Daniel Hudson adds veteran presence to Dodgers’ bullpen

• July 6, 2023

LOS ANGELES — The guys in the Dodgers’ bullpen were so anxious for Daniel Hudson to rejoin them that left-hander Caleb Ferguson said they joked about going to management and telling them Hudson could skip his rehab assignment and just do it at the big-league level with them even if it meant extra work for everyone else.

The Dodgers’ bullpen has missed Hudson’s veteran presence and voice as much as his arm, Ferguson said.

“I think that’s the biggest thing, having last year DP (David Price), Huddy,” Ferguson said. “For me, I had Huddy in ’18. He really helped me become a reliever. That’s who we bounced things off of. I’d never pitched out of the bullpen until then. I leaned on him a lot to ask him a lot of things – what a routine should look like, how do you manage this, how do you manage that?

“We’ve never had to manage everybody’s emotions the way we’ve had to now (before Hudson’s return). We’ve always had a closer or somebody in that nature of a veteran presence. There’s always been that. … I think just not being able to go to somebody and go, ‘Hey, how do we do this?’ I don’t want to say we’ve been missing it because everybody knows how to handle rough patches on their own. But as a group, we had to learn it. A veteran guy brings that already to a group.”

Evan Phillips has also noticed the absence of “veteran leadership” in this year’s bullpen group. But he said it led to a breakthrough recently when the group had some meetings

“Having those guys in the ’pen were kind of like those relaxing factors that would keep everybody’s mind at ease and reassure that everything’s going to get rolling in the right direction, even through struggles the past couple years,” Phillips said. “Not having that voice down in the ‘pen and kind of putting that pressure on our group has really forced a lot of open communication.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Hudson “another adult in the ’pen” who can preach the merits of “accountability” and going after hitters aggressively.

“He’s been battle-tested. He’s got a good heart rate. He gets lefties and righties out. He’s got the respect of everyone in the ’pen and the club,” Roberts said.

NOAH HELP

Right-hander Noah Syndergaard is expected to throw three simulated innings to hitters at Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Syndergaard has been out since June 7 ostensibly with a blister on his pitching hand. More truthfully, the right-hander was placed on the injured list as a way to wipe the slate clean and hopefully address the issues that led to his 7.16 ERA over 12 starts.

The Dodgers’ need for starting pitching has only grown more pointed in Syndergaard’s time away. The plan is for him to go out on a minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment after Thursday’s simulated game.

“Then the ball is in his court, to be honest, to go out there and perform,” Roberts said. “The sample that we’ve seen up to this point – whether it be related solely to performance or a combo of injury, finger blister, layered onto performance – it hasn’t been where we need it to be. Noah understands that. So I think for us, the challenge is to go out there and be the pitcher we know he can be.”

Roberts said Syndergaard’s finger has healed and he will be evaluated on his rehab assignment for performance even more so than health.

“I do think the stuff, what hitters are telling him, telling us is important,” Roberts said. “I’m sure he’s 100 percent healthy. Now he’s got to go out there and show that he  can be that dependable major-league starter that we expect him to be.”

ALSO

Seedings and first-round matchups for next week’s All-Star Home Run Derby were announced by MLB on Wednesday. Mookie Betts is the third seed (based on his 23 home runs this season) and will face Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first round on Monday in Seattle. …

Right-hander Gavin Stone was optioned to the minor leagues on Wednesday after giving up one run in two innings in Tuesday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Left-hander Bryan Hudson was recalled for the second time. …

UP NEXT

Pirates (RHP Johan Oviedo, 3-9, 4.61 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Julio Urias, 5-5, 4.94 ERA), Thursday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM

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Irvine police recover thousands of pieces of stolen mail potentially used for identity theft

• July 6, 2023

A 33-year-old Anaheim man suspected of stealing mail throughout Irvine was arrested June 28 on suspicion of burglary and identity theft, police said.

