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State Sen. Lucy Killea’s decision to quit the Democratic Party and become an independent is not going to fool any Republicans in her largely GOP district.

But she may succeed in exacerbating the very cynicism toward politicians that she says prompted her to make the change.

In a scathing criticism of her colleagues, Killea said lawmakers “have lost the public’s confidence.” She’s right.

A recent Times Poll found that only 25% of San Diegans have confidence in local elected officials. She also pointed to the public’s deep dissatisfaction and resentment, and its view that the “Legislature is interested only in itself.”

Those are easy chords to strike. Too easy. The public has made its frustration known loudly and repeatedly in recent years.

Quitting the Democratic Party isn’t going to lessen the public fury, and it won’t reform the system.

Plus, Killea’s request for a change in state law to allow her to appear on the June, 1992, ballot as an independent–current law requires at least a year’s notice–smacks of the same self-serving politics of which she accuses her colleagues.

She is also guilty of some of the sins for which she castigated them. For instance, she criticized the Legislature for trying to “undo the will of the people” by going to court to overturn the initiative limiting legislative terms and cutting office budgets by 40%.

Yet, Killea is one of only two state senators who have failed to make the budget-reduction goals set by the Senate. She was supposed to cut $110,000 from her $869,000 budget, but has only cut about $65,000.

It’s hard to figure how leaving the Democratic Party will help Killea. She will lose the considerable Democratic financial support that helped her win in 1988.

And the way she is making her exit is winning her no new friends and probably earning the enmity of current allies. How can she help her constituents if she is frozen out of the system?

Her departure also weakens the already ailing Democratic Party. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the county 47.8% to 37.7%–almost 120,000 voters–and GOP registration is still on the rise.

If they lose much more strength, San Diego County Democrats run the risk of becoming an endangered species, as they already are in Orange County. And that could reduce debate on important policy issues, here and in Sacramento.

Killea’s frustrations with the current system, and the “old-boy network,” are understandable. The public may give a brief cheer to hear Killea express its sentiments on the Senate floor.

But Killea’s dramatic gesture is a hollow one that could do more damage than good.

There were fireworks, there was a flyover, there was Will Ferrell screaming and Keith Williams Jr. crooning and four months of cheers unleashed by fans wearing championship belts and howling grins.

But the real stars of Thursday’s Dodger opening day show never made a sound.

They arrived silently at the end of the pregame ceremony, carefully held by two of the men who helped win them, lifted high for all those who so passionately longed for them.

They were the last two Commissioner’s Trophies, the back-to-back World Series championship trophies, the two symbols of the Dodgers domination held side by side in the afternoon sun.

Man, it was beautiful. Goodness, how they sparkled. Incredible, how they glowed.

It was almost as if they were powered by some electrical force, some sort of championship current running between them, lighting them up with a blinding power curated by the battered fingers of the two veterans who touched them.

Freddie Freeman, whose grand slam doomed the New York Yankees, held the 2024 trophy. Miguel Rojas, whose home run stunned the Toronto Blue Jays, held the 2025 trophy.

Together they brought the trophies to the dugout from center field while riding in the back of a blue convertible driven by Ferrell as part of an elaborate video skit.

It was the first time many had seen the hardware side by side, and, amid audible gasps, their power was unmistakable. The greatness of the Dodgers accomplishment came to life on a day when their new task became equally clear.

“Three-peat!” screamed one of the pregame musicians.

Welcome, Dodgers, to 2026.

While manager Dave Roberts downplayed the three-peat talk before the opening 8-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, you know it’s here, it’s there, it’s everywhere.

“At this moment, very minimal,” said Roberts when asked about the pressure. “…So yeah, hopefully we can keep that to a minimum throughout the season. But yeah, there’s obviously going to be a lot of talk about it.”

Thursday did nothing to dampen that talk. It was as if last season’s Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays was still being played. The Dodgers behaved like the exact same team with some of the same heroes.

The winning pitcher? Once again, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw six solid innings with six strikeouts and no walks.

The game-changing play? Once again, it was Andy Pages, whose three-run home run in the fifth inning gave the Dodgers a lead they never lost.

The final big blow? Yep, Will Smith, whose two-run homer in the seventh inning clinched it.

Dodgers unveil the plaque for the 2025 World Series win.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

There was even a World Series star coming out of the bullpen, new cult hero Will Klein entering the game to the night’s loudest ovation and throwing a scoreless inning.

