Dodgers lose to Arizona
From Maddie Lee: It’s no secret that the Dodgers haven’t played their best baseball over the last nine days. But during their 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, they exacerbated the trend.
Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski remained in a rut, giving up four runs (three earned) in 3⅓ innings. The two-run homer he surrendered to Diamondbacks switch hitter Ketel Marte in the first inning was the ninth home run he has given up in three starts.
Before his recent struggles, Wrobleski hadn’t surrendered more than three homers in a three-game span this season.
He left a fastball belt-high to Marte, who entered Sunday with a .913 OPS against left-handed pitchers. Marte lined it into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen in the left-field corner.
After Wrobleski’s last start, manager Dave Roberts said the Dodgers (70-48) would look into whether the left-hander might be tipping pitches, but he said before the game Sunday that those suspicions seemed “unfounded.”
“I’m just not good enough right now,” Wrobleski said. “It’s kind of what it comes down to. It’s really frustrating. Execution just hasn’t been as good. I feel like [Sunday] just wasn’t good enough. And, again, I’ve got to be better. … I’m not the type to give up. So I’m ready to bear down. This is kind of where you can go two ways, and I’m excited to keep working, and I’m excited for my next one.”
Shaikin: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: A two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85
Angels routed by Marlins
Kyle Stowers tripled, singled and drove in two runs before exiting because of left hamstring discomfort in the fifth inning, and the Miami Marlins beat the Angels 12-3 on Sunday.
Griffin Conine homered twice and Javier Sanoja had two singles and three RBIs for the Marlins. Miami’s Otto López had two infield singles, giving him 46 multi-hit games.
Davante Adams focuses on improving Rams
From Gary Klein: A few hours after their season-ending defeat in the NFC championship game last January, the Rams boarded a plane for their flight home from Seattle.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford was seated a row in front of veteran receiver Davante Adams, who once again had fallen just short of finally reaching the Super Bowl.
“He’s turning around, he’s looking at me, like, ‘I’m sorry, man, I wanted that for you so bad,’” Adams recalled. “Not for him, but he wanted it for me.”
Adams, 33, is expected to get another shot at playing on the NFL’s biggest stage.
The star-studded Rams are favored to not only play in but win Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.
Since the Green Bay Packers selected him out of Fresno State in the second round of the 2014 draft, Adams has played in and lost five NFC championship games, including last season’s 31-27 defeat by the eventual Super Bowl-champion Seahawks.
Speedy rookie Brenen Thompson could spark Chargers
From Joaquin Ruiz: Chargers rookie wide receiver Brenen Thompson said he doesn’t love zipping around.
“To be fair, I really hate running,” Thompson, a former track star, said. “But I’m really good at it.”
Thompson has proven that so far in Chargers training camp, sprinting around defenders and maximizing his 5-foot-9, 170-pound frame in passing drills.
His speed and do-it-all attitude have made him one of Justin Herbert’s favorite targets, including on deeper routes, over the last two weeks.
“He’s going to be very good,” Herbert said of Thompson. “We saw it early on that he was going to be. He’s skilled. He’s fast. He’s going to make a lot of plays for us. So, I’m really excited about him.”
Added Thompson: “I know my speed is pretty much unmatched when I step on the field, and that’s something I take strong confidence in.”
USC’s Gary Patterson has some things to prove
From Ryan Kartje: As an aspiring young quarterback at Muleshoe High in the early 2000s, Lincoln Riley attended a football camp at Texas Christian University, run by a coach known even then as a mastermind of defense, a man whose ideas and 4-2-5 scheme would one day be disseminated across college football.
Gary Patterson had just been elevated from defensive coordinator to head coach at TCU, a job he would occupy for the next two decades. Around the same time, his staff saw something in Riley. They talked briefly about giving him a shot at safety on Patterson’s vaunted TCU defense.
“Needless to say,” Riley told The Oklahoman in 2018, “it didn’t turn out.”
But a quarter-century after first crossing paths at that camp, it’s now the young quarterback giving the old ball coach a chance to prove himself.