The suspect, described as a prolific mail thief by police, is believed to work in construction. Police served a search warrant at the suspect’s girlfriend’s home after tracing the man back to a vehicle seen during one of the crimes, which an officer had recognized from a prior stop, said Irvine Police Sgt. Karie Davies.

Mail that could be used to commit identity theft, such as involving credit cards, bank cards, IDs, and passports, were some of the mail targeted by the suspect, Davies said.

During the search warrant, thousands of pieces of mail were recovered from the suspect’s girlfriend’s residence.

According to police, the suspect had an elaborate locksmith setup that he used to create keys to access mailboxes and buildings, mostly from apartment communities and large mailboxes that used a master key to open, police said.

Due to the volume of evidence recovered, police do not have a list of the neighborhoods targeted yet, said Davies.

Detectives are working alongside U.S. Postal Service inspectors to identify victims and other potential crimes committed, police said in a statement.

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Lakers fall to Spurs in their California Classic finale

• July 6, 2023

The Lakers fell to the San Antonio Spurs, 109-99, on Wednesday evening in their second and final matchup of the six-team California Classic in Sacramento.

Second-year guard Max Christie had another strong showing, scoring 13 third-quarter points on his way to a team-high 25 on 7-of-13 shooting to go with four rebounds and four assists. He had 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with six rebounds and four assists in Monday’s loss to the Miami Heat.

Guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, the Lakers’ first-round pick (No. 17 overall) in last month’s NBA draft, had 20 points (8-of-17 shooting) and four assists.

Center Colin Castleton (18 points, eight rebounds, six assists, four blocked shots) and forward Cole Swider (18 points, seven rebounds) also scored in double figures for the Lakers.

The Spurs were led by Malaki Branham (32 points, five rebounds) and Julian Champagnie (28 points, five rebounds, two blocks).

The Lakers next travel to Las Vegas to compete in the league-wide Summer League.

Their first game will come against the Golden State Warriors on Friday at 8 p.m. at the Thomas & Mack Center. They have three more games scheduled for the same venue:

• Sunday vs. Charlotte (1 p.m.)

• Wednesday vs. Boston (7 p.m.)

• July 14 vs. Memphis (7:30 p.m.)

The date and opponent for the Lakers’ fifth game in Las Vegas will be determined by the results of their first four matchups.

Additional preseason game

The Lakers announced that they have added a sixth matchup to their October preseason slate.

They’ll face the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 11 at the Honda Center.

The Lakers’ full preseason schedule:

• Oct. 7: at Golden State (5:30 p.m.)

• Oct. 9: vs. Brooklyn at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (6 p.m.)

• Oct. 11: vs. Sacramento at Honda Center (7 p.m.)

• Oct. 13: vs. Golden State (7 p.m.)

• Oct. 15: vs. Milwaukee (5 p.m.)

• Oct. 19: vs. Phoenix at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs (7 p.m.)

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Team USA opens Volleyball Nations League by sweeping Cuba

• July 6, 2023

ANAHEIM — Team USA outside hitter T.J. DeFalco seemed to be only half-joking when he outlined the squad’s daily routine leading up to the Volleyball Nations League this week.

“Our routine after 8½ months playing internationally, our routine is to get to this coast as quickly as you can and to the beach,” the former Huntington Beach High and Long Beach State standout said.

Team USA’s 3-0 victory against Cuba – 27-25, 25-17, 25-15 – in the teams’ VNL opener on Wednesday night at the Anaheim Convention Center wasn’t exactly a day at the beach, but it was the kind of gritty match the U.S. needed as it builds toward the Olympic qualifying tournament in Japan later this year (Sept. 30-Oct. 8).

Struggling with Cuba’s serving early, the Americans, playing their first match on U.S. soil since 2019 and their first in Southern California, the sport’s talent hotbed, since 2016, trailed as late as 24-23 in the first set before capitalizing on a couple of breaks to clinch the set. Cuba was able to hang with the U.S. through the middle of the second set before outside hitter Matt Anderson gave Team USA some breathing room with a pair of kills and then closed the door on the Cubans with back-to-back aces to end the second set.

