Henry Winkler advises find a passion and stick with it, no matter the stage of life

• April 27, 2023

Henry Winkler, actor, producer and director, has played many roles since his iconic turn as “The Fonz,” and each time, he said, he finds something new inside with which to bring the most current character to life.

Winkler, 77,  said it’s all about the passion and joy he gets from his art and the experiences he’s lived in the 50 years since landing his role in the 1970s sitcom “Happy Days,” which started with six lines, an Italian accent and some imagination and turned into a 10-year run that aired in countries around the world.

“There is life; life completely informs your work as an actor,” Winkler said during a visit Wednesday to Crestavilla, a Laguna Niguel senior living community, where he shared his message of inspiration with a group of local drama students and then with dozens of seniors eager to learn the New York-born actor’s life story.

“You have to be open,” he said. “I enjoyed it, and I’m never bored by it. I do not take it for granted and all of that fuels the wonder of discovery every day.”

Winkler said he knew he wanted to become an actor as soon as he was “old enough to reason,” but didn’t get a lot of support from his parents when he was young. Dyslexia also didn’t make his young life any easier, he said.

Winkler attended Emerson College and went on to study acting at the Yale School of Drama. He joined the Yale Repertory Theater and got his first paying job as an actor in 1970. Later, he joined an improv group, tried out plays on Broadway and then decided it was time to move to Hollywood. His first gig there was on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

When an opportunity for “Happy Days” presented itself, Winkler said he made the most of it by changing his voice and adding some dramatics. When he was done with his audition, he threw the script in the air and left. Two weeks later, he was asked if he wanted the part. He agreed, he said, on the condition that he could play the role of Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli by showing his emotional side.

To create The Fonz, Winkler said he used his imagination as the basis of the character.

“The basis was everybody I wanted to be and who I wasn’t,” Winkler said. “You take the words that are written; like Robin Williams, who would suck the script into his body and then spit it out and Williamize it, and that’s what you do. You churn it up and put it back into the world with your spin, and all of it has to be coded in courage.”

“Your job as an actor is to illuminate the character and illuminate life,” he added.

And, by bringing The Fonz character to life, Winkler became a household name. But, that would also become a problem, he said, explaining that it took seven or eight years before he was cast into a new role.

“I was shocked how popular I was,” he said. “It was beyond the human condition. It was big. I had no idea. I had six lines when I started. All I was doing was doing the best job I could as a professional.”

In his career, Winkler was cast in a series of character roles, including Arthur Himbry in “Scream,” Coach Klein in “The Waterboy,” Barry Zuckerkorn in “Arrested Development,”  Eddie R. Lawson in “Royal Pains,” Dr. Saperstein in “Parks and Recreation,” Stanley Yelnats III in “Holes,” Uncle Joe in “The French Dispatch,” Al Pratt in “Black Adam,”  and now, most recently, he wrapped up the fourth season of the HBO dark comedy “Barry,” in which he plays acting coach Gene Cousineau.

In 2016, Winkler also became a reality television star on the NBC series “Better Late Than Never.” Winkler’s accolades include a Primetime Emmy, two Daytime Emmys, two Golden Globe Awards and two Critics Choice Awards.

In meeting with each of the two age groups, Winkler did his best to inspire them to be their best selves.

The students, who are opening a production at Aliso Niguel High School on Thursday, hung on his advice. “If it’s not your passion, you’re in the wrong place,” he told them.

“This is an industry of more no’s than yes’s, but you’re a Weeble Wobble, people will say no and you’ll get back up. If you’ve got talent and joy that comes shooting out of your body, somebody will choose you.”

He also said that he believes if “they put ‘Happy Days’ on now at 8 p.m. on a day of the week, children would find it in exactly the same way. It would absolutely bloom again because it’s timeless.”

To the seniors, he said, “There is no right time.

“You’ve talked yourself out of doing something, you’ve said you can’t do it, because you’re too busy, it’s not the right time, you’ve passed it,” he said. “I’m saying to you, all you have to do is put one foot in front of the other and try.”

