USC falls in grueling Big Ten battle with Minnesota

• October 6, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS – The sun crept beneath the city-line, a natural glow painting a gold-coated crowd of thousands, the Minnesota fans taking up their rallying cry a half-mile from the roar of the Mississippi.

Row! Row! Row! 

And the Golden Gophers swayed to P.J. Fleck’s anthem, took the field stocky and patient, and the pace of USC’s Saturday night Big Ten road battle promptly slowed to a paddle. There were no downfield shots as the clock ticked into the second half, the wind sharp and brittle, USC quarterback Miller Moss sensing a deliberate Minnesota plan to limit his program’s possessions. The days of a freewheeling Pac-12 After Dark were long gone: this was Big Ten Nightmare Hours, a clock-drain-slog in the same type of game USC lost to Michigan two weeks ago.

Of course, if Riley made one thing clear last week after a win over Wisconsin — there was never a day he didn’t feel his program could buck up in the Big Ten.

“Like, we knew we could compete,” Riley said, then. “Now, you gotta go win.”

They lost. Again.

They lost, 24-17, in a brutal late collapse where a much-improved defense was simply run into the ground by the patience of Minnesota running back Darius Taylor. They lost, as Riley, Moss and USC’s offense shot themselves in the foot repeatedly, three drives into opposing territory coming up fruitless. And they lost, just the same as they’d fallen to Michigan, on another late-down stand where a push came just shy and hearts broke on USC’s sideline.

“Came down to just inches, right there at the end,” Riley said postgame. “We’ve had a couple of those. And that’s the frustrating thing for our team right now. I mean, we’re two plays away from probably being 5-0.”

With 57 seconds left in a grueling ballgame tied 17-17, Fleck dumped his chips on the table, sending his offense back onto the field from the 1-yard line on a fourth down rather than opt for a field goal. Quarterback Max Brosmer, who’d snuck his way in for two rushing touchdowns already, took a snap and dove in with a Tush Push behind him, bodies of Minnesota brown and USC white collapsing upon each other.

The ballgame – and, potentially, USC’s (3-2, 1-2 Big Ten) College Football Playoff hopes – froze in time. As referees reviewed the call, two sidelines dueled in body-language.

Minnesota, and a vibrating Fleck, held their hands skywards in a T.

USC, and furiously-gesturing linebackers coach Matt Entz, pointed arms toward the other end zone, far away from doom.

The loudspeaker boomed.

“After review,” a referee proclaimed, “it is a touchdown.”

And the night sky ripped open with red fireworks, and Huntington Bank Stadium shook, and a minute and a last-gasp USC drive later a sea of yellow rushed the Minnesota turf in a massive upset of 11th-ranked USC.

In the postgame presser, a reporter attempted to ask defensive lineman Jamil Muhammad if he felt Minnesota had crossed the plane. As Muhammad scoffed, slightly, Riley threw up his hand, telling the reporter “Don’t ask him that” and “next question.”

“Who cares what he says on that,” Riley continued, throwing up his hands in the middle of said next question. “Like, what, player’s opinion? Let’s ask a more professional question.”

He continued on to shrug, largely, at a later question about how USC would move on to next week against seventh-ranked Penn State, saying, “This is what we do.” But Saturday night will haunt USC, much more deeply than a valiant effort that came up short against Michigan, falling to a now-3-3 Minnesota program (1-2 Big Ten) as the Trojans’ pathway to a College Football Playoff gets squeezed.

Their own mistakes – again, the theme of a season regardless of win or loss – did them in. First came another slow offensive start, USC moving on their first drive only for a Moss third-down ball to hit off wide-open sophomore Zachariah Branch’s helmet. Second came a loose fumble at the end of a 21-yard Quinten Joyner run in the second quarter, USC down 10-7 to Minnesota and moving. Third, and most costly, came in one momentum-killing third-quarter brutality as Miller Moss hit the turf again with another turnover not of his own accord.

