Olivia Moultrie scored both goals in the Portland Thorns’ 2-0 victory over Angel City in Los Angeles.
With the win, the Thorns (10-8-7) clinched a league-record ninth consecutive playoff appearance.
Angel City (7-12-6) was already eliminated from playoff contention prior to kickoff at BMO Stadium. ACFC’s last postseason appearance came in 2023.
Moultrie got the Thorns off to the perfect start in the 23rd minute. The 20-year-old switched the ball between her feet to buy a yard of space and then unleashed a shot into the top corner from 21 yards out to make it 1-0.
After Sara Doorsoun fouled Reilyn Turner in the box, Moultrie stepped up from the penalty spot and coolly converted to make it 2-0 in the 60th. It was her eighth goal of the season.
Christen Press came off the bench for Angel City in the 60th, with Ali Riley entering in the 82nd. Both veteran players received a standing ovation from the home fans on their final appearance at home in Los Angeles. The veteran duo are set to retire at the end of season.
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as “Ali Kushayb,” was convicted by the International Criminal Court Monday for war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. Photo by International Criminal Court/Flickr
Oct. 6 (UPI) — The International Criminal Court convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman for committing human rights atrocities as the infamous leader of the Sudanese militia known as the Janjaweed.
Prosecutors hailed the conviction of Abd-Al-Rahman, also known by his nom de guerre Ali Kushayb, as the first verdict against a militia leader for waging a brutal campaign of ethnically motivated violence two decades ago against the civilian population in Sudan’s Darfur region.
The conflict in Darfur is considered the first genocide of the 21st century and unfolded between 2003 and 2020, when ethnic-based rebel groups took up arms against Sudan’s autocratic government. In response, the Sudanese government unleashed its own militias including the Janjaweed, whose name means “devils on horseback.”
The United Nations estimates that roughly 300,000 people died and another 400,000 were forced to flee to neighboring Chad.
The panel of judges overseeing the case in The Hague found that Al-Rahman was responsible for overseeing thousands of government-allied forces that carried out mass executions, torture and the burning and pillaging of entire villages.
“The conviction of Mr Abd-Al-Rahman is a crucial step towards closing the impunity gap in Darfur,” Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said in a statement. “It sends a resounding message to perpetrators of atrocities in Sudan, both past and present, that justice will prevail, and that they will be held accountable for inflicting unspeakable suffering on Darfuri civilians, men, women and children.”
First charged in 2007, Al-Rahman was on the run for 13 years before surrendering to authorities in the Central African Republic. He has denied the charges and his defense argued during the trial that he had been misidentified.
The court’s prosecutors are still pursuing warrants against Sudan’s former President Omar al-Bashir, former Interior Minister Ahmad Harun and ex-Defense Minister Abdel Raheem Hussein.
“This long overdue verdict goes some way in providing justice for the victims of Ali Kushayb and should serve as a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for crimes committed in Darfur more than two-decades ago,” Chagutah said.
WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid.
Roberts acted on the administration’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. President Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago.
The high court order is temporary, though it suggests the justices will reverse a lower court ruling that withholding the funding was probably illegal. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.
Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a letter Aug. 28 that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch.
He used what’s known as a pocket rescission. That’s when a president submits a request to Congress toward the end of a current budget year to not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent.
The Trump administration has made deep reductions to foreign aid one of its hallmark policies, despite the relatively meager savings relative to the deficit and the possible damage to America’s reputation abroad as foreign populations lose access to food supplies and development programs. The administration turned to the high court after a panel of federal appellate judges declined to block Ali’s ruling.
Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge last month that an additional $6.5 billion in aid that had been subject to the freeze would be spent before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
The case has been winding its way through the courts for months, and Ali said he understood that his ruling would not be the last word on the matter.
“This case raises questions of immense legal and practical importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally appropriated funds,” he wrote.
In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out an earlier injunction Ali had issued to require that the money be spent. But the three-judge panel did not shut down the lawsuit.
After Trump issued his rescission notice, the plaintiffs returned to Ali’s court and the judge issued the order that’s now being challenged.
Centre-left 45-year-old politician gets new mandate to manage the South American nation’s newfound oil wealth.
Published On 7 Sep 20257 Sep 2025
Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has been re-elected for a second term, according to the country’s electoral body, after a vote that gave his party a mandate to manage the South American nation’s newfound oil riches amid a territorial dispute with Venezuela.