Winkler said he has treasured each role he’s had and poured his passion into them all. He’s sad to see “Barry ” end, and said he will tremendously miss all who he worked with.

“I love these people so much,” he said. “I am grateful that I get to do what I get to do every day.”

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​ Orange County Register 

John Phillips: London Breed could be on Newsom’s shortlist if Sen. Feinstein steps down

• April 27, 2023

Ever since California’s senior U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced that she would not be seeking another six-year term in 2024, conventional wisdom has been that the battle for her replacement would be among three Democrats: Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff, Orange County Congresswoman Katie Porter, and Oakland Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

In reality, all of the recent metrics indicate that Schiff is running away with it.

Campaign donations are a reliable barometer of enthusiasm for a particular candidate.

According to the most recent fundraising numbers, Barbara Lee has generated only $1.4 million.

That puts her just slightly ahead of David DePape.

Comparatively, Schiff brought in $6.5 million and Porter raised $4.5 million.

In terms of endorsements, 20 current Democratic members of the California House delegation have endorsed Schiff, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Two have endorsed Barabra Lee.

None has endorsed Katie Porter.

Ouch.

I guess we now know why Porter goes after the banks so aggressively — she couldn’t find a co-signer if her life depended on it.

Schiff also claims to have lots of evidence that he’d be the most prepared senator – but so far he hasn’t shown it to anybody.

Go figure.

The way I see things, this contest is now a two-person race.  Not between Schiff and Porter or Schiff and Lee….but between Schiff and Newsom.

If Dianne Feinstein were to vacate her seat before her term expires, Newsom would have the responsibility of appointing her successor.

He has already gone on-the-record saying if that were to occur, he would appoint a Black female.

In March of 2021, MSNBC’s Joy Reid asked Newsom if he would commit to naming a Black woman to the Senate were Feinstein to step down, and whether he had thought of particular replacements.

Newsom told Reid, “I have multiple names in mind. We have multiple names in mind — and the answer is yes.”

And we can definitely count on Newsom to keep his word.  Just ask anybody who works at the French Laundry.

Conventional wisdom is that if a vacancy were to occur, the seat would belong to Barbara Lee.

But, not so fast.

Bear in mind (pun intended): Newsom’s pick would not be intended to please the people of California. He can’t run for governor again, which in California makes him a lame duck l’orange.

Whether he admits it or not, Newsom is running for president…and the new Democratic primary calendar has South Carolina voting first.  Whatever decision he makes will be intended to please that audience, not the people of California.

If elected, Barbara Lee would be in her eighties during her freshman term, which would likely make her a short-term senator.

However, if Newsom were to pick a younger Black woman for the seat, he could make the argument to the majority black South Carolina Democratic primary electorate that, thanks to him, Black women would have representation in the U.S. Senate for decades.

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The youngest, most politically ambitious Black female in California politics is currently 48-year-old San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

As mayor of San Francisco, Breed shares a political pedigree with both Newsom and Feinstein, and it probably doesn’t hurt that she also comes from the same Willie Brown political machine that produced Newsom.

If appointed, Breed would be bringing her unique brand of leadership with her to Washington.

Meanwhile, America braces for a severe shortage of tents.

Oh yeah, she’d also have all of the power that comes along with incumbency, including widespread name identification, franking privileges, and the support of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

To my eye, this race is a two person battle all right. But only one of them is an actual candidate.

So far.

John Phillips can be heard weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on “The John Phillips Show” on KABC/AM 790.

​ Orange County Register 

Chad Bianco’s Keystone Cops lose 60 pounds of meth

• April 27, 2023

Riverside County has now gifted satirists a plotline.

Last week, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arranged a sting operation hoping to arrest drug traffickers. Only, in this case, the department unwittingly became the actual traffickers.

Undercover officers provided a drug dealer with 60 pounds of methamphetamine. The dealer then took off and the department’s finest couldn’t keep up to complete the operation.

