.
1996 — Greg Myers and Paul Molitor each had five RBIs as the Minnesota Twins set a team record for runs and routed the Detroit Tigers 24-11. It was the highest run total against the Tigers in 84 years, matching the mark set in a 24-2 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics on May 18, 1912.
1998 — Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza ties a major league record hitting his third grand slam of the month.
1998 — Moises Alou drove in five runs and Carl Everett homered from each side of the plate to lead Houston to an 8-4 win over Montreal.
2001 — The American League celebrates its 100th anniversary as a major league.
2007 — Oakland set a major league record in a 4-2 win over Baltimore, keeping the Orioles off the scoreboard in the first inning. It was the 20th straight game in which the A’s did not allow a first-inning run, a record for the start of the season.
2009 — Zack Greinke continues to dominate opposing hitters as he pitches a second straight complete game for the Kansas City Royals.
2012 — Chipper Jones homers on his 40th birthday as the Braves beat the Dodgers, 4-3. He becomes the fifth player in major league history to do this, following Bob Thurman, Joe Morgan, Wade Boggs and Tony Phillips.
2014 — Pitcher Michael Pineda of the Yankees is handed a ten-game suspension after being caught using pine tar on the mound in the previous day’s 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. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.