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said in a statement released late on Sunday night that Ali’s People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won the general election, held on September 1, securing 55 percent of the 65-seat parliament.
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Ali’s re-election comes after the country of 800,000 people reaped a $7.5bn windfall from oil sales and royalties since ExxonMobil started pumping offshore oil in late 2019, making Guyana one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
Ali’s government, which took power in 2020, has funnelled oil revenue into building roads, schools and hospitals, and made studying at the state university free. But he now faces a diplomatic challenge as he navigates the country’s territorial dispute with Venezuela.
Ali had already claimed victory in the elections on Wednesday.
Among the first world leaders who congratulated Ali for his victory was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wrote on X that he is looking forward to strengthening India-Guyana ties.
In remarks on Saturday, Ali replied on X that he also looks forward to working with Modi and India “to further build our already strong and cordial relations”.
In a statement on X, the British Embassy also congratulated Ali and Guyana “for a successful and peaceful election”.
Ali, a 45-year-old centre-left leader, also faces the challenge of ensuring that the benefits of Guyana’s vast oil wealth reach his constituents, more than half of whom still live in poverty despite the nation’s soaring gross domestic product (GDP).
Ali’s main rival, multi-millionaire populist Azruddin Mohamed, nicknamed the “Guyanese Trump”, and his newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party finished second with 24.8 percent of the vote.
The opposition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which represents much of the country’s Afro-Guyanese population, came third with 17.7 percent.
Ali, whose party draws much of its support from the Indo-Guyanese community, will assume a second five-year term at a time of rising tensions with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who claims sovereignty over the oil-rich Essequibo region and appointed authorities for that area in controversial elections held in May.
Ali has the support of the United States, which is also fomenting escalating tensions with Venezuela following the deployment of warships in the Caribbean for anti-drug operations.
Maduro has recently said the US military build-up in the Caribbean is aimed at overthrowing his government, and he was ready to “declare a republic in arms” if attacked by US forces.
The dispute over the Essequibo region is centuries old, but it intensified in 2015 after the discovery of enormous oil resources.
The oil wealth has allowed the state budget to quadruple in five years to $6.7bn in 2025, with a world-beating economic growth of 43.6 percent in 2024.
Guyana appealed to the International Court of Justice in 2018 to ratify an 1899 award that established its current borders, but Venezuela rejects the court’s jurisdiction and asserts the 1966 Geneva Agreement, which establishes the basis for a negotiated settlement.
The Trump administration must release billions of dollars in foreign aid approved by Congress, including money that President Trump said last week he would not spend, a federal judge has ordered.
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali in Washington ruled Wednesday that the Republican administration’s decision to withhold the funding was likely illegal. He issued a preliminary injunction ordering the release of $11.5 billion that is set to expire at the end of the month.
“To be clear, no one disputes that Defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the Court is not directing Defendants to make payments to any particular recipients,” wrote Ali, who was nominated by Democratic President Biden. “But Defendants do not have any discretion as to whether to spend the funds.”
The administration filed a notice of appeal Thursday.
“President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, president and chief executive of Global Health Council, one of the groups in the case, said in a statement the decision was a victory for “the rule of law” and reaffirmed that “only Congress controls the power of the purse.”
Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a letter on Aug. 28 that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch.
He used what’s known as a pocket rescission, in which a president submits a request to Congress toward the end of the budget year to not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent. It’s the first time in nearly 50 years that a president has used the tactic. The fiscal year draws to a close at the end of September.
Ali said Congress would have to approve the rescission proposal for the administration to withhold the money.
The law is “explicit that it is congressional action — not the President’s transmission of a special message — that triggers rescission of the earlier appropriations,” he wrote.
The money at issue includes nearly $4 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to spend on global health programs and more than $6 billion for HIV and AIDS programs. Trump has portrayed the funding as wasteful spending that does not align with his foreign policy goals, and in January, he issued an executive order directing the State Department and USAID to freeze spending on foreign aid.
Nonprofit organizations that sued the government said the freeze shut down funding for urgent lifesaving programs abroad.
A divided panel of appeals court judges ruled last month that the administration could suspend the money. The judges later revised that opinion, reviving the lawsuit before Ali.