USC’s offensive line has seemed a problem area for months, ever since the program did little to add to a thin tackle group after Riley admitted in the spring that USC’s depth there was a slight “concern.” Left tackle Elijah Paige had struggled through growing pains for weeks, and Mason Murphy had shown flashes but was beaten a few too many times by Big Ten defensive ends. And in the fourth quarter up 17-10, with a chance to virtually put the game away on a third-and-four from Minnesota’s 35, Moss dropped back to pass in an another attempt to orchestrate an offense that had converted gutsy third down after gutsy third down.

He cocked. And just as he fired, Minnesota’s Jah Joyner –who’d dusted Murphy off the edge – walloped him, the ball flying from Moss’s hands directly into the arms of Golden Gophers linebacker Devon Williams.

After the game, Riley was asked directly if he still had confidence in the personnel on USC’s offensive line.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Riley responded. “Like, we moved the ball at will tonight. I mean, it was, again, you just can’t have those turnovers down there.”

It gave Minnesota life, and killed USC. Three minutes later, a bending USC defense broke to the continued behind-his-blockers patience of Minnesota’s Darius Taylor, and Brosmer finished off a drive on a keeper to tie the game. USC could manage but a feeble three-and-out to respond. And then came the backbreaker, a second chance at fourth-down redemption ending in a second heartbreak, and USC’s players slunk into the tunnel a few minutes later with a mucky road ahead.

Taylor finished with 144 yards on 25 carries for Minnesota. Marks had 134 yards on 20 carries for USC. Moss finished 23-of-38 for 200 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, one a deep shot to the end zone with 15 seconds left that sealed the game.

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​ Orange County Register 

LAFC shuts out Sporting KC

• October 6, 2024

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Teenage rookie David Martínez scored early, Denis Bouanga had two assists, and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris earned his league-leading 14th clean sheet of the season as Los Angeles FC breezed to a 3-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Martínez took a pass from Denis Bouanga in the 14th minute and scored for the fourth time this season to give LAFC (17-8-7) the lead for good. Martínez was making his third start and 15th appearance.

Cristian Olivera found the net for the sixth time, scoring in the first minute of stoppage time to give LAFC a two-goal advantage at halftime. Bouanga notched his career-high 11th assist of the campaign on the goal and Timothy Tillman added his career-best sixth.

Defender Aaron Long found the net in the 69th minute to complete the scoring. It was Long’s first goal since he scored four for the New York Red Bulls in 2022. Fellow defender Eddie Segura snagged his first assist this season and his first since he had two for the club in 2021.

Hugo Lloris totaled four saves in his shutout effort for LAFC.

Tim Melia saved one shot for Sporting KC (8-18-7).

LAFC will travel to play the Vancouver Whitecaps next Saturday before hosting the San Jose Earthquakes for a Decision Day match on Oct. 19 to close out the regular season.

Sporting KC will end its season with a road match against FC Dallas on Oct. 19.

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​ Orange County Register 

Verdugo lifts Yankees over Royals in ALDS Game 1

• October 6, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Saturday night in their AL Division Series opener.

New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins. It was the first postseason game with five lead changes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Kansas City pitchers tied their season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen.

Verdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review. Yankees manager Aaron Boone started Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a defense-influenced decision. Verdugo entered the game in a 2-for-34 skid at the plate

With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit Verdugo’s right wrist just below his glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare left hand.

Chisholm, playing third base this year for the first time after the Yankees acquired him from Miami at the July trade deadline, made three fine defensive plays, two with the help of first baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, starting because of Anthony Rizzo’s fractured fingers.

Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole came out, unhappy with his performance. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs for the save in his postseason debut.

Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.

Juan Soto went 3 for 5 and threw out Salvador Perez in the second inning trying to score from second on Melendez’s single to right. Kansas City first baseman Yuli Gurriel threw out runners at the plate on grounders in the first and fifth.

After a day off between Games 1 and 2, the series between the AL-best Yankees and wild-card Royals resumes Monday night. These teams met in four playoffs from 1976-80, with the Yankees winning the first three and getting swept in the last.

Cole allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in five-plus innings. Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up three runs, four hits and three walks in four-plus innings.

Tommy Pham hit a second-inning sacrifice fly, and Torres put the Yankees ahead 2-1 in the third with a 339-foot home run just over the right-field short porch.

