Angels acquire Mike Moustakas in trade with Rockies

• June 25, 2023

DENVER — The Angels added another big bat and additional depth at first base by acquiring Mike Moustakas from the Rockies in a trade that was announced shortly after the Angels’ 25-1 win over Colorado on Saturday night.

The Angels sent the Rockies minor league right-handed pitcher Connor Van Scoyoc in exchange for the 34-year-old Moustakas,  who was batting .270 with seven doubles, four home runs and 17 RBI in 47 games with Colorado. He joined the Rockies on March 5, signing a minor league deal in early March.

The Angels designated Kevin Padlo for assignment after the game to make room on the roster for Moustakas.

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Rough starts ongoing for Galaxy, Rapids in 0-0 draw

• June 25, 2023

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Jonathan Bond stopped one shot for Galaxy, William Yarbrough saved three for Colorado as the teams played to a scoreless draw on Saturday night.

The Galaxy (3-9-6) are struggling, having scored just 14 goals, the fewest in club history at this stage of a season. The Galaxy has gone 1-5-4 in its last 10 road matches. The Galaxy scored three goals in their lone victory — over Real Salt Lake — but just two in the other nine matches.

The struggles continue for the Rapids (2-9-8), who have yet to win at home and are off to the worst start in club history with just 14 points through 19 matches.

Colorado is 7-1-3 in its last 11 matches with the Galaxy, including a 3-1 victory earlier this season. The seven wins ties the Rapids with the Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas for most over the Galaxy in that time.

The Galaxy travel to play the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. The Rapids travel to play St. Louis City on Saturday.

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Los Alamitos horse racing consensus picks, Sunday, June 25, 2023

• June 25, 2023

The consensus box of Los Alamitos horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Sunday, June 25, 2023.

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19-year-old arrested on manslaughter and DUI charges in Westminster crash

• June 25, 2023

A 19-year-old La Palma man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter in connection with a Westminster crash that left a woman dead.

Jayson Otto was driving a vehicle carrying three passengers when it crashed into concrete barricades at Westminster Boulevard and Rancho Road on Dec. 6, according to a Saturday news release from the Westminster Police Department. Jayda Jean Feeney, an 18-year-old from Huntington Beach, died at the scene; two other passengers, aged 16 and 17, received medical treatment for “unknown injuries,” police said.

Drugs or alcohol are thought to have caused the crash, the release said, adding that Otto was taken into custody and booked into Orange County Jail.

As of Saturday, Otto had posted in bond and been released from jail. It was not immediately clear when he was next due in court.

Jayda Jean Feeney. (Photo courtesy GoFundMe)

A GoFundMe page set up for Feeney said she was a senior in high school and had celebrated her 18th birthday less than a month before the crash.

“Jayda was wickedly smart, energetic and had a laugh that would cause you to burst into laughter yourself,” the page said.

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Donald Trump brought his legal problems on himself

• June 25, 2023

Donald Trump picked William Barr as his second attorney general largely because Barr had criticized special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. Barr still agrees with Trump that the Russia probe was a “witch hunt.”

The former attorney general takes a strikingly different view of the federal indictment against Trump that was unsealed this month, which Barr calls “very, very damning.” In contrast with many other prominent Republicans, Barr says the outrage is not the indictment but the “reckless conduct” that prompted it.

Like Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, his retention of government records after he left the White House presents Republicans with a choice. They can risk the wrath of Trump’s supporters by acknowledging reality, or they can play it safe by embracing his delusions.

Barr has rejected the latter course since Dec. 1, 2020, when he said the Justice Department had not seen “anything to substantiate” Trump’s story of systematically corrupted voting machines or any other evidence of “fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.” Around that time, Barr later recalled, he repeatedly told Trump such claims were “bull——.”

Barr likewise has little patience for Trump’s assertion that he had “the absolute right to do whatever I want” with the thousands of presidential records he took when he left office, which included more than 300 marked as classified. “He had no right to those documents,” Barr said on “Face the Nation” this week. “He had no legal basis for keeping them.”

Many Republican legislators have portrayed the criminal charges related to Trump’s handling of those records as a politically motivated attack on Joe Biden’s likely 2024 opponent. But as Barr noted, Trump “provoked this whole problem himself” by refusing to return the documents.

“The government tried for over a year, quietly and with respect, to get them back, which was essential that they do, and he jerked them around,” Barr said. Trump remained recalcitrant even when he faced a federal subpoena seeking all the documents with classification markings stored at Mar-a-Lago.

“He didn’t raise any legal arguments,” Barr noted. Instead, according to the indictment, “he engaged in a course of deceitful conduct” aimed at hiding records covered by the subpoena. “If those allegations are true,” Barr said, Trump’s conduct was “outrageous” and “a clear crime.”