In his ruling, Ali said he understood that his decision would not be the last word in the case, adding that “definitive higher court guidance now will be instructive.”
“This case raises questions of immense legal and practical importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally appropriated funds,” he wrote.
Thanawala writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Thalia Beaty in New York contributed to this report.
“The Paper,” premiering Thursday on Peacock, is a belated spinoff of “The Office,” much as Peacock is a sort of spinoff of NBC, where the former show aired on Thursdays from 2005 to 2013. In the new series, Dunder Mifflin, the office in “The Office,” has been absorbed into a company called Enervate, which deals in office supplies, janitorial paper and local newspapers, “in order of quality.” The newspaper at hand is the Toledo Truth Teller, sharing space with the toilet paper division.
Created by “Office” developer Greg Daniels with Michael Koman, “The Paper” is shot in the same documentary style, ostensibly by the same fictional crew, and imports “Office” player Oscar Núñez as head accountant Oscar Martinez, not at all happy to be back on camera.
In the first episode, Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson), a starry-eyed journalism school graduate turned cardboard salesman turned toilet paper salesman, arrives as the new editor in chief of the Truth Teller, not exactly taking charge of a staff that consists entirely of narcissistic interim managing editor Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore), whose sole prior media experience is as a contestant on a dating reality show called “Married at First Sight”; ad salesman Detrick Moore (Melvin Gregg); subscriptions person Nicole Lee (Ramona Young); compositor Mare Pritti (Chelsea Frei), who wrote for “Stars and Stripes”; accountants Adam Cooper (Alex Edelman) and Adelola Olofin (Gbemisola Ikumelo); and Duane Shepard Sr. as Barry Stokes, the only official reporter, whose beat consists of high school sports and falling asleep. In the sitcom logic of the show, they will all be drafted as volunteer journalists, joined by Travis Bienlien (Eric Rahill), from the toilet paper division.
Times television critic Robert Lloyd and news and culture (and former television) critic Lorraine Ali have worked in many newspaper and magazine offices between them, and come together here to discuss how “The Paper” compares to “The Office,” its journalistic veracity and whether or not it’s funny.
The journalist recruits in “The Paper,” from left: Chelsea Frei as Mare, Ramona Young as Nicole, Melvin Gregg as Detrick, Gbemisola Ikumelo as Adelola, Alex Edelman as Adam, Eric Rahill as Travis and Oscar Núñez as Oscar.
(John P. Fleenor / Peacock)
Ali: I’ll start with my favorite quote about journalism from “The Paper”: “The industry is collapsing like an old smoker’s lung.” Hack, hack, cough, I say from inside the beast. This half-hour comedy offered so many great moments of spot-on commentary about the state of legacy journalism that I wasn’t sure if I should weep or laugh. I chose the latter, most of the time. The first couple episodes are clever, funny and charmingly clumsy — if not too close to the bone for folks like us. I’ll get to the rest of the series in a minute, but how did the satire about a contracting newsroom strike you, Robert?
Lloyd: There are a couple of moments in the pilot episode where it flashes back to an old black-and-white documentary on the Truth Teller in an earlier age when 1,000 people worked for the paper, before the internet destroyed print journalism and the newspaper, which once occupied a whole building, and was eventually reduced to sharing a corner of a floor with the toilet paper division. It gave me a little shock. I feel like I caught the end of that analog era, at the L.A. Weekly, when it was a thin, then a fat alternative paper, and the Herald Examiner, where there were typewriters that must have been sitting there since the ’30s, a sort of piratical “Front Page” energy and tons of talent. (Much of which migrated to The Times when the Herald folded.)
Ali: I felt a tinge of sadness and loss watching those flashback scenes. Then they cut to present day, and the marbled halls of the once-great Truth Teller newspaper are empty. What struck me is how much the fictional paper’s lobby looked like the old Globe Lobby of the L.A. Times’ building downtown. I also got a lump in my throat when they went down into the basement where the old giant presses sat frozen. We had those relics in the old Times building too. For readers who don’t know, the L.A. Times hasn’t been in that landmark building since 2018. We’re now in El Segundo. Sounds like a great setup for a sitcom joke, right?
