Del Mar horse racing consensus picks for Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023

• November 11, 2023

The consensus box of Del Mar horse racing picks comes from handicappers Bob Mieszerski, Art Wilson, Terry Turrell and Eddie Wilson. Here are the picks for thoroughbred races on Saturday, November 11, 2023.

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​ Orange County Register 

Secret to Chargers’ recent success? Having fun again

• November 11, 2023

A funny thing happened in the hours and days after the Chargers suffered what appeared to be a deflating loss Oct. 22 to the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Instead of folding like a warm tortilla, the Chargers regrouped and began to smile and have fun again.

When they reconvened for practice at their Costa Mesa headquarters a few days after a 31-17 loss to the Chiefs left them with a 2-4 record and cast serious doubts about their ability to rally, the Chargers did exactly that. Smiles replaced frowns and laughter thundered through the locker room.

The Chargers went on to rout the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets in their next two games to return to .500 and invite second opinions about their play nearing the season’s midway point. They were far from flawless in defeating two teams with novice quarterbacks, but winning sure beat losing.

Their next challenge is to continue to have fun while playing a more complementary game against the Detroit Lions, their most difficult opponent since facing the Chiefs. After all, the Lions are 6-2, leading the NFL North Division and coming off a bye week. The Chargers (4-4) are coming off a short week.

“This is a really tough game,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley said of the NFL grind. “Sometimes, we all need to be reminded that it’s a game. I think that these guys work really hard. They do it the right way. I think that it gets you to connect at a higher level. There’s something to look forward to. When big things happen, they become bigger because you’re doing it with your teammates.

“I think you’ve been able to see that tangible energy on the field and I think it spreads. Everyone wants to be a part of that because it’s such a tough game.”

It was evident one day when quarterback Justin Herbert sat with the offensive linemen in the locker room and somebody wondered why they were called fish and chips when they were actually fish and French fries. It was clear, too, when a group of defensive linemen cheered when long snapper Josh Harris went somewhere quiet with a reporter for a one-on-one interview on another day

You saw it on the field, too. Successful plays prompted joyful celebrations. Outside linebacker Joey Bosa then took it to a higher level with his sumo wrestling-inspired celebration of his first-quarter sack and fumble recovery during the Chargers’ 27-6 victory Monday night over the Jets.

“I stripped the ball out,” Bosa said. “I thought it was a good time to pull that (celebration) out. I hadn’t planned it. Kind of spur of the moment remembered it. I thought the guys did a good job of jumping in, so, yeah, I think we’re trying to have more fun out there. It is a game. Sometimes you get really caught up in how intense and how serious we take our jobs that you forget you should be having fun out there.”

In many ways, the Chargers have reached a crossroads similar to one they hit last season, albeit a little bit later in the schedule. Last season, the Chargers were 6-6 after a loss to the rival Raiders in Las Vegas. But instead of collapsing in the stretch run, they won four in a row and clinched a playoff berth.

Defeating the Lions could set the Chargers on a similar course, with the Green Bay Packers (3-5), Baltimore Ravens (7-2) and New England Patriots (2-7) next on the schedule. No question, the Chargers have issues to address before anyone can expect an extended winning streak, however.

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“Everybody knows what the mission is,” Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. said. “Everybody knows what we’re here to do. We’ve been having a lot more fun. We’ve been celebrating, having fun and just enjoying the moment. We’ve been right there in every game and we feel like we should have won every game we’ve played. When you get that feeling that you know you’re supposed to win, what are we waiting for?

“Let’s go do it. Why not?”

CHARGERS (4-4) vs. LIONS (6-2)

When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV/Radio: Ch. 2; 98.7 FM; 105.5 FM/94.3 FM (Spanish)

​ Orange County Register 

Chargers vs. Detroit Lions: Who has the edge?

• November 11, 2023

CHARGERS (4-4) vs. LIONS (6-2)

When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday

Where: SoFi Stadium

TV/Radio: Ch. 2/98.7 FM; 105.5 FM/94.3 FM (Spanish)

Line: Lions by 3

Notable injury designations: Chargers: None. Lions: OUT: G Halapoulivaati Vaitai (back). DOUBTFUL: DL Levi Onwuzurike (hip). QUESTIONABLE: WR Donovan Peoples-Jones (ribs), T Dan Skipper (ribs).

What’s at stake: A victory over the Lions would extend the Chargers’ winning streak to three, a sign they have moved past their middling start to the season. A loss would indicate they’re not over it and have a great deal of work to do in order to join the NFL’s upper echelon. The Chargers need victories in six of their final nine games in order to match last season’s 10-7 record.

