finish

No, he didn’t.

Yes, they did!

No, it’s inconceivable that Philadelphia Phillies’ reliever Orion Kerkering would botch a grounder and throw it away with the season on the line.

Yes, it happened with the bases loaded and the Dodgers scored to steal a National League Division Series clinching 2-1 victory in 11 taut innings Thursday at Dodger Stadium!

Clinched, just in time.

Clinched, when they could have clenched.

Clinched, like a champion.

With their backs quickly approaching the wall, faced with a loss that would return the series to Philadelphia for a deciding Game 5, the Dodgers dug in and lashed out and, at the last possible minute, shoved the talented and favored Philadelphia Phillies out of their path to take a three-games-to-one series win and clear the way toward their second consecutive World Series title.

And they did it with a mad, mindless throw from a frozen, frightened reliever.

Has any postseason series ended with such an error?

It happened in the 11th, after Tommy Edman hit a one-out single to left, then moved to third one out later on a single by Max Muncy. Kiké Hernández walked to load the bases, bringing up the struggling Andy Pages, who entered the day with an .053 playoff average and had gone hitless in four previous at-bats.

He proceeded to hit into his fifth out… except Kerkering muffed the grounder. When the pitcher finally picked up the ball, he still had plenty of time to throw out Pages at first. Instead, he panicked and threw it home, launching it far over catcher JT Realmuto’s head.

Pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim scored the winning run as Kerkering stood stunned on the mound and the Dodgers danced wildly across the field.

How the Dodgers defeated the Phillies in the 11th inning in Game 4 of the NLDS.

They now advance to the National League Championship Series, where they will be heavy favorites against either the Milwaukee Brewers or Chicago Cubs.

A victory in that seven-game set will land them back in the World Series, where they will be even heavier favorites against whatever inferior team the American League can muster.

Yeah, the rest of their journey should be the easy part, the Dodgers already conquering their Goliath equal in a Phillies series that was essentially the World Series.

Remember last fall when they defeated the San Diego Padres in a tense five-game fight before cruising to the title? This was that. This was the two best teams in baseball. This was the Dodgers once again swallowing all the pressure and refusing to relent.

After a breathtaking six-inning scoreless pitching duel between the Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez, the Phillies struck first in the seventh with a single, an error by reliever Emmet Sheehan, and a double by Nick Castellanos.

The Dodgers countered in the bottom of the seventh with two walks and a single followed by a bases-loaded walk drawn by Mookie Betts against closer Jhoan Duran.

This set the stage for the Error Heard ‘Round The World. This set the stage for what should absolutely be a second consecutive World Series championship.

Before these playoffs there was a lot of talk about the Dodgers’ late-season struggles that were symbolized by that blown no-hitter in Baltimore. They had no bullpen depth. They had no offensive patience. They were headed for another early October exit.

At least, that’s what outsiders thought. That’s not what the veteran, pressure-proof Dodgers thought.

“I think it boils down to the guys we have in the clubhouse,” said Max Muncy earlier this week. “We have a lot of experience, a lot of really good players. We’ve been there before. We accomplished it.”

Turns out, nobody knew the Dodgers like the players wearing the uniform.

“We knew who we are as a team all year long,” said Muncy. “Even though we weren’t playing up to it at certain points, we trusted who we were. Like I said, we knew who we were in the clubhouse, not one person faulted in there, even in the rough times.”

They were impressive in the four games against the Phillies. Here’s predicting they’re going to get even better before the month ends.

“I still think there’s another gear in there,” said Muncy. “I don’t think we fully reached where we can be at. And that’s not saying we are, and that’s not saying we aren’t. But I still think there’s a whole other level in there we haven’t reached yet.”

The Times’ Bill Shaikin quickly asked, “What would tell you you’ve reached it?”

“I think you would know,” said Muncy.

The media laughed. The rest of baseball shivered.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delivered a defiant speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), attempting to justify his country’s genocide in Gaza and denouncing Western allies for failing to stand by it in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Speaking at UNGA in New York on Friday, the increasingly isolated Israeli leader railed against the “disgraceful decision” by some Western countries in recent days to recognise a Palestinian state.

“It will be a mark of shame on all of you,” he said.

“Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews, and against innocent people everywhere.”

Netanyahu delivered his speech to a sparse audience because many delegates left the General Assembly hall in protest as he made his way towards the stage.

The Israeli leader insisted that, despite the growing international pressure and condemnation of genocide, ​​Israel “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.

“Western leaders may have buckled under the pressure,” he said. “And I guarantee you one thing: Israel won’t.”

Message to Hamas: Surrender or die

Netanyahu’s speech was also broadcast into Gaza via loudspeakers mounted on Israel’s border with the territory, a fact he acknowledged in his speech, issuing a message directly to the Israeli captives held by Hamas in the territory.

“We have not forgotten you, not even for a second,” he said. “The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter, and we will not rest until we bring all of you home.”

He said that, thanks to an “unprecedented operation” by the Israeli military, his speech was also being transmitted to the cellphones of people in Gaza, including Hamas leadership.

He issued an ultimatum that they should lay down their weapons and release the captives, or they would die.

‘You have to stand with Israel’

In his speech, Netanyahu — who faces an International Criminal Court warrant over alleged war crimes and growing global criticism to halt his nearly two-year war on Gaza — laid out a familiar narrative.

He detailed the horrors of the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, detailed the “seven-front war” that Israel had since waged, largely alone, against its enemies in the region, and criticised Western allies for failing to back it in what he painted as a shared battle against Islamist radicals who he described as “barbarians at the gate”.

“You can’t appease your way out of jihad,” he said. “You have to stand with Israel.”

Netanyahu wore a badge with a QR code on his lapel and encouraged his audience to scan it to receive Israel’s account of the October 7 attack, which killed at least 1,139 people.

“You too will see why we fight and why we must win. It’s all in here,” he said.

He said that had the United States suffered losses proportionate to those Israel had sustained in an attack, there was no way it would allow the attacker to continue to pose a threat.

Members of the US delegation in attendance, which has been Israel’s staunchest defender at the international organisation and main military backer, could be seen applauding throughout the speech.

Netanyahu has repeatedly used the 2023 attack, which killed at least 1,139 people, to justify continuing the war in Gaza, which has to date killed more than 65,000 people, according to local health authorities.

Denial of genocide

Holding a map titled “The Curse” as a visual aide, he listed off the enemies Israel had dealt with around the region, including Gaza, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Iraqi militia.

He denied Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, as a UN inquiry and a growing number of experts have found, saying Israel’s military would not tell them to evacuate if they were trying to commit genocide.

“Would a country committing genocide plead with the civilian population it is supposedly targeting to get out of harm’s way?” he said.

He also denied Israel was deliberately starving the population of Gaza, where famine has been recorded, blaming Hamas for stealing aid into the territory and selling it to finance the war.

Western allies ‘caved’

Netanyahu was particularly scathing of Israel’s Western allies, who have increasingly condemned its actions in Gaza and recognised a Palestinian state in a bid to bring about pressure to end the war.

“Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7 is like giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11,” Netanyahu said.

He said that “when the going got tough,” many Western countries had “caved”, condemning rather than supporting Israel in response to what he said was pressure from a hostile media, “anti-Semitic mobs” and radical Islamist constituents.

Addressing Western leaders, he said, “You know deep down that Israel is fighting your fight,” and claimed, without evidence, that behind closed doors, leaders had thanked him for his country’s efforts in securing the world from terror.

WASHINGTON — Early in his first term, President Trump held a modest ceremony directing NASA to return humans to the moon for the first time in 50 years. It was a goalpost set without a road map. Veterans of the space community reflected on the 2017 document, conspicuously silent on budgets and timelines, equivocating between excitement and concern.