Lloyd: Most — all? — newspapers have felt the stress of shrinking staffs and resources, of doing more with less. But the Truth Teller starts with almost nothing — that it comes out at all, apparently daily, is something of a joke in itself; at least Ted Baxter was the only knucklehead working at WJM on “Mary Tyler Moore,” but there are more than a few of them here. “The Office” wasn’t about the work, but about surviving the environment. It didn’t really matter what did or didn’t get done. But this is a show about a business — a noble institution, however ignobly served — with deadlines, some of which one would rightly regard as impossible, having met hundreds, if not thousands, in one’s life — even without a skeleton crew that has no idea what it’s doing. But it just sort of wishes them away. Then again, it is a sitcom.
The jokes are well-timed and reliably funny, but like “The Office,” it’s all down to the characters, which are wonderful company. Oscar, of course, we already know and love. But I especially liked Gregg as the soft-edged Detrick, with an awkward crush on the wry Nicole. Ned, whom the Irish Gleeson plays like someone out of a Frank Capra pastiche, can be a little competitive, but he’s no Michael Scott; neither is he exactly Jim to Mare’s Pam, though obviously they occupy a similar position, being relatively normal and attractive. But as the One Who Needs to Be Noticed, Impacciatore’s Esmeralda does have more than a little Michael Scott in her, though turned up to 11, insanely glamorized and in an Italian accent. It’s a hilarious performance. Her delighted scrolling through a thicket of ads on a clickbait article on a tip Brad Pitt left someone is a little comic gem. It’s not unlike the way Janelle James pops out as Ava on “Abbott Elementary.”
Sabrina Impacciatore, left, plays managing editor Esmeralda, who has more than a little Michael Scott in her.
(John P. Fleenor / Peacock)
Ali: It’s impossible not to compare “The Paper” to “The Office.” It’s unfair yet inevitable, and “The Office” wins, though my favorite version of that show was the British version with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. But I do like what Gleeson does in “The Paper” with Ned Sampson, portraying him as an enthusiastic editor in chief born about 50 years too late to experience the Woodward and Bernstein glory days of print journalism. The deflated expression on his face is priceless when he advises his lost “reporters” to rely on the Five Ws of reporting, and one asks, “Is that a gang?” Gleeson has an impressive range. He was haunting as the conflicted foodie/serial killer in psychological thriller “The Patient,” where he co-starred, ironically, with Steve Carell. I also really like Young as Nicole, who I admittedly had an affinity for as a drama club nerd in “Never Have I Ever.”
My issue with “The Paper” isn’t the cast, but the pacing. It starts off strong. The first two episodes are filled with sharp writing and build a strong foundation for what we expect to see: the hilarity of an inexperienced, underdog staff turning a local rag into a real source of news. But the momentum doesn’t quite sustain. I felt myself losing interest in the story as the series progressed because their ensuing assignments, setbacks and interpersonal trajectories weren’t all that compelling.
I do, however, appreciate that “The Paper,” like “Abbott Elementary,” mines the tragic humor of a crumbling American institution while also pointing out that this thing is happening under our noses, and shouldn’t we do something — anything — to save it? Turning that tragedy into a sitcom is one answer.
Rushanara Ali has resigned as Homelessness Minister, Downing Street has confirmed.
The move comes after she was accused of hypocrisy over the way she handled rent increases on a house she owns in east London.
There were calls for her to step down from homelessness charities and opposition politicians.
In a letter to the prime minister she has said that remaining in the role would be “a distraction from the ambitious work of this Government”.
In a story first broken by the The i Paper, four tenants who rented a house owned by Ali in east London were sent an email in November giving them four months’ notice their lease would not be renewed.
However, the property was re-listed shortly after they moved out, at a rent £700 a month higher.
Tory Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake accused Ali of “staggering hypocrisy” over the handling of the property but Ali’s spokesman said she “takes her responsibilities seriously and complied with all relevant legal requirements”.
In a letter to the prime minister, Ali wrote: “It is with a heavy heart that I offer you my resignation as a minister.”
Insisting that “at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements” she added: “I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this.
“However, it is clear that continuing in my role will be a distraction from the ambitious work of the government.
“I have therefore decided to resign from my Ministerial position.”
Responding to her resignation, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer thanked her for her work, which he called “diligent”.
The PM praised her work to repeal the Vagrancy Act and added: “I know you will continue to support the Government from the backbenches and represent the best interests of your constituents in Bethnal Green and Stepney.”