Melendez’s two-run homer in the fourth gave Kansas City a 3-2 lead, but Royals pitchers issued four seven-pitch walks in the fifth, forcing in runs with walks by Angel Zerpa to Austin Wells and by John Schreiber to Anthony Volpe. The Yankees had not gotten a pair of bases-loaded walks in a postseason game since Bullet Joe Bush and Joe Dugan against the New York Giants’ Rosy Ryan in Game 6 of the 1923 World Series.

Volpe’s throwing error at shortstop set up pinch-hitter Garrett Hampson’s two-run, sixth-inning single through a drawn-in infield that put the Royals ahead 5-4. Wells’ two-out RBI single off Lorenzen tied the score in the bottom half.

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UP NEXT

New York’s Carlos Rodón (16-9, 3.96 ERA) starts against the Royals’ Cole Ragans (11-9, 3.14) in a matchup of left-handers. Rodón made a pair of postseason appearances for the Chicago White Sox, in relief against Oakland in 2020 and a start against Houston in 2021 which he pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing Carlos Correa’s go-ahead, two-run double. Ragans won the Wild Card Series opener at Baltimore on Tuesday with six scoreless innings of four-hit ball.

​ Orange County Register 

Southern California events mark the 1-year anniversary of Hamas attack on Israel and war in Gaza

• October 6, 2024

Several protests and rallies marking Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the ongoing war in Gaza have been planned in Southern California for this weekend and the days ahead.

Thousands of people gathered at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon to protest the year-long war in Gaza and call for a ceasefire. Oct. 5 also was promoted as an international day of action for those across the globe protesting an end to what they described as Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

The LA protesters called for an arms embargo against Israel as they marched through the downtown streets chanting for a “Free Palestine” and  “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and occupation.”

While many of those marking the anniversaries want to see peace in the region, the FBI has issued a warning of possible increased violence in upcoming days.

“As we mark one year since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the ongoing conflict in the Middle East calls for vigilance by the FBI, our law enforcement partners, and members of the public,” the FBI said in a news release. “It is essential to be watchful for threats against Jewish, Muslim, and Arab communities and institutions and to immediately contact law enforcement to report any suspicious activity.”

At USC, where campus-wide protests led to the cancellation of the all-university commencement ceremony in May, the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine is staging a walkout at 11:30 a.m. Monday morning.

That evening, Jewish student organization Hillel is hosting a commemoration of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, where Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 people hostage. More than 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

There will be speeches, music and prayers, with an expected 200 people in attendance, according to David Carlisle, chief of USC’s Department of Public Safety.

“We’re going to be fully staffed and we also worked in partnership with LAPD, who’s going to have additional staff around the university, and we’ve increased our patrols over our houses of worship in the campus community,” Carlisle said.

Israel’s retaliation against Hamas in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry there.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, California, was planning a news conference to address the ongoing conflict.

“We hope to do something that takes us into recognizing the root cause of the issue we’re dealing with, so we’re not just mourning one event after the other,” Enjy El-Kadi of the Council’s California chapter said. “We’re tired, we’re emotionally tired, and enough is enough.”

Other protests and demonstrations were scheduled for the weekend leading up to Oct. 7.

On Sunday,  Inland Empire CODEPINK, Ontario United for Liberation, and Redlands 4 Palestine are gathering for a Day of Remembrance.

“The event marks one year since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza, highlighting the lack of action by the U.S. government,” the news release said. “As the coalition reflects on the past year, they emphasized the urgency of building a stronger, more unified community within the Inland Empire.”

The event will be held in Ontario at 1 p.m., though an exact location had not been announced as of Saturday.

And the group Jewish Voice for Peace is planning to host a ceremony on Sunday at Echo Park Lake, where attendees will participate in Tashlich, “a powerful new year’s ritual designed for individual and collective reflection, repair and recommitment to our higher selves” by symbolically casting stones into the water.

That group is also calling for a ceasefire and for the U.S. to stop selling weapons to Israel.

Israeli military officials have said they try to minimize harm to civilians in Gaza, and that Hamas is to blame for using civilians as human shields by storing weapons under homes and businesses and launching rockets from residential areas. Hamas has denied that.

​ Orange County Register 

Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia ring up another big win at Santa Anita

• October 6, 2024

ARCADIA – The skills of jockey Martin Garcia and trainer Bob Baffert have combined to produce victories in some of America’s biggest races over the past 15 years.