Barr called the evidence supporting the charges against Trump, which include obstruction of justice and willful retention of national defense information, “very strong,” noting that much of it “comes from his own lawyers.” Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran’s notes, for example, indicate that his client was inclined to defy the subpoena.

Consistent with that impression, Trump had boxes moved out of a Mar-a-Lago storage room before Corcoran could search them for relevant documents. Barr said he also believes Trump lied to the Justice Department by averring that he had fully complied with the subpoena — another crime listed in the indictment.

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Trump has claimed every document he removed was “automatically declassified” — perhaps by a “standing order,” perhaps just “by thinking about it,” perhaps by the very act of removal. As Barr has previously noted, such claims are “highly improbable” and suggest a cavalier attitude toward national security. In any case, they are irrelevant under the statute dealing with national defense information, a category that can include unclassified material.

Trump also has argued that the Presidential Records Act gave him complete discretion to claim documents as his personal property. That legal theory is “absurd,” Barr noted, because “the whole purpose of the statute” is to “stop presidents from taking official documents out of the White House.”

Trump, whom Barr likened to “a defiant 9-year-old kid,” bridled at the legal restrictions on his acquisitive impulses, insisting that no one had any business going through “my boxes.” Barr is clearly correct when he observes that the case against Trump is “entirely of his own making.”

Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @JacobSullum.

​ Orange County Register 

Eduardo Escobar debuts with Angels in Denver

• June 25, 2023

DENVER — Eduardo Escobar capped a whirlwind 24 hours by taking the field as the Angels starting third baseman Saturday night in Colorado.

Acquired from the Mets to solidify an Angels’ roster ravaged by injuries, the veteran infielder was pulled out of New York’s game at Philadelphia in the second inning Friday night and informed by Mets manager Buck Showalter that he had been traded. He booked a car ride back to New York to let his family know, packed some clothes and baseball gear and flew Saturday morning to Denver, joining his new team at Coors Field, where the Angels continued their weekend series against the Rockies.

“I’m ready to go,” Escobar told reporters in a pregame news conference. “So happy to be here. I’m bringing my best energy. I told the manager whatever he has me doing, whatever I’m doing it shall always be at 100 percent.”

Said Angels manager Phil Nevin: “I’ve heard nothing but great things about him. His personality, what he’ll bring to the room, I’m excited to see it.”

Escobar added that he’s excited at the prospect of playing with superstars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout and the rest of an Angels team that is in the thick of the race for a playoff spot.

“To be around the best players, it’s unbelievable,” said Escobar, who is joining his sixth team over a 13-year career that included a NL All-Star selection in 2021. “I’ve been around a lot of players. But with Trout, Ohtani, it’s different now. I want to respect all the other players I’ve played with — Joe Mauer, Torii Hunter, those guys were really good. But playing with these guys now, for me, it’s just unbelievable.”

Fletcher brought up, Walsh sent down

The addition of Escobar was one of a series of moves the Angels made to begin to fill the injury-caused gaps on a roster depleted by 13 players on the injured list, including nine on the 60-day IL. The team selected the contract of infielder David Fletcher and then optioned infielders Jared Walsh and Michael Stefanic to Triple A Salt Lake City. Catcher Chris Okey was designated for assignment.

Fletcher, who started Saturday night at shortstop, found himself back with the Angels in what has been a rollercoaster season for him. He made the team out of spring training but struggled offensively and was optioned after eight games to Salt Lake City. The team later took him off the 40-man roster by outrighting him while he was at Salt Lake only to now restore him to the team

Fletcher summed up his feelings about being back with the Angels with these simple words: “I’m happy to be here.”

Renfroe gets a try at first base

First base has been one of the most unsettled positions for the Angels this season, and the team tried a new direction on Saturday by giving outfielder Hunter Renfroe his first start of the season at first.

Renfroe is the sixth different player to start a game at first for the Angels. Brandon Drury, Gio Urshela (injured), Jared Walsh, Jake Lamb and Kevin Paldo also have started at the position this season.

Primarily an outfielder, Renfroe has seen some time at first base, though it has been rare. He has played a total of 10 innings at first over his eight-year career heading into Saturday’s game, which marked only his second career start at the position.

Nevin said Renfroe has been practicing at first base during pregame infield work for the past several games and the manager has liked what he has seen.

“This isn’t a position he’s foreign to. He’s played it before,” Nevin said. “Everything I’ve seen, he’s looked really good over there. He looks like a normal first baseman, is the best way I can describe it.”

Nevin said Renfroe’s play at the position would be evaluated for a while before deciding whether he’s the longterm answer at first.

Moore throws simulated game

Reliever Matt Moore, sidelined since late last month because of a right oblique strain, pitched a simulated game earlier Saturday. He played long toss and threw 15 pitches off the mound in a session that both he and Nevin termed just “OK.” Nevin said more recovery time may be needed.

