woes

England’s 175 was some way short of the 244 average first-innings total in ODIs at Hamilton.

Indeed it was over a hundred runs adrift of the average winning score – 287 – when batting first at the ground.

Given so few runs to play with, England’s bowlers needed to marry incisiveness with control.

Archer brought them both during 10 overs of top-class fast bowling across two spells as he put down a marker in his first outing of the winter.

The 30-year-old set the tone early with a full delivery in his first over that had Young trapped plumb in front.

New Zealand’s batters were then hopping about the crease, as Archer showed his teeth with some rasping short balls.

Archer’s pace was up there as well. He averaged 87.4mph across his two spells with his fastest delivery of the day clocked at 90.2mph.

The Barbados-born quick bowler’s two other wickets owed a little more to fortune – Ravindra hooking him to Adil Rashid in the deep and Bracewell feathering one off his pads into the gloves of wicketkeeper Jos Buttler.

Yet they had been earned by spells of pressure. Archer’s 51 dot balls were the most he has bowled in an ODI when he has sent down 10 overs.

Archer’s injury problems and careful management over the past few years have been well documented.

But the fact he seems willing to throw himself about in the field – diving to stop balls on the boundary at fine leg – shows there are no scars.

There will be no holding back this winter.

England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes will have excitedly taken note. So too, with a little more trepidation, will Australia.

KATIE Price showed off some worrying bumps on her forehead after revealing concerns about her health and weight loss.

The 47-year-old mum-of-five took to Snapchat to share a close-up selfie of her forehead where she pointed to the series of “humps” that protruded from her skin.

“I’ve got HUMPS on my forehead,” Katie captioned the post.

The selfie, which she also shared to her Instagram Stories, showed several bumps from her eyebrows up to the middle part of her forehead, with the biggest bump in the centre.

On her Snapchat, Katie posted a video of her ‘before’ getting the botox, where there was a number of black marker dots on her forehead, presumably injection points for the botox.

“I’ve gone from this,” she said in the first video and it quickly changed to the next Snapchat where she spoke about the bumps on her skin.

CASH BID

Katie Price’s ex Kieran selling off old clothes after charge for ‘raping girl, 13’

PRICEY SECRETS

Katie Price reveals she snogged EMINEM and two more A-list Hollywood stars

“At the moment, it looks like I’ve got humps on my face, my ‘lovely lady lumps’,” Katie said referring to the Black Eyed Peas song, My Humps, which she had playing over the video.

Bumps are a common reaction to Botox and could occur because of a reaction to the needle or allergic reaction to the Botox itself.

It comes weeks after she started going to the doctors over her unexplained weight loss and months after undergoing a £10,000 facelift in August.

Katie revealed she was in hospital last month after drastically losing weight over the past 12 months.

The Celebrity Big Brother winner told her fans on Snapchat at the time: “I’ve been up early at the doctors so she could do some bloods and because my veins are so s*** they had three attempts.

“They could only fill two tubes up, so I’ve got to go back in two weeks.

“And I’ve got to have my stitches out then because they looked at my little stab wound that I did.”

Her boyfriend, JJ Slater, worried that Katie might be running herself into the ground.

 MAFS alum JJ, 32,  was “terrified of her [Katie] losing any more weight,” according to a source published in the Daily Mail.

“It’s not an easy thing to sit back and watch your partner running themselves into the ground health-wise.”

They added this concern was a consensus among the star’s wider family and said: “JJ and Katie’s family think she is putting way too much pressure on herself.

“She’s been constantly on the move with tour shows, but isn’t right mentally or physically – something she knows deep down.”

Katie’s health woes come amid more personal drama as her ex-husband Kieran Hayler was charged with raping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

The former stripper will appear at Crawley Magistrates Court on November 19.

COOL OFF

I’ve been to over 50 countries – here are my cheap winter sun hols with £11 hotels

UNMASKED

Chilling unheard tapes reveal how cops tore apart smirking serial killer Ted Bundy

Hayler, 38, has been charged with three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl and is under police investigation.

The alleged offences occurred between June and October in 2016, when Katie was still married to Hayler.

TORONTO — Yes, blame the bullpen. Not gonna even try to persuade you otherwise.

But, for the Dodgers, the blame for the disaster that was Game 1 of the World Series should not all fall upon the bullpen.

A star-studded lineup that sputtered through the previous two rounds of the playoffs sputtered again here Friday, this time without the cover of outstanding starting pitching.

In their past nine games — the division series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the league championship series against the Milwaukee Brewers, and the World Series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays — the Dodgers are batting .219.

The Dodgers had seven hits in their NLCS opener, when Blake Snell threw eight shutout innings. He picked up the offense.

They had six hits in the World Series opener, when Snell gave up five runs in five-plus innings, and they could not pick him up.

The Blue Jays scored 11 runs. The Dodgers led the National League in runs during the regular season, but even then they have scored at least 11 runs just three times since the All-Star break. The Blue Jays have done it three times in this postseason alone.

“You can make it something if you want to make it something,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “We’re more than capable of scoring 10, 11 in a game. It’s just hard to do in the postseason.

“Obviously, they just did it. They’ve been doing it the whole time, so it may not be hard for them. For us, we haven’t done it. But we’ll find out ways to win games.”

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts reacts during an at-bat in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

They had better find it soon. The Blue Jays are averaging seven runs per game in the postseason. The Dodgers have not scored seven runs in any game in the NLDS, NLCS or World Series.

“You look back at the last couple of weeks, there’s some pivotal at-bats that can flip games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “At times, I think that the offense looks great as far as building innings, but there’s some key at-bats that you got to win pitches and use the other side of the field, get a hit, take a walk, whatever it might be.

“I think that we can be better. We need to be better.”

The Dodgers had three hits in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position, which sounds pretty good until you realize all seven of those at-bats came in the second and third innings.

In the third inning, three of their final four batters hit with a runner in scoring position, and they scored once. But the second inning was worse: they had the bases loaded with one out for three successive batters, and again they scored once.

“We’ve got to cash in in that situation, especially against a team like that that’s swinging it really well,” Betts said. “I feel like that was a big point in the game that really changed things.

“That really changed the game.”

The Dodgers struck out 13 times, the Blue Jays four. The Jays ran their high-contact, low-strikeout offense to perfection Friday. The Dodgers led the NL in home runs this season, and they hit 50 more than Toronto, but they hit only one home run Friday: a two-run shot from Shohei Ohtani, with the team down by nine runs.

The Blue Jays’ starting pitcher for Game 2, Kevin Gausman, has a long memory. On Friday, he thought back to Oct. 14, 2021.

That was the day the Dodgers eliminated the 107-win San Francisco Giants in the NLDS. Gausman, working in relief, was the final pitcher for the Giants. Max Scherzer, also working in Toronto now, was the final pitcher for the Dodgers.

The final pitch of the game: a highly debated third strike to Wilmer Flores.

“I still think about the check swing on Wilmer Flores,” Gausman said. “I don’t think it was a swing, but, you know, that’s kind of water under the bridge.”

Four years later, Gausman hasn’t forgotten. Thing is, just because the Dodgers count on getting to the World Series every year does not mean they will. If the team with three Hall of Famers atop their lineup doesn’t get its bats rolling, the Dodgers might not forget this for years to come.

The NCAA picked a hell of a week to get into the gambling business, didn’t it?

Within 24 hours of approving a rule change that will allow student athletes and athletic department staff to bet only on professional sports, the FBI arrested more than 30 people in connection with a major sports gambling and betting scheme. The level of sophistication alleged in one 22-page indictment reads like an “Ocean’s Eleven” script with four New York Mafia families, a current NBA player and a head coach all allegedly involved.

For Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, the news and arrests are a public relations nightmare.

But for the NCAA, it’s a warning.

Since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling paved the way for sports betting, more than 35 states have legalized it, so I understand why the industry no longer feels dirty. But the governing body for more than half a million young athletes must remember nothing will ever sanitize that industry.

A century ago, the Black Sox scandal nearly destroyed baseball in America. Fast forward a hundred years and we find out 16 professional tennis players — including a U.S. Open champion — were fixing matches for gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy. In between, Pete “Charlie Hustle” Rose received a lifetime ban for betting on baseball games as a manager and Tim Donaghy, an NBA referee, is busted for betting on games. Last year, former NBA player Jontay Porter was found to have placed several bets on games using another person’s account. We call him “former” because the league banned him for life.