After that, the third set was a mere formality.

“We didn’t start that well in the first set and it kind of put us in a tough position because they were serving well and that put a lot of pressure on our side out,” said Anderson, who finished with a match-high 13 points. “But we held onto it and toward the end it just got to the point where we had to make the play. Fortunately for us, we did and trusted our system of play out there and returned a couple balls late in that first set to give us the set and kind of a deep breath, sigh, let it all out and move forward. If we can play like that and still win, let’s focus on a couple more plays and that second set we returned more and in that third set we kind of ran away with it.”

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Longtime baseball scout Doug Deutsch remembered for searching deeper for talent

• July 6, 2023

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Doug Deutsch of Costa Mesa, a longtime professional baseball scout with the Houston Astros and Kansas City Royals, is being remembered for his astute ability to identify talent and strong belief that the character and work ethic of a prospect mattered.

Deutsch, 81, died last month from lung cancer, his son, Tim, said.

As one of the Southern California’s most recognizable scouts, Deutsch signed and drafted several Orange County standouts from the college and high school ranks in a nearly 26-year career that started in 1983.

“Doug was beloved,” said John Elliott, owner of Quakes Baseball Academy who was mentored in scouting by Deutsch. “He looked at character traits. He didn’t get caught up (solely) on the numbers.”

Deutsch achieved his most success with the Astros.

From 1998-2000, he drafted four players — Mike Gallo (Long Beach State), Morgan Ensberg (USC), Jason Lane (USC) and Mike Burns (Cal State L.A.) — who helped Houston reach the World Series in 2005.

“That’s unheard of,” said Burns, now an assistant coach at UC Riverside. “He just had a gift. He saw talent, and saw beyond the talent to see work ethic, heart and determination.”

Burns’ journey to the big leagues typified the impact Deutsch made with dozens of prospects. He selected Burns, who played shortstop on his scout team while at Diamond Bar High, in the 30th round after watching him blossom as a pitcher at Cal State L.A.

“Doug took a chance on me,” Burns said, “and I’m grateful for that.”

Tim Deutsch said his father developed much of his insight by visiting prospects in their homes, and getting to know their parents, background and character.

“He didn’t just scout the player as a player, he scouted the player as a person,” Tim said of Deutsch, whose father Jack was a Hall of Fame baseball coach at Cal State L.A. “It was a labor of love.”

Some other notable draft picks by Deutsch included late all-star pitcher Darryl Kile (Chaffey College), former Angels catcher Matt Treanor (Mater Dei), all-star catcher John Buck (Taylorsville, Utah), Brandon Barnes (Cypress College) and Mike Simms (Esperanza).

Several of Deutsch’s selections found their success after their professional playing days.

Dave Matranga (Pepperdine) works for PSI Sports Management, which represents Aaron Judge among others. Undrafted signee Matt Lucas (Cal State L.A.) became the successful high school coach at El Dorado. And former Cal State Fullerton pitcher Kirk Saarloos is now the coach at TCU, which played in the College World Series last month.

“He pulled a lot people forward,” Elliott said.

Deutsch is survived by children Tim, Michael, Kelly and Kari, 11 grandchildren and three great grandchildren. His wife Linda died in 2019.

A vigil for Deutsch is scheduled for July 24 at 7 p.m. at Saints Simon and Jude Catholic Church in Huntington Beach. The funeral service will be July 25 at 10:30 a.m. at the church.

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Angels keep Anthony Rendon on active roster for now

• July 6, 2023

SAN DIEGO — The Angels are giving Anthony Rendon a chance to avoid a third trip to the injured list this season.