It’s as if the Dodgers have been on the same roll for four months…with no signs of slowing. This could be crazy. This already is crazy.

Other than the cool trophies and the Diamondbacks trampling, the most notable show Thursday was unwittingly staged by Dodger Stadium itself.

Your dutiful correspondent’s first impression of his favorite place on earth upon returning here for his 37th home opener wasn’t about the deep green or brilliant blue or enduring mountainscape.

It was, when did this place become Las Vegas?

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Illuminated by the new grotesquely red Uniqlo Field billboard hanging high above center field, the stadium appears to have been transformed into something straight from NASCAR, advertisements filling every nook and cranny of the pavilion and beyond. There are giant billboards above the bullpens. There are scribbled ads on the bullpen walls. There are screaming displays for beer, soda and healthcare, the latter of which you will need if you heed too many of these ads.

The incessant sales pitches are buffeted by the usual deafening pounding music, which makes Vin Scully Avenue seem like Las Vegas Boulevard.

Was it always like this? It doesn’t seem like it. The Dodgers have always been relentless billboard salesmen, but since the arrival of Shohei Ohtani, they’ve become a global attraction with seemingly every major company on earth willing to pay for a piece of their success.

Fans will probably notice that the biggest difference this year is the $125-million sponsorship deal with Uniqlo, a Japanese apparel company that bought center field. Chavez Ravine is now officially known as Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium and, yeah, on Thursday it was awful hearing public address announcer Todd Leitz introduce it like that.

Not to worry, nobody in their right mind is ever going to call it that. Nonetheless, the whole atmosphere was weird and unsettling.

Still, it’s hard to blame the Dodgers. They’ve spent gobs of money building a two-time defending champion, and those bucks have got to come from somewhere.

You want Kyle Tucker? Live with the beer ad. You want a $1 billion rotation? Deal with the bank ad.

Dodgers Blake Snell, Kiké Hernandez, Roki Sasaki and Alex Call during player introductions before the game.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Unlike many other teams that have made baseball a haven for cheapskates, the Dodgers invest much of their revenue back into the roster.

It’s not always pretty. It can be loud and distracting and obnoxious. But it works.

As night fell on a blessed blue Thursday, the Dodgers had won their eighth straight home opener. They did it with pitching, hitting, depth, and two of the prettiest pieces of jewelry you’ve ever seen.

It was a day to celebrate the completion of the most incredible two-year journey in franchise history.

It was also a day to realize that the journey has just begun.

Redondo Union didn’t care that Mira Costa’s volleyball team was ranked No. 1 in California. This was their South Bay rival coming to their gym Thursday night, and anything can happen when a team digs deep and doesn’t fear losing.

The Sea Hawks (14-2) were aggressive from the outset and came away with a 27-25, 21-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-13 victory.

“Chemistry,” setter Tommy Spalding said about the Sea Hawks’ triumph. He’s one of three players headed to MIT, and all three had big matches.

At one point on back-to-back plays, Carter Mirabal had a block and Vaughan Flaherty followed with a kill off an assist from Spalding. Chemistry.

JR Boice, a Long Beach State commit, was delivering kills, and Cash Essert’s serving and all-around play kept Mira Costa’s Mateo Fuerbringer looking frustrated. The Sea Hawks’ focus was on Fuerbringer, who came alive in the fifth set with six kills, but Redondo was able to come back from an 11-9 deficit.

It was only Mira Costa’s second loss in 25 matches. Redondo Union took over first place in the Bay League.

Baseball

Orange Lutheran 3, Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian 2: The Lancers advanced to the semifinals of the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C., behind a walk-off single in the eighth inning by Andrew Felizzari. Brady Murrietta had tied the score with a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh. CJ Weinstein had two doubles for the Lancers.

Venice (Fla.) 12, Harvard-Westlake 0: The Wolverines were limited to three hits at the National High School Invitational in Cary, N.C.

Casteel (Queen Creek, Ariz.) 3, St. John Bosco 2: The Braves suffered their first defeat in North Carolina. Jack Champlin threw five innings and also had two RBIs.

Chatsworth 6, Taft 3: Tony Del Rio Nava threw six innings and had two RBIs in the West Valley League win.

Granada Hills 4, El Camino Real 3: A two-run single by Nicholas Penaranda in the seventh inning keyed a three-run inning for the Highlanders in their West Valley League upset. JJ Saffie had three hits for ECR.

