Remains

DETROIT — Shohei Ohtani is not feeling “100%,” manager Dave Roberts revealed before the Dodgers game against the Tigers on Saturday. And that will be at the center of the team’s conversation about whether to start him Sunday.

It would be Ohtani’s first pitching start since July 3. He’s been just serving as the designated hitter in the meantime, while managing lingering inflammation and soreness in his left knee, primarily aggravated by pitching. But it’s not just his knee that’s ailing him, Roberts said after talking to the Dodgers training staff. His biceps issue from earlier in the year is part of the concern as well.

Ohtani threw a 20-pitch bullpen — shorter than his customary between-starts session — on Friday to tentatively set him up to throw the first inning Sunday.

“The knee, the body, just throwing, pitching, not 100%,” Roberts said. “What percent it is, I don’t know the answer.”

Roberts said he wanted to have clarity after the game Saturday, so he could notify Tigers manager A.J. Hinch and right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who is set to pitch Sunday either way. If Ohtani pitches Sunday, it would be opening for Glasnow.

“I’m not going to ambush those guys, and I’m not going to ambush Glas,” Roberts said. “So I think I would say that after the game, we’ll know definitively.”

If Ohtani doesn’t pitch Sunday, Tuesday, likely before left-hander Eric Lauer, could in theory be an option. But if Ohtani doesn’t feel good enough to start Sunday, two extra days of rest probably aren’t to resolve the issue, making a longer leadup more likely.

“We’re still thinking about potentially the buildup and what that would mean, which is fair,” Roberts said. “But at the end of the day, it’s what’s best for Shohei, what’s best for us, what makes the most sense. That’s kind of where we’re at.”

The longer it takes for Ohtani to return to the mound, the fewer starts he’ll have to build up before the postseason.

“I wouldn’t bet against Shohei,” Roberts said. “But I still think that five innings to the end of the season is aggressive for anyone.”

Though Roberts said the question is more “when,” rather than “if,” Ohtani will return to the mound, the fact that Ohtani’s knee issue (and apparently biceps as well) has not yet resolved calls into question whether it makes sense for him to resume two-way duties this late in the year.

“To be quite frank, I just don’t see everything getting to 100% by the end of the season,” Roberts said. “But there’s a lot of pitchers that are not 100% and still viable. So again, it’s just not an exact science.”

If that holds true, the concern is twofold: both how Ohtani’s health could affect his performance on the mound and at the plate.

“Obviously, where we’re at right now with the pitching, the starting pitching certainly being a strength, his value offensively is hugely important, and so we can’t compromise that in any fashion,” Roberts said. “So, if throwing potentially cuts into that, that’s not worth the squeeze. So that’s something, for me, I’m very bullish on making sure we don’t compromise the hitting.”

Ohtani entered Saturday with a .218 batting average since Aug. 8, when he resumed playing catch. But Roberts pushed back on the impulse to draw a line between Ohtani’s recent offensive dip and his side work on the pitching side.

“It just hasn’t been a whole body of work on the throwing side,” Roberts said. “Honestly, for me, I think the pitch selection hasn’t been good.”

Regardless of Ohtani’s status for Sunday, the superstar’s feedback will continue to play a large role in the Dodgers’ decision-making.

“I think that as the competitor, he wants to do both, and I respect it,” Roberts said. “But nothing I’m saying changes his identity as a two-way player.

“I think in the moment, he still feels that there’s still an opportunity, and I’m not trying to say there isn’t. But I do think that at the end of the day, he’s very aware of our roster, strengths, weaknesses, and his value to the ball club, and whatever that means.”

Trump says all mines have been cleared from Strait of Hormuz’s international waters and that Tehran received warnings that ships laying new mines will be ‘destroyed’.

It would be great if “The Hangover” screenwriters-turned-directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore would leave moms well enough alone. After the one-two punch of 2016’s “Bad Moms” and 2017’s “A Bad Moms Christmas” (both bad comedies), they’ve returned with “Spa Weekend,” which isn’t about bad moms but good moms who could stand to be a little bad.

If you’re not sure how much misbehavior a few friends can get up to at a luxury resort spa, you haven’t met Isla Fisher’s Mel. Yes, “Spa Weekend” is a plate of reheated “Wedding Crashers” nachos, because no one stirs up cheerful chaos like the spirited Fisher. Her Mel brings a delightfully vulgar joie de vivre into the over-scheduled lives of her lifelong friends: workaholic lawyer Jane (Leslie Mann), bitter divorceé Coco (Michelle Buteau) and people-pleasing pushover Sophie (Anna Faris).