Who’s better: Unlike the New York Jets and Chicago Bears, the Chargers’ last two opponents, the Lions are a complete team in every sense. Their offense, led by former Rams quarterback Jared Goff, is every bit as strong as their defense. Neither the Jets nor the Bears had the same sort of balance, led as they were by novice quarterbacks. Detroit ranks ninth in the 32-team NFL in points, one spot behind the Chargers, and second in yardage, 13 spots ahead of them.

Matchup to watch: If the Chargers can generate anything close to the pressure they put on Jets quarterback Zach Wilson during a 27-6 victory this past Monday night, they might have a chance at disrupting the plans of Goff and the Lions. The Chargers sacked Wilson eight times in a dominant showing. Goff has completed 68.3% of his passes for 2,174 yards with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Chargers win if: The Chargers need to play their best overall game of the season, getting an equal high-level efficiency from their offense, defense and special teams. The Lions are the best team they have faced since their 31-17 loss Oct. 22 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers put it all together in their 30-13 victory over the Bears on Oct. 29, but had to rely on their defense and special teams to beat the Jets. Their offense generated only one drive longer than 50 yards. Their touchdown drives were of 50 and 2 yards. They also scored a TD on rookie Derius Davis’ 87-yard return.

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Fantasy sleeper: With wide receivers Mike Williams and Joshua Palmer sidelined by knee injuries, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert must rely all the more on Keenan Allen, an 11-year pro with all the skills and experience you would expect from such a seasoned vet. Look for Allen to continue as Herbert’s top target. Allen caught half of Herbert’s 16 completions against New York. Herbert and rookie Quentin Johnston haven’t formed a reliable connection yet and Jalen Guyton is just rounding into form after a year-long layoff because of a knee injury.

Prediction: The Lions will be well-rested after their bye week and the Chargers will be playing after a shorter week than usual to recover and prepare for Detroit after their victory Monday over the Jets. The oddsmakers made the Lions a slight favorite. Who are we to argue? Lions 24, Chargers 21.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Ducks’ bad night provided lessons to be learned

• November 11, 2023

ANAHEIM — Mama said there’d be days – or nights – like this. Then again, Mama wasn’t dealing with NHL players in the early stages of their development, terrors on some nights and full of mistakes on others.

This is what Greg Cronin signed up for. And the Ducks’ coach has had an impact, as evidenced by their six-game win streak and multiple late-game comebacks over the past two weeks. But every now and then the youngsters need a reminder that simplicity is best.

Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins came in and stopped the Ducks’ six-game winning streak in a 2-0 game that was close and competitive and really wasn’t decided until Sidney Crosby found an empty net at the end. Friday night, though, the Ducks were sloppy, the Philadelphia Flyers were opportunistic, and rookie Leo Carlsson’s first NHL hat trick was the only bright spot in Philly’s 6-3 victory.

It was the first, but it won’t be the last for Carlsson, who turns 19 the day after Christmas but is already establishing himself. The No. 2 pick in last June’s draft (i.e., The Guy Who Wasn’t Connor Bedard) scored on a bullet from just above the right faceoff dot midway through the second period, buried a pass from Alex Killorn at the side of the net midway through the third and added a power-play goal off a feed from Troy Terry in the final minutes.

“He’s going to be a star in this league,” Cronin said. “He could have had five goals, really.

“He’s got a pace to his game for a big guy (6-foot-3, 194 pounds) that you don’t see a lot in this league. And obviously he’s got terrific hands and he’s confident. So, you know, it’s nice to see that. I mean, he deserves it and he’s just going to keep getting better.”

But there was a pattern. Each of those Carlsson goals chipped away at a deficit – 3-1, 4-2, 5-3. And of those first five goals Cronin said four of those goals were scored “three or four seconds (after) they’re on our sticks.

“You can’t win hockey games turning pucks over,” he continued. “And even they had some non-goals, like Leo turns it over inside the blue line and the kid misses a wide-open net. I just don’t know how to describe it. I don’t. We’ve been talking about it all year, about puck management. … We played hard. I mean, the effort was there. We had the puck a lot this game. I don’t want to dissect each turnover, but they’re just not good plays.”

These are lessons that have to be learned by a young team. It’s not to say that things came too easy for the Ducks during the winning streak because, let’s face it, this is hockey. Nothing comes easy. But it’s also true that you get out of the game what you put into it, and this might be a case where players have to rediscover what they should be putting into it.

“The first five minutes, we’re just rolling lines and we’re getting pressure,” Cronin said. “That’s the way we have to play. I don’t think there were any turnovers the first five minutes, and then we just decided that we were going to play pond hockey. And they took advantage of it.