With the addition of a little luck, they ended up in the Santa Anita winner’s circle together again Saturday, posing for pictures with Citizen Bull after the 2-year-old’s front-running victory in the $300,000, Grade I American Pharoah Stakes.

As Baffert tells the story, Garcia, who has been riding in Kentucky, phoned just to say hello on the morning that entries were being drawn for the American Pharoah and other races on a card full of races with implications for next month’s Breeders’ Cup. As it happened, Baffert had more horses than available jockeys for the American Pharoah and the $200,000, Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes. And here was the answer to his problem.

“I go, ‘Hey, I’m glad you called. What are you doing Saturday?’ ” Baffert said. “He said, ‘Nothing! I’m there.’”

Citizen Bull (who paid $8.60) scored his second win in three starts and his first stakes win the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah by two lengths over Getaway Car and Juan Hernandez, with McKinzie Street and Kazushi Kimura nearly six lengths farther back in third.

Citizen Bull and Getaway Car are both trained by Baffert and owned by a partnership headed by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables, and Baffert also had fourth-place Emerald Bay in the American Pharoah.

The winner, a son of Into Mischief, is Baffert’s and Garcia’s first Grade I winner together since 2020, but joins a long list that includes Bayern in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Lookin At Lucky in the 2010 Preakness, and New Year’s Day in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

The $2 million Juvenile, on the first day of the Nov. 1-2 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, is the next target for Citizen Bull and presumably Getaway Car, while Baffert also has Del Mar Futurity winner Gaming, with whom the trainer opted to skip the American Pharoah.

The Del Mar race was a disappointment for Citizen Bull’s connections. He finished third as a 13-10 favorite after dropping back to sixth with Mike Smith riding. Smith was away Saturday, taking mounts at Keeneland.

“I always say things happen for a reason,” Baffert said of the chance reconnection with Garcia.

Said Garcia: “He (Baffert) just told me, ‘Let him run how he wants to run, and you will take a picture today.’ And that’s exactly how it came out.”

It was Baffert’s 13th win in the American Pharoah.

Earlier Saturday, the Hall of Fame trainer won the $200,000, Grade II Oak Leaf Stakes for 2-year-old fillies for the 13th time as Non Compliant ($4) and Hernandez led a Baffert trifecta with early leaders Nooni and Tenma finishing a game second and a weakening third.

Garcia rode Nooni, after Hernandez had chosen Non Compliant, and Baffert was especially pleased with the improved effort by the $1.8 million filly whose previous start was a green fifth-place finish behind Tenma in the Del Mar Debutante.

“At least she tried today,” Baffert said of Nooni. “She’s very skittish, for some reason. She’s getting better.”

In between Baffert’s stakes wins with 2-year-olds, it was a day of upsets amid mid-90s temperatures that prompted Santa Anita to shorten pre-race exposure to the heat by having jockeys mount up in the shade of the saddling enclosure instead of the walking ring.

Two of California’s best fillies saw winning streaks ended emphatically by Phil D’Amato-trained opponents.

Three-year-old Iscreamuscream cornered badly and finished fourth at 3-2 odds behind D’Amato’s Hang the Moon ($21.80) and Kimura in the $200,000, Grade II Rodeo Drive Stakes at 1 1/4 on turf.

Four-year-old sprinter Sweet Azteca led early but faded to fourth and last at 1-10 odds behind D’Amato’s One Magic Philly ($9.60) and Antonio Fresu in the $100,000, Grade III Chillingworth Stakes.

Both beaten favorites’ jockeys said their horses seemed OK physically after those races.

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The long-shot winner of the day was Pali Kitten ($29.80) in the $100,000 Speakeasy Stakes at 5 furlongs on turf. Rallied by Kimura from last early in a field of four 2-year-olds, Doug O’Neill-trained Pali Kitten beat slow-starting Smash It by a neck as front-running favorite Dreamaway faded to third.

Sunday, the second and last weekend of Breeders’ Cup prep races at Santa Anita concludes with D’Amato-trained 2-year-olds favored in two Grade III stakes on turf, Iron Man Cal in the $100,000 Zuma Beach and Thought Process in the $100,000 Surfer Girl.