Cleveland 4, Birmingham 3: The Cavaliers pushed across a run in the top of the 10th inning to break a 3-3 tie in the West Valley League win. Joshua Pearlstein finished with three hits, including a home run.

Sun Valley Poly 4, San Fernando 2: Fabian Bravo gave up four hits in 6 2/3 innings for the Parrots, who are tied with Sylmar for first place in the Valley Mission League. Ray Pelayo struck out eight for San Fernando.

Verdugo Hills 15, Kennedy 1: Cutlor Fannon had two doubles and four RBIs in the five-inning win. Anthony Velasquez added two singles and four RBIs.

Westlake 9, Agoura 4: Jaxson Neckien hit a three-run home run to power the Warriors.

Thousand Oaks 7, Calabasas 5: Gavin Berigan, Jeff Adams and Cru Hopkins each had two hits for the Lancers.

Oaks Christian 11, Newbury Park 2: Dane Disney contributed three hits in the Marmonte League win. Carson Sheffer had two doubles and three RBIs.

Santa Monica 12, Simi Valley 4: Ryan Breslo and Johnny Recendez had two RBIs and a triple for Santa Monica. Ravi Chernack had three RBIs.

Dana Hills 7, Corona Santiago 0: Gavin Giese finished with eight strikeouts over six innings and gave up one hit for Dana Hills.

Softball

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 10, Sierra Canyon 0: Kelsey Luderer contributed three hits and two RBIs while freshman Ainsley Jenkins threw five scoreless innings.

Chaminade 15, Louisville 2: Norah Pettersen had two hits and four RBIs.

Carson 10, San Pedro 0: Atiana Rodriguez finished with three hits, including a double and triple, and three RBIs.

Huntington Beach 6, El Modena 2: Willow Kellen had three hits for the Oilers.

Murrieta Mesa 15, Chaparral 0: It’s a 16-0 start for the Rams. Tatum Wolff hit two home runs.

What a start to the high school baseball season for pitcher Landon Hovermale of Norco. On Wednesday in his latest stellar outing, he threw six shutout innings in Norco’s 3-0 win over Gahr.

In 18 2/3 innings this season, Hovermale has allowed zero runs while striking out 27 and walking one. That’s called great pitching for the 5-1 Cougars. He’s committed to Grand Canyon.

Mira Costa 6, Torrance 4: Joaquin Scholer had two doubles in Mira Costa’s Bay League win.

Rancho Christian 13, Hillcrest 0: Jake Brande retired all 15 batters and had seven strikeouts while Sean Downs hit a grand slam in the five-inning win.

Bell 4, San Pedro 0: The Eagles (9-1) received six scoreless innings from Jayden Rojas, who gave up one hit and struck out seven.

San Fernando 9, Cleveland 5: Armando Villegas had a three-run double to lead the Tigers.

Carson 7, Granada Hills 5: Kris Sinclair went three for four with two RBIs for Carson.

Chatsworth 1, Sylmar 0: Isaiah Sanchez threw the shutout and Vicente Martinez had two hits.

Monroe 3, Eagle Rock 1: The Vikings (8-0) received 10 strikeouts from Miguel Gonzalez, who gave up two hits.

Hart 15, Canyon Country Canyon 2: Joaquin Durazo hit a three-run home run and Matix Frithsmith finished with four RBIs in Hart’s Foothill League opener. Hayden Rhodes and Anthony Cavarretta also hit home runs.

West Ranch 15, Golden Valley 1: Ty Diaz hit two home runs and had a double to lead West Ranch. Connor Clayton and Caydin Wilson also hit home runs.

Los Alamitos 9, Fountain Valley 5: Cruz D’Errico had four hits to lead a Los Alamitos comebacik.

St. John Bosco 11, Damien 0: Twins James and Miles Clark had a big day for the No. 1-ranked Braves. James contributed four hits, including two doubles, and Miles had a home run and three RBIs. Jack Champlin showed he’s not only a closer, throwing four scoreless innings with five strikeouts and no walks as a starting pitcher.

Servite 9, San Juan Hills 6: Mikey Cabral led the way with three hits and two RBIs and John Sullivan had two doubles for Servite.

Newport Harbor 11, Marina 2: Henry Mann had two hits, Gavin Guy had a two-run double and Ryan Williams homered to help Newport Harbor improve to 7-0.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 6, St. Francis 2: Dru Wilson, Malakye Matsumoto, Jake Noroian and Troy Trejo each had two hits for Notre Dame (6-0, 2-0).