“You can take the game and dissect it all you want: analytically, score, shots on goal, scoring chances. It’s like any sport, you know? Football, the big stat’s turnovers, right? Basketball, big stat’s turnovers. Hockey, big stat’s turnovers, too. And we just turned it over repeatedly. Even when we got back in the game, when it was 4-2, we’re turning it over at the offensive blue line, turning it over at the red line with full possession instead of just banging it in. Good teams, really good mature teams, just don’t do that.”

How do you coach ’em out of it?

“You just communicate the message, that you can’t turn pucks over,” he said. “Like I told (the players), nobody’s trying to be selfish. Nobody’s trying to be negligent with the puck. They get caught up in the game. It’s an easy game from the press box. It’s an easy game from the bench. They’ve got to make split-second decisions. But I think when it’s in their DNA when there’s a crowded blue line and they’ll chip it in and go hunt pucks down, they’ll do it.

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“Right now they’re struggling with being creative with the puck and making the fancier play, rather than putting it deep and go hunting pucks down like we did the first five minutes.”

It is a reminder that Cronin’s job description includes a lot of teaching. These nights provide plenty of material for video sessions and on-ice instruction.

And maybe the point is already hitting home, because when Carlsson was asked what kind of lessons would come out of a game like this, he was quick with his answer.

“No more turnovers is the number one thing,” he said.

Recognizing it is the easy part.

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

Is reality finally catching up to Gov. Gavin Newsom?

• November 11, 2023

Is reality finally catching up to Gov. Gavin Newsom?

His approval rating is as low as it’s ever been, according to a new Berkeley/IGS poll, which should not be surprising considering he spends most of his time pretending to be president when Californians elected him to at least pretend to be governor.

Apparently, the act is wearing thin. Voters were iffy on his recent trip to China, where he paid a photographer $5,000 a month to document the various ways he looks thoughtfully into the horizon. Voters were even less impressed with his appointment of a Maryland resident with no experience in elective office to California’s then-vacant seat in the U.S. Senate.

Newsom’s constant national TV appearances and the strange campaign trip to Alabama likely did not help either.

But while it was fun to see those efforts shrugged off by California’s voters respondents, it would have been more fun to trip them up with the question: Which of Newsom’s recent accomplishments do you like best? followed by a minute of silence.

The last time Newsom polled so bad was right after the French Laundry scandal, where he was caught at a fancy restaurant partying with lobbyists indoor and unmasked while the rest of the state was being told such activities were dangerous and selfish and would kill everyone.

In fact, it seems like Newsom sinks in the polls whenever it becomes impossible to hide the real Gavin.

It’s strange to me that with such a long record of bold pronouncements that produce little results, Newsom’s approval rating isn’t always so low. But perhaps this is the turning point.

Newsom has an undeserved reputation of being a fearless leader who’s not afraid to take bold stances. But, like the snake oil salesman who stays in town only long enough to swindle half the town before getting found out, Newsom has always left office before most voters realized not much happened.

Five years into his governorship, homelessness is as bad as ever. The housing crisis persists. The opioid epidemic is still an epidemic. The cost of living is crushing people. Traffic is still bad. We still have rolling blackouts. The population is declining. California’s public schools are failing a generation of students. I could go on but you get the point.

To his credit, Newsom is pushing to speed up the paused effort to build more water storage. But I remain skeptical as Newsom’s accomplishments seem to peak at the announcement.

I’m sure if he were to rebut me he’d throw some policy jargon at me about “reimagining” this or “investing” in that. But all roads lead to the same destination.

As mayor, he promised to end homelessness in 10 years, but a decade passed and homelessness was as bad as ever. A few years ago, as governor, he promised to end family homelessness in five years. How do you think that will turn out?

Newsom’s defenders might say that at least he’s willing to try things. But it seems like the only thing he’s actually willing to try is the crudite in MSNBC’s green room.

I’m not even sure why he wants to be president since there’s no higher office for him to audition for from the Oval Office, but he seems intent on getting there.

I pray this poll is the first step in preventing that.

Follow Matt on Twitter @FlemingWords

​ Orange County Register 

Why that jar of canned tomatoes might not taste so good

• November 11, 2023

Q. I canned some tomato sauce using a tested recipe and followed the directions exactly. When I opened the jar (only two months after canning it), the sauce looked OK but tasted kind of off. The jar was sealed, and when I opened it, it didn’t spurt out (like it does sometimes when spoiled). What could have caused the off-flavor, and was it safe to eat? (I discarded it rather than take a risk.)