​ Orange County Register 

Dejan Joveljic’s second-half goal helps the Galaxy hold off Austin FC

• October 6, 2024

CARSON — The key to any successful season is your play at home.

In recent years, the Galaxy have struggled at home, including last season’s 6-5-6 record.

This season, opponents haven’t been treated friendly at Dignity Health Sports Park and that continued in Saturday’s final home game of the regular season.

Dejan Joveljic’s 76th minute goal helped the Galaxy (19-7-7, 64 points) hold off a pestering Austin FC side for a 2-1 win in front of a sellout crowd of 26,574.

The win is the Galaxy’s 13th at home, giving them a regular-season home record of 13-1-3. The only loss came to LAFC at the Rose Bowl. The Galaxy earned 42 points at home this season.

“There was great energy in the stadium and it shows the amount of support this group has had,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “They rode it. The fans bring energy and the players are running, creating goal-scoring chances and it feeds into it.”

The celebration was held off due a 12-minute stoppage period that the teams had to play due to a hectic second half, that saw bodies hitting the floor as if it was a MMA fight.

Austin pushed for the equalizer during the marathon-stoppage time. In the seventh minute, Jon Gallagher got behind the Galaxy and popped in a header for the potential game-tying goal, but the linesman raised his flag for offside.

In 10th minute of stoppage time, Austin FC earned a free kick, that Alex Ring sent directly toward Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy, who wasted a little bit of time and eventually referee Ted Unkel blew the whistle.

Even later into stoppage, a near melee erupted as an Austin FC player took out Riqui Puig. Players from both sides had to be separated. The final card count was high: the Galaxy were assessed six yellow cards, Austin FC four and one red card.

Joveljic’s goal snapped a 1-1 tie after Austin FC has tied the game in the 55th minute on Sebastian Driussi’s goal.

Joveljic’s goal could be one of the biggest this season because it led to the Galaxy restoring their six-point lead ahead of second-place LAFC in the Western Conference.

LAFC has two games remaining, including next Sunday during the international break. The Galaxy has one game remaining and that’s on Decision Day, the final day of the regular season on the road against the Houston Dynamo.

The last thing the Galaxy has to clinch is their seeding in the Western Conference playoffs. There were possibilities that could have seen them clinch the No. 1 spot Saturday. However, LAFC defeated Sporting Kansas City to move to 58 points. The Galaxy could likely clinch the top seed after LAFC’s game against the Vancouver Whitecaps next Sunday.

Gabriel Pec opened the scoring in the 31st minute with his 15th goal of the season. Riqui Puig was credited with the assist, switching the ball to the right to Pec, who beat his defender, then went far post, alluding Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

The game went into halftime with the Galaxy leading 1-0.

“Today is a moment we have to grow from,” Vanney said. The playoffs are going to be another test for us, next we have Houston and that’s an important game seeing where things are at.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Big Game Shohei … did you expect anything different?

• October 6, 2024

LOS ANGELES – There is a very good reason why the Dodgers-Padres NL Division Series will be playing in prime time in the East from start to finish, even with both New York teams still engaged in the postseason.

He wears No. 17, he has finally reached the playoffs in his seventh major league season, and it took him just two innings of Saturday night’s 7-5 Dodgers victory in Game 1 to make his presence known.

Or did you miss that dramatic bat toss in said second inning, after Shohei Ohtani turned on a 2-1 pitch from San Diego’s Dylan Cease and sent it screaming into the right field pavilion, wiping out a 3-0 Padres lead with one swing?

This is going to be an entertaining series for many different reasons, especially if Saturday night’s Game 1 is any indication.

It’s big brother vs. little brother, a big city glamor franchise vs. the only team left in its town with a fan base with a chip on its collective shoulder as wide as Mission Valley.

Plus, if you are lucky/unlucky enough to be in the ballpark and hear the speakers cranked up to 12, it’s an unofficial competition to determine who can produce the most noise. I’d give the Dodgers the edge because of a bigger ballpark, newer and more powerful speakers, and the echo effect in Chavez Ravine, which seems more effective than the buildings surrounding the Gaslamp Quarter and Petco Park.