“Spa Weekend” is built around the same fearsome foursome ethos as shows like “Sex and the City” and “Girls,” with several different character types and lots of available friction between them. More recently, golden-years comedies like “Book Club,” “80 for Brady” and way too many movies starring the late Diane Keaton have sent friend groups on journeys that have them reevaluating relationships and life goals. Romantic, criminal and naughty hijinks ensue and bonds are tested — and ultimately reinforced. Roll the blooper reel.

Mel might be a disaster with her loud mouth and impolite antics, but her over-the-top meddling does her buddies some good. She helps uptight Jane hook up with a hunky yoga instructor (Adam Demos), gets Sophie fired from her toxic job and lures Coco’s ex-husband Roger (Dominic Ona-Ariki) to the resort for a little reconciliation. Her friends are furious, but while they might not get what they want (relaxation), they get what they need (liberation). All it took was some coke and strippers (Lucas and Moore have a bizarre fixation on moms and male strippers).

You know what? Fine. It’s true that working moms often put themselves last and “Spa Weekend” is an argument for them to come first. It’s a film about embracing the craziest friends because they bring excitement to an otherwise boring and overscheduled life. All of these things are true. They’re just executed here with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. In case we didn’t get it, these themes and lessons are spoken out loud by Jane in big declarative speeches.

One of the most distracting things about “Spa Weekend” is its uncanny geography. It’s set in Los Angeles but the cafés and shops are obviously not local and the worst, most dated stock L.A. traffic footage can’t cover that up.

They drive what seems to be about 45 minutes to the resort, through wooded forests on windy roads, and arrive in a tropical location overlooking miles of white sandy beach. At one point, Jane claims they’re 100 miles away from home. Ain’t no way this is Encinitas. Nothing about it makes sense until the credits roll and you learn the film was shot entirely in Queensland, Australia. But if one’s thinking about the geography that much, it means the story isn’t all that compelling.

Call it nitpicking but it’s indicative of how much care and craft — or how little — goes into a movie like this, aimed at female audiences. Much like the “Bad Moms” movies, “Spa Weekend” isn’t insightful, isn’t interesting and isn’t funny. It’s condescending and hacky and the humor always aims for the lowest common denominator. Please don’t expect me to laugh at the goats from goat yoga rampaging through a hotel lobby or a high-speed golf cart chase. Guess what? Mel has brought a suitcase full of dildos.

Worse than tired gags, we don’t get a sense of who these women really are in relationship to themselves or other women. We only know them through the prism of men: Jane lusts after Yoga Dude, Coco rages at Roger, Sophie is bullied by her boss. We know nothing about them outside of their superficial signifiers.

That’s why Fisher’s Mel feels so radical. She might be a grifter and a liar (a vastly underexplored subplot) but she has fully decentered men — so hard that no rule of polite society can hold her. If that’s a disaster, sign me up. But please don’t let Lucas and Moore make more comedies for women. They can stick to the frat houses and bachelor parties they’re used to.

Aug. 20 (UPI) — The percentage of Americans who say they consume alcohol remains at record-low levels, according to a new survey by Gallup.

Some 54% of adults surveyed last month said they drink alcohol – the same as last year – and the lowest mark since the analytics firm started surveying Americans on the topic in 1939.

“We saw a significant decline in people’s use of alcohol last year, but whether that was a one-time reaction or a trend, we had to wait and see,” Gallup Director of U.S. Social Research Lydia Saad told Time. “This year’s result tells us that whatever is happening out there is a sustained change. Drinking has gone down across all age groups.”

The percentage of drinks began falling in 2022, when it was at 67%. In the mid-1970s, it was 71%.

A record low 13% said they drink too much sometimes. According to Gallup, the “decline in drinking since 2023 is evident across most demographic groups.”

They survey showed that the percentage of Republicans and independents said they drank has dropped more than 10%. Meanwhile, Democrats saw a 1% decline. Some 63% of Democrats said they drink, compared with 53% of Republicans and half of independents.

Increased public awareness of the risks of alcohol use may be a cause of Americans drinking less, the results of the poll indicated. Just over half of Americans this year said alcohol is “bad for health,” up from 26% in 2016.

This year, 86% of those surveyed said they were aware of recent studies on alcohol’s long-term effects, up from 79% two years ago.

“The decline in alcohol use coincides with a sharp increase in concern about the health risks of drinking,” Saad told Time.

U.S. shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps surged in June, although slower growth for the first half of the year suggested the monthly increase followed uneven demand earlier in 2026.

Manufacturers shipped a combined 1.02 million central