“Is that our last step in this? No,” Nevin said. “I think we realized that today. There’s probably still some hurdles to get over. There’s certain pitches, certain movements he’s making where he’s probably not quite 100 percent. But we’re really close. Just to see him on the mound was a positive.”

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Dodgers balk all over the Astros to complete comeback win

• June 25, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― Houston Astros pitcher Ryne Stanek twitched his knee, raised his arms above his head, and stepped off the pitching rubber. He requested a timeout from home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez.

Gonzalez denied the request. Both he and second base umpire Junior Valentine called a balk on Stanek instead. Pinch-runner Jonny DeLuca trotted home from third base with the go-ahead run, and the Dodgers’ comeback was complete.

Stanek’s balk was the tipping point in a series of bizarre events in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 8-7 win over the Astros. The call left Stanek in a tizzy, and Valentine ejected him from the game as he walked off the field, shouting up a storm. Astros manager Dusty Baker was ejected for arguing, too.

“The home plate umpire said something like, ‘timeout,’ but I said no he’s calling balk,” explained Miguel Rojas, who had a foxhole view from the batter’s box. “It’s not ‘time,’ it’s ‘balk.’ Doing whatever we can to score that run right there.”

The Dodgers trailed 7-5 when Bryan Abreu walked Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and J.D. Martinez to load the bases to begin the eighth inning. Jason Heyward hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Freeman with the Dodgers’ sixth run.

That’s when the game took a turn for the strange.

James Outman clobbered an Abreu slider down the middle of the plate to deep right field, and circled the bases believing he had hit a home run that would have put the Dodgers in the lead.

In fact, the ball got lodged in the cyclone fence in right field. The ground-rule double drove in Smith to tie the game 7-7. DeLuca stopped at third base ― a brief layover en route to scoring the game-winning run on the balk.

“You never know what break you’ll get that will be the one to make everybody relax,” Outman said.

The rookie outfielder was recalling something Mookie Betts told him earlier in the week, after Michael Busch hit a chopper off the pitcher and over the first baseman to drive in the winning run Tuesday in Anaheim. That was the first of four straight wins for the Dodgers (43-33).

Phil Bickford (2-2) pitched two scoreless innings to earn the win before an announced crowd of 49,281 at Dodger Stadium. Evan Phillips tossed a scoreless ninth to record his 10th save.

Home runs by Smith, Heyward and David Peralta accounted for three of the Dodgers’ five hits in the game. Peralta’s pinch hit, two-run homer in the seventh inning against Phil Maton awoke the Dodgers from an offensive slumber.

After allowing home runs to Smith and Heyward in the first inning ― and nearly another by Betts ― Astros starter Ronel Blanco retired the next 12 batters in a row. Meanwhile, the Astros scored seven unanswered runs, including six against Dodgers starter Bobby Miller.

“You fall behind like that, you’re looking for any momentum,” Smith said. “It was Peralta tonight. Huge pinch hit homer got us 7-5, a little belief back in the dugout.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sent Peralta, a left-handed hitter, to the plate to bat for struggling second baseman Miguel Vargas in the seventh inning against right-hander Phil Maton. Peralta responded by hitting his fifth homer of the season, a two-run shot, on the first pitch he saw.

Miller allowed 10 hits, six runs (all earned), and walked three batters in four innings. He faced seven batters in the fifth inning without recording an out. Yency Almonte used a strikeout and a double-play groundout to get the Dodgers out of that inning without incurring further damage to Miller’s ERA.

But the trend line is concerning. Miller was 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA four starts into his career. In the last two outings, the rookie right-hander has allowed 13 runs in nine innings.

This time, he was bailed out by his bullpen, a late rally, and a big balk.

“Obviously in a game like that you don’t want that to be the deciding run in that situation, but they got the call right,” Roberts said. “It’s the letter of the law. We’ll take it.”

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Human remains found by hikers on Mt. Baldy

• June 25, 2023

Human remains were discovered Saturday, June 24, on Mt. Baldy, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

Hikers discovered the remains around 10 a.m., the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement. Positive identification of the remains is set for next week, the alert added.

It was not immediately known whether the remains belong to actor Julian Sands, 65, who went missing in January in the Mt. Baldy area.

Another search for the actor occurred June 17, but did not yield any findings.

“We continue to hold Julian in our hearts with bright memories of him as a wonderful father, husband, explorer, lover of the natural world and the arts, and as an original and collaborative performer,” Sands’ family said in a statement following the latest search.

Sands, of North Hollywood, was reported missing in the Baldy Bowl area on Jan. 13, officials have said. He had been hiking alone at the time of his disappearance.

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