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From Jack Harris: Since returning from mid-range travel to the Oklahoma City Triathlon, Bobby Miller and Walker Bühler they were in the same boat.
Even after the first half of the season, the Dodgers continued to believe in their potential.
But to count in October, they need to back it up with their late-season performances.
So far, only one person has answered the call.
While Buehler has shown signs of life and said he feels more like his old self — he’s off to an encouraging start — Miller continues to trend in the wrong direction and could hit a new low in his disappointing sophomore campaign Wednesday night in a 10-1 loss to the Angels in Anaheim.
“Obviously I’m not happy about it,” Miller said after his five-and-seven-inning start in which he scored five runs by the end of the first. “But when it happens, you just have to forget about it and wash it off. It happened and you just have to forget about it and move on.”
Miller’s first inning was an absolute disaster. He missed his first pitch and then hit another. He gave up two runs on back-to-back singles and then gave up a three-run homer to Mickey Moniak.
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Hernandez: Shohei Ohtani returns to Anaheim and shows why Dodger Stadium is a better home
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RAMOS
From Gary Klein: Matthew Stafford wants to avoid distractions, especially when he walks into an opponent’s stadium.
So unlike many athletes, the veteran Rams quarterback ditches his headset when he arrives and embraces the hostile environment as he runs onto the field for pregame warmups.
“I want to hear everything,” Stafford said Wednesday before practice at Woodland Hills. “I want to smell it. I want it to feel like football. It’s part of football, especially going to an away game.
“This just motivates me.”
On Sunday night, for the second time in eight months, Stafford is expected to play a role in his return to Ford Field in Detroit, where he played for 12 seasons before being traded to the Rams in 2021 in a deal that sent quarterback Jared Goff to the Lions.
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Plaschke: What will Aaron Donald do? The Rams are chasing championships without him… for now
FILLINGS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Jim Harbaugh has been enamored with Justin Herbert’s leadership skills since his first day on the job. The fifth-year quarterback “leads from the front,” Harbaugh praised.
That is, unless Herbert gets out of the broken elevator.
When about a dozen members of the Chargers’ traveling party were trapped in an elevator in Dallas last month during the preseason, Herbert was the last to reach a ladder to safety, allowing everyone to get out after they became trapped on a ceiling panel in front of him for two hours.
The gesture only strengthened Harbaugh’s faith in the star quarterback the Chargers hope to follow to success.
Continue reading here
Hernandez: Jim Harbaugh It may sound strange, but the Chargers are getting a message as Game 1 approaches.
FLIES
Kaitlyn Clark became the fastest player in WNBA history to hit 100 3-pointers in a season and finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for her second career triple-double as the Indiana Fever defeated the Sparks 93-86 in the playoffs Wednesday night.
Clark hit his second 3-pointer and 100th of the season midway through the third quarter and added two more to reach 102 and finish 4 of 10 from long range. The No. 1 pick in the draft is the first player with 100 3-pointers.
She also became the first player and fifth WNBA player to record multiple triple-doubles in a season, joining Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Williams, Sabrina Ionescu and Candice Parker.
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PARALYZED
Live updates from the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1949: Pancho Gonzalez wins his second consecutive men’s singles title at the United States Tennis Association Championships. Gonzalez needed 67 games, the most in a final, to defeat Ted Schroeder, 16-18, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. Mary Osborne du Pont defeated Doris Hart 6-4, 6-1 for the women’s title.
1951: 16-year-old Maureen Connolly defeated Shirley Fry 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in the U.S. singles tournament.
1960 – Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) defeated three-time European champion Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland by unanimous decision to win the Olympic lightweight boxing gold medal at the Rome Games.
1975 – Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia lost to Chris Evert in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, then appeared at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service office in New York and requested political asylum.
1987: John McEnroe is fined $17,500 for a tirade at the US Open.
1989 – Chris Evert’s illustrious career ends in the US Open quarterfinals when she leads 5-2 in the first round and loses to Zeena Garrison 7-6, 6-2. Evert’s US Open record is 101-12 and she finishes her career with a 1,304-145 record and 18 Grand Slam titles.
1990 – Ivan Lendl’s bid for a record-breaking nine US Open quarterfinal appearances ends. Pete Sampras wins in five sets, 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.
1994 – 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice catches two touchdown passes and runs for another score in a 44-14 lead over the Raiders; he surpasses Jim Brown as the NFL’s career touchdown leader with 127.
1995: Cal Ripken Jr. ties Gehrig’s record of 2,130 consecutive games.
1998 – Mark McGwire becomes the third player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs when the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. He joins Babe Ruth and Roger Maris with 60 home runs in a season.
2002 – The U.S. men finish without a medal at the World Basketball Championship. Yugoslavia rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat the United States 81:78. After going 58-0 with NBA players in international tournaments, the Americans will lose twice.
2007 – Alicia Sacramone’s floor routine leads the United States to the women’s world gymnastics title in Stuttgart, Germany. The Americans finished with 184.4 points, edging out defending champion China by 0.95 points to claim their second world title and first on foreign soil.
2011: Antron Brown becomes the first NHRA racer to win both the Top Fuel and Pro Stock Motorcycle U.S. National Championships, defeating Del Worsham in the Top Fuel finale. Brown, a five-time winner this season, is making the successful transition to Top Fuel from Pro Stock Motorcycle in 2008.
2020 – 8-1 Underdog Authentic holds off heavy favorite Tizzy Law to win the 146th Kentucky Derby.
Prepared by the Associated Press Agency
Until next time…
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