Was Trump setting up a giveaway to special interests in the aerospace community? Or was he setting forth a real strategic vision for the coming decade, to secure American leadership in the heavens?

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It was a return to a plan first proposed by President George W. Bush in 2004, then abandoned by President Obama in 2010, asserting the moon as a vital part of American ambitions in space. Whether to return to the lunar surface at all — or skip it to focus on Mars — was a long-standing debate governing the division of resources at NASA, where every project is precious, holding extraordinary promise for the knowledge of mankind, yet requiring consistent, high-dollar funding commitments from a capricious Congress.

Eight years on, the debate is over. Trump’s policy shift has blazed a new American trail in space — and spawned an urgent race with China that is fast approaching the finish line.

Both nations are in a sprint toward manned missions to the lunar surface by the end of this decade, with sights on 2029 as a common deadline — marking the end of Trump’s presidency and, in China, the 80th anniversary of the People’s Republic.

A “What Will 2030 Look Like?” sign behind Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, during a confirmation hearing in April.

(Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It is a far different race from the original, against the Soviet Union, when U.S. astronauts inspired the world with a televised landing in 1969. This time, Washington would not just plant a flag and return its astronauts home. Instead, the Americans plan to stay, establishing a lunar base that would test humanity’s ability to live beyond Earth.

China has similar plans. And with both countries aiming for the same strategic area of the surface — the south pole of the moon, where peaks of eternal light shine alongside crevices of permanent darkness, believed to store frozen water — the stakes of the race are grounded in national security. Whichever nation establishes a presence there first could lay claim to the region for themselves.

The world’s first full-scale model of the crewed pressurized lunar rover, to be used in the Artemis moon exploration program, is displayed during a press preview in July.

(Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

Advocates of the U.S. effort, called the Artemis program, increasingly fear that delays at NASA and its private sector partners, coupled with proposed funding cuts to NASA from the Trump administration, could ensure China’s victory in a race with broad consequences for U.S. interests.

So it is a race that Trump started. The question is whether he can finish it.

While U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that Beijing is on track to meet its goals, NASA veterans say that accomplishing a manned mission before the Chinese appears increasingly out of reach.

“It’s a stretch,” said G. Scott Hubbard, a leader in human space exploration for the last half-century who served as NASA’s first “Mars czar” and former director of the Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. “Bottom line, yes, it is doable. It’ll take an intense effort by the best engineers, and appropriate funding.

“It’s not inconceivable,” he added.

Visitors take photos of a space suit during an event marking China’s Space Day at the Harbin Institute of Technology in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang province.

(Wang Jianwei/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The White House said Trump is committed to making “American leadership in space great again,” noting his first-term push to return U.S. astronauts to the moon and his efforts to deregulate the U.S. space industry. But officials declined to comment on a timeline for the mission or on China’s steady progress.

“Being first and beating China to the moon matters because it sets the rules of the road,” Sean Duffy, Transportation secretary and acting NASA administrator, told The Times. “We’re committed to doing this right — safely, peacefully, and ahead of strategic competitors — because American leadership on the moon secures our future in space.”

The success of the Artemis program, Duffy said, is about ensuring the United States leads in space for generations to come. “Those who lead in space lead on Earth,” he added.

NASA officials, granted anonymity to speak candidly, expressed concern that while leadership on the Artemis program has remained relatively stable, talent on robotics and in other key areas has left the agency at a critical time in the race, with potentially less than two years to go before China launches its first robotic mission to the south pole — a scout, of sorts, for a manned landing to follow.

A proposal to cut NASA research funding by roughly 47% has gripped officials there with doubt, jeopardizing a sense of job security at the agency and destabilizing a talent pipeline that could prove critical to success.

In the 1960s, the federal government increased spending on NASA to 4.4% of GDP to secure victory in the first space race.

“There’s too much uncertainty,” one NASA official said, raising the specter of the Trump administration impounding funds for the agency even if Congress continues to fund it.

Inside NASA headquarters, Hubbard said, “the feeling right now is terrified uncertainty — everyone is walking on eggshells.”

“They’re treading water,” he added. “People want to be given clear direction, and they’re not getting it.”

A Chinese Smart Dragon-3 rocket carrying satellites lifts off from sea on Sept. 9.

(VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

China’s long march gets closer

Beijing conducted a series of tests over the last several weeks viewed in Washington as crucial milestones for China on its journey to the moon.

A launch of its Lanyue lander, equipped to carry two taikonauts to the lunar surface, “validated” its landing and takeoff system, state media reported. Two subsequent tests of China’s Long March 10, a super-heavy lift rocket designed to jump-start the mission, were a “complete success,” according to the China Manned Space Agency.

Unlike in the United States, China’s manned space flight program is housed within its military.

“We have seen them steadily progress on all of the various pieces that they are going to need,” said Dean Cheng, senior advisor to the China program at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

“You need a vehicle to launch, because current rockets simply don’t have enough throw-weight. They’re testing the lander to carry astronauts to the surface,” Cheng said. “These are key pieces, and significant advances — this is a brand new rocket and a lunar lander with new technology.”

China initially set a goal for its manned mission by 2035, but has since moved up its plans, an expression of confidence from Beijing and an unusual break from typical party protocol. Now, China aims not only to have completed that mission, but to begin establishing an International Lunar Research Station on its surface, in conjunction with Russia, by 2030.

They are expected to target the south pole.

“There’s room for two powers under schemes of coordination, but there’s not room in an uncoordinated environment. There can easily be a competition for resources,” said Thomas González Roberts, an assistant professor of international affairs and aerospace engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Landing and takeoff of spacecraft on the moon will kick up lunar dust and rocks, risking the safety of astronauts on the ground and sensitive equipment across a base site — considerations that are likely driving Beijing’s strategy to get there first. Those enjoying the benefits of first arrival could set up generous routes for rovers, equipment at dig sites for deposits, telecommunication assets, and even a nuclear reactor to assert a large area of domain.

Since his first term, Trump and his aides have sought to avoid a showdown on the lunar surface, drafting a new set of international rules to govern an otherwise untamed frontier. The Artemis Accords “set out a practical set of principles to guide space exploration,” according to the State Department. President Biden embraced and extended the initiative, growing the list of signatories to 56 nations.

But China is not one of them, prohibited by Congress during the Obama era from cooperating with the United States in space after attempting to steal U.S. technology on intercontinental ballistic missiles and thermonuclear weapons. Instead, Beijing has recruited a small list of countries to join its lunar base program, including Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan, Egypt, Nicaragua, Belarus and South Africa.

“I don’t think there will be extreme congestion on the moon, but if you really define an area of interest — and there is that, with these peaks of eternal light next to permanently shadowed regions — you could manufacture congestion,” Roberts added.

“How do you benefit from obfuscation?” he asked. “If you’re the first arrival, you spread yourself out.”

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station.

(Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The promise and burden of Musk’s Starship

Last month, Duffy warned NASA staff that the Trump administration suspects Beijing is planning to deliver a nuclear reactor to power a long-term presence at its lunar base by 2029.

The move, Duffy said, could allow China to “declare a keep-out zone, which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.” He ordered the agency to collect proposals by October on delivering a U.S. reactor to the surface no later than that year.

The administration’s success relies on a man whose relationship with Trump has crashed spectacularly to Earth.

Starship, a super heavy-lift launch vehicle produced by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is the rocket Trump is relying on to accomplish the Artemis mission. Yet repeated setbacks in the Starship program have raised alarm at NASA over its fundamental constitution. A concerning series of tests have already delayed the U.S. manned launch, known as Artemis III, toward the end of Trump’s term.