So, if NCAA officials believe it is too cumbersome to enforce its current gambling ban (it is investigating multiple violations across several schools), imagine what life inside the organization would be like without some sort of deterrent.

In fact, no imagination is required. Just read the indictment filed by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The FBI alleges the gambling scheme began in 2019, operated across 11 states and involved crime families with origins that date back more than a century.

According to documents, hidden cameras, programmable card shuffling machines and X-ray tables were among the pieces of technology used to steal tens of millions from victims during rigged poker games. Those allegedly involved in the scheme included Chauncey Billups — a Hall of Fame player and head coach of the Portland Trailblazers. Authorities said Billups, who led the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 championship, used his celebrity to lure in victims. In addition, the FBI said Damon Jones, a former player and assistant coach for the Lakers, shared inside information about the health of LeBron James with betters back in 2023. Terry Rozier, an active NBA player on a $100-million contract, was also arrested.

Now consider this: There are roughly 40,000 young men and women who play NCAA basketball and about 8,000 head and assistant coaches leading teams. How confident are you that March Madness won’t take on a different meaning if coaches and players are allowed to bet on games and find themselves underwater? A recent UC San Diego study found internet searches seeking help with gambling addiction increased 23% between 2018 and June 2024.

And while it’s true, the new rule maintains a ban against student athletes and coaches betting on college sports — so there are some guardrails against fixing games — but tilting outcomes is only one possible harm from gambling. The International Tennis Federation found that angry gamblers accounted for 40% of social media attacks aimed at players, with several threats credible enough to be submitted to the FBI. And there is already evidence that college students who aren’t athletes are using student loan money to place bets, and a 2023 NCAA survey found that 14% of U.S. 18- to 22-year-olds bet at least a few times a week.

Another 16% use a bookie.

I repeat: a bookie.

This just feels like a tragedy we can all see coming.

And we’re to believe the NCAA will be equipped to protect student athletes from predators when the Mafia is said to be using professional athletes and X-ray machines to steal from card players who are supposed to know better? The decision-making process for the human brain isn’t fully developed until a person is 25, and the NCAA just voted to let 18-year-olds with “name, image, likeness” money go in the deep water with sharks.

Given what just unfolded in the NBA this week the responsible move for the NCAA would be to pause the rule change — which is to take effect Nov. 1 — and reassess the risks. It’s one thing for sports gambling to cost a pro athlete to lose his career. It would be worse to see addiction or debt obligations steal a young person’s future before it begins.

YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 24 (UPI) — The inhabitants of southern Lebanon continue to live under the shadow of war, enduring near-daily Israeli airstrikes, intensive shelling and persistent drone activity that inflict further casualties and destruction, deepen suffering and shatter what remains of daily life.

A cease-fire accord brokered by the United States and France on Nov. 27 intended to end Israel’s devastating war against the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah militant group has failed to halt hostilities or restore calm to the embattled region.

Interpreting the truce accord as granting it the right to respond to any emerging threat, Israel has continued its attacks without restraint across southern Lebanon and beyond.

The post-truce phase has proven even more difficult and uncertain than the war itself, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah entered the conflict by opening a front in support of Gaza.

Suspected Hezbollah positions and efforts to prevent the group from regrouping and rearming have not been Israel’s only targets. The strikes now also include private construction equipment businesses, bulldozers, excavators and anything related to rebuilding while showing no restraint toward civilians — whether in vehicles, on motorcycles or even at home.

The most intense strikes occurred Oct. 11, targeting bulldozer and excavator yards in the al-Msayleh area, where more than 300 vehicles worth millions of dollars were destroyed. One Syrian passerby was killed, and seven people, including two women, were wounded.

A week later, a quarry and cement-asphalt factory in the village of Ansar, in the Nabatiyeh district, was hit by another Israeli attack and destroyed. Israel claimed that the targeted facilities were being used by Hezbollah to produce cement for rebuilding infrastructure that had been demolished during the war — an allegation strongly denied by the plant’s managing director.

“We are a 100% civilian institution and have nothing to do with anything else,” Ali Haidar Khalifeh, who is running the targeted cement factory, told UPI. “We are a registered company with around 70 employees and a large-scale production, serving dozens of clients, distributors and suppliers from across all regions of Lebanon.”

Khalifeh, who estimated the losses at more than $15 million, said it was inconceivable to hide “weapons, missiles or military infrastructure” in the plant.

“The enemy [Israel] needs no excuse or reason. … The message is clear: it is forbidden to rebuild,” he said. “It is also meant to frighten businessmen and investors, to keep them away from southern Lebanon.”

Even civilian engineers, who assist in assessing the damage inflicted on houses and villages during the war, have been threatened and targeted.

Tarek Mazaraani was one of them. He, his family and neighbors endured a frightening experience when an Israeli drone flying over several villages in southern Lebanon broadcast a voice message calling his name and warning that he was “dangerous,” telling people to keep away from him.

At first, when his friends started sending him videos of the drone, Mazraani thought it was a joke. He soon realized it was “something serious.”

His three sons, including 8-year-old twins, began to cry, while neighbors in the compound where he was temporarily living in the village of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh in the Nabatiyeh district rushed to his house to bid farewell before leaving for safer locations. His family packed their belongings and went to relatives in a nearby village, while he quickly headed to Beirut.

“I was surprised. … I am a simple civilian engineer and don’t belong to any party or provoke anyone,” Mazraani told UPI, adding that he felt guilty for his family and neighbors, who had to “live through the tension” and leave their homes.

He asked why Israel had “created all this terror” if its intention was to kill him, adding, “They could have done so without even a warning.”

It could well have been a warning to him and others not to deal with Hezbollah, directly or indirectly. Earlier this year, while unemployed, he briefly worked as part of a team of engineers assessing war damage with “Jihad al-Binaa,” a Hezbollah-affiliated development and reconstruction organization.

Probably, he said, his other “sin” was trying to help displaced people return to their border villages, which had been reduced to rubble during the war, and seek compensation.

Mazraani was forced to leave his border village of Houla, where his house had been badly damaged by intensive Israeli bombardment. He then established the “Gathering of Residents of Southern Border Villages,” composed of displaced people from 45 villages, to draw attention to the plight of some 80,000 inhabitants who remain displaced and without resources.

Israel is making it clear, residents say, that it will not allow reconstruction in southern Lebanon or international funding unless Hezbollah is fully disarmed and the Lebanese government accepts direct negotiations on security arrangements.

Even prefabricated houses, water tanks and small vans are not permitted and are being destroyed. With the olive harvest season beginning, farmers in the border areas must obtain permission from Israeli authorities to harvest and are usually accompanied by the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeeping forces.

According to a Lebanese Army source, Israel has been using Hezbollah and its alleged efforts to rebuild military infrastructure as a pretext to block any reconstruction efforts and hinder a return to normalcy.

The source explained that destroying cement plants and bulldozers, threatening engineers and imposing curfews were intended to block the return of inhabitants to their villages and establish a security belt in the area until an agreement with Lebanon could be reached.

“These are also political pressures exerted on the government,” he told UPI.

Referring to recent Israeli war threats, drills on its northern front and intensified drone surveillance over Beirut — specifically targeting the presidential and government palaces — the source explained that “it is a psychological war aimed at dragging the government into accepting direct negotiations [with Israel], while the drones are searching for new targets.”

With the Army successfully advancing in taking control of southern Lebanon, the source confirmed that “there is no Hezbollah presence” along the border or south of the Litani River, as stipulated by the cease-fire agreement.

Regarding growing fears that Israel might be preparing to escalate the war on Lebanon, he said, “It can — as no one is deterring it, and it listens to no one except [U.S. President Donald] Trump.”

Many Lebanese, especially the inhabitants of southern Lebanon believe the war was never truly over, and that the truce accord merely prolonged the conflict to Israel’s advantage.

“The first thing we want is safety and security — to stop the fire so we can go back and rebuild our villages and homes,” said Mazraani, who said he was exhausted by the war, echoing the wish of many others in southern Lebanon.