There are several possibilities here. I’ve had an entire batch of sauce ruined by one bad garlic clove.  Make sure all your ingredients are good because the canning process will not be kind to ingredients that are less than perfect.

I suspect that your sauce became “flat-sour.” This can happen if the jars are left in the canner for too long. Cooling your jars too quickly by removing them from the canner immediately after processing can cause breakage or siphoning due to heat shock. On the other hand, leaving them in the canner for several hours or overnight can cause the contents to become flat-sour. This is a quality issue rather than a food safety issue, but the advice, “If in doubt, throw it out” is always a safe bet.

So, if the food is safe to eat, but is unpalatable, what is going on?

The canning process (whether hot water bath or pressure) will, when done properly, kill all bacteria that causes food poisoning. Some (non-disease-causing)  bacteria are thermophilic, which means that they can survive high temperatures.  (There are bacteria that thrive in Yellowstone’s hot springs, for instance.) These bacteria survive the canning process and will multiply rapidly at high temperatures. This process causes the flat-sour taste. 

If you allow the jars to cool, while taking care not to heat shock them, and store them in a cool place, you can minimize the chances of this kind of spoilage.

Q. I have a huge pine tree in my front yard (diameter 10-12 feet) & for years have watched squirrels run up the tree, eat the pinecones & drop the stripped cobs on the lawn. This year,  maybe because of all the rain, every squirrel in town is chowing down on the massive crop of cones, which means I am out twice a week raking up large quantities of cone scale bits & cobs to prevent this layer of ‘mulch’ from killing the grass. Is there anything I can do to keep the squirrels from the tree?

If the squirrels are super-motivated, there’s scarcely anything you can do to keep them out of your tree completely. I’ve never heard of them munching on pine nuts, but there’s always a first time for everything.

We have peach trees, so we have had our share of squirrel problems. I’ve found that planting something at the base of the tree will somewhat deter them from climbing up the trunk. We’ve used geraniums, lantana, or some other spreading shrub that grows about 2 feet tall. Of course, if they want to play “Mission Impossible” and leap from a nearby tree, there’s not much you can do but enjoy the show and hope a big hawk comes by to take care of things for you.

Los Angeles County

mglosangeleshelpline@ucdavis.edu; 626-586-1988; http://celosangeles.ucanr.edu/UC_Master_Gardener_Program/

Orange County

ucceocmghotline@ucanr.edu; http://mgorange.ucanr.edu/

Riverside County

anrmgriverside@ucanr.edu; https://ucanr.edu/sites/RiversideMG/

San Bernardino County

mgsanbern@ucanr.edu; 909-387-2182; http://mgsb.ucanr.edu

​ Orange County Register 

Hawaii takes on the rising seas around it

• November 11, 2023

For the past three weeks, working from home has for me meant from a surf shack in a remote part of Wainiha on Kauai’s North Shore. So, yes, don’t cry for me, Mainlander, and I will be back in Southern California as you read this.

After taking a break one afternoon and catching a few waist-highs on my Papa Sau at Pine Trees in Hanalei, I grabbed my phone and a can of beer and looked for a place in the shade of the ironwood trees to check my email. The only picnic table available was already occupied by a young woman with a supermarket sushi lunch spread and a bottle of Corona.

“Mind if I share this for a minute? Swear I won’t bother you with another word.”

“Sure thing,” she said. “Aloha.”

After five or six minutes, she looked up from her own phone. “You local?”

“Kind of, yeah,” I replied.

“Me, too,” she said. “I mean, I grew up here in Kapa’a.”

“Nice.”

“But when I got married, we moved to Maui.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah. Only — well, we were living in Lahaina.”

That caught my attention. I put down my phone.

“Oh, no,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah,” she said, introducing herself as Danielle. “Nice apartment on Front Street. All we had time to grab was three surfboards, our dog and our cat. Everything’s gone. All I can tell you is that it’s been even worse than you’ve heard.”

And she proceeded to regale me with her and her husband’s story of having to flee that gorgeous little town as the wind-blown wildfire bore down on it, killing 97 and leaving thousands such as themselves homeless.

“There’s still about 8,000 of us without a place to stay, and no work — nothing. They put us up in a hotel for a while. No power. It’s hot down there these days. No fans or AC. Then even that expired. We just had to leave. Now we’re staying with my dad here, and can’t find a place of our own. They want like $2,700 for a one-bedroom, and no one wants us with our pets.”

It wasn’t climate change alone that caused the Maui fires. But the weather on that western shore is much drier than it used to be, and the land use is vastly different than formerly, with  invasive grasses providing fuel for the deadliest fire in recent American history.