(Although maybe the Dodgers are off their game a little bit in the ambiance department. My watch pinged only one “loud environment” warning Saturday night.)

But Shohei is the main attraction. He has been, for the Dodgers all year long and for the entire sport through August and September as his quest to join/launch the 50-50 club turned real.

I suggested, a couple of years ago when he was in the midst of an MVP season with the Angels as pitcher and hitter, that we all should have Shohei Alerts on our phones. The idea was that when he was due to come to the plate, the phone would buzz or ding with the message: Get to your TV, quick!

If you weren’t on the Dodger Stadium premises Saturday night, you probably could have used one.

Shohei’s first at-bat against Dylan Cease, against whom he was 4 for 15 lifetime with a double and two home runs, was a routine fly ball to lead off the bottom of the first, after Manny Machado – Dodger fans’ favorite villain – had smacked a towering three-run homer to give San Diego the lead.

Ohtani’s second at-bat? That’s the one that launched a ballpark full of clips and memes on social media.

On a 2-0 pitch, he fouled a 98 mph four-seamer off his right knee. He limped, and 50,000 people winced.

The next pitch was another four-seamer, 96.9 mph coming in … and 111.8 mph going out. It landed 372 feet away, in the first few rows of the right field pavilion, but it was enough of a no-doubter that Ohtani chucked his bat in the direction of the first base dugout. The subliminal message? This bat’s work is DONE.

Ohtani’s main job Saturday night seemed to be bailing out countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who gave up Machado’s homer in the first and Xander Bogaerts’ two-run double in the third.

Shohei came up in the fourth with men on first and second against reliever Adrian Morejon and hit a broken-bat looper that fell just in front of the glove of Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill to load the bases. It may not have inspired as many memes, but it kept the inning going; Morejon wild-pitched a run home, and after Mookie Betts was intentionally walked – with a 2-2 count, no less – and Freddie Freeman grounded into a force play at home, Teoscar Hernandez whacked a two-run single to give the Dodgers the lead.

Teoscar may not quite be the international superstar that Shohei is, but he’s been awfully important in this Dodgers season. Suggestion to the club: Find the money – it shouldn’t be that hard – and sign him to a new contract before he gets to free agency.

Ohtani had one more shot in the eighth against left-handed reliever Tanner Scott, against whom he was 1 for 9 coming into the evening. He struck out to make it 1 for 10 but you can’t say he got cheated, not with that big swing. Even when he doesn’t connect, it’s a thrill ride.

Ohtani probably had the highlight moment of the workout day Friday when, after being asked if he was nervous about his first postseason experience, he interrupted interpreter Will Ireton and blurted, “Nope,” in English.

“It’s always been my childhood dream to be able to be in an important situation, to play in important games,” he said then. “So I think the excitement of that is greater than anything else that I could possibly feel.”

Saturday night, he elaborated, or as much as Shohei ever elaborates.

Asked what his emotions were as he stepped to the plate the first time, he said, through Ireton: “The focus was really in my first at-bat to focus on just having my swing, the quality at-bat that I look for despite being in an excited high-intensity environment. And although I was out that at-bat, I felt pretty good and wanted to carry that on throughout the other at-bats.”

Later, asked how he flips the switch from excitement to calm, he said: “Nothing I did in particular … I was just really focused every single at-bat. If you were to ask me to look back on each at-bat, I would probably struggle to recall everything.”

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He shouldn’t be nervous. As manager Dave Roberts said last week, he’s played in important games in the World Baseball Classic – who can forget that game-ending strikeout of Mike Trout? – and he obviously is one of those who embraces the big moments, rather than running from them.

This came out in two ways Saturday: Flourishing in a playoff atmosphere, and succeeding in key situations. Ohtani was 2 for 3 with runners in scoring position Saturday, continuing a hot streak in those situations.

“It’s been insane how good he’s been with runners in scoring position,” Roberts said. “The key is to get those opportunities because, yeah, when he does get those opportunities you feel like he’s going to cash them in.

“He certainly has that switch, that focus that goes to excitement versus nerves and feeling pressure and trying too hard. You can even see it in his first at-bat, just the discipline in the strike zone, to get back into a count and then to fly out. But the big moments, I just really have never seen a guy in the biggest of moments come through as consistently as he has.