“After the transaction, the suspect drove away and deputies from the Gang Task Force attempted a vehicle stop. The suspect failed to yield, and a pursuit was initiated. Due to the high speeds and the suspect’s disregard for public safety, deputies lost sight of the vehicle,” the department said in a statement.

Well done, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

“[Methamphetamine] is often sold in quantities of 3.5 grams, or an eighth of an ounce, known as an 8-ball. Sixty pounds of methamphetamine could be divided into 7,680 such 8-balls,” reported the Southern California News Group’s Brian Rokos.

This is the latest humiliation for one of the largest sheriff’s departments in the state.

The department is now under a state civil rights investigation launched by the California Department of Justice due to a massive spike in jail deaths last year.

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The department is also facing civil lawsuits by the families of people who have died while under the county’s custody.  And that comes not long after the county had to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit after Riverside County deputies wrongly raided the homes of an elderly couple without a warrant.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, elected in 2018 at the behest of the county’s deputies union and with the enthusiastic support of Democratic County Supervisors Chuck Washington and V. Manuel Perez, has steered the department in the wrong direction.

This editorial board will continue to call on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors to establish an oversight body over the Sheriff’s Department. Democrats hold a majority on the board; while they are surely conflicted given their alliance with the deputies union, Democrats in Riverside County must press the supervisors to act and act now.

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers fade in 3rd quarter as Grizzlies force a Game 6

• April 27, 2023

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — LeBron James locked eyes with Lakers coach Darvin Ham with 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in what would become a 116-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 5 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday at FedEx Forum. They had a non-verbal discussion, as Ham later put it.

It was time.

Not closing time.

But time to rest, to recover for Game 6 on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers lead the best-of-7 series, three games to two.

If necessary, Game 7 will be Sunday in Memphis.

“Tonight, I was (expletive),” James said. “I’ll be better in Game 6.”

James and Anthony Davis have been very much like ships passing in the night during the first five games of the series. They haven’t been productive together in the same game yet, with James dipping and Davis soaring in Game 5, and it was the opposite in the Lakers’ victory in Game 4.

James scored 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting with 10 rebounds, five assists and five turnovers in 37 minutes before retiring to the bench with the Lakers trailing 106-92. Davis led the Lakers with 31 points on 14-for-23 shooting and a playoff career-high 19 rebounds in a little more than 35 minutes.

“We just haven’t put two performances together,” James said. ”We still put three team efforts together to be up 3-2, and that’s what’s important. It doesn’t matter what A.D. and I are doing, it’s about winning basketball games.”

The Lakers were within 75-74 after James went on a personal 5-0 run that included two free throws with 4:36 left in the third quarter. But, instead of folding, the Grizzlies surged with a 19-2 run to end the third that they would extend to 26-2 by the opening minutes of the fourth.

Desmond Bane and Ja Morant ensured the Grizzlies would live to play another day, shredding the Lakers’ defense with a mix of drives to the basket and perimeter shots. Bane led the Grizzlies with 33 points and Morant had 31, and the Lakers had no answer for either of them.

“We’ll go back to the drawing board and look at the film and see what we come up with and, again, the biggest part of it is to be ready to come out Friday like gangbusters and compete for 48 minutes or however long it takes,” Ham said of the Lakers’ plans for Game 6.

Ham acknowledged facing a difficult decision as to when to pull the plug on Game 5 in order to rest James, Davis and his other starters. Down by 24 points with more than eight minutes still to be played, Ham chose to stick with his starters and see if they could make a run.

“It’s tough, man, because you’re competitive, you feel like in today’s basketball – 3-point shot – you can chew up a deficit really quick,” Ham said. “We gave up a 14-1 run in the first half in the last game, so it just goes to show you. It’s a great conundrum. Do you compete harder?

“Hopefully, some shots go in, you get to the free throw line. Or do you take that time and try to soak up some minutes with those guys getting ice on them or whatever? It’s playoff basketball and everyone’s in a competitive mode, and we decided to leave our guys out there.”

Asked about his level of fatigue, James said simply, “I’m good.”