Bishop Alemany 6, Crespi 0: DC Ravago threw five scoreless innings and Chase Stevenson hit a two-run home run.

Loyola 8, Chaminade 0: Sheriff Hall threw five scoreless innings and Magnus Mayer had a two-run double for Loyola.

Harvard-Westlake 6, Sierra Canyon 0: Evan Alexander struck out nine and gave up one hit in six innings and freshman Louis Lappe of El Segundo Little League fame hit his first high school home run for Harvard-Westlake. Ethan Price also homered.

Huntington Beach 13, Edison 3: Owen Bone finished with three hits, including a home run, and Jared Grindlinger had two hits and two RBIs for the Oilers.

Etiwanda 4, Rancho Cucamonga 1: Adam Ornelas had three hits and Luke Severns had a two-run single. Michael Aleman threw a complete game.

Softball

Simi Valley 4, Carson 2: Parker Ong struck out eight for Simi Valley. Ruby Grajeda homered for Carson.

Santa Monica 2, Carson 1: Ruby Grajeda had three hits for Carson.

The Lakers were looking to stack wins and are not in position to judge an opponent by its win-loss record.

So, when the Lakers encountered a Pelicans team that arrived at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night with a 19-43 record, they knew they couldn’t afford to overlook New Orleans. Especially since the Pelicans had won four of their past five and because they have a talented core of young talent that includes Zion Williamson, Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray.

It took all five starters scoring in double figures and it took a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter for the Lakers (37-24) to pull out a 110-101 win over a stubborn Pelicans team.

“Well, we knew we weren’t playing against their record tonight,” said LeBron James, who was one of the starters to score in double figures with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists and two blocks. But he also had five turnovers.

“It’s the first time they’ve been whole in quite a while,” James, who was eight-for-12 from the field, continued. “And we know when they’ve been whole what kind of team they’ve been. So, we came in with that mindset, understanding what kind of team we were playing and they won their last four out of five before tonight, or something like that.

“But we didn’t come in with the notion that we were playing against their record. We came in with the notion that we were playing a very athletic team that’s been playing exceptional basketball of late.”

The Lakers have been a better team as of late as well, winning their third straight game after losing three straight.

They won this one over the Pelicans with just enough offense and some timely defense.

Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. But he was just 10-for-22 from the field and three-for-10 from three-point range and he had seven turnovers.

“I think we responded in a good way,”: Doncic said. “Sometimes you got to win playing bad. That’s what good teams do. I think that’s what it is today. Obviously it wasn’t our best game, but we managed to get a win.”

Austin Reaves had 15 points on four-for-15 shooting and two for seven on three-pointers, eight rebounds and five turnovers.

Reaves injured his arm late in the fourth quarter after stripping the basketball away from Williamson. But after a quick time out, Reeves returned to the game.

“I just hit my funny bone,” Reaves said. “Whole hand went numb, called a time out, kind of went away and was able to play.”

Deandre Ayton had 13 points and eight rebounds.

There also was the defense and energy Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes provided the Lakers.

Smart had 10 points, four steals and three blocks. He also was big on offense, drilling a three-pointer with 1:34 left for a 105-98 Lakers lead.

Hayes had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks.

“Jaxson was guarding Zion, which is not easy,” Doncic said. “So, I think he had some big, big plays for us. And obviously Smart has been the key to our wins (this season).”

The Lakers had 20 turnovers through three quarters, which didn’t help their cause.

They had just one in the fourth quarter and that came on a late-game 24-second violation when they were running out the clock.

The Lakers didn’t help themselves by losing their composure.

Doncic was given a technical foul in the second quarter. Luke Kennard received a technical foul in the third quarter and Ayton got a technical foul in the fourth quarter after being called for a foul blocking a shot by Williamson.

Austin Reaves celebrates after making a three-pointer in the second half.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The Lakers had 12 blocks for the game and seven in the decisive fourth quarter.

They held the Pelicans to 35% shooting in the fourth and just 23 points.

“I think we’ve made some strides defensively,” James said. “I think we didn’t play much at all zone tonight. We started the game with it, we kind of went away from it. So, I thought our man-to-man defense was pretty good. I thought Jaxson and Marcus were great on that end and then everyone else kind of trickled in as well.”