Here in the Islands, while climate activists and politicians would agree that what they can do won’t by itself change the entire global crisis, they are doing something anyway. And I say good on them.

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As Jennifer Hijazi of Bloomberg reported this month, “When it comes to mitigating climate change, ‘yesterday’s good enough has become today’s unacceptable.’ That was what judges on Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this year, in the first U.S. decision to declare a stable climate as an affirmative right.” At the “state’s special environmental court — one of only two designated environmental courts nationwide — a youth coalition is pursuing a first-of-its-kind constitutional lawsuit against the state’s transportation department for approving high-emission projects.”

Looking out the window here, with the Pacific just below me, the crisis is already real. The predicted 3.2-foot rise in the sea level by the end of this century would have the waves almost lapping at the lanai.

Denise Antolini, a retired law professor, told Bloomberg she “credits Hawaii’s emergence as a climate litigation trailblazer to a ‘perfect triangle’ of influences: strong Native Hawaiian rights, robust environmental protections and the inclusion of natural resources in the state’s public trust doctrine, which has roots in Indigenous law.”

The 50th state is fighting back. Mahalo for that, Kama’aina.

Larry Wilson is on the Southern California News Group editorial board. lwilson@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

817,669 Californians left in 2022. Which state did they move to?

• November 11, 2023

California lost 817,669 residents to other states in 2022.

No state had a larger outflow of its population to other parts of the nation, according to Census Bureau data. New York was No. 2 with 545,598 exits, followed by Texas (494,077), Florida (489,905) and Illinois (344,027).

So where did ex-Californians move to in 2022? And how did that flow change over the year?

Location. Location. Location.

Texas was the No. 1 spot for ex-Californians with 102,442 relocations. Then came Arizona (74,157), Florida (50,701), Washington (49,968) and Nevada (48,836).

The least popular states included Delaware, which snared only 660 Californians, followed by Vermont (855), West Virginia (879), Rhode Island (919) and South Dakota (957).

Consider these moves as a share of a state’s population. Or, thinking about the flow another way: What are the odds someone would meet a new California transplant in another state?

Nevada has the highest concentration of former Californians in the Exiting Class of 2022, at 155 per 10,000 residents. Then comes Idaho (140), Arizona (102), Oregon (87) and Hawaii (74).

WHAT EXODUS? California has 4th ‘stickiest’ population in US, says Dallas Fed

Conversely, where is it hard to find a newly minted ex-Californian? West Virginia was tops at 5 per 10,000, then Mississippi at 6, and Delaware, New Jersey and Iowa at 7.

By the way, how common are new ex-Californians in the state’s big rivals? Texas was No. 14 at 35 per 10,000 and Florida was No. 23 at 23.

The swings

The population flow out of California is by no means static. Last year, 23,396 fewer Golden Staters left than the year before – a 3% drop from 2021.

And destinations changed, too. Florida had 2022’s biggest increase in gaining former Golden Staters at 13,237. Then came Arizona (4,725), Alabama (4,643), Massachusetts (3,503) and Kentucky (3,386).

At the other end of the spectrum, Oregon’s inflow shrank by 15,194 – the No. 1 drop among the states. Then came Nevada (off 13,601), Washington (off 7,608), Hawaii (off 5,554) and Texas (off 5,104).

Or you can look at the one-year change in migration in percentage-point terms.

Delaware’s flow of inbound Californians grew by 469%, followed by West Virginia (139%), Alabama (138%), Kentucky (130%) and Louisiana (41%).

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The largest shrinkage was Nebraska’s 68% loss, then came Rhode Island (off 68%), Iowa (off 58%), South Dakota (off 43%) and Wyoming (off 40%).

Rival Texas ranked No. 30 with a 5% dip. Florida was No. 8 with its 35% jump.

Bottom line

Among the smaller number of Californians moving out, there seems to be a simmering desire for life east of the Mississippi River.

Yes, Western states are still the top destination, taking in 474,235 from California last year vs. the East’s 343,434.

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But the West’s Golden State intake was down 54,287 from 2021 compared with the East’s 30,891 increase.

So, the East grew its share of the California outflow – grabbing 42% of former Golden Staters last year vs. 37% in 2021.

Caveat

As I often point out, California is better than you think at retaining its residents.

Consider the outflow as a share of the state’s population.

In 2022, 2.1% of Californians left for elsewhere in the US, but 2.5% of all Americans switched states.

Only eight states had a smaller share of its residents leave in 2022 topped by Texas, Michigan and Ohio at 1.7%. And Florida had a 2.3% exit rate.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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Bottom line: Where you should go!

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​ Orange County Register