Last month, in its 10th test flight, the rocket finally succeeded in a suborbital mission. But “Starship has yet to reach orbit,” Hubbard said, “and once it reaches orbit, they’ve got to demonstrate microgravity transfer of cryogenic propellant.”

“That’s something that’s never been done before,” he added. “So to say that they’ll be ready to do all of that in two years is a real stretch.”

Setbacks are common course in the history of the U.S. space program. But the success of China’s recent tests has shown the Trump administration that NASA and its partners have run out of time for further delays.

Duffy said that Artemis II, a manned mission to orbit the moon, will take place early next year, overcoming a separate set of design flaws that faced Lockheed Martin’s Orion spacecraft. Artemis III would keep astronauts on the surface for more than a week and deliver payloads to help begin the foundation of a base.

Whether the Trump administration will commit to the funding and leadership necessary for the mission is an open question. The White House declined to say who within the West Wing is leading the effort. Trump has not named a permanent NASA administrator for Senate confirmation.

Success on the moon is meant to provide a testing ground and a launching pad for more ambitious, challenging manned missions to Mars. But Trump’s commitment to those ventures are equally in doubt. The administration has proposed canceling funds for a landmark program decades in the making to return samples from the red planet, despite a NASA announcement last week revealed it had discovered signs of ancient Martian life.

“I’ve been on the inside of it — you waste enormous amounts of time just trying to find workarounds to get funding in to stay on schedule,” Hubbard said. “If you really, really want to beat the Chinese, give NASA the funding and some stability — because you’re not going to beat them if every day, week or month, there’s a different direction, a different budget, a different administrator.

“And China may still win,” he said, adding: “It would be another claim that they’re the dominant power in the world.”

SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh tied Mickey Mantle’s season record for most home runs by a switch hitter with his 54th, and the Seattle Mariners extended their winning streak to nine by routing the Angels 11-2 Sunday to take sole possession of the AL West lead for the first time since June.

With the loss, the Angels will finish the year without a winning record for the 10th consecutive season.

George Kirby matched his career high with 14 strikeouts as the Mariners completed a four-game sweep and won for the 20th time in their last 23 home games.

Jorge Polanco had three doubles and has doubles in seven straight games, tying the Mariners’ record.

Seattle (82-68) moved one game ahead of Houston (81-69) at the top of the division, winning nine in a row for the first time since a 14-game streak from July 2-17, 2022, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Mariners had not been alone in first place since before play on June 3.

Kirby (9-7) gave up two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, walking none and leaving after 101 pitches. He also struck out 14 Angels on June 8.

Batting left-handed in the first inning, Raleigh had a first-pitch homer to left-center off Kyle Hendricks for a 2-0 lead. Mantle hit his 54 homers for the 1961 New York Yankees. Raleigh’s homer was his record-setting 43rd homer this season as a catcher, one more than Atlanta’s Javy López in 2003.

Hendricks (7-10) gave up nine runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Angels third baseman Yoán Moncada left in the middle of the fifth inning because of a sore left ankle.

Christian Moore and Oswald Peraza hit solo homers for the Angels. Denzer Guzmán got his first two big league hits.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here we are, right back where we started.

You play 131 games only to end up where you were before Game 1 began: tied with the Padres. OK, technically, the Dodgers are in first place right now because they hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Padres. But it feels like a tie.

Before we get to the main topic here, there are a couple of points worth mentioning, with all due respect to the players involved:

Unless there is an injury involved, Buddy Kennedy should not be starting any games over Alex Freeland or Miguel Rojas. Let’s look at those numbers, shall we?

Kennedy: .069/.156/.103, -26 OPS+
Freeland: .226/.342/.387, 104 OPS+
Rojas: .252/.313/.388, 95 OPS+

And, in case you are a big Kennedy fan and are hollering “small sample size” right now, let’s take a look at those career numbers

Kennedy: .178/.271/.274, 54 OPS+
Freeland: .226/.342/.387, 104 OPS+
Rojas: .259/.313/.361, 85 OPS+

And it’s not like Kennedy is Ozzie Smith with the glove out there, while Rojas makes plays like this one from last week. Freeland hasn’t played much, but he was ranked as their No. 3 prospect, so there’s little reason to play Kennedy over him.

—Michael Conforto has gotten plenty of runway now. Time for him to hit the bench and for Alex Call to play every day. There are 161 players who have at least 400 plate appearances this season. Where does Conforto rank among those players? Let’s look:

Batting average
158. Ryan McMahon, NYY, .216
159. Anthony Volpe, NYY, .208
160. Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh, .207
161. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .183

Not only is Conforto last, he is 24 points behind the next-worst player.

On-base%
151. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .293
158. Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers, .277
159. Anthony Volpe, NYY, .274
160. Michael Harris II, Atlanta, .273
161. Adolis Garcia, Texas, .270

Gee, two Dodgers in the bottom 10. Perhaps Hernández didn’t want Conforto to feel so bad.

Slugging %
158. Joey Ortiz, Milwaukee, .328
159. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati, .317
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .314
161. Victor Scott II, St. Louis, .312

Last. 151st. Next to last. That’s not good.

OPS+
158. Joey Ortiz, Milwaukee, 72
159. Matt McLain, Cincinnati, 71
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, 70
161. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati, 70

WAR (which also factors in defense)
158. Agustín Ramírez, Miami, -0.2
159. Eric Wagaman, Miami, -0.6
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, -0.9
161. Nick Castellanos, Philadelphia, -1.1

So, please, he might be the nicest guy in the history of the universe and I know he’s getting paid $17 million, but it’s not like you have to pay him more if you don’t play him. Until Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández get back, let’s send Call out. I don’t care what hand the pitcher throws with.

With the two teams tied with 31 games remaining, let’s do a few more comparisons:

Longest winning streak
Dodgers, 8
Padres, 7

Longest losing streak
Dodgers, 7
Padres, 6

Most runs scored
Dodgers, 19
Padres, 21

Most runs allowed
Dodgers, 18
Padres, 14

Times shut out
Dodgers, 6
Padres, 8

Times opponent was shut out
Dodgers, 6
Padres, 15

Comeback wins
Dodgers, 40
Padres, 33

Walkoff wins
Dodgers, 8
Padres, 6

Walkoff losses
Dodgers, 7
Padres, 6

Run differential
Dodgers, +94
Padres, +57

Home
Dodgers, 41-24, .631
Padres, 43-22, .662

Road
Dodgers, 33-33, .500
Padres, 31-35, .470

Before the All-Star break
Dodgers, 58-39, .598
Padres, 52-44, .542

After the All-Star break
Dodgers, 16-18, .471
Padres, 22-13, .629

Extra-inning games
Dodgers, 7-5, .583
Padres, 6-4, .600

One-run games
Dodgers, 21-20, .512
Padres, 26-19, .578

Games decided by 5+ runs
Dodgers, 21-9, .700
Padres, 18-14, .563

Interleague
Dodgers, 23-19, .548
Padres, 16-20, .444

vs. NL West
Dodgers, 25-11, .694
Padres, 24-18, .571

So what’s going to happen? No idea. Will the Dodgers’ offense remain erratic? Will the bullpen improve? Will the Padres get even better (because they have holes too)? I don’t what’s going to happen over the next 31 games. No one does. So don’t give in to pessimism or false hope. Enjoy each game as it happens. Get frustrated at times, sure. But these next 31 games will be exciting. A division race that comes down to the wire. It doesn’t get any better than that.