Davis said he was prepared to “play all 48” in Game 6, if necessary.

“It’s what you prepare an entire season for,” Davis said.

The Lakers fell behind by as many as 17 points in the first half, which had more to do with the Grizzlies’ sense of desperation than anything else. Pushed to the brink of elimination after the Lakers’ overtime victory Monday in Game 4, the Grizzlies fought back to start Game 5.

Memphis could do nothing to stop Davis in the early going, but the Lakers didn’t have a consistent second or third offensive option. James missed seven of his first nine shots and had five turnovers in a first half that was every bit as forgettable as his Game 5 play was memorable.

Davis had a double-double by halftime, with 18 points on 8-for-13 shooting plus 10 rebounds. His teammates combined to shoot 13 of 31 (41.9 percent) in the first half. Austin Reaves, who had 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting, was the only other Lakers player with 10 or more points in the half. He finished with 17.

“Close-out games are tough,” Davis said. “The other team is going to come out with a sense of desperation. It was on their home floor. The crowd was into it. They got hot in the first quarter, making shots. Desmond Bane got hot and the crowd’s energy fed the other guys and they made plays and made shots.”

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Orange County scores and player stats for Wednesday, April 26

• April 27, 2023

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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Wednesday, April 26

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

WEDNESDAY’S SCORES

BOYS VOLLEYBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

DIVISION 1

Pool Play

POOL A

Loyola def. Beckman, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19

Corona del Mar def. Edison, 25-23, 26-24, 25-17

POOL B

Newport Harbor def. Huntington Beach, 25-16, 23-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-12

Mira Costa def. Mater Dei, 3-0

BASEBALL

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Woodbridge 4, Northwood 0

Laguna Hills 9, Irvine 0

Portola 5, Beckman 3

University 8, Sage Hill 4

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

Dana Hills 6, Trabuco Hills 1

DH: Gallison (W, 4IPM 0ER, 4K) Rapp 1-2, 2RBI, Farris 2-4, 2B, RBI, Murray 1-4, 2B, RBI.

TH: B. Gray 2-2, RBI, Manda 2-4, Luce 1-4, 2B, R.

Tesoro 9, Capistrano Valley 8 (8 innings)

Tes: Freeman 2-4, 2HR, 4RBI. Jorissen 2-3, HR, 2B, 2RBI. Tobias 2-4, RBI.

CV: Montgomery 1-3, HR, 4RBI. Chisolm 2-4, 2RBI.

Note: Tesoro clinches first league championship since 2018.

TRINITY LEAGUE

Santa Margarita 9, St. John Bosco 4

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

Orange 9, Calvary Chapel 8

Or: Rodriguez 2-4, 3B, HR, 4RBI. Torres 1-2, 2RBI.

CC: Pipia 2-4, 3B, SB, 2RBI. Nakamoto 2-4, RBI.

NONLEAGUE

Mission Viejo 10, El Toro 9

SOFTBALL

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Laguna Hills 8, Portola 1

GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE

La Quinta 10, Los Amigos 3

LQ: Gomez (W, 16K, 0 ER), McIntyre 3RBI, 2B

Note: La Quinta clinches 2nd place in league for the first time in over 30 years

Other scores

Loara 16, Bolsa Grande 2

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

Esperanza 6, Canyon 4

NORTH HILLS LEAGUE

Yorba Linda 5, El Dorado 2

NONLEAGUE

Brea Olinda 3, Foothill 2

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

Calvary Chapel 10, Costa Mesa 0

ORANGE LEAGUE

Savanna 5, Santa Ana Valley 4

Anaheim 13, Magnolia 3

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

Capistrano Valley Christian 5, Calvary Chapel/Downey 1

Capistrano Valley Christian 22, Calvary Chapel/Downey 9 (Doubleheader)

Western Christian 14, Samueli Academy 1

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Capistrano Valley 5, San Clemente 1