Although Rendon was walking with the help of crutches on Tuesday, and still using one crutch on Wednesday, the Angels kept the veteran third baseman on the active roster in hopes that he can play by Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

“Hopefully this thing subsides in the next couple of days and he’ll be fine for L.A., but we’ll reevaluate it after the game tonight, probably again tomorrow sometime and make a decision,” Manager Phil Nevin said before Wednesday’s game against the Padres.

Rendon suffered a contusion when he fouled a ball off his left shin during Tuesday’s game. After the game, he said “it’s not looking good” when he was asked if could avoid the IL.

That still might be the ultimate outcome. If the Angels do place Rendon on the IL on Thursday or Friday, it could be retroactive to Wednesday, so he would be eligible to return on July 15, the second game after the All-Star break.

The only downside to waiting to make the decision is that the Angels went into Wednesday’s game with only three healthy players on the bench instead of the normal four.

Rendon, 33, has already been on the IL twice this season, with a strained groin and a bruised wrist. He missed most of the previous two seasons with hip and wrist injuries that required surgery.

TROUT SURGERY

As expected, Mike Trout underwent surgery on Wednesday to have his fractured hamate bone removed, which is the standard procedure in these cases.

The timetable for recovery is at least four weeks, but in most cases, it requires six to eight weeks.

“It just remains to be seen, how Mike’s hand responds when he starts doing the treatments and his rehab,” Nevin said. “I know he’s anxious to get going. He was happy he could get this done right away so he can get back to the team as quick as possible.”

OHTANI’S BLISTER

Shohei Ohtani was back in the lineup on Wednesday, despite the blister that hindered him on the mound on Tuesday afternoon.

Nevin said he expects Ohtani to be ready to pitch again after the All-Star break.

“He’s got 10 days off,” Nevin said. “We can stretch that further if we need to. But I would anticipate him making that first start after the break (on July 14).”

NOTES

Left-hander Tyler Anderson will be temporarily available in the bullpen because the Angels don’t need him to start before the break. Griffin Canning and Reid Detmers will start on Friday and Saturday against the Dodgers. Nevin said he thought Anderson would “react better and perform better (out of the bullpen) than the other guys.” …

Left-hander José Suarez (shoulder) has begun throwing bullpen sessions in Arizona. He is scheduled to face some hitters next week. …

The Angels recalled right-hander Zack Weiss and optioned right-hander Gerardo Reyes on Wednesday. …

Hunter Renfroe’s home run against the Padres on Tuesday gave him a homer against all 30 teams. Renfroe is the 71st player in major league history to homer against 30 different franchises.

UP NEXT

Angels (RHP Griffin Canning, 6-3, 4.29) at Dodgers (TBD), Friday, 7:10 p.m., Bally Sports West, 830 AM

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Cooler temperatures expected across Southern California this week, but scorching heat could return next week

• July 6, 2023

Southern California residents can expect breezy and slightly cooler weather for the rest of the week after a hot July 4th holiday, forecasters said.

Most inland areas will get some relief from the heat, with morning temperatures expected to be several degrees cooler than they were leading into Independence Day, meteorologists with the National Weather Service said.

The cooling trend comes as a ridge of high pressure, high temperature air moves out of the area and a marine layer of cooler air moves in, with clouds persisting along the beaches and valleys of the greater Los Angeles area for longer into the day.

The marine layer is slightly deeper than 24 hours ago. The coastal low clouds have already spread about as far inland as the past two mornings and are now spreading into far western portions of the Inland Empire. #cawx pic.twitter.com/WEaU46Kznk

— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) July 5, 2023

But the heat will return: By Sunday, the warming trend will pick back up. And next week could be a scorcher, forecasters said.

“High temperatures (next) Tuesday are expected to be around 5 degrees above average for inland areas to near 10 degrees above average for the lower deserts,” meteorologists in the San Diego office of the NWS said Wednesday.

They said high temperatures could reach “near 115 (degrees) in the lower deserts” and vault above “100 (degrees) in the warmest…portions of the Inland Empire.”

