The Sports Report: The Dodgers make some roster decisions
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From Kevin Baxter: The Dodgers will board their charter flight for Japan early Wednesday but as of Tuesday night, they hadn’t released a list of the 31 players who will be on that plane.
Manager Dave Roberts wouldn’t even say if he was taking 16 pitchers and 15 field players or whether it was the other way around.
“It’s one of those two combinations,” he said.
But the team did release a list of players who won’t be going after sending seven players to the team’s minor league camp.
The two biggest names on the list were right-hander Bobby Miller, who had been expected to fight for the fifth spot in the starting rotation, and infielder/outfielder Hyeseong Kim, who entered the spring among the favorites for the starting job at second base. Both were optioned.
Miller didn’t appear in a game after being hit by a line drive 11 pitches into his first appearance. Kim played in 15 games but hit .207 in 29 at-bats, striking out 11 times. Only four players had more at-bats than Kim, who appeared at second base, shortstop and center field.
“He’s going to stay here. He’s going to continue to log at-bats,” Roberts said of Kim, who will begin the season at triple A. “The last four games have been really good for him. He looks much more comfortable at bat. The defense has been really good, and it was good to see him in center field.
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CLIPPERS
Zion Williamson had 22 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans stopped a four-game slide with a 127-120 victory over the Clippers on Tuesday night.
Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 29 points and James Harden added 25 points and 17 assists for the Clippers, who had won six of their previous seven, but didn’t take their first lead until Ivica Zubac dunked Harden’s lob with 5:08 left in third quarter.
Zubac had 19 points and 11 rebounds, while teammates Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. each scored 11.
Junior Bridgeman, Bucks standout and part of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trade, dies at 71
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Ben Bolch: Mick Cronin would seem to have his pick of quality candidates for an assistant general manager role with his team.
The UCLA coach could go with someone from the John Wooden era, a Bruins legend such as Marques Johnson, Jamaal Wilkes or Sidney Wicks.
Or maybe he would prefer a more recent alumnus who played in the NBA. How about Kevin Love, Lonzo Ball or Jaime Jaquez Jr.?
Then there’s the executive option. Who knows more about running a team than Bob Myers, the former Golden State Warriors general manager who recently was appointed to the University of California Board of Regents?
Cronin sounded like he might have someone in mind Tuesday when asked if he’d like one of the school’s famous alumni to fill the role that Stephen Curry announced this week he would assume at Davidson, his alma mater.
USC BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: It was just a run-of-the-mill recruiting call. At least, that’s what Quincy Pondexter thought.
Pondexter had been an assistant at his alma mater, Washington, for only a few months. He’d never spoken to Wesley Yates III but was familiar enough with the guard from Beaumont, Texas, to cold call him in 2021 to offer a scholarship.
The extraordinary part came five minutes after they hung up, when Yates’ father called back.
“Wait,” he said, “what’s your name again?”
“So I told him,” Pondexter says. “And then he tells me, ‘You’re our cousin.’
“And I said, ‘Wait. What?’”
Retelling the story almost four years later, Pondexter still can’t believe it. But that day he called his sister, who kept in touch with extended family in Texas, to confirm. It was true, she told him — their mothers shared the same last name: Gooch.
The realization changed the course of their lives, as Yates followed his cousin first to Washington and then to USC, where the redshirt freshman has emerged as a budding star for the Trojans, who will face Rutgers in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament Wednesday.
RAMS
From Gary Klein: Tutu Atwell did not want to be anywhere else.
After four seasons with the Rams, the speedy receiver was a pending free agent. But Atwell longed to return to the team that selected him in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft.
Atwell was home in Florida, “just patiently waiting for a phone call to come,” when coach Sean McVay called. Atwell was elated.
“I was ready to go,” Atwell, who signed a one-year, $10-million contract Tuesday, said during a videoconference with reporters.
CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The Chargers hoped to retain much of the squad that Jim Harbaugh called his “favorite ball team,” but two days into the free-agency negotiation period, that plan is proving difficult.
Cornerback Kristian Fulton agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs, according to multiple reports, becoming the second defensive starter to take a new deal during free agency.
Fulton started a career-high 14 games with 51 tackles and his first interception since 2022. The 26-year-old joined the Chargers as a free agent on a one-year deal hoping to revitalize his career after hamstring injuries slowed him down during the previous two seasons. He used the career year to earn a longer-term deal somewhere else, similar to defensive lineman Poona Ford. The nose tackle who anchored the Chargers’ run defense will bolt to the Rams on a three-year deal.
SOCCER
From Kevin Baxter: Mauricio Pochettino, facing his stiffest test yet as manager of the U.S. men’s soccer team, has summoned a veteran squad for next week’s CONCACAF Nations League final four at SoFi Stadium.
The 23-player roster released Tuesday is headed by forward Christian Pulisic and midfielders Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, who is returning to the team for the first time since last summer’s Copa América. Midfielder Gio Reyna and defender Cameron Carter-Vickers also are making their first appearances with the team under Pochettino, who is in his sixth month as coach.
Among the big names missing are defender Sergiño Dest; forwards Haji Wight, Ricardo Pepi and Folarin Balogun; and midfielder Malik Tillman, all of whom are dealing with injuries or fitness issues.