El Toro 12, Trabuco Hills 6

TRINITY LEAGUE

Orange Lutheran 4, JSerra 1

GOLDEN WEST LEAGUE

Ocean View 12, Westminster 4

SOUTH COAST LEAGUE

Mission Viejo 1, Tesoro

FREEWAY LEAGUE

Sunny Hills 7, Sonora 6

SH: Moreno  (W,1.1 IP, H 2K), Salcido 2-3, RBI, Cueva  3-4, RBI

OLYMPIC LEAGUE

Whittier Christian 12, Village Christian 2

BOYS TENNIS

TRINITY LEAGUE

Singles Final

Brady Schaefgen (JSerra) def Tiago Zunega (Santa Margarita) 6-1, 6-0

Third Place Singles: Everette Somerville (Orange Lutheran)

Doubles Final

Chris Marci / Alejandro Hill (Servite) def. John Burton / David Chen (Santa Margarita) 6-3, 6-1

Third Place Doubles: Gary Davidson/Connor Faul (JSerra)

GIRLS LACROSSE

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Portola 20, Laguna Hills 1][

Goals: (Por) Zdanavage 7

Note: Jadyn Zdanavage surpassed the 300-career goal mark

Other scores

Northwood 19, Sage Hill 3

BOYS LACROSSE

SEA VIEW LEAGUE

Aliso Niguel 17, Dana Hills 1

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

University 15, Woodbridge 10

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE

Yorba Linda 13, El Modena 4

SUNSET LEAGUE

Los Alamitos 20, Newport Harbor 2

BOYS GOLF

TRINITY LEAGUE

Mater Dei 176, Servite 180

Willowick GC (par 35)

Medalist: Cardenas (MD) 33

​ Orange County Register 

Pirates run wild with 6 stolen bases in rout of Dodgers

• April 27, 2023

PITTSBURGH — The Dodgers need to get tough on crime.

The Pittsburgh Pirates stole six bases Wednesday night, running at will in an 8-1 rout of the Dodgers that snapped the Dodgers’ three-game winning streak.

The Pirates have plundered away, stealing nine bases in nine attempts over the first two games of this series. But the crime wave goes beyond that. The Dodgers have surrendered an MLB-high 35 stolen bases in 40 attempts over the first 25 games of the season.

“It hasn’t been good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game of the Dodgers’ inability to control the running game. “We’ve got to figure something out. I might have to do a better job of calling pitch-outs. I don’t know if that will help in certain situations. We’ve got to try to keep these guys off base, these burners. But they’re gonna keep trying us. I know that. Our pitchers know that. Our catchers know that. So we all gotta get better.”

Tony Gonsolin held the Pirates scoreless into the fourth inning in his season debut, allowing two hits and walking three before being pulled after 3⅓ innings and 65 pitches.

“I threw way too many balls today,” said Gonsolin, who had 26 of those to 14 batters. “Not throwing many effective pitches and fell behind in a lot of counts.”

The Pirates got in the starting blocks against reliever Phil Bickford. They used small ball (including a stolen base and a sacrifice bunt) to set up back-to-back RBI singles by Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen in the fifth inning. Three straight hits – with another stolen base thrown in – resulted in another run in the sixth.

They broke the game open with five runs in the seventh inning, scoring one run when Tucupita Marcano raced home from second base on an infield single. Dodgers catcher Austin Wynns was called for blocking the plate on that play, allowing Marcano to score.

A double steal with Wynns one-hopping the throw to third baseman Michael Busch, who wasn’t even covering the base, set up a two-run double by Jason Delay.

“When you’re putting guys on base by way of walk or base hits or whatever it might be, they’re gonna try to expose us. Right now I don’t know the answer,” Roberts said after the latest round of thievery was done. “The best answer is to try to keep them off first base, but once they get there, they’re taking advantage of us. So I think it’s a combo of the pitchers at times and also I think that the catchers can be guilty at times as well.

“I wish it was a quick fix.”

The Dodgers have another glaring problem in need of repair. The four relievers that followed Gonsolin each gave up runs and the bullpen’s collective ERA rose to 5.32. Only three teams – the Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox – have been worse. That is not company the Dodgers want to keep.