I was in San Francisco on election day and the fine Democrats I met could sense Arnoldism on the march and said they felt embarrassed by it all and I had to reassure them: A recall election is a beautiful thing. Chaos? What chaos? The voters got a chance to fast-forward to 2006 and click on Arnold. Why wait three years if you can cut to the chase?

Government can be such a dreary, drawn-out business, and an election is swift and dramatic. A few weeks of foofaraw and bluster and warmed-over wisdom and then the blessed day arrives and all the sweet rituals of voting and then, whammo, come the results, the shock and disbelief, the grinning and waving, and the next morning we’re on to something new.

Here in Minnesota we’re pleased that California has an action-hero governor, though there isn’t much similarity between Arnold and our man, Jesse (The Body) Ventura. Jesse was a lone ranger, a man on a horse, and Arnold is a whole posse of Republicans. He doesn’t look any more like a Republican than Barbara Boxer does, but the Republicans embraced him because he smelled like a winner, just as Time Warner embraced AOL. A merger — like the lady who went for a ride on the tiger and came back inside.

Arnold stretches the bounds of Republicanism so that it simply means the unDemocrats, the We Who Are Not Responsible for the Mess Party. This was good enough to get a man elected, but now comes the deluge. Now Arnold is saying that the state’s budget crisis may be worse than he had thought. Welcome to government. Success in this line of work is short-lived. Politics consists of mostly all gas, and gas evaporates or it cools, and the beautiful balloon gets wrinkly and descends. Arnold will need to act fast lest the crisis worsen and he be held responsible for it.

Californians are like anybody else in that they want a great four-course dinner for $8.95. They want to live in the Greatest State (Fine Roads, Excellent Hospitals, Best Parks, Great Schools in which All Children are Above Average), and they also want low taxes. God bless them. People in hell want ice water.

Arnold is going to have to put through an enormous tax increase while the bloom is still on his cheek, meanwhile decrying big government for all he’s worth. This is a good strategy for Republicans and has worked in the past. They have created a fine reputation as fiscal conservatives so that if they get lightheaded and throw money out the window, nobody holds them responsible. Leadership is not for the fainthearted. Sometimes a good leader has to charge courageously forward in full retreat. You get elected to office by telling wonderful stories and then you do what you have to do.

When Arnold takes office, he should do exactly what he promised not to do, and then smile and say that he didn’t really do it, and if he did do it, which he didn’t, he didn’t mean to do it, the thing that was not done, and will never do it again. We eat the cake and after we eat it, there is even more cake. Yes, we have no bananas, but we do have apples, which also are oranges. And if Arnold can be a Republican, then we’re all Republicans, and we Democrats are even more so.

Garrison Keillor’s latest novel “Love Me” (Viking Press) was published in August.

Amanda Holden has stepped up on Britain’s Got Talent after Simon Cowell’s illness forced him to miss the Birmingham auditions, with Stacey Solomon drafted in as a temporary replacement on the panel

Amanda Holden has been handed the role of head judge on Britain’s Got Talent after Simon Cowell was forced to withdraw from the Birmingham auditions due to illness.

Producers turned to Holden, 53, as the natural choice to lead the panel, given that she is the only judge who has remained on the show since its launch in 2007. Although Stacey Solomon was drafted in at short notice to replace Cowell during this week’s auditions at the Hippodrome, insiders stressed that Holden had earned the senior role.

A source revealed: “The producers were hugely grateful to Stacey for stepping in, particularly as it was at such short notice. What she did helped ensure the hundreds of audience members were not disappointed.

READ MORE: Stacey Solomon breaks silence on Britain’s Got Talent ‘dream’ job with one-word commentREAD MORE: Stacey Solomon joins Britain’s Got Talent after Simon Cowell health crisis

“But they also thought she shouldn’t just go straight into Simon’s seat as head judge and that Amanda had very much earned that right. And she seamlessly filled the role during the first batch of auditions on Friday, with Stacey slotting right in with fellow judges KSI and Alesha Dixon,” they told The Sun.

It is not the first time Cowell’s sudden departure has led to a reshuffle. When the music mogul left the panel last year after learning of the tragic death of former One Direction star Liam Payne, the then-newcomer Bruno Tonioli stepped in as head judge.

Tonioli has since departed from the programme altogether, replaced this year by KSI, after filming clashes with his role on Dancing with the Stars. Cowell’s absence was first confirmed on Thursday when production cancelled the initial day of auditions.

There were hopes he might recover quickly enough to return on Friday, but he remained unwell. Instead, Solomon took his seat on the panel – a full-circle moment given that Cowell himself auditioned her on The X Factor back in 2009. She finished third in that series but has since become a well-known TV presenter.

And Stacey has shared her excitement after her dream of becoming a judge on Britain’s Got Talent has come true. The Sort Your Life Out star took to Instagram on Friday to share a glimpse of the iconic set of the long-running ITV show after she was asked to step in as a guest judge last minute.

The mum-of-five, 35, took to her Instagram stories to post a picture of the iconic BGT stage with her name in lights. Instead of Simon Cowell’s name, Stacey’s name could be seen on the iconic stage. Alongside the picture, Stacey wrote: “What in the alternative universe is going on. A dream.”

Cowell’s condition has not been disclosed publicly, and it remains uncertain whether he will be fit enough to appear on the third and final day of Birmingham auditions.

Filming is scheduled to resume next week in Blackpool, with producers optimistic that Cowell will be well enough to reclaim his place at the judging desk.

Until then, Holden is firmly established as the figure leading the panel in his absence.

Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads.

READ MORE: Maura Higgins says affordable £10 root spray ‘saves her life’ and covers grey hairs

Tensions over border disputes had sharply escalated in July during a five-day conflict between the neighbouring countries.

Thailand’s new prime minister has said his government will propose a referendum to address an ongoing dispute with its neighbour, Cambodia, over a demarcation agreement.

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters on Monday that “in order to avoid further conflict”, the government will push for a vote on whether Thailand should revoke the existing memorandum of understanding on border issues with Cambodia.

Thailand and Cambodia have long argued over undemarcated points along their 817km (508-mile) land border, but tensions sharply escalated in July during a five-day conflict. The fighting ended after a ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia on July 28.

In the worst fighting between the two countries in a decade, at least 48 people were killed and hundreds of thousands were temporarily displaced.

But for years, the two countries have relied on an agreement, signed in 2000, which sets out the framework for joint survey and demarcation of the land boundary.

In another agreement in 2001, it provided a framework for cooperation and potential resource sharing in maritime areas claimed by both countries.

However, in Thailand, the agreements have come under public scrutiny over the past decade, especially following the latest clashes.

According to Charnvirakul, the new referendum would provide a clear mandate on the matter of the agreements.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, cautioned against the revocation of the agreements as solving the issue.

“Their revocation may not be a direct solution to the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia, because it could create a vacuum,” he told the Reuters news agency.

“The government must make clear what will replace them, and this has to be agreed by Cambodia as well,” he said.

At the same time, Charnvirakul also pledged in his inaugural speech in Parliament to address the country’s economy and push for a new and more democratic constitution as he faces a self-imposed deadline to call for elections in four months.

Bye-bye bye.

Hello, Dodger bullpen.

It was all so familiar. It was all so infuriating. It was the 2025 season boiled down into three hours of roars, then screams, then sighs.

The gasping, grappling Dodgers needed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies this week to have any chance at a first-round bye in the upcoming playoffs.

Dodgers pitcher Anthony Banda (43) reacts during the first inning of a loss to Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

One game down, and their bullpen has already suffocated them.

They’re not going to get the bye. They couldn’t survive Philly’s first punch. It was the same old story. The Dodgers’ continually vexing relief pitchers gave back a two-run lead, ruined two ensuing comebacks and then were burned for a 10th inning double steal that led to the winning run in the Phillies’ 6-5 victory.

In a scene reminiscent of past October failures, a mournful Dodger Stadium crowd witnessed the Phillies dancing out of their dugout and squeezing into souvenir T-shirts and loudly celebrating on the field after clinching the National League East title.

In a scene also reminiscent of past October failures, just a few steps from the party, the Dodgers clubhouse was deathly quiet.

Max Muncy was asked about the bullpen, which allowed all six Phillies’ runs Monday, including three homers.

“That’s a tough question,” he said.