The warm-up next week comes after what climate researchers said was already possibly the hottest day ever recorded on Earth.

The globe’s average temperature reached 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool based on satellite data and computer simulations offering climate scientists a glimpse of weather conditions for the entire world.

That mark was the hottest average temperature recorded in at least 44 years since the unofficial record tallying began. Tuesday’s average broke the previous temperature record set just the day before: Monday’s average temperature was 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

Officials with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the chief weather forecasters for the United States, said the records set Monday and Tuesday are not official tallies, but that they show “us an indication of where we are right now,” said NOAA chief scientist Sarah Kapnick.

She said analyzing the data collected showed that Tuesday was likely on average the hottest day on Earth in “several hundred years.”

NWS officials said locals should take precautions ahead of next week, with temperatures expected to climb into the high 90s or low 100s by Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday could see temperatures top 100 degrees at least, possibly rising above 110 degrees.

In the meantime, L.A. area residents can expect clear skies with some clouds into the weekend.

“Expect skies to clear a bit slower than they did on (Tuesday), with skies becoming mostly clear by mid to late morning in the valleys, and by noon or shortly thereafter on the coastal plain,” NWS meteorologists in Los Angeles said.

“Clouds will likely linger into the afternoon near the immediate coast, and beach locations may remain mostly cloudy all day.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Musk v. Zuck: Meta’s Twitter challenger Threads goes live

• July 6, 2023

By Samantha Kelly | CNN

Facebook has tried to compete with Twitter in numerous ways over the years, including copying signature Twitter features such as hashtags and trending topics. But now Facebook’s parent company is taking perhaps its biggest swipe at Twitter yet.

Meta on Wednesday officially launched a new app called Threads, which is intended to offer a space for real-time conversations online, a function that has long been Twitter’s core selling point.

The app appears to have many similarities to Twitter, from the layout to the product description. The listing, which first appeared earlier this week, emphasizes its potential to build a following and connect with like-minded people.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it read. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

Meta said messages posted to Threads will have a 500 character limit. The company said it was bringing the app to 100 countries via Apple’s iOS and Android.

After downloading the app, users are asked to link up their Instagram page, customize their profile and follow the same accounts they already follow on Instagram. The look is similar to Twitter with a familiar layout, text-based feed, the ability repost and quote other Thread posts. But it also blends Instagram’s existing aesthetic and offers the ability to share posts from Threads directly to Instagram Stories. Verified Instagram accounts are also automatically verified on Threads. Thread accounts can also be listed as public or private.

The new app joins a growing list of Twitter rivals and could pose the biggest threat to Twitter of the bunch, given Meta’s vast resources and its massive audience.

It also comes amid heightened turmoil at Twitter, which experienced an outage over the weekend, followed by an announcement that the site had imposed temporary limits on how many tweets its users are able to read while using the app.

Twitter owner Elon Musk said these restrictions had been applied “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.” Commenting on the launch of Threads Monday, he tweeted: “Thank goodness they’re so sanely run,” parroting reported comments by Meta executives that appeared to take a jab at Musk’s erratic behavior.

Since acquiring Twitter in October, Musk has turned the social media platform on its head, alienating advertisers and some of its highest-profile users. He is now looking for ways to return the platform to growth. Twitter announced Monday that users would soon need to pay for TweetDeck, a tool that allows people to organize and easily monitor the accounts they follow.

Twitter is also attempting to encroach on Meta’s domain. In May, Twitter added encrypted messaging and said calls would follow, developments that could allow the platform to compete with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, also owned by Meta.

The escalating rivalry between the two companies only appears to have added to the rivalry between Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In response to a tweet last month from a user about Threads, Musk wrote: “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options.” In a followup tweet, Musk teased the idea of a cage match with Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg fired back in an Instagram story by posting a screenshot of Musk’s tweet overlaid with the caption: “Send Me Location.”

– CNN’s Hanna Ziady contributed to this report.

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