When USC announced it was hiring Patterson as Riley’s defensive coordinator in January, ears perked up across college football. On one hand, Patterson, 66, is a freshly minted College Football Hall of Famer and one of the great defensive minds of the modern era. On the other hand, he hasn’t led a college football team since 2021, when he was forced out at TCU, and a lot has changed in the sport since. Not to mention it’s been more than 25 years since Patterson last served as a coordinator.
Those were fair concerns, considering all that’s riding on Riley getting it right with Patterson, his third defensive coordinator in five seasons. But after seven months with him on the job, you won’t find anyone at USC — players, coaches or administrators alike — with an ounce of distress over Patterson’s stamina.
“I think I would have had more reservations had I not known him,” Riley said. “But that fire still burns very, very hot.”
Sparks lose to Golden State
From Marisa Ingemi: Coming off their best win of the season in Minnesota on Thursday, the Sparks didn’t have much of that same energy to start their first home game since the trade deadline.
The fourth quarter, though, looked a lot like the best basketball they’ve played all season.
The Sparks came out flat and gave up 29 first-quarter points from the Golden State Valkyries in an 84-78 loss Sunday, their eighth in the last 10 games. They made it a game in the fourth with a 16-5 run but were too far back and it took just a couple of Valkyries shots to put the game out of reach.
Angel City draws with Seattle
The Seattle Reign and Angel City played to a 2-2 draw after visiting Angel City (7-7-4) rallied late in the second half Sunday.
With Angel City down 2-1 in the 72nd minute, Evelyn Shores — who entered as a substitute in the 69th — played a long ball to Prisca Chilufya, who also entered in the 69th. Chilufya finished with ease.
The Reign (7-7-4) fell behind in the 32nd minute when 20-year-old Angel City defender Gisele Thompson got around Seattle’s defense and slotted a shot past goalkeeper Claudia Dickey.
This day in sports history
1900 — The first Davis Cup is held with the United States beating Britain, 3-0.
1949 — Ezzard Charles knocks out Gus Lesnovich in the eighth round at Yankee Stadium in his first world heavyweight title defense.
1975 — Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship for the fourth time with a two-stroke victory over Bruce Crampton and Tom Weiskopf.
1980 — Jack Nicklaus wins his fifth PGA Championship with a record score of 274, seven strokes ahead of Andy Bean.
1984 — The US beats Spain 96-65 to win the men’s basketball gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics; future ‘dream team’ members Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin star.
1984 — The much anticipated matchup between American world champion Mary Decker and South African Zola Budd in the women’s 3000-meter race at the Los Angeles Olympics ends in controversy. Just past the midpoint of the race, Decker steps on Budd’s heel, causing Budd to stumble and Decker to trip over Budd. Budd gets back into the race and Decker goes down with an injured thigh. Romania’s Maricica Puica, who had set the fastest time in 1984, wins the race and Budd finishes seventh.
1995 — Michael Bradley, a third-year pro without a tour victory, shoots a record-tying 63 in his first PGA round to lead the PGA Championship.
1996 — Cigar’s bid for a 17th straight victory ends when longshot Dare and Go passes the super horse in the upper stretch and pulls away to win the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Cigar, 3 1-2 lengths behind Dare and Go, fails to break a tie with Citation for the record winning streak by a North American-based horse this century.
2008 — In Beijing, Michael Phelps begins his long march toward eight gold medals by winning the 400-meter individual medley in 4:03.84 — smashing his own world record. The U.S. women’s 400-meter freestyle relay team, anchored by 41-year-old Dara Torres, takes the silver behind the Netherlands’ Olympic record effort. It’s the 10th medal of Torres’ career.
2008 — Ireland’s Padraig Harrington rallies from three shots behind to win the PGA Championship, closing with a 4-under 66 at Oakland Hills to become the fourth player to win the British Open and PGA in the same year. Harrington, the first European to win consecutive majors, closes out Sergio Garcia with a 15-foot par on the 18th for a two-shot victory.
2012 — The United States wins the women’s 4×100-meter track relay in a world-record time of 40.82 seconds to give the Americans their first Olympic victory in the event since 1996. Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter combine for a perfect trip around the track that ends a string of disappointments for the U.S. in the marquee relay.
2012 — Maurice Purify catches a record seven touchdown passes and the Arizona Rattlers win the Arena Bowl with a 72-54 win over the Philadelphia Soul.