He attempted to answer it anyway, saying, “It’s frustrating from a team perspective, but they’ve done a great job for us all year and they’ll continue to do a great job.”

Sorry, but there is no spinning out of this mess. This is not a championship bullpen. This is not even a pennant-winning bullpen. This bullpen has been overworked and outmatched and simply outplayed all season, and when the Dodger front office had a chance to fix it at the trade deadline, they did virtually nothing.

It’s everyone’s fault. It’s an organizational failure. This bullpen is going to be the death of them. The slow expiration officially started Monday.

Fueled by fat pitches from Anthony Banda and Jack Dreyer and Alex Vesia and Blake Treinen, the Dodgers suffered a loss that may well have ended their hopes of defending their title.

Now trailing the Phillies by 5 ½ games with a dozen games to play, there’s virtually no way the Dodgers can pass them and finish with the National League’s second-best record, which means instead of getting a week off they are headed for a dangerous three-game wild card series.

If they win the West over the San Diego Padres — no guarantee — they will play those three games at home. If they finish second in the West, they will play those three games on the road.

Either way, a team with a cooked bullpen and a sore-handed star catcher and all kinds of uncertainty surrounding their rotation won’t get the advantage of a much-needed rest.

“We want the bye, obviously,” Freddie Freeman told reporters last weekend.

It’s strangely not so obvious to everyone. Throughout the next two weeks there will undoubtedly be experts who will make the argument that the Dodgers don’t really want or need a bye week because it robs the team of its routine and rhythm.

Don’t be a dummy.

Dodgers pitcher Anthony Banda throws from the mound during a loss to the Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers were desperate for that bye. The Dodgers knew they needed that bye. They knew they needed to rest the relievers, set up a Shohei Ohtani-led rotation, and give Will Smith’s right hand time to heal.

Yes, the bye week bewitched them in 2022 and 2023, when the offense lost its swagger and the Dodgers were beaten in two stunning division series upsets by the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.

But, then again, they earned the bye last year and you know how that ended up.

They needed to pass the Phillies. And they needed to start that process this week, as the Phillies’ remaining schedule includes a closing six-game stretch against the Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is understandably steering clear of the bye-no bye debate, telling the media, “We’re gonna try to win as many games as we can. … Where it falls out is where is falls out. … I don’t think it matters for me to say how important it is. … I kind of just want to win games and see where it all plays out.”

Here’s how it — ugh — played out Monday:

Banda starts the game as an opener and allows a shot into the right-center field stands by Kyle Schwarber.

Dreyer enters the game with a two-run lead in the seventh and allows a two-run homer to somebody named Weston Wilson.

Vesia allows a go-ahead homer by Bryce Harper in the eighth.

Dodgers pitcher Alex Vesia tosses a rosin bag in frustration after Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper homered at the top of the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Treinen doesn’t hold the runners on base in the 10th, allows a double steal, and JT Realmuto hits the eventual game-winning fly ball.

“I had the guys that I wanted, and that doesn’t always work out,” said Roberts.

It feels like it’s too late to work out.

“Trying to see which guys step up,” said Roberts. “Just gonna try to figure out who’s going to seize the opportunity.”

On Monday night, the opportunity seized them, dragging them into a three-game series that could cost them everything.

Tough to beat a wild card opponent with a bullpen that folds.

HELEN Flanagan has been forced to slash the price of her £1.5million mansion AGAIN after struggling to sell her family pad amid money woes.

The former Coronation Street star, 35, had already slashed more than £300,000 off the price of the house she shared with ex Scott Sinclair.

7

7

7

Now Helen has been forced to reduce the price again for a second time after just fourth months of being on the market.

Helen first put the £1.5million six-bedroom family home up for sale in May, before reducing it to £1.195million just four weeks later. 

Now, the detached, 5,000sq ft home can be snapped up for a cheeky £995,000.

The former couple, who have three children together, bought the property at Belmont, near Bolton, in June 2021 for £840,000.

It has five reception rooms, six bathrooms and six bedrooms including two en-suites.

The house is situated on the edge of moors and is said to have “breathtaking views”.

Helen, who has spoken openly about “losing all her money” in the past, recently opened up being forced to downsize.

She said: “It actually makes me sad that I’m going to be leaving soon because I actually put so much effort into it.

“When we moved I put like a lot lot of my savings into doing the house up and making it look really beautiful. 

“But it’s a big house. It’s an eight bedroom house, which is obviously really hard to keep on top of.”

Meanwhile, Helen has shown off her evil stepmother credentials as she debuted her panto outfit for the first time.

The actress will play the evil stepmother in Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs at Liverpool‘s M&S Bank Arena in December.

The stunning star donned a sequinned red and black dress, with black feathered sleeves, and wore a gold and red diamante tiara on her head.

She also held aloft a red apple, symbolic of the poisonous apple so relevant to the Snow White storyline.

A source previously told The Sun: “Helen is excited for panto season and can’t wait to get into character, she’s a brilliant actress and knows how to put on a show.

“She’ll also be pocketing a pretty penny, celebrities and soap stars make good money doing panto and always look forward to it as some extra income.”

But despite being about to make her first foray into the world of pantomime, Helen is not looking forward to being alone this Christmas.

Helen, shares daughters Matilda, nine, Delilah, six, as well as four-year-old son Charlie, with her ex Scott Sinclair.

However, the ex-Coronation Street star also recently told The Sun that she was spending Christmas without her children this year, as she and former Chelsea footballer Scott, who most recently played for Bristol Rovers, live so far apart.

But Helen explained: “”I’ll do something in November – a really nice long weekend then I feel like I’ve had my Christmas period with them.”

7

7

7

7

Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen took to social media on Friday to defend himself after Barcelona started disciplinary proceedings that could allow them to terminate his contract.

“In recent weeks, many things have been said about me – some of them entirely unfounded,” he wrote on Instagram. “Therefore, I feel it is necessary to express my version of events respectfully, yet clearly.”

The club started disciplinary action on Tuesday and stripped the German of the club captaincy on Thursday.

The dispute centres on the German’s fitness after he underwent back surgery at the end of July.

Local media reported earlier in the week that the 33-year-old had refused to cooperate and release his medical details, so the club tried to have him classified by La Liga as a long-term injury, which would allow Barcelona to deduct part of his pay from their official wage bill.

“I am fully willing to collaborate with the club’s management to resolve this matter and to provide the requested authorisation,” ter Stegen wrote.

With the new La Liga season approaching, Barcelona are again struggling to satisfy Spanish financial fair play rules. If they cannot, they may not be able to register new players.

Ter Stegen said if the club was in a financial bind, it should not blame his back problems.

“I would also like to clarify that all of the club’s signings and contract renewals were completed prior to my surgery,” he wrote.

“The decision to undergo surgery was fully approved by the club, and always with the intention of prioritising my health and long-term sporting career which of course are fully aligned with those of FCB to have myself available on the pitch as soon as possible to keep winning trophies.”

He added that his new surgery should not interfere with the “registration of other colleagues whom I greatly respect and look forward to share locker room with for many seasons”.

“My commitment to these colours remains absolute.”

Ter Stegen’s place is under threat from one of the summer signings, 24-year-old Joan Garcia, as well as 35-year-old Wojciech Szczesny, the Polish veteran who has been rewarded with a contract extension for taking over during last season’s La Liga title-winning campaign.

If the club pursues its disciplinary action, ter Stegen, the last remaining member of Luis Enrique’s 2015 European champion team, could face heavy penalties under La Liga regulations, including the termination of his contract.

Lewandowski hit by more hamstring problems

Robert Lewandowski, meanwhile, will miss Barcelona’s friendly match on Sunday because of a hamstring problem, the Catalan club said Friday.

Barcelona will host Italian club Como in the traditional curtain-raising Joan Gamper Trophy game before its La Liga campaign starts on August 16, against Mallorca.

“The striker is unavailable for Sunday’s game and his recovery will determine his return,” the team said in a statement.

Lewandowski scored 42 goals total in 52 appearances last season to help Barcelona win the La Liga title. His 27 league goals were second only to Kylian Mbappe’s 31.

The 36-year-old Poland international is beginning his fourth season at Barcelona.