A source close to Ali said the previous fixed-term contract had been ended because the house was being put up for sale and the tenants had been told they could stay on a rolling basis while the house was on the market, but they had chosen to go.
The house was put on the market in November 2024 with an asking price of £914,995 but was reduced in February by £20,000 and the i Paper said it was only re-listed as a rental because it had not sold.
The government’s Renters’ Rights Bill is in its final stages in Parliament, and will ban landlords re-listing a property for rent, if they have ended a tenancy in order to sell, for six months.
Landlords must also give four months’ notice when the legislation is passed, which is not expected to be until at least next year.
London Renters Union spokesperson Siân Smith said Ali’s actions were “indefensible” and she “must step down” due to a “clear conflict of interest” with the Bill in its final stages.
Ali had to give up part of her ministerial portfolio in October last year, when she came under fire for her attendance at a conference linked to the parent company of one of the firms heavily criticised in the recent Grenfell inquiry.
Giving up her duties managing building safety and the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire, she said she was relinquishing her building safety brief because “perception matters”.
Welcoming her resignation, a Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: “Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role.
“Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it.
“At a time of widespread political disillusionment, her actions were staggeringly irresponsible and only added insult to injury after years of delay for renters’ rights reform under the Conservatives.”
Zhao Xintong lost his first snooker match for nine months as he fell victim to the Ding Junhui Curse.
Kyren Wilson moved into Sunday’s final of the Shanghai Masters with a superb 10-5 victory over China’s reigning world snooker champion.
The Warrior, 33, scored breaks of 66, 75, 70, 95, 70, 101 and 51 across the 15 frames and crucially claimed all SIX frames in the evening session.
For Xintong, it was a first defeat since losing to Shaun Murphy in the Last 32 of the UK Championship in York on November 23, 2024.
After that loss in the North Yorkshire cathedral city, Xintong won an astonishing 26 matches in a row, which included lifting the Crucible crown in historic scenes for his country.
But Xintong’s Far East homecoming was ruined by the Kettering cueist as he completely flopped in the evening action.
The Cyclone potted breaks of 113, 59, 95 and then a 121 to lead 5-4 in the afternoon but when nighttime came, he was outclassed by the Englishman.
And forget all about the Crucible Curse, which he has to negotiate next spring in Sheffield – the Curse of Ding Junhui struck again in a competitive environment.
This was the 21st time in a row that someone had beaten Ding, 38, and then LOST their next match.
A run that stretches back to John Higgins being the first victim at the Players Championship in February 2024 in Telford.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Doesn’t it feel like Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes were released last season? No, that was this season.
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Ask Jaime Jarrín
We received many questions for Jaime Jarrín, who was kind enough to take time out of his day to answer some of those questions. Deputy sports editor Ed Guzman conducted the interview by phone. Because Jarrín was the longtime Spanish-language broadcaster for the Dodgers, it seemed appropriate for a couple of the questions and answers to be in Spanish. In the case of multiple people asking the same questions, the person who asked the question first gets credit for the question. Questions without a name were asked by Guzman.
From Virgilio Del Rio: How did you prepare to become a sports broadcaster?
Jarrín: Well, before becoming a sports broadcaster, I was a newsman. I used to write news, I edited news, that was my experience. Sportscasting, I learned that when I came to this country. But back home, for four years, I was a newsman writing news, editorials and things like that.
(Follow-up question from Guzman): Once you were a broadcaster here in the States, did you ever want to broadcast games in English or were you always just focused on doing it in Spanish?
Jarrín: I always wanted to do it only in Spanish. I never really wanted to go into English-language because I thought that it was my duty to do this in Spanish. So I’m very proud to have done it all in Spanish.
From Jerry Smith of Los Angeles: You called the “Thrilla in Manila” between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. What was that like?
Jarrín: It is my greatest experience doing sports because the atmosphere in Manila was unbelievable. I was there for I think it was two days before the fight and it was like a carnival there. Muhammad Ali was walking the streets around the arena, you know, promoting the fight and signing many things. And he was a great, great promoter. So it was unbelievable. And the day of the fight, it was so hot, so rainy, and the fight was held at 10 o’clock in the morning (to accommodate the international viewing audience). It was really a great, great experience.
From Alex Andrade of Paramount: How difficult or easy is it to switch from calling boxing versus calling a baseball game?