The roster
Goalkeepers: Patrick Schulte (Columbus Crew), Zack Steffen (Colorado Rapids), Matt Turner (Crystal Palace)
Defenders: Cameron Carter-Vickers (Celtic), Marlon Fossey (Standard Liege), Mark McKenzie (Toulouse), Tim Ream (Charlotte FC), Chris Richards (Crystal Palace), Antonee Robinson (Fulham), Joe Scally (Borussia Monchengladbach), Auston Trusty (Celtic)
Midfielders: Tyler Adams (Bournemouth), Johnny Cardoso (Real Betis), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Weston McKennie (Juventus), Gio Reyna (Borussia Dortmund), Tanner Tessmann (Olympique Lyon)
Forwards: Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC), Yunus Musah (AC Milan), Christian Pulisic (AC Milan), Josh Sargent (Norwich City), Timothy Weah (Juventus), Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps)
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Alex Ferguson, who led Manchester United to an unprecedented 13 Premier League titles in 21 seasons, insisted coaches learned less in victory than they did in defeat.
That would seem to suggest Ferguson learned little during his time in England. Yet if he’s right, then Emma Hayes’ education as coach of the women’s national team is just beginning because until last month she, like Ferguson, had known nothing but success.
She took over as manager last spring, about two months before the Paris Olympics, then won all six games in that tournament to return the U.S. to the top of the medal stand for the first time since 2012. That was part of a 17-match unbeaten streak that ended three weeks ago in a 2-1 loss to Japan in the final of the SheBelieves Cup. But for Hayes, the result didn’t teach her as much as the opponent did.
KINGS
Phillip Danault and Quinton Byfield scored in the second period and the Kings beat the New York Islanders 4-1 on Tuesday night.
Vladislav Gavrikov and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, who have won three straight after losing five in a row. Darcy Kuemper finished with 33 saves to get his 20th win of the season.
Anders Lee scored and Ilya Sorokin had 28 saves for the Islanders, who had two goals disallowed for goalie interference. New York has lost two straight and three of the last five.
DUCKS
Aliaksei Protas had the first hat trick of his NHL career and Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had three points as the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five, defeating the Ducks 7-4 on Tuesday night.
Ovechkin remains nine goals from passing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career mark of 894 but had three assists. Dubois had a goal and two assists.
Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson and Pavel Mintyukov each had a goal and an assist. Jacob Trouba scored his first goal as a Duck, ending a 94-game drought overall, when he tied it 1-1 just 4:51 into the first period. The defenseman’s last goal before Tuesday was for the New York Rangers on Jan. 4, 2024, against Chicago.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1937 — The first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men’s basketball tournament is won by Central Missouri State. Central Missouri wins the eight-team, single-elimination tournament by defeating Morningside College (Iowa) 35-24.
1966 — In the last race of his 40-year career, John Longden wins the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita, aboard George Royal. He retires with a then-record number of victories, 6,032.
1984 — Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Britain become the first ice dancing team to record nine perfect marks of 6.0 during the world championships.
1985 — Larry Bird scores 60 points, including Boston’s last 16, to set a Celtics record and lead them to a 126-115 victory over Atlanta.
1994 — The Arkansas men’s track and field team wins its 11th straight NCAA Indoor Championship with a meet-record 94 points. The 54-point victory margin is the biggest in the meet’s 30-year history.
2002 — Siena (17-18), with an 81-77 victory over Alcorn State in the play-in game, becomes first team in 47 years to win an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game with a losing record.
2003 — Damian Costantino’s NCAA-record hitting streak ends at 60 games, one day after he broke Robin Ventura’s 16-year-old mark. Costantino, an outfielder for Division III Salve Regina of Newport, R.I., fails to get a hit in the first game of a doubleheader against Baldwin-Wallace. It’s the first time he finishes a game hitless since March 25, 2001.
2005 — Bode Miller becomes the first American in 22 years to win skiing’s overall World Cup title. He finishes ahead of his only remaining challenger, Benjamin Raich of Austria, in the season’s final giant slalom to capture the crown.
2008 — The Houston Rockets are the third team in NBA history to win 20 straight games and ties for the second-longest winning streak with an 83-75 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
2009 — Syracuse outlasts Connecticut in the second-longest Division I game ever played, capping a Big East tournament quarterfinal doubleheader in which the second- and third-ranked teams in the nation both lose. Andy Rautins hits a three-pointer 10 seconds into the sixth overtime, to give the Orange their first lead since regulation and they go on to a 127-117 victory over the third-ranked Huskies. Much earlier in the evening, West Virginia beats No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60.
2011 — The No. 21 Connecticut Huskies win their seventh Big East championship by winning five games in as many days.
2017 — Joakim Jensen finally ends what is believed to be the longest game in hockey history, scoring in the eighth overtime in the Norwegian League playoffs. More than 8 1/2 hours after the game started — and after 217 minutes, 14 seconds of play — Jensen breaks through to give the Storhamar Dragons a 2-1 victory over the Sparta Warriors. Storhamar leads the best-of-seven quarterfinal series 3-2.
2018 — Alex Ovechkin scores twice to reach 600 goals as the Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in overtime. The Russian winger is the 20th player and fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach 600 goals.
2018 — Marc-Andre Fleury makes 38 saves to become the 13th goalie in NHL history with 400 career wins, and Ryan Carpenter scores the winning goal with 2:40 left to lead the Vegas Golden Knights over the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.
2020 — The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is cancelled over concerns of the spread of COVID-19; first time ‘March Madness’ not held since it began in 1939; women’s tournament also cancelled.
2020 — NHL announces the pausing of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time...
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Go beyond the scoreboard
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