“We’ve obviously had a lot of good players,” he added. “But when you get a player like Shohei, who clearly embraces these moments and has the ability to carry a ballclub, I do think that there’s something to the alleviating the – I hate saying ‘pressure’ – but the pressure for other players.

“I think there’s something to having that superstar player that can carry a ballclub.”

Ohtani was already an incredible bargain, thanks to all of the deferred money in his $700 million deal. If he truly can carry this club where it wants to go, this might go down as the biggest steal in the history of free agency.

And if this is what we can expect from Big Game Shohei, this could be an awfully fun – and lengthy – October for Dodger fans.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers rebound after rough start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, take NLDS Game 1

• October 6, 2024

LOS ANGELES – October history threatened to repeat itself. But the Dodgers had an answer.

Nope.

The San Diego Padres scored five times in three innings against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But the Dodgers responded in ways they hadn’t when put in the same predicament in last year’s postseason. The offense punched back, the bullpen covered for Yamamoto and the Dodgers won Game 1 of their National League Division Series, 7-5, over the Padres Saturday night.

After Yamamoto’s three-inning callback to his major-league debut in Korea against the Padres, five Dodgers relievers held the Padres scoreless on two hits over the final six innings.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

The win in Game 1 ended a six-game postseason losing streak for the Dodgers, stretching back to a Game 1 victory over the Padres in their 2022 NLDS.

The common theme in the back half of that six-game October losing streak was poor starting pitching. Yamamoto kept it going. The first two batters he faced reached base. A wild pitch and a passed ball set up a run-scoring ground out. Then Manny Machado sent a splitter from Yamamoto into the left-field pavilion for a two-run home run.

It brought back memories of Yamamoto’s start against the Padres in the Seoul Series when he lasted just one inning and gave up five runs.

He settled down this time – but only briefly. After Shohei Ohtani tied the game with a three-run home run in his second postseason at-bat, the Padres got to Yamamoto again in the third inning. A leadoff double by Fernando Tatis Jr. and a two-out walk of Jackson Merrill – when a 1-and-2 pitch call went against Yamamoto – set up a two-out, two-run double by Xander Bogaerts.

Over their past four postseason games, Dodgers starting pitchers have recorded a combined total of 23 outs while allowing 18 runs – 12 of those runs in the first inning of the games.

During the between-innings interview with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on the FOX broadcast, Roberts said that would be “the end of the line” for Yamamoto in Game 1.

It wasn’t the end of the line for the Dodgers.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, Tommy Edman beat out a bunt single. Miguel Rojas singled to bring Ohtani up with two on again. This time, Ohtani dropped a broken-bat single into center field to load the bases for Mookie Betts.

A wild pitch brought in Edman and moved the runners up. With the count 2-and-2, the Padres sent Betts to first base with an intentional walk. Freddie Freeman (2 for 5 playing on his injured ankle) bounced into a forceout but Teoscar Hernandez dropped a soft line drive just in front of Merrill in center field.

Two runs scored on the two-out hit – a rarity during their postseason losing streak – and the Dodgers had their first lead in a postseason game since the seventh inning of Game 4 in 2022 against the Padres. They added to it with an unearned run in the fifth inning, again building it from the bottom of their lineup.

The bottom four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup – Will Smith, Gavin Lux, Edman and Rojas – were on base eight times on five hits, two walks and an error (turning the lineup over and forcing the Padres to pitch to Ohtani) and scored four of the Dodgers’ runs.

The Padres’ best record in baseball after the All-Star break featured frequent comebacks and late rallies – Merrill alone had six go-ahead or game-tying home runs in the eighth inning or later. But the Dodgers passed their lead from Ryan Brasier to Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips, retiring 11 consecutive hitters at one point.

But Michael Kopech couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked two of the three batters he faced. Roberts went to Blake Treinen who got Bogaerts to pop out before he walked Jake Cronenworth to load the bases — then struck out Solano to strand them all.

The Padres put the tying runs on base with two outs in the ninth, bringing up Machado who homered twice off Treinen during the regular season. He struck out to end the game.

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