An interesting race

The race for the NL batting title is going to be interesting to follow. Here are the leaders after Sunday’s games:

Freddie Freeman, .302
Trea Turner, Philadelphia, .300
Sal Frelick, Milwaukee, .298
Will Smith, .297
Manny Machado, San Diego, .292
Xavier Edwards, Miami, .291
Nico Hoerner, Chicago, .291

Smith was leading the NL for quite a while this season, but the rigors of playing catcher have caught up to him, as he is hitting just .158 in August (9 for 57). That’s not meant as a criticism. Playing catcher is taxing, especially in the heat, and we’ve had a lot of warm nights in Los Angeles this month. The hope was that by releasing Austin Barnes and bringing up Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers could give Smith more days off, which they have, but it hasn’t helped.

In major league history, a catcher has won the batting title only seven times (Bubbles Hargrave in 1926, Ernie Lombardi in 1938 and 1942, Buster Posey in 2012 and Joe Mauer in 2006, 2008 and 2009.) All the foul balls you take off your body also take a tremendous toll.

Will Freeman hold on to win? Will Turner win another batting title? Tune in next week to find the answers, same Bat-time, same Bat-… wait wrong show.

And isn’t it amazing that only two players who qualify for the title are hitting .300?

Up next

Monday: Cincinnati (Hunter Greene, 5-3, 2.63 ERA) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 4-2, 4.17 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Cincinnati (Nick Martinez, 10-9, 4.59 ERA) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 8-2, 3.13 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Cincinnati (Zack Littell, 9-8, 3.62 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-1, 4.61 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shaikin: The Padres aren’t dead, and the Dodgers have plenty to lose in baseball’s best rivalry

News Analysis: The Dodgers have an outfield problem. But do they have the options to fix it?

Dalton Rushing knows ‘main focus is catching,’ but first base also on his mind

And finally

Lou Johnson homers in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series to give the Dodgers the lead. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The statement also said that they received positive assurances about an upcoming winding-up petition from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which was adjourned earlier this year and is set to take place at the High Court on 3 September.

It has been a tumultuous 12 months for Salford, who have been plagued with financial issues despite a takeover by a consortium led by Dario Berta going through on the eve of the season.

In the past month the situation at the club has worsened, with a mass player exodus, problems with wage payments and their chief operating officer, Claire Bradbury, quitting her role, alleging the club’s ownership suggested she “sleep with someone at the Rugby Football League” to ease their situation.

Salford said they would be “conducting a thorough internal investigation”.

“The club owners also informed us that they’re in the process of arranging a bridging loan to assist in seeing the club through to the end of the season and to enable the club to make progress in clearing debts,” the mayors’ statement continued.

“In light of the bridging loan being pursued, we agreed to work together in hopefully securing an outcome that maintains the club as a going concern.

“We understand how difficult this time is for the club’s fans and loyal supporters and want to assure you, we are doing everything within our power to safeguard the club’s future.”

Last season: Championship winners

Someone has got to buck the growing trend of ‘three up, three straight back down’ from the Championship’s promoted sides, so I am going to say Leeds United will break that glass ceiling.

A club of huge stature, Elland Road will be a bearpit this season and will be a difficult environment for any visiting side. This will hold the key to their survival hopes.

Daniel Farke has a new keeper in Lyon’s Lucas Perri – signed for £15.6m. It may finally be the time Illan Meslier pays the price for too many high-profile errors.

In Dominic Calvert-Lewin – close to signing on a free transfer after leaving Everton – Leeds are acquiring a striker who has proven Premier League pedigree but has been troubled by long injury absences in recent years.

If he can stay fit, Leeds will have a very valuable asset.

Sean Longstaff provides experience and a competitive edge after arriving from Newcastle United, while additions elsewhere have come in the shape of left-back Gabriel Gudmundsson from Lille, centre-back Jaka Bijol from Udinese, and centre-back Sebastiaan Bornauw and forward Lukas Nmecha from Wolfsburg.

It will be tough – but Elland Road may just sway it.

While the loss to Fiji was damaging to Scotland, a loss to Samoa would have been unthinkable. However, Ashman’s early score eased any jitters.

The Australia-bound hooker latched on to a driving maul to put Scotland in the lead after seven minutes, but in those early stages they’d had to stand up to some surging Samoa attack.

But after they landed the first blow, the backline kicked into gear. Stafford McDowall kicked through for Hutchinson to collect with the Northampton man darting over for Scotland’s only central score of the first half.

The next one was much wider, as the impressive Jamie Dobie looped a long miss pass out to the scampering Reed to dot down in the corner.

Five minutes later, they had their fourth. Dobie, Fergus Burke and Rowe all timed passes to perfection, with Steyn cantering in untouched.

They started the second-half in equally clinical fashion. Pounding at the Samoan barricades, the battering ram of Gilchrist eventually broke through to timber over for only his second international score.

Any hope of shutting out the hosts was soon snuffed out as replacement George Horne threw a blind pass on his own five-metre while being bundled into touch. Samoan lock Nee-Nee was on hand to intercept, gleeful at such an opportunity being handed to him.

Scotland responded immediately. From a scrum they went left, then right, then left again. Andy Onyeama-Christie carried hard, as did Matt Fagerson, but it was Burke’s pop-up offload from the deck which gave Rowe the chance to leap into the corner and touch down.

Toulon centre Paia’aua was able to get one back for Samoa, spinning out of the hands of two Scotland tacklers, but Turner got the seventh from the back of a driving maul.

The scoreline could have been far more comfortable, but Burke forgot his kicking boots and could only land one of his four conversion attempts. It was a greasy surface, in fairness to the Scotland newbee.

Great Britain finished fifth overall at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid.

The GB team, captained by discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, finished on 381 points, 3.5 points behind the Netherlands in fourth and three points ahead of sixth-placed Spain.

Sarah Tait, making her international debut, was one of the standout performers on the final day, adding 15 points to GB’s tally with a second-placed finish in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase – just three hundredths of a second behind Finland’s Ilona Mononen.

There were also third-place finishes for Revee Walcott-Nolan in the women’s 1500m and Toby Harries in the men’s 200m.

Bekah Walton, who had surgery on her throwing arm just five months ago, threw 58.63m to finish fourth in the women’s javelin, while Scott Lincoln also finished fourth in the men’s shot put.

Jazmin Sawyers continued her comeback from a 20-month lay-off with an Achilles injury with a sixth-placed finish in the women’s long jump.

In the final event of the night, the 4x400m mixed relay team of Lina Nielsen, Toby Harries, Emily Newnham and Samuel Reardon finished finished third with a time of three minutes 9.6 seconds – the same time as second-placed Italy – to earn GB their final 14 points.

On Friday, 21-year-old Reardon set a championship record and ran a personal best time of 44.60 to win the 400m.

The time places the double Olympic bronze medallist seventh on the all-time list for European under-23s.

Eugene Amo-Dadzie, nicknamed the ‘world’s fastest accountant’, clocked 10.07 as he claimed top spot in the men’s 100m.

Italy successfully defended the crown they won in Poland in 2023.

Rich people suck.

The message was loud and clear when Netflix‘s Korean thriller “Squid Game” arrived in 2021. Imagining wealth and class disparity at the heart of a high-stakes competition, it featured cash-strapped contestants playing a series of children’s games to the death while uber-wealthy spectators bet on their odds of survival. The show’s masked elites watched the carnage from a luxe, concealed spectator box, chomping on cigars and chortling as player after player met a gruesome death. The Korean-language show became the streamer’s most watched series ever.

Comeuppance for the hideously affluent seemed imminent and likely at the hands of protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae). The winner of Season 1’s “Squid Game” deserved vengeance after surviving a series of horrific scenarios — a hopscotch-type match played on a fragile glass bridge above a deadly chasm, a red light-green light contest where players who moved at the wrong time were “eliminated” by machine gun fire. He watched as good people were killed by pink guards, other contestants and their own stupid actions.