Hansi given the flick by UEFA

There was also bad news on Friday for Barcelona manager Hansi Flick and his assistant Marcus Sorg. The pair have been fined 20,000 euros ($23,320) each and banned for one match in UEFA club competitions for misconduct, the European football governing body’s disciplinary committee said.

Flick had been furious at several refereeing decisions in his side’s 4-3 semifinal loss to Inter Milan in May that stopped them from reaching their first Champions League final in a decade.

The sanctions will take immediate effect, ruling both men out of the dugout for the start of this season’s Champions League.

In a separate decision, UEFA fined Barcelona forwards Lamine Yamal and Lewandowski 5,000 euros ($5,820) each for failing to comply with instructions from an antidoping officer and not immediately reporting to a control post at the same game.

Barcelona were also fined 5,250 euros ($6,111) over fans throwing objects and 2,500 euros ($2,910) for lighting fireworks during the match. Inter were fined 22,000 euros ($25,608) for their supporters’ blocking public passageways and another 11,500 euros ($13,386) for lighting fireworks.

ITV executives are said to be preparing to axe one in 10 cast members from both Coronation Street and Emmerdale as part of fresh cost-cutting measures

ITV chiefs are reportedly planning sweeping cast reductions across their two premier soaps, with proposals to cut one in ten performers as part of new budget-slashing initiatives.

Both Coronation Street and Emmerdale may also witness fewer scenes per episode as ITV seeks to trim an additional £15 million from its overall spending, according to The Sun.

The broadcaster’s earnings have allegedly plummeted by 44 per cent to £99 million during the first six months of the year, sparking a fresh drive to curb production expenses.

Insiders suggest bosses are now pressing soap creators to reduce their escalating costs, with cast sizes being a primary target for scrutiny.

Coronation Street presently features 84 regular cast members, whilst Emmerdale boasts 70, reports the Express.

An insider revealed: “It’s brutal. We’ve known it was on the cards for a while, but they’re really cranking it up now and it’s across the soaps.

“They’re looking to save millions and Corrie and Emmerdale are the obvious places. They’re very expensive shows.

“Many who have been there for a long time are reliant on their income staying as it is.

“The amount of cast has spiralled out of control and focusing on dialogue, not action, could also save money.”

Industry sources have also hinted that the number of scenes per episode – currently averaging around 20 – might be reduced to lower filming expenses.

Fewer personalities could also feature in individual episodes to help maintain tighter budgets.

While some long-standing cast members are on full-time contracts with salaries, most are paid per episode, which means that reducing screen time or overall scenes could significantly cut costs.

These proposed changes come as ITV makes cuts across its daytime schedule. Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women have all reportedly been affected, with hundreds of staff being made redundant in recent months.

In response to reports of soap cast reductions, an ITV spokesperson stated: “This is complete speculation.”

Japan: Takuro Matsunaga; Kippei Ishida, Dylan Riley, Shogo Nakano, Malo Tuitama; Seungsin Lee, Shinobu Fujiwara; Yota Kamimori, Mamoru Harada, Shuhei Takeuchi, Epineri Uluiviti, Warner Deans, Michael Leitch (capt), Jack Cornelsen, Amato Fakatava.

Replacements: Hayate Era, Sena Kimura, Keijiro Tamefusa, Waisake Raratubua, Ben Gunter, Shuntaro Kitamura, Ichigo Nakakusu, Halatoa Vailea.

Wales: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Ben Thomas, Josh Adams; Sam Costelow, Kieran Hardy; Nicky Smith, Dewi Lake (capt), Keiron Assiratti, Ben Carter, Teddy Williams, Alex Mann, Josh Macleod, Taulupe Faletau.

Replacements: Liam Belcher, Gareth Thomas, Archie Griffin, James Ratti, Aaron Wainwright, Tommy Reffell, Rhodri Williams, Joe Roberts.

Referee: Damian Schneider (Argentina)

Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England) & Luke Pearce (England)

Television match official (TMO): Ian Tempest (England).

Former Sky News journalist Dermot Murnaghan has opened up about his journey with stage four prostate cancer, with an important message for other men. And it’s not the first time the sporty broadcaster has shared details about his health

Dermot Murnaghan has today revealed he has been diagnosed with stage four cancer. The 67-year-old broadcaster told how he’s undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, and urged other men to make sure they get themselves tested.

Praising his “outstanding medical team”, former Sky News reporter Dermot issued a statement via social media platform X, writing: “Some personal news……I’ve been diagnosed with Stage IV advanced prostate cancer I’m fortunate to have a simply outstanding medical team looking after me, who I can’t thank enough – they are administering the best possible care with expertise, compassion and sensitivity.”

He continued: “I’m responding positively to their excellent treatment and feeling well. I’m blessed to be fortified by the monumental love and support of my wife, family and close friends. Needless to say, my message to all men over 50, in high-risk groups, or displaying symptoms, is get yourself tested and campaign for routine prostate screening by the NHS.”

READ MORE: Dermot Murnaghan sends plea to men after devastating stage four cancer diagnosis

Journalist Dermot went on to share that, going forward, he hopes to participate in Sir Chris Hoy’s fundraising charity bike ride in Glasgow this September, encouraging followers to make a donation if they can.

In a previous interview with the Mail Online, keen cyclist Dermot opened up about his health, describing himself as “fairly fit”.

He shared that his father had “lived till the ripe old age of 86”, before offering his own thoughts on the prospect of “living forever”. He reflected: “Only if everyone else I knew could. Being old without your loved ones could be very lonely. “

The Devon-born media personality also opened up about his healthy diet, which he supplements with immune-boosting vitamin C and zinc tablets, and spoke about his “worst illness or injury”, telling the publication how he was injured after a dog lunged at his bike.

He said: “A few years ago, I broke four ribs when a pitbull knocked me off my bike. The charming owner then had the audacity to reprimand me for scaring his dog. They can’t do much for broken ribs, you’re just sent off with strong painkillers. For eight weeks, sleeping was very uncomfortable and sneezing, coughing or laughing could aggravate it. Even now, when I turn to my right side, I often feel a twinge.”

This, unfortunately, isn’t the only time that Dermot has found himself in peril while on the road. In 2017, the newsreader shared photographs of his bruised face after he was injured in a hit-and-run incident. He told fans at the time: “Here’s why I haven’t been on air for 2 days. A hit and run in Kentish Town yesterday. Police were fantastic.”

Delving into the incident in more detail on Sky News, Dermot explained: “Having worked on Breakfast TV for 10 years in two stints, I’ve become a bit of an early bird. So last Thursday I woke at 6am, put on my hi-vis cycling jacket got on my bike to meet my mates for a few healthy miles before work.

“Twenty minutes later, I was lying by the side of the road with a broken cycle helmet and a hobbled bike, still spinning, lights shining – and a variety of cuts, bruises and abrasions. But thankfully, no broken bones.”

He added: “On an empty road in north London, a guy in a car on a mobile phone pulled out from the side of the road without indicating. I swerved that. But a millisecond later, he U-turned into me and wiped me out.

“The Good Samaritan who saw it says the driver then sped off. I didn’t catch his name in the muddle, so if you read this, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The perpetrator was too interested in his phone to bother to stop and would have left me lying in the road.

“Police were there within five minutes and were absolutely fantastic. Took all the details and went to check the CCTV. Then drove me and my crushed bike home. Professional through and through. “

Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]. Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

READ MORE: Sky News’ Dermot Murnaghan diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer

Leave it to Megan Abbott to tap into the American zeitgeist and play on her readers’ fears like a conductor leading a doomsday orchestra. As high school and college graduates across the country celebrate the completion of a major milestone, they — and their nervous parents — are looking ahead to a future marked by political uncertainty and economic insecurity.

In an eerie echo, Abbott begins “El Dorado Drive,” her 11th novel, with a graduation party at the beginning of the Great Recession. Though the party is not a lavish affair — just a gathering for friends and family in the backyard of a rental property on El Dorado Drive in Grosse Pointe, Mich. — it’s more than Pam Bishop can afford, and every one of her guests knows it.

Any party, no matter how modest, reminds Pam and her two older sisters, Debra and Harper, of all that they’ve lost. Born into a world of wealth and privilege thanks to Detroit’s automotive-fueled postwar prosperity, the Bishop sisters — along with their parents, their peers and their children — watched it all disappear during the decline of the American automobile industry.