Jarrín: Well, it’s totally different. In boxing, I was the blow-by-blow announcer. So I didn’t have time to do commentary. Besides, I had a commentator with me, Mr. Cuco Conde, who was a very famous boxing promoter in Cuba.
So in my case, I just narrate the fight. In boxing, you have to follow the action through the blows that are thrown by the fighters. In baseball, you have time to describe what’s going on, you have time for anecdotes, important dates and things like that.
From Mark Layne: Do you have a favorite story about Vin Scully?
Jarrín: I was very fortunate. It was a privilege to spend so much time with him because on the road we were always together, having lunch together, then dinner at the ballpark. Same thing here in Los Angeles. We always had dinner together before the games. And to see how nice he was with everybody; he never refused to shake hands with anybody; he never refused to take a picture with anybody. He was very, very special. As a baseball announcer, as a sports announcer, he was the best of the best of all time. But as a human being, he was exceptionally beautiful.
Something very special I have to mention is the fact that when my wife passed away six years ago, he was the first one to call me and he talked to me for about 20 minutes. It was the most beautiful call I ever received.
The way that he talked about my wife, about our friendship, the way that he handled the language, his intonation, his delivery on the phone. It was really, really something very, very unique that I will never, never forget. Very touching.
Very touching.
From Paul Aist of Ventura: In your opinion, did Tommy Lasorda shorten Fernando Valenzuela’s career by overusing him?
Jarrín: In a way, probably, but it was because Fernando wanted to stay in the games. He used to tell me, “Jaime, when I start something, I like to finish that. And when I start a game, I want to finish that.” So I’m sure that Lasorda wanted to take him out earlier in many games, but he insisted on staying on.
The Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony is later this month for the newest class. What do you remember about your induction into the Hall of Fame in 1998?
Jarrín: I remember very well the phone call that I received from the head of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Around 8 o’clock in the morning, I got a telephone call. They told me, ‘Please, Jaime, be around a telephone because probably you are going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.’ And the telephone rang at around 9:30 in the morning. And it was the head of Cooperstown. And he said, ‘Jaime, it’s my pleasure to let you know that you have been selected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year along with Don Sutton and Larry Doby.’ You can imagine how excited I was.
My wife, Blanca, was standing there next to me near the phone. And she saw my face, my reaction, and she started crying. And that was really something very, very special, something that is in my heart for the rest of my life. It was very emotional. It was very, very incredible.
And then the ceremony in Cooperstown is something very unique, very special. I would say that before the ceremony, they put you with all the Hall of Famers in a room. And there were about, I would say, 25, 28-30 Hall of Famers. And to be there among them, it was, to me, like being in heaven. I couldn’t believe that I would be there next to Henry Aaron, next to Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver and all those Hall of Famers. It was something special, and that changed my life. Because before that, I was one of the many, many announcers doing baseball. But after the Hall of Fame, owners of the different ballclubs, GMs and people like that, they would look for me to take a picture, to shake my hand, to introduce themselves. So really, it was a turning point. Fantastic.
How much do you watch this year’s team?
Well, I follow every single game on TV. When I go to the ballpark, I go to the field, I go to the clubhouse, I say hello to the ballplayers. Then I go to the press box because I like to see the writers because they were so nice with me, English or Spanish. They wrote beautiful things about me, about my career. I like to see the employees at the press box. Then I stay for three, four or five innings and come home. So it’s perfect. The perfect combination. But I follow the team through TV when I am not at the ballpark, yes.
¿Qué opina usted sobre el pitcheo del equipo de esta temporada?
El pitcheo deja mucho que desear debido a las lesiones. Los Dodgers durante el invierno fueron en busca de verdaderos ases del montículo y lograron contratar a varios de ellos. Pero dos de ellos han estado lesionados todo el tiempo y eso ha desbalanceado completamente el desempeño del equipo de lanzadores.
Debido a las lesiones, también hemos tenido prácticamente cada juego en que los abridores únicamente lanzan tres o cuatro innings, máximo. Y eso ha minado mucho la fortaleza del bullpen. Y el bullpen se ha visto dismal en verdad, en lo que a potencia se debe debido al uso cotidiano prácticamente de todos los días.
Espero que en este descanso los Dodgers logren consolidar el excelente elenco de lanzadores que necesitan para poder llegar y ganar la Serie Mundial.