But no. The last six “Squid Game” episodes, now streaming on Netflix, did something entirely unsatisfying. They veered from the prospect of timely, eat-the-rich vengeance porn to unflattering commentary about the rest of us, the other 99% who aren’t Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos. What did we ever do to deserve a lethal game of double dutch with two giant mechanical children swinging a 10-ton metal rod in place of a jump rope? A lot, apparently.

“Squid Game” shows that under the right circumstances, regular folks are just as greedy and morally corrupt as the obscenely prosperous, no matter if their money problems stem from unforeseen medical bills, wanton gambling or generational poverty. Press the little guy or gal hard enough and they’re just as ruthless as the mogul that’s suppressing them.

The VIPs in “Squid Game” Season 3, who watch as the contestants trample one another.

(Dong-won Han / NohJu Han / Netflix)

Season 3 picks up exactly where 2 left off. Gi-hun, who’d found his way back in the clandestine gaming complex (situated inside a mountain on a remote island), is Player 456 again among a new round of contestants. He’d planned to infiltrate the operation from inside, staging a coup against the VIPs and Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) who run the games. But now it’s clear he’s failed. He’s cornered by guards, the players who fought alongside him are dead, and he’s thrown back in with the remaining players, many of whom survived because they’re the most craven of the group.

Free and fair elections are at the heart of every democracy, or so “Squid Game” reminds us each time the bedraggled players are asked for their vote regarding the next round: Continue to compete and thin the herd for a larger reward or stop and split their winnings with their fellow contestants? Majority rules, and each time the group opt to sacrifice their lives — and everyone else’s — in pursuit of money. Series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has spoken about his dwindling faith in humanity as it relates to his concerns about South Korea’s democracy, and you’ll hear him loud and clear in Season 3: Voting is power, but look what happens when the population increasingly puts its own self-interest above that of the greater good. It’s a scenario that should be recognizable to Americans by now.

“Squid Game” Season 3 takes that idea to the extreme, and quite fearlessly, Hwang puts the series to bed without punishing the rich. Instead he dares to lay bare a truth that’s become all too apparent of late: Wealth wins over morality and money trumps accountability. Nice guys not only finish last, they wind up pulverized like everyone else below a certain tax bracket, no matter their dedication toward humanity.

The Korean show’s run has ended, but not before a finale that alludes to a Hollywood sequel. The episode, set in Los Angeles, shows a familiar scene. A down-and-out man is approached by a mysterious, well-dressed figure who uses a simple kid’s game to test his want of money against his tolerance for pain and humiliation.

Those who’ve watched “Squid Game” will recognize it as the beginning of Gi-hun’s journey, which ended with a sliver of redemption in an abyss of darkness. The mysterious figure appears to be a recruiter for a new, English-language “Squid Game.” She’s played by an A-list celebrity — Cate Blanchett — operating in a city renowned for its self-involvement and privilege. “Squid Game” has a whole new playing field.

From Jack Harris: Roughly four hours before first pitch Monday night, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and prepared for his biggest game of the season.

First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his prized right arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of hitting gloves and headed toward the cages.

On this day, each piece of equipment was needed.

For the first time in almost two years, the two-way star would be playing both ways again.

In the Dodgers’ 6-3 win against the San Diego Padres on Monday, Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher from a September 2023 Tommy John operation, taking the mound in a Dodgers uniform for the first time as the club’s starter while also continuing to serve as their leadoff hitter in the lineup.

Ohtani’s pitching outing was brief, lasting just one inning and 28 pitches. He yielded one run on two hits (a pair of flare singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez) and a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado. And while he touched 100 mph with his fastball, his form was far from flawless.

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Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter reports to federal prison

Photos: Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani pitches for first time after Tommy John surgery

Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

NBA PLAYOFFS RESULTS

All Times Pacific

NBA FINALS

Oklahoma City vs. Indiana

Indiana 111, at Oklahoma City 110 (box score, story)
at Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107 (box score, story)
at Indiana 116, Oklahoma City 107 (box score, story)
Oklahoma City 111, at Indiana 104 (box score, story)
at Oklahoma City 120, Indiana 109 (box score, story)
Thursday at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Sunday at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC*

*if necessary

ANGELS

Nolan Schanuel hit a run-scoring double in the 11th inning and the Angels beat the Yankees 1-0 on Monday night, extending New York’s losing streak to a season-high four games.

Schanuel’s one-out, opposite-field hit to left off Jonathan Loáisiga (0-1) scored automatic runner Christian Moore, a Brooklyn native who tripled in the eighth for his first major league hit.

Ryan Zeferjahn (4-1) pitched a hitless 10th. After the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs against Brock Burke in the bottom half, Hunter Strickland got Anthony Volpe to bounce into a forceout for his first save this year as the Angels improved to 5-0 in extra innings and dropped the Yankees to 1-5.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

UCLA BASEBALL

UCLA will wake up Tuesday morning with a chance to rally from a two-run deficit.

The Bruins’ winner’s bracket game against Louisiana State on Monday night was suspended until Tuesday at 8 a.m. PDT following a three-hour rain delay — it will resume in the top of the fourth inning with UCLA batting and LSU leading 5-3. The remainder of the game is scheduled to air on ESPN.

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Men’s College World Series schedule

CLUB WORLD CUP

LAFC’s first foray into the FIFA Club World Cup was competitive, but ultimately a defeat.

LAFC hung around against English powerhouse Chelsea at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium and had the match still in striking distance nearly the entire way, but lost 2-0 in its first of three group stage matches.

“Chelsea won, deservingly so,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “I think we kind of clawed our way back into the game; I think we played a little better in the second half and maybe had the odd chance here or there to get the equalizer.”

The first competitive fixture between English and American clubs featured the mostly expected run of play, with Chelsea carrying most of the action and carving out nearly all of the afternoon’s clear-cut scoring opportunities. It was one-way traffic, and Chelsea broke through in the 34th minute when Pedro Neto beat LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at his near post following a quick turn inside around defender Ryan Hollingshead.

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NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

STANLEY CUP FINAL

Edmonton vs. Florida
at Edmonton 4, Florida 3 (OT) (summary, story)
Florida 5, at Edmonton 4 (2 OT) (summary, story)
at Florida 6, Edmonton 1 (summary, story)
Edmonton 5, at Florida 4 (OT) (summary, story)
Florida 5, at Edmonton 2 (summary, story)
Tuesday at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT
Friday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT*

* If necessary

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1954 — Rocky Marciano scores a 15-round unanimous decision over Ezzard Charles at New York to retain the world heavyweight title.

1961 — Gene Littler shoots a 68 in the final round to edge Doug Sanders and Bob Goalby in the U.S. Open.

1962 — Jack Nicklaus beats Arnold Palmer by three strokes in a playoff to win the U.S. Open.

1962 — Brazil beats Czechoslovakia 3-1 in Santiago, Chile to win its second straight FIFA World Cup title. Czechoslovakia scored first on a goal by Josef Masopust at 15 minutes. Two minutes later Amarildo tied the game. In the second half, Zito and Vavá scored goals to give Brazil the victory.

1973 — Johnny Miller shoots a 63 in the final round to win the U.S. Open by one stroke over John Schlee at Oakmont, Pa. Miller’s 8-under 63 is the first ever carded in a major championship.

1976 — The 18-team NBA absorbs four of the six remaining ABA teams: the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets.

1979 — Hale Irwin wins the U.S. Open by two strokes over Gary Player and Jerry Pate.

1989 — The Quebec Nordiques select Swedish center Mats Sundin with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft. He’s the first European player to be taken with the first pick.