2014 — Rory McIlroy wins his second straight major championship and fourth of his young career, rallying on the back nine in the PGA Championship. The tournament finishes in near-darkness at Valhalla Golf Club, with the final two groups essentially morphing into a foursome as they race to beat nightfall. McIlroy rallies from a three-shot deficit at the turn, to shoot a 3-under 68 to beat Phil Mickelson by one stroke. McIlroy finishes at 16-under 268.
2016 — Daryl Homer becomes the first American to win an Olympic silver medal in men’s individual sabre in 112 years.
2016 — Kristin Armstrong wins the road cycling individual time trial, finishing with a time of 44:26.42 for her third consecutive gold in the Olympic event.
Compiled by the Associated Press
This day in baseball history
1901 — Frank Isbell of the Chicago White Sox set an AL record by stranding 11 teammates on the basepaths.
1944 — Charles “Red” Barrett of the Boston Braves threw only 58 pitches to beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-0 in a nine-inning game.
1957 — Mickey Mantle became the first player to clear the center-field hedge at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium when his 460-foot homer hit the base of the scoreboard. The Yankees beat the Orioles, 6-3.
1969 — Cesar Tovar of Minnesota broke up the second no-hit bid against the Twins by a Baltimore pitcher. Tovar singled with no out in the ninth off Mike Cuellar. Earlier in the year, Tovar singled with one out in the ninth to spoil Dave McNally’s bid.
1971 — Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins hit his 500th home run in the first inning off Baltimore’s Mike Cuellar to become the 10th player to hit 500 or more in a career. Killebrew also hit No. 501 off Cuellar but the Orioles won 4-3.
1981 — Major league baseball resumed play after a two-month strike. In the St. Louis Cards-Phillies game at Philadelphia, attended by 60,561 fans, Pete Rose broke Stan Musial’s NL hit record when he singled for his 3,631st hit. It came off Mark Littell in the eighth inning.
1987 — Philadelphia’s Kevin Gross was ejected in the fifth inning after umpires discovered a strip of sandpaper glued to the heel of his glove to scuff balls. The Phillies had a 4-2 lead over the Chicago Cubs. Gross would be suspended for 10 games the next day.
1995 — Ball Night at Dodger Stadium turned into the first forfeit in the majors in 16 years. The Dodgers forfeited a game to the St. Louis Cardinals after fans threw souvenir baseballs onto the field three times. The game was called with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
2003 — Atlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in major league history against the St. Louis Cardinals. With runners on first and second in the fifth inning, Furcal made a leaping grab of pitcher Woody Williams’ liner. The runners were going, and Furcal stepped on second base to double up Mike Matheny before tagging out Orlando Palmeiro.
2004 — Barry Bonds became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in 13 consecutive seasons, hitting a solo shot off John Grabow in the seventh inning of San Francisco’s 8-7 loss to Pittsburgh. Bonds has now hit 30 homers in 14 seasons, one shy of Hank Aaron’s record.
2006 — Boston’s Curt Schilling tied the AL record by allowing 10 extra-base hits in a 5-4 loss to Kansas City. Schilling gave up nine doubles and a home run, matching the mark set by Washington’s Dale Gear in 1901 and equaled by Cleveland’s Luis Tiant in 1969.
2009 — Troy Tulowitzki had five hits, hit for the cycle and had a career-high seven RBIs to help Colorado beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5.
2018 — Kole Calhoun and Justin Upton hit two-run homers, Albert Pujols reached another milestone and the Angels rallied past Oakland for 4-3 win. With a single in the sixth inning, Pujols recorded his 1,000th hit with the Angels. He became the ninth player all-time with at least 1,000 hits in each league after getting 2,073 with St. Louis.
2018 — The Orioles’ awful season continues as they blow an early 8-3 lead against Boston to lose, 19-12. This puts them 46 1/2 games back of the division-leading Red Sox, with 46 games remaining, meaning they are mathematically eliminated. It matches the earliest date this has happened in baseball history, set by the 1932 Red Sox and copied by the 1962 Mets, two notoriously awful teams, and the 46 games left to play at the time of elimination is a new record in the divisional era.
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 houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.