Hemos escuchado el cuadrangular de Kirk Gibson en la Serie Mundial en la transmisión de Vin Scully, y también en el relato de Jack Buck. Pero uno no puede encontrar el relato de ese jonrón de usted o de René Cárdenas. ¿Por qué no hay modo de escuchar ese relato?
La simple respuesta: porque en aquel entonces, lamentablemente, la estación de radio y los mismos Dodgers no se preocuparon en guardar las transmisiones. No tenemos ninguna, ninguna grabación de ninguno de los juegos de los Dodgers hasta hace pocos años. Es un misterio, en verdad. KWKW y KTNQ, las dos emisoras que estuvieron con los Dodgers en esos años, no se preocuparon en mantener grabaciones de eso. Y por eso es que no existe absolutamente nada en lo que respecta a nuestras transmisiones. Es una lástima, en verdad, pero es la realidad.
From Bruce Campbell of Los Angeles: Your wife, Blanca, died in 2019. What would you want people to know about her?
Well, you know, it was such a heavy blow to myself and my family, my two sons, Jorge and Mauricio. What can I tell you? She was such a beautiful person. She was so supportive of me. All the accolades that I have gained is thanks to her because she was behind me all the time. She never complained about my being absent because I used to travel with the Dodgers and sometimes, road trips took 16 days, 19 days. And she was so generous with people and everything.
The Jaime and Blanca Jarrin Foundation has expressed a desire to uplift underserved students by awarding scholarships to those pursuing careers specifically in law and journalism. Why those two areas?
Jaime: Jorge can answer that because he is on top of everything. He can express very well the goals of the foundation. I was very pleased when Jorge and Mauricio, along with my three grandsons, joined forces to create a foundation in order to preserve the image and the name of my wife, Blanca, who was a very generous person. So I was delighted when they told me about the project. And now, I just try to help my family as much as possible. Jorge and the rest of the family work very hard in trying to create the funds that we need for the scholarships.
Jorge Jarrín, Jaime’s son, who sat in on the interview: That’s easy, actually. You know, when we started this foundation in honor of my mom, in the back of my mind, I also knew the importance, as my father was nearing the twilight of his career, looking for a way to maintain and uphold the legacy that he has created as an immigrant coming to this country. You know, he knows the trepidation and the fear that comes naturally to an immigrant coming to a nation where he doesn’t necessarily really speak the language, doesn’t really know a lot of people, is looking to establish roots so that he can, in turn, he or she, in turn, can bring their family so that they can create a better life. So, that’s that legacy.
And when my mom passed away, I thought, this is the way to do that. Speaking selfishly for a moment, this is a way to accomplish two things. To honor the memory of my mom who created such an environment for us growing up that we never felt neglected. We never felt that we missed out on anything because my father was gone all the time. And there was no guilt. There was nothing negative along that line.
And so, knowing that my father, at this point, had been speaking to Latino homes for 60-plus years, I know how people react when they see my father for the first time, when they talk to him, when they have a chance to meet him in person. Because he represents, for many, their childhood growing up, their relationships with their parents, their grandparents, aunts and uncles. He gave them that commonality of which they can talk about together.
So, knowing that impact that he has on people, we thought it’s one thing to give scholarships. But for a lot of Latinos, to get a scholarship from Jaime Jarrin is even more special. We call them the Jarrín Scholars.
And the reason we did journalism, to get back to your original question, journalism and law, two reasons: The journalism honoring the career that my father chose to create, the path that he took. And the law, because we have been fortunate in addition to the Los Angeles Dodgers to have a long and steady career as a spokesperson for Los Defensores. Los Defensores is an organization, it is a cooperative legal marketing firm that represents a network of Spanish-speaking attorneys who are there to help people, Latinos, who don’t know the language well, who are intimidated, who may be undocumented.
But there are certain rights that they’re entitled to under the law, under the Constitution. And we try to empower Latinos to speak up for themselves, to not be afraid, to not be intimidated. So my father has had a 40-year career of being the voice of Los Defensores, too. So it only made sense that because of our association with Los Defensores that we also single out law because overall, we’re seeking to help those who are eventually going to be making decisions that affect us as a community and as a society. We want to empower them, we want to help them to be the best that they can be. Unfortunately, you look at for example the state of California, 49% of which are Latinos, and yet less than 3% Latinos pass the bar examination to become attorneys.