1990 — Fifty-year-old Harry Gant becomes the oldest driver to win a NASCAR race as he posts a 2.4-second victory over Rusty Wallace in the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway.

1991 — Payne Stewart escapes with a two-stroke victory over Scott Simpson in the highest-scoring U.S. Open playoff in 64 years.

1992 — Philadelphia 76ers trade Charles Barkley to Phoenix Suns.

1995 — Claude Lemieux snaps a tie at 3:17 of the third period as the New Jersey Devils open the Stanley Cup finals with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. The victory, the ninth on the road, breaks the NHL playoff record for road wins.

2007 — Angel Cabrera holds off Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk by a stroke to capture the U.S. Open. Cabrera shoots a 1-under-par 69 in the final round at brutal Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.

2007 — Kate Ziegler breaks swimming’s oldest world record, shattering the 1,500-meter freestyle mark by 9 1/2 seconds at the TYR Meet of Champions Mission Viejo. Ziegler wins the 30-lap race in 15:42.54, easily erasing Janet Evans’ 1988 mark of 15:52.10 set in Orlando, Fla.

2008 — The Boston Celtics win their 17th NBA title with a stunning 131-92 blowout over the Lakers in Game 6. Kevin Garnett scores 26 points with 14 rebounds, Ray Allen scores 26 and Paul Pierce, the finals MVP, adds 17.

2010 — The Lakers beat Boston for the first time in a Game 7 to repeat as NBA champions. The Lakers win their 16th NBA championship, dramatically rallying from a fourth-quarter 13-point deficit to beat the Celtics 83-79.

2011 — Rory McIlroy becomes the first player in the 111-year history of the U.S. Open to reach 13-under par, and despite a double bogey into the water on the final hole, his 5-under 66 is enough set the 36-hole scoring record at 131.

2012 — Webb Simpson wins the U.S. Open outlasting former U.S. Open champions Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell.

2018 — Brooks Koepka wins a second consecutive U.S. Open, the first player to do so since Curtis Strange in 1989.

2024 — Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks 106-88 in Game 5 to clinch the club’s record 18th NBA Championship. Boston forward Jaylen Brown voted Finals MVP.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1915 — George “Zip” Zabel of the Chicago Cubs was called into the game against the Brooklyn Dodgers with two out in the first inning. He won 4-3 in the 19th inning in the longest relief effort in the majors.

1943 — Player-manager Joe Cronin of the Boston Red Sox hit a three-run pinch homer in both games of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A’s. The Red Sox won the opener 5-4 and lost the second game 8-7.

1960 — Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox connected for his 500th career home run off the Cleveland Indians. Williams, the fourth to accomplish the feat, hit a two-run homer off Wynn Hawkins in a 3-1 win.

1971 — Don Kessinger of the Chicago Cubs went 6-for-6, with five singles and a double, in a 7-6, 10-inning decision over the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field.

1978 — Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees struck out 18 California Angels to set an American League record for left-handers. Guidry, who struck out 15 in the first six innings, ended with a 4-0 four-hitter.

1993 — Baseball owners voted 26-2 in favor of expanding the playoffs for the first time in 25 years, doubling the teams that qualify to eight starting in 1994.

2007 — Brandon Watson extended his hitting streak to 43 games, breaking a 95-year-old International League record with a base hit in the Columbus Clippers’ 9-8 loss to the Ottawa Lynx. Jack Lelivelt set the IL record for the Rochester Hustlers in 1912.

2007 — Frank Thomas hit his record-breaking 244th homer as a designated hitter in Toronto’s 4-2 loss to Washington. The solo shot in the third inning moved Thomas past Edgar Martinez for the most homers by a DH.

2009 — Ivan Rodriguez catches the 2,227th game of his career, breaking Carlton Fisk’s record, in Houston’s 5-4, 10-inning loss to his former team, the Texas Rangers. For Texas, Omar Vizquel, the all-time leader for games played at shortstop, picks up his 2,677th hit, tying Luis Aparicio for most hits by a Venezuelan player.

2008 — Seattle’s Felix Hernandez struck out the side on nine pitches in the fourth inning of a 5-4 win over Florida, becoming the 13th pitcher in American League history to accomplish the feat.

2016 — Michaeal Saunders leads the Toronto Blue Jays to a 13-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles with three home runs and 8 RBIs.

2021 — The Arizona Diamondback set a new all-time mark with their 23rd consecutive road loss losing to the Giants 10-3.

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 [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

EUGENE, Ore. — Buoyed by top performances in the hammer throw, high jump and 400 meters, the Georgia women’s track and field squad distanced itself from the opposition and cruised to its first outdoor national championship in team history.

Georgia lapped the field with 73 points ahead of runners-up USC (47) and third place Texas A&M (43). Fourth-year Bulldogs coach Caryl Smith Gilbert also won national titles at USC in 2018 and 2021.

Samirah Moody won the 100-meter dash and Madison Whyte and Dajaz DeFrand went 2-3 in the 200 to lead USC.

USC placed first in the 4×100 relay with a time of 42.22 seconds.

In the 100, Moody took first with a time of 11.14 seconds while teammates DeFrand and Brianna Selby finished seventh and eighth, respectively. In the 200, Whyte, a sophomore who also anchored the 4×400 team, clocked in at 22.23 while DeFrand, a junior, finished at 22.39.

Olympic gold medalist Aaliyah Butler and Dejanea Oakley of Georgia took the first two spots in the 400 meters with Butler posting a 49.26 and Oakley a 49.65. Butler’s time was the fifth best all-time for a collegian and Oakley was eighth.

The Bulldogs expanded their lead when Elena Kulichenko won the high jump for the second straight year after tying for the title last year. The Odessa, Russia, native won with a jump of 6 feet, 5 inches.

Michelle Smith, a freshman, finished third in the 400 meter hurdles at 55.20 to clinch the team title. Skylynn Townsend took sixth in the triple jump at 44-4¼.

Georgia ended the night by finishing first in the 4×400-meter relay with Butler taking the lead in the final leg with a winning time of 3:23.62. The Trojans posted a third-place finish in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:26.01. UCLA’s team finished seventh at 3:31.14.

The Bulldogs entered Saturday competition in the lead with 26 points after Stephanie Ratcliffe won the hammer throw on Thursday with a nation-leading distance of 234 feet, 2 inches.

Washington and USC shared the lead earlier Saturday night after Washington’s Sophie O’Sullivan won the 1,500 meters and Moody took the 100, but Georgia got 18 points from Butler and Oakley and never looked back.

Georgia also got points in the javelin with a second-place finish from freshman Manuela Rotundo and a fourth-place finish from Lianna Davidson. Senior Keslie Murrell-Ross finished sixth in the shot put.

Reporting from Washington — For President Trump, chants and signs saying “Build the wall” are so 2016 — “Finish the wall” is his new rallying cry. Yet two years into his term, not one new mile of a barrier has been erected along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

At a rally in El Paso on Monday night, Trump went so far as to declare that nearby, just that day, “the big beautiful wall right on the Rio Grande” had gotten underway. In fact, some brush was cleared in anticipation of construction, according to a check with the Homeland Security Department.

If and when a 25-mile physical barrier ultimately is built there, it will represent the first new miles of border barriers since Trump took office. That is the reality that the president — a businessman and self-proclaimed construction expert elected in part on his promise to build a massive border wall — is increasingly attempting to obscure as he looks to reelection.

Even as the president has failed to get the funding he wants for a wall, despite two years with a Republican-controlled Congress, he has shifted to declaring victory and claiming credit for the 654 miles of fencing constructed under his predecessors — the same former presidents he often criticizes for their border policies, as he did Tuesday by derisively referring to “our past geniuses.”