Pam’s ramshackle rental on El Dorado Drive, though several steps down from the home she grew up in or the mansion she moved into when she got married, is a symbol of the reckless pursuit of wealth that destroys those who can’t see through the illusion.

“When you grow up in comfort and it all falls away — and your parents with it — money isn’t about money,” Abbott writes. “It’s about security, freedom, independence, a promise of wholeness. All those fantasies, illusions. Money was rarely about money.”

For Pam’s ex-husband, Doug Sullivan, money is a game to be played in order to get what he wants, and he will stop at nothing to get it. But when Pam is brutally murdered in the opening pages, he emerges as a prime suspect. The first half of the novel backtracks from the discovery of Pam’s body to the graduation party nine months prior, when each Bishop sister is struggling with serious financial hardship.

Locked in an acrimonious divorce with no end in sight, Pam doesn’t know how she’s going to pay her son’s college tuition or handle her rebellious teenage daughter alone. The oldest sister, Debra, is buried under a mountain of medical bills while her husband suffers through another round of chemotherapy and her son slips away in a cloud of marijuana smoke. Harper, the middle child, struggles to make ends meet while rebounding from a relationship that ended in heartbreak.

The solution to their money problems arrives in the form of a secret investment club called the Wheel. Run for and by women who have fallen on hard times, the program is simple but sketchy. It costs $5,000 to join, but once the new members recruit five new participants, they are “gifted” five times their initial buy-in.

If this sounds too good to be true, you have more sense than the Bishop sisters. Such is their desperation they don’t quite allow themselves to see this is a fairly basic pyramid scheme that depends on fresh blood — and their bank accounts — to keep the Wheel turning.

The novel follows Harper, the outsider in the family, due to the fact that she’s never married nor had children. She’s not part of the community, either, because she’s recently returned to Grosse Pointe after time away to mend her broken heart. The first half of the novel concerns the Bishops’ dynamics and their found family in the Wheel, which operates like a combination of a cult and a recovery group for women who’ve lost everything.

At a moment of vulnerability, Harper is buttonholed by an old classmate named Sue. “It’s called the Wheel because it never stops moving,” Sue said. Twice a month, we meet. A different member hosts each time, and the meetings were just parties, really. And at these parties, they took turns giving and receiving gifts to one another. To lift one another up. As women should, as they must.”

Behind the rhetoric of sisterhood lurks avarice and greed. When Harper asks Pam if anyone ever left the group after just one turn of the Wheel, Pam — a true believer — can’t fathom backing out of the group. “Why would anyone do that?” she asks.

The answer proves to be her undoing, and the second half of “El Dorado Drive” follows Harper as she tries to solve her sister’s murder. It’s a classic whodunit story with Harper — who has plenty of secrets of her own — playing the role of the reluctant detective.

Despite the book’s suggestive title, the landscape is anything but illusory for Abbott, who grew up in Grosse Pointe and spent the first 18 years of her life there. Evoking a rich setting has never been a weakness of Abbott’s stories. Her novels have a hyperreal quality and are often populated by characters churning with desires they cannot manage.

Abbott is especially adept at rendering the hot, messy inner lives of young people and at making a book’s backstory as suspenseful as the narrative engine that drives the plot. In “El Dorado Drive,” however, the focus is on adults, and the past mostly stays in the past. The result is a novel in which the story is straightforward and the stakes are low. Nevertheless, true to her penchant for shocking violence, Abbott delivers a revolting revelation that sets up a series of twists that propels the story to its inevitable, but no less satisfying, conclusion.

But then there’s the matter of the Wheel. When we watch a video of people in a boat who are drinking, carrying on and disobeying the rules of the road, we don’t feel badly for them when they end up in the water, no matter how spectacular the crash, because they brought it on themselves.

The same logic applies to the participants in the Wheel. We can empathize with the calamities that prompted these characters to take such foolish chances, but we would never make those choices ourselves.

Or would we?

One could argue that our era will be defined not by whether the American dream lives or dies but by the questionable choices of our political leaders and, by extension, the people who elected them. We may not know where we’ll be tomorrow, but Abbott knows wagering that the wheel of grift, greed and corruption will keep on turning is always a safe bet.

Ruland is the author of the novel “Make It Stop” and the weekly Substack Message from the Underworld.

From Kevin Baxter: The Dodgers made history when they opened the season with eight straight wins, something no reigning World Series champion had ever done. But they’ve been just a shade above mediocre since then.

“I wouldn’t say [I’m] worried. It’s kind of where we’re at right now,” manager Dave Roberts said.

“It’s been hard to gain traction.”

If anything, the Dodgers have been spinning their wheels. Because with Wednesday’s 6-1 loss to the New York Mets, the team’s third loss in four games, the Dodgers fell to .500 over the last month and their lead in the National League West remained at just a game over the San Diego Padres heading into Thursday’s get-away day matinee with the Mets.

Since their historic start, the Dodgers have had just three winning streaks of more than two games, but three losing streaks of more than two games. For every three steps forward, the team has taken 2 ½ steps back.

And while the Dodgers entered Thursday with the fourth-best record in the league, over the last two months they have a lower winning percentage than the Milwaukee Brewers, the third-best team in the Central Division. The reason why, Roberts said, is pitching.

Continue reading here

Hernández: Can Clayton Kershaw contribute to Dodgers’ title chase? ‘I’m gonna bet on him’

Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

NBA PLAYOFFS RESULTS

All Times Pacific

NBA FINALS

Oklahoma City vs. Indiana

Thursday at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Sunday at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC
Wednesday at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Friday, June 13 at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., ABC
Monday, June 16 at Oklahoma City, 5:30 p.m., ABC*
Thursday, June 19 at Indiana, 5:30 p.m., ABC*
Sunday, June 22 at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m., ABC*

*if necessary

ANGELS

Ceddanne Rafaela curled a home run around the Pesky Pole in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday and the Boston Red Sox rallied after trailing four different times to beat the Angels 11-9.

The Angels blew 4-0, 7-5, 8-7 and 9-8 leads, with Rafael Devers bouncing a chopper between the gloves of second baseman Chris Taylor and shortstop Zach Neto behind second base to tie it 9-9 in the eighth.

Each of the first three times the Red Sox scored, the Angels answered with runs of its own. But after walking Mike Trout to lead off the ninth, Cooper Criswell (1-0) got the next three batters out to give Boston a chance to walk it off.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Jared Verse and Braden Fiske joined the Rams last season as something of a one-two punch.

The former Florida State teammates were drafted in the first and second rounds, respectively, and lived up to their billing as individuals and as a collective force.

Verse, an edge rusher, became the NFL defensive rookie of the year. Fiske, a defensive lineman, was a finalist for the award.

“I think we did good, but I think we became more focused on helping the team than trying to do our own little thing and having a good little duo going on,” Verse said, adding, “So now we finally took another step — having another year together to figure out, ‘Hey, this is how I work, this is how he works.’

“So, I feel like this year is going to be a good one for us to play together.”

As they prepare for their second seasons, the two young stars are part of a front that could rank as one of the NFL’s most dynamic.

Continue reading here

Rams lifting contest? Aaron Donald ready to put Jared Verse ‘through it’

Ex-Rams long snapper Jake McQuaide disrupts church by demanding answers in porn scandal

ANGEL CITY

From Benjamin Royer: Alexander Straus was fewer than two weeks from his first training session as Angel City FC coach. Yet, Angel City CEO and co-founder Julie Uhrman wanted to see her new manager at work.

She flew to Portugal, where Straus was completing his three-season stint as FC Bayern Munich coach — a club the 49-year-old Norwegian led to three consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga titles and a 57-7-2 league record.

As Uhrman watched Straus coach Bayern Munich at the inaugural World Sevens Football tournament, she already was familiar with his technical acumen that was on display en route to a championship victory over Manchester United. That was not a surprise.

But what caught Uhrman’s attention was Straus’ relationships with his players.