Less than 6% of the attorneys in the United States are Latinos. Yet it doesn’t reflect the numbers of our community in terms of its makeup of demographics, so there’s something not right here. And we’re trying to get those in a four-year college the help that they need, not only financially but because I’ve had students say to me: you saw me, you recognized me, and you’re willing to invest in my future. Because that’s what it is, it’s an investment and it’s a validation that we see them, we recognize them, we want to support them. That’s it in a nutshell.
—Thank you to Jaime Jarrín for taking time from their day to answer reader questions. The Jaime and Blanca Jarrín Foundation are having “Wine Night at the Ravine,” at the centerfield plaza in Dodger Stadium on Aug. 19. For more information and tickets, click here.
Next time
We’ll talk about Mookie Betts and the Dodgers continuing to scuffle (if they still are). Betts was benched Saturday to get a mental reset, then was moved to the leadoff spot Sunday, with Shohei Ohtani moving to the two spot. It has been a tough stretch. They score six runs, the opponent scores seven. But if they hold the opponent to two runs, the Dodgers score just once. When they hit well they don’t pitch, when they pitch well they don’t hit. And they don’t field well most of the time. Freddie Freeman was hit on the wrist by a pitch Sunday and had to leave the game. X-rays were negative, according to the Dodgers, but a wrist injury isn’t good for hitters.
Luckily for them, the Giants are playing worse, and the Padres are playing just OK.
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Pakistan win the opening match of the three-game T20 series against Bangladesh by 37 runs in Lahore.
Pakistan stormed to a 37-run win against Bangladesh in the opening T20 international of the three-match series at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Hasan Ali, returning to the side for the first time in a year, claimed 5-30 to bowl the tourists out for 164 in the final over.
Having won the toss, the hosts amassed 201-7 with captain Salman Agha top scoring with 56, but the innings was not without its bumps.
Right-arm seamer Hasan stole the hearts at least on his return to the international fold, following injury troubles, having recently impressed in his country’s domestic Two competition, the Pakistan Super League.
“I have seen him work hard and put in extra hours, and it has all paid off,” his skipper said afterwards.
On his top score in the match, Salman added, “What mattered is that everyone contributed, and that’s how we want to play – everyone has to bat, bowl and field well.”
Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha celebrates after scoring fifty [KM Chaudary/AP]
Pakistan, like Bangladesh, are looking to recover from the group-stage exits at February’s ICC Champions Trophy, a competition they hosted.
It couldn’t have been a worse start for the hosts, who also lost seven of eight matches in the recent white-ball series against New Zealand, as they were reduced to 5-2 after eight balls of their innings.
Mohammad Haris began the recovery with his captain Salman as the pair shared a stand of 51 for the third wicket.
Hasan Nawaz took that foundation on with the highest strike rate of the innings as he hit 44 off 22 balls in a stand of 65 – the highest of the innings.
Salman was the only batter in the match to reach a half century and posted 56 off 24 with eight fours and one six.
The fourth-wicket pair fell within 11 deliveries of each other, and the finish looked to be stuttering until Shadab Khan smashed 48 off 25 to pile the pressure back onto Bangladesh.
The allrounder’s end came off the penultimate ball of the innings as Shoriful Islam claimed his second wicket – the only Bangladesh player to claim more than one scalp.
A top-heavy reply from the tourists looked to offer hope of a series-opening win as the highest partnership of the match of 63 was shared between their captain Litton Das and Tawhid Hridoy for the third wicket.
The breaking of that partnership, with the score on 100-2 before Litton departed, was the beginning of the end for the chase.
Pakistan’s Shadab Khan, right, cuts in an innings that contributed to his award as Player of the Match [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]
Shadab Khan claimed 2-26 along with his ferocious tally with the bat to be named Player of the Match.
“My comeback to Pakistan colours wasn’t great despite my hard work, but my recent performances in PSL helped regain some confidence,” the Pakistan vice captain said, having lost his place in the side recently.
All the matches in the series are being played in Lahore, with the second game taking place on Friday before the series finale on Sunday.
“We didn’t bowl, bat and field well,” Bangladesh captain Litton said in his post-match comments, believing his team needs more consistency in “all areas of the game”.
“We have two more games, so we must come back strongly as a unit,” he added.