Trump himself directed campaign officials that “Finish the wall” was to be the theme of the El Paso rally, according to a person familiar with the planning. With the slogan on red and blue banners hanging from the rafters, and on signs distributed to the crowd, when supporters chanted the usual “Build the wall,” Trump corrected them: “You mean finish the wall.”

The president’s attempted sleight of hand on his signature issue comes amid both deepening resignation in his circle that Democrats in Congress are not going to support significant increases in wall funding and concern about disappointing his core supporters.

“The point is this wall will not be built without Donald Trump in office in 2021 and beyond,” said Raj Shah, a former White House deputy press secretary.

Even after a record five-week partial government shutdown provoked by Trump’s funding demand, and current efforts by lawmakers to avoid another impasse, Congress will not be approving anywhere close to the $5.7 billion he’s been demanding to finance 230 miles of new wall. Instead, tentative plans in Congress call for less than a quarter of that — $1.375 billion for 55 miles of barrier.

“Am I happy? The answer is no, I’m not. I’m not happy,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. Claiming that he is “adding to” the emerging compromise, Trump did not say if he would sign off on the deal. He did say he does not expect another shutdown, which would occur if he doesn’t sign a spending bill for about a quarter of the government by midnight Friday.

Administration officials have been looking to redirect existing funds to his wall project. In his remarks to reporters during a Cabinet meeting, the president sought to reassure supporters that he’ll fulfill his promise regardless of what Congress does.

“It’s very simple: We’re building a wall and now I say we’re finishing a wall,” he said, repeating the false claim.

A campaign official, who asked to remain unidentified for speaking on the sensitive topic, argued that there is nothing contradictory in the president simultaneously claiming the wall is being finished and complaining that Congress won’t fund it.

“You can be at Mile 2 of a [26.2-mile] marathon and still say, ‘We’re going to finish,’” the person said. “And we are at Mile 2, not Mile 24. But we’ve erected some barricades, so it’s not nothing.”

The president, according to the official, “is just reassuring his voters because he knows he’s likely going to end up accepting a deal” that’s less than he sought.

Much of the work that Trump is touting consists of strengthening or restoring the existing 654 miles of pedestrian and vehicle barriers largely built or funded under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, according to the Government Accountability Office.

From 2007 to 2015, the Customs and Border Protection agency spent about $2.3 billion to increase barriers on the border from 119 miles to the current 654 miles, with almost all of the work done on land, much of it federally owned, in California, Arizona and New Mexico. East of El Paso, much of the land along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas — the least-fenced area — is privately owned.

So far under Trump, Congress has approved nearly $1 billion to replace more than 50 miles of fencing in California, New Mexico and Texas, the GAO reported.

Several of these renovation projects, in what are known as the El Paso and El Centro sectors, were completed in October. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen boasted that the latter was the completion of the “first section” of Trump’s border wall. More replacement construction is underway, due to wrap up this spring.

More than $640 million of the funds Congress provided last year is for 25 miles of fencing along levees in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley as well as areas in the sector “to be determined.” That is the only new construction approved under Trump so far.

Carlos A. Diaz, a CBP spokesman, said the fiscal 2018 budget, which covered spending through September last year, included roughly three dozen new miles of a levee and border wall system in the Rio Grande Valley. Construction on the first 14 miles of the levee system is to begin this month.

The Homeland Security Department planned to spend billions to meet Trump’s executive orders for his border wall despite lacking key information on cost, acquisition and technology issues — risking that a wall would “cost more than projected, take longer than planned or not fully perform as expected,” the GAO concluded in August. Cost estimates have ranged from $20 billion to more than $70 billion.

For fiscal year 2019, through Oct. 1, the White House initially requested $1.6 billion for a wall system along 65 miles in the Rio Grande Valley. Now, after a shutdown estimated to have cost the U.S. economy $11 billion, the spending agreement reached Monday night would give Trump about $200 million and 10 miles less than what he stood to get before he upped his demand to nearly $6 billion late last year.

In his struggle to win Congress’ buy-in, Trump has significantly redefined what, exactly, his wall would be. He campaigned for a “big, beautiful wall” that he’s since variably said would be precast or plank concrete, steel slats, see-through, human, “matte black,” too tall to climb over, too deep to tunnel under, to be paid for by Mexico or paid for inexplicably by the benefits of a revised trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.

Trump’s former chief of staff and Homeland Security secretary, John F. Kelly, told The Times late last year: “To be honest, it’s not a wall.”

“Now he’s tended toward steel slats,” Kelly said. “But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration, when we asked people what they needed and where they needed it.”

The Trump administration awarded more than $3 million for the construction and design of eight border wall prototypes — four of reinforced concrete and two that could be seen through.

Congress’ tentative spending agreement would restrict CBP to using currently deployed designs for the new border barrier, including steel slats or bollard fencing. But it remains unclear whether the House and Senate will approve the compromise, or whether Trump will sign it if they do.

Key Trump supporters, led by Fox News host Sean Hannity, bashed the agreement as soon as it was announced for backing off the president’s $5.7-billion demand. Some liberal Democrats are likely to oppose any new funding for a border fence and complain that negotiators dropped a proposed cap on how many immigrants Trump can detain.

Still, Trump insisted Tuesday: “We’re getting a beautiful-looking structure that’s also less expensive to build and works much better.”

“I never kid about construction,” he added. “I love construction.”

The latest from Washington »

It was a statement, a reminder and a warning all wrapped into one.

The Dodgers might not have been playing their best baseball entering this weekend’s World Series rematch against the New York Yankees.

But in a ceaseless offensive onslaught in the opening two innings on Saturday, things seemed to suddenly, profoundly and perhaps permanently change.

The Dodgers didn’t just beat the Yankees in a nationally televised late-afternoon contest to clinch a weekend series win at Dodger Stadium. They executed a slaughter in broad daylight. Four runs scored in the first inning. Six more came around in the second. And by the end, their 18-2 victory did more than set up the chance for a sweep in Sunday’s series finale.

It sent a shot across the bow to the rest of the baseball world, signifying that for all the Dodgers’ shortcomings of late, they might finally be clicking into top gear.

Granted, the Dodgers haven’t exactly been struggling to hit the ball. Entering Saturday, they were second in the majors in runs scored, second in OPS and first in batting average. They had been getting monster production from Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith. And, largely on the strength of their lineup, they were leading the National League West, still on a near 100-win pace in their pursuit of a second consecutive World Series title.

Still, over much of the last month, it had felt as if something was missing.

The team’s injury-ravaged pitching staff had put a strain on their recent play, leading to an 11-12 slide entering this weekend’s marquee Yankees matchup.

And their offense was picking up only so much of the slack, weighed down by early slumps from Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Michael Conforto, as well as inconsistent performances from other bottom-half hitters.

Michael Conforto, left, celebrates with Hyeseong Kim after scoring on an RBI double by Tommy Edman in the second inning Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

It led to a malaise epitomized by a lack of signature moments. Not since knocking off the Detroit Tigers at the start of the regular season had the Dodgers won a series against a legitimate title contender. They were just 10-9 overall against opponents with winning records.

Manager Dave Roberts downplayed that notion Friday.

“We know that we have a good ballclub, and I don’t think that us not winning series against X amount of teams with winning records is an indictment on our ballclub,” he said. “I don’t think we’re thinking too much about that.”

Then again, with the Yankees coming to town as winners of 16 of their previous 20 games, this still felt like something of a litmus test — even if Betts was out with a fractured toe and the pitching staff remained far less than full strength.

“We try to win each and every game, of course,” Ohtani said in Japanese on Friday night, “but I think it’s a special atmosphere.”

Two games in, it has produced a couple of special results.