Continue reading here

NHL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

STANLEY CUP FINALS

Edmonton vs. Florida
at Edmonton 4, Florida 3 (OT) (summary, story)
Friday at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT
Monday at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT
Thursday, June 12 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT
Saturday, June 14 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT*
Tuesday, June 17 at Florida, 5 p.m., TNT*
Friday, June 20 at Edmonton, 5 p.m., TNT*

* If necessary

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1884 — James McLaughlin becomes the first jockey to win three straight Belmont Stakes when he rides Panique to victory. He won with George Kinney (1883) and Forester (1882). McLaughlin repeats his feat in 1886-88. McLaughlin’s triple is matched by jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. in 1984.

1925 — Willie McFarlane beats Bobby Jones by one stroke in the second round of a playoff to capture the U.S. Open. Macfarlane shoots a 291 at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club.

1927 — Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard freestyle swim record.

1937 — War Admiral, ridden by Charles Kurtsinger, wins the Triple Crown with a three-length victory over Sceneshifter in the Belmont Stakes.

1943 — Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, wins the Triple Crown by 25 lengths in the Belmont Stakes. Count Fleet goes at off at 1-20 odds in a race with no place or show betting.

1952 — Jersey Joe Walcott scores a 15-round unanimous decision over Ezzard Charles in Philadelphia to retain the world heavyweight title.

1961 — The newly formed American Basketball League adopts the 3-point field goal.

1977 — The Portland Trail Blazers hold off the Philadelphia 76ers 109-107 to win the NBA championship in six games. Portland becomes the first team in the 31-year history of the league to win four straight after losing the first two games.

1985 — Steve Cauthen wins the Epsom Derby aboard Slip Anchor and became the only American jockey to win the English Derby and Kentucky Derby. Cauthen had ridden Affirmed to victory in the 1978 Kentucky Derby.

1993 — Julie Krone guides Colonial Affair to victory in the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race.

1994 — Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Sergi Bruguera produce the best day of tennis in Spanish history. Sanchez Vicario beats Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open final and Bruguera retains his title by defeating another Spaniard, Alberto Berasategui, 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

1999 — Steffi Graf wins her sixth French Open title and her first Grand Slam championship in almost three years, beating top-ranked Martina Hingis 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.

1999 — Charismatic loses his bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner when he fractures his left front cannon bone and sesamoid while finishing third to Lemon Drop Kid in the Belmont Stakes.

2004 — Smarty Jones loses his Triple Crown bid and his perfect record when Birdstone runs him down near the finish of a thrilling Belmont Stakes. Birdstone, a 36-1 long shot ridden by Edgar Prado, returns $74, $14 and $8.60.

2005 — Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal beats unseeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina in four sets to win the French Open men’s singles title. The No. 4-seeded Nadal becomes the youngest men’s Grand Slam champion since Pete Sampras won the U.S. Open at 19 in 1990.

2011 — Rafael Nadal wins his record-equaling sixth French Open title, beating Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1 in the final.

2016 — Novak Djokovic becomes the first man in nearly a half-century to win four consecutive major championships and finally earned elusive French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, beating Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

2021 — Luis Saez rides Essential Quality to wins the 153rd Belmont Stakes.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1915 — Philadelphia’s Grover Cleveland Alexander lost his no-hitter when Artie Butler punched a single with two outs in the ninth. Alexander struck out Bob Bescher for the final out to beat St. Louis 3-0. Alexander went on to pitch three more one-hitters during the season.

1929 — The Cincinnati Reds scored nine runs in the sixth inning en route to a 21-4 romp over the Chicago Cubs.

1935 — Chicago White Sox rookie John Whitehead loses to St. Louis 2-0. It was his first loss after winning his first eight starts, an AL record for the start of a career.

1949 — Commissioner Happy Chandler lifted the ban on all players who had jumped to a league in Mexico.

1955 — Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit a home run off Chicago’s Billy Pierce that traveled about 550 feet. The ball cleared the left-field upper deck at Comiskey Park.

1959 — Pittsburgh’s Dick Stuart hit the longest home run at Forbes Field. Stuart smashed a shot over the center-field wall off Chicago pitcher Glenn Hobbie.

1966 — Leo Cardenas of the Reds hit four home runs in a doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs. Cardenas hit two home runs in each game as Cincinnati won the opener 8-3 but dropped the second game 9-5.

1986 — San Diego’s Steve Garvey was ejected for the first time in his career when he argued a play at home plate. Garvey, the on-deck hitter, protested the last out of a triple play by the Atlanta Braves. Television replays showed that Bip Roberts was indeed safe. The Padres lost 4-2.

1989 — The Blue Jays lost their debut in the SkyDome as Glenn Braggs hit a two-run homer to lead the Milwaukee Brewers past Toronto 5-3. The $375-million complex featured a $100-million, four-section, retractable roof.

1997 — Alex Rodriguez of the Mariners became the first Seattle player to hit for the cycle in a nine-inning game. He completed the cycle with a double in the ninth of a 14-6 win at Detroit.

2001 — Colorado pitcher Mike Hampton had two homers, three RBIs and recorded his eighth win as Colorado defeated Houston 9-4.

2008 — Atlanta’s Chipper Jones became the third switch-hitter in major league history to hit 400 home runs. Jones’ homer off Ricky Nolasco was one of his four hits in the 7-5 comeback win over Florida. Mickey Mantle and Eddie Murray were the first two reach the milestone.

2013 — The Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners played the first game in major league history when each team scored five or more runs in the game when it was scoreless through the ninth. Alejandro De Aza and Alex Rios each had an RBI single in the 16th inning, and Chicago won 7-5.

2015 — Oakland’s Pat Venditte became the first pitcher in 20 years to throw with both arms in the same game, but the Boston Red Sox beat the Athletics 4-2 on a night a fan sustained life-threatening injuries when she was struck by a broken bat.

2021 — Team USA secured a spot in the Tokyo Olympics by winning the Americas Olympic Qualifier.

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.

NEW YORK — The upcoming month was already going to be tough for the Dodgers.

A rainy Friday night in Queens made it that much tougher.

In the fourth game of a 29-game stretch against playoff-contending teams, the Dodgers beat the New York Mets in a marathon contest at Citi Field, overcoming a three-run ninth-inning blown save from closer Tanner Scott by prevailing 7-5 in the 13th inning.

But, their already shorthanded pitching staff endured more unexpected obstacles in the process. A one-hour, 38-minute rain delay in the top of the third limited starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw to just two innings. A seemingly never-ending game forced their overworked bullpen to combine for 11 more innings in which every reliever was used except one.

Navigating this difficult portion of the schedule — which began in earnest with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks this week — will be a test for a Dodgers pitching staff missing three of its five opening-day rotation members and many other important arms in the bullpen.

Because of that, manager Dave Roberts has emphasized in recent days the need to push his starters to take down as many innings as possible.

On Friday, Kershaw seemed to be on his way to a decent start, pitching two scoreless innings in which his only baserunner reached via a walk that was quickly erased by a double play.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers in the second inning Friday against the Mets.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

But then, with the Dodgers mounting a rally in the top of the third, the New York skies opened up for a late May downpour. For the next 98 minutes, fans scattered for shelter and watched the Knicks’ playoff game on the stadium scoreboard. Back in the visiting clubhouse, Roberts watched the clock tick and tick and tick, eventually to the point where keeping Kershaw in was no longer a viable option.

By the end of the night, that was the least of the Dodgers’ problems.

Despite holding a 5-2 lead after getting three innings of two-run ball from Matt Sauer, and three scoreless innings from Ben Casparius, Scott couldn’t get the game across the finish line.

Starling Marte led with a single. Pete Alonso drew a one-out walk. Jeff McNeil got them both home on a triple hit just high enough to evade a leaping Freddie Freeman at first base. Tyrone Taylor then completed Scott’s fourth blown save in 14 opportunities with an RBI single to left.

Somehow, the Dodgers (32-19) still managed to prevail.

Alex Vesia got the game to extras, stranding two runners aboard to end the ninth. Both teams then traded wasted opportunities from there, failing to score their automatic runners in the 10th (when the Dodgers had the bases loaded with no outs), the 11th (when Anthony Banda and Luis García combined to escape a bases-loaded threat) and the 12th (when the Dodgers turned an inning-ending double play while employing a five-man infield).

Finally, Teoscar Hernández put the Dodgers back in front in the 13th, hitting a leadoff RBI double before scoring on Andy Pages’ sacrifice fly.

García closed it out in the bottom half of the inning, completing a 2 ⅓ scoreless inning appearance just minutes shy of 1 a.m. local time.

It was a hard-fought win, but one that could come with future consequences for a pitching staff that was already running on fumes.

Grounds crew members cover the field during a rain delay at Citi Field on Friday night.

(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)

Al Jazeera takes a look at financially-troubled Manchester United’s expensive Europa League final defeat by Spurs.

Manchester United’s decline on and off the field has been laid bare for a number of years but was placed in even sharper focus with their defeat by Tottenham in the Europa League final.

It was a zero-sum game on Wednesday: Winner goes into the Champions League – plus the UEFA Super Cup game in August – and loser is out of Europe next season and gets nothing.

Tottenham won a painfully drab match 1-0.

As football finance expert Kieran Maguire noted on Thursday, the defeat came despite United having higher revenue than Tottenham and spending 64% more on wages for a more expensively acquired squad of players. Tottenham also beat United twice in the Premier League this season, and in the domestic League Cup.

“If I was teaching this at management school (I) would conclude that there is something seriously wrong with the culture of the organisation… which is set by senior management,” Maguire wrote on X.

What are the financial costs to Man Utd?

Beyond the loss of sporting opportunities and reputational prestige, the club owned by the Glazer family from the United States and British billionaire industrialist Jim Ratcliffe has short-term and long-term financial hits ahead.

No Champions League play next season is an instant loss of at least 80 million euros ($90m), and approaching 150 million euros ($169m) for a run deep into the knockout stage.

United also misses out on the 4 million euros ($4.5m) Tottenham will get from UEFA for playing the Super Cup against the Champions League titleholder – either Inter Milan or Paris Saint-Germain – on August 13 at Udinese’s stadium in Italy. The winner gets a bonus of 1 million euros ($1.1m).

Can Man Utd recoup its losses in the FIFA Club World Cup?

After failing to qualify for the 2025 Club World Cup – which has a $1bn prize fund from FIFA and should pay more than $100m to a successful European team – United is now far behind in qualifying for the 2029 edition.

European teams qualify for the FIFA event only by being in the Champions League, either winning the title or building consistent results over four seasons.

United already will miss the entire first half of the 2024-28 qualifying period, and it is hard to project the team that last won the Premier League 12 years ago both qualifying for and then winning a Champions League title within three years.

What financial options do Man Utd have?

One clear solution to growing financial issues and the ability to comply with Premier League rules is selling the club’s best players, like captain Bruno Fernandes and out-of-favour forward Marcus Rashford, or its homegrown prospects. Some already earn high wages that are problematic for potential buyers.

A talent drain risks speeding a spiral of decline on and off the field if coach Ruben Amorim is left trying to rebuild with a weaker pool of players.

How do Man Utd match up to other clubs?

While United is still one of Europe’s highest-earning clubs, UEFA’s annual research shows its advantage is in decline, even though revenue was a club record 661.8 million pounds ($887m) last year.

A UEFA chart showed that over five years from 2019-24 – pre-COVID-19 through to the post-pandemic recovery in the football industry – United’s revenue grew at a slower rate than all of its biggest English rivals except Chelsea.

Will Man Utd’s revenue be affected?

Revenue now risks dropping, and another income cut is coming from falling to 16th in the Premier League standings with one round left on Sunday.

Premier League prize money based on final position in the standings means dropping from eighth a year ago to 16th is a difference of 22 million pounds ($29.5m) less.

It all adds up to another loss-making season after a 113.2 million pounds ($152m) deficit last season. The three previous years totaled losses of 236 million pounds ($316m).

Will Man Utd’s losses cost them further?

The Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) allow clubs to lose 105 million pounds ($140.7m) over a three-year period or face sanctions, though United can cite some exemptions.

Ratcliffe, who has operational control despite being a minority shareholder, is already the public face of unpopular cuts to jobs and staff benefits, and rising ticket prices for fans.

“This is not sustainable,” the club told fans in January, “and if we do not act now we are in danger of failing to comply with PSR/FFP (financial fair play) requirements in future years and significantly impacting our ability to compete on the pitch.”

To Los Angeles City Council members searching desperately for cuts amid a budget crisis, the Fire Department’s emergency incident technicians are “drivers” whose main role is chauffeuring battalion chiefs to emergencies.

But LAFD officials say the position is much more than that. Emergency incident technicians are firefighters who play a key role in coordinating the response to fires, and losing them would put lives at risk, according to LAFD interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva.

“This is going to come back and bite us. This is not a matter of them just being a driver. It is not a driver. You have to just take that out of your minds of transporting someone somewhere,” Villanueva said, addressing the City Council’s budget committee at a hearing on Thursday.

Five months after the Palisades fire destroyed thousands of homes and prompted questions about whether the Fire Department was equipped to fight such a massive blaze, the budget committee moved forward with a recommendation to cut the emergency incident technician positions.

Of the 42 positions, 27 are currently filled. Those firefighters would not lose their jobs but would be reassigned, saving the city more than $7 million in the next fiscal year and about $10 million every year after that, according to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo.

The city is facing a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall largely due to rising personnel costs, soaring legal payouts and a slowdown in the local economy. Mayor Karen Bass’ 2025-26 budget proposal, which suggested laying off more than 1,600 city employees, did not include reassigning the emergency incident technicians.

The budget committee, which stressed that the overall Fire Department budget is increasing, also recommended nixing Bass’ plan for creating a new unit within the department that would have added 67 employees to address issues stemming from the homelessness crisis.

At Thursday’s budget hearing, Councilmember Tim McOsker, who has two children who are firefighters, argued for cutting the emergency incident technician position, calling it “basically an aide.”

When Villanueva asked McOsker to put a cost on a firefighter’s life, McOsker said, “Invaluable.”

“I can say the same thing about very many of the 1,300 positions we’re cutting, because we’re also going to not be doing sidewalks, streets, curbs, gutters, tree trimming, changing out lights, making our communities safe,” McOsker added. “The reality is we have to balance a budget.”

The budget committee has sent its initial recommendations to Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, the City Council’s top policy advisor, who on Friday will present the committee with a full menu of strategies for cutting costs while preserving as many services as possible. The committee is then expected to finalize its recommendations and send the proposed budget to the full council, which must approve a final budget by the end of the month.

On the way to a scene, a “command team” consisting of a chief and an emergency incident technician “might be responsible to provide direction to the rescue of a trapped firefighter or civilians, firefighter tracking, and handle the risk management of a rapidly escalating incident,” Capt. Erik Scott, an LAFD spokesperson, said in a statement.

“The more complex the incident, the greater the need for Emergency Incident Technicians to facilitate emergency incident mitigation,” Scott added, with the types of incidents including “structure fires, brush fires, multi-casualty incidents, earthquakes, train collisions, building collapses, active shooter, airport and port emergencies etc.”

Gregg Avery, who retired last year as a battalion chief after 37 years with the LAFD, said that during his career, emergency incident technicians were called aides, then staff assistants. But Avery thought of them more as partners. The four EITs who worked for him often helped him with strategic decisions, and he encouraged them to question his decisions and offer advice.

“The EIT happens to drive the car. But to call them a driver is a bit demeaning and a bit minimizing,” he said.

While an EIT drives a battalion chief to a fire or other emergency, both work the radios to develop strategies for tackling the situation, according to Avery and a video produced by the LAFD. They communicate with fire commanders, firefighters on the scene, police officers and agencies such as the Department of Water and Power and the U.S. Forest Service.

At the scene, they work with the incident commander to keep track of firefighters and other personnel — a crucial role in chaotic situations when forgetting a single firefighter’s location could be fatal, both Villanueva and Avery said.

But at the Thursday budget hearing, Villanueva struggled to articulate what EITs do when they aren’t responding to scenes.

“They visit fire stations and they deliver mail. They talk about the current events. If there’s any questions they need to be asked … the EIT will assist with those. They do staffing,” Villanueva said.

According to Avery, EITs act as liaisons between firefighters and battalion chiefs. Since they are firefighters themselves and members of the labor union, they can relate to the rank-and-file, Avery said.

The EIT positions were cut once before — in 2010, during another major budget crunch in the Great Recession. Since then, the department has been adding them back.

Avery remembers working without an EIT after the cuts.

“Emergency operations were profoundly different and not as good,” he said.