After coming from behind to steal Friday night’s opener, the Dodgers (36-22) wasted no time Saturday putting their foot firmly on the Yankees’ neck.

In the bottom of the first, Ohtani, Freeman, Smith and Muncy all singled within the first five at-bats against rookie Yankees starter Will Warren, scoring two runs. Conforto later added a sacrifice fly, before Tommy Edman hit a hard ground ball that got past third baseman (and former Dodgers farmhand) Jorbit Vivas for a run-scoring double, punctuating an inning in which the Dodgers batted around.

In the second, the Dodgers sent all nine batters to the plate again. After walks from Hernández and Freeman, Muncy hit a three-run homer to right, chasing Warren from the game with his 200th career long ball. Edman doubled home another run with two outs. Then Hyeseong Kim got the Dodgers to double digits, hitting his second home run of the season

Max Muncy hits a three-run home run in the second inning for the Dodgers on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

By the time the Yankees (35-22) recorded their first hit on Austin Wells’ leadoff single in the third, it was already 10-0.

As starting pitcher Landon Knack cruised through six strong innings with the big lead — he gave up his lone run on a fourth-inning solo blast from Aaron Judge, his first of two long balls on the day — the Dodgers kept adding on.

In the fifth, Freeman plated a run with his 525th career double, tying Willie Mays and Ted Williams for 46th most all-time.

Then, Muncy went deep again, continuing his recent surge by belting another three-run homer high off the right-field foul pole, tying a career-high with seven RBIs on the day.

Over his last 19 games, Muncy is now batting .300 with five home runs, 24 RBIs and a .991 OPS.

And he isn’t the only Dodgers hitter heating up. Edman snapped a recent cold streak with three hits. Kim also had three hits, plus two stellar defensive plays: doubling off a runner at second base with a diving effort from shortstop in the third inning, then throwing out Judge at second with a perfect throw from deep center after shifting to the outfield. Andy Pages maintained his strong form with a solo home run in the seventh. Dalton Rushing hit his first career home run in the eighth.

The Dodgers’ biggest stars, meanwhile, have continued to dominate.

Ohtani, coming off his second live batting practice as a pitcher before the game (he threw 29 pitches over two simulated innings), had two hits, moving his OPS to 1.062.

In the National League, only Freeman has a better mark in that category, finishing Saturday at 1.078 (to go along with his NL-leading .374 batting average) after his own two-hit showing.

Couple all that with the impending returns of pitchers such as Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates and Blake Treinen — all of whom could be back within the next month or two, and in some cases sooner — and the Dodgers are starting to look more like the juggernaut they were supposed to be all along.

Tuesday didn’t start as a game the Dodgers necessarily had to win.

But, by the time extra innings arrived on a nervy night at Dodger Stadium, the team was in a situation where they simply couldn’t afford to lose.

Not after entering the day with four consecutive losses, a season-long skid caused primarily by a banged-up pitching staff. Not after Yoshinobu Yamamoto looked like an ace, a stopper and a Cy Young candidate all wrapped in one, spinning seven scoreless innings in a nine-strikeout gem. And certainly not with his brilliance in danger of being wasted after closer Tanner Scott blew a one-run lead in the top of the ninth inning before yielding a two-run blast in the top of the 10th.

“I don’t know if it was a must-win,” manager Dave Roberts said, sidestepping such superlatives with the season still only two months old. “But certainly given Yoshi’s outing, you don’t wanna waste that … You just can’t lose on nights that Yamamoto throws [that well].”

Somehow, in a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers didn’t; flipping the script, changing the narrative and snapping their losing streak with the most dramatic of endings.

Down by two runs entering the bottom of the 10th, the Dodgers immediately cut the deficit in half with a leadoff RBI double from Tommy Edman. Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked, Mookie Betts advanced Edman with a fly ball, Ohtani stole second, and Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked with first base open. With the bases loaded, Will Smith got plunked by former Dodgers reliever Shelby Miller to force home the tying score. And then, finally, Max Muncy walked it off with a sacrifice fly to deep center, easily scoring Ohtani from third for a victory that felt both hard-earned and hardly deserved.

“I think it showed a lot out of us,” Muncy said afterward, standing in a celebratory clubhouse after what could prove to be a pivotal point in the season.

“We got punched in the mouth, and for us to punch right back, I think that was really big out of the group, out of the guys,” Muncy added. “Everyone not giving up, not hanging their head — we still had a chance to win the game. And guys went out there and did it.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto reacts after striking out Arizona’s Pavin Smith to retire end the seventh inning.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Winning, of course, should have been a much simpler task for the Dodgers (30-19) on Tuesday night.

Yamamoto was spectacular, giving up no hits through his first six innings, stranding runners on the corners to complete his night in the seventh, and providing the Dodgers with the kind of outing that has been missing from their rotation amid a wave of crippling injuries over the last several weeks.

“Yoshi was fantastic,” Roberts said. “We needed every bit of it.”

An equally banged-up bullpen avoided disaster in the eighth, when Alex Vesia and Ben Casparius combined to work through a bases-loaded jam that preserved a narrow 1-0 lead.

“We just kept fighting,” Smith said. “That [was a] big shutdown inning.”

But all along, the Dodgers failed to open any cushion to fall back on late. Their only early scoring was courtesy of back-to-back two-out doubles from Freeman and Smith in the bottom of the fourth. In the seventh and eighth, they squandered opportunities for insurance, stranding a leadoff single from Muncy and a one-out double from Ohtani.

That meant, when Scott caught too much plate with an up-and-in fastball to Gabriel Moreno in the ninth, all it took was one swing to change the game, Moreno skying a solo blast that carried just far enough down the left field line.

“Just left it too much on the plate,” said Scott, who blew his third save in 12 opportunities.

Freddie Freeman scores on a double by Will Smith in the fourth inning.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

After the Dodgers came up empty again in the ninth — Kiké Hernández struck out in what started as a 3-and-0 count with two runners aboard — Scott made the same mistake to Corbin Carroll in the 10th, serving up a belt-high fastball the undersized slugger whacked the other way for a two-run blast.

“You sit there in the [10th] inning, you’re down two runs, and your bullpen is completely taxed,” Roberts said, “those [kind of losses] really sting.”

Instead, the Dodgers rallied, with Anthony Banda limiting any further damage in the top of the 10th before the lineup rallied in the bottom half.

“It’s a big swing,” Roberts said. “To get a win tonight, I’m gonna sleep a lot better.”

Without Yamamoto, none of it would have been possible.

After giving up eight runs over 11 combined innings in his previous two starts, every part of the 26-year-old right-hander’s stuff played up on Tuesday night. His fastball averaged 96 mph. His curveball induced one helpless swing from the Diamondbacks (26-23) after another. And until Ketel Marte singled on a line drive off the wall to lead off the seventh, it was starting to seem like an elevated pitch count (Yamamoto began that inning with 90 pitches, and finished his outing with an MLB career high of 110) might be the only thing standing between him and a pursuit of a nine-inning no-no.

“I thought he was going to go the distance tonight,” Muncy said of Yamamoto, who dropped his ERA to 1.86 with his third career MLB start of seven scoreless frames. “I thought he had the stuff to get the no-hitter.”

That’s why, when the game started to spiral out of control later, and their losing streak seemed primed to continue in the most painful way possible, the Dodgers entered the 10th inning knowing they needed to respond, and wary of the repercussions that would have accompanied such a crushing, wasteful loss.

“They [tied it] and then flipped the game, but we came back,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter afterward, his no-decision not feeling so bad after what transpired in the bottom of the 10th.

“A win like this is great,” he added.

Echoed Roberts: “We just put some at-bats together, man. And it was much needed.”