“Well, I think there’s a lot of factors,” Roberts said. “We’re not doing a good job of getting ahead. The walk is in play – getting into bad counts, not being able to put guys away when we do get leverage counts. Outside of a few guys, they’re all kind of in that category.

“The consistency of these guys hasn’t been there, for the most part. … You look at the track record and the track records are pretty good. So I’m going to keep running them out there and expecting good things when they go out there until ultimately something changes.”

The Dodgers’ offense has not taken advantage of the new rules aiding and abetting a rise in stolen bases across the league this year. They did little else Wednesday night either.

Pirates starter Roansy Contreras walked two in the first five innings but didn’t give up a hit until Wynns led off the sixth with a single.

“I think just the fact that he was able to throw all his pitches for strikes, fastball and slider. To me, that’s the name of it,” Dodgers outfielder Jason Heyward said. “Because if you can only throw one for a strike, it’s going to be kind of easy to sit on it and get some good swings off. He made pitches when he needed to.”

The Dodgers’ only run came on a solo home run by Freddie Freeman in the eighth inning.

Tuesday night’s comeback win was the eighth time this season the Dodgers have scored eight or more runs in a game. But they have suffered a hangover in the overserved aftermath, losing six of the eight games that followed those breakouts and scoring a total of just 23 runs in those games.

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​ Orange County Register 

Hoornstra: Baseball’s biggest changes start on the mound, not the rulebook

• April 27, 2023

If you think it’s difficult to score runs in today’s game, imagine being a baseball fan in the ’70s.

The 1870s, that is.

This was an era when overhand pitches were illegal, batters could request a pitch come in high or low, and professional teams routinely appeared and disappeared from noted metropolises such as Troy (New York) and Middletown (Conn.). And, in the span of a couple of years, teams couldn’t hit their way out of a paper bag.

From 1873 to 1875, the total runs per game in the National Association of Base Ball Players – the first professional baseball league in the world – sank from an average of 21 to 12. One rule change seems especially responsible. Beginning in 1872, pitchers were allowed to “snap” their wrist while delivering a pitch. The curveball, such as it was, became legal.

If you’re still with me, this part will be less difficult to imagine. The game fans grew to love in 1871 came to be dominated by pitching in the span of a few short years. Men reminisced about the bygone days when 11-10 games were the norm and, just maybe, they asked an intelligent question about who was to blame for the change: the pitchers or the rule makers?

This week I received a note from a reader written in the form of an open letter to Major League Baseball. It was 1,684 words long. The author effectively argued that any attempt to deter baseball from its natural evolution amounted to “ruining” the sport altogether. It’s easy to presuppose that rules empower changes to the game, not the other way around, especially when a game is force-fed several new rules at once. But this was only true at the beginning of baseball’s origin story – at the origin of any sport, perhaps.

In 1864, when “professional” and “baseball” were mostly disparate pursuits, something called a “base on balls” had to be introduced as a pace-of-play measure. Without a penalty against throwing the ball out of the strike zone, a pitcher could throw only pitches no batter could hit, theoretically turning nine-inning games into all-day affairs.

The legal introduction of walks and curveballs have something important in common. Each was a countermeasure to the evolution of the game – a response to a disturbance in equilibrium between offense and defense.

I was reminded of how much the equilibrium has shifted in the last decade when an interview with Hall of Famer Chipper Jones on Bally Sports South went viral this week. “I don’t have a problem saying I would hit a solid .200 in today’s game,” said Jones, who retired after the 2012 season with a .303 career batting average.

Jones wasn’t reflecting on any of the new rules. He was reflecting on the brilliance of Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider. He went on: “Spencer’s a perfect illustration of what the game has come to: incredible arm, incredible secondary stuff. This guy, I’m glad he’s on our squad because he’s going to be a number-1 starter for many years to come.”

Had Rod Carew given an interview during Shohei Ohtani’s start against the Kansas City Royals last Friday, he might have said all the same things. Ohtani would almost certainly appear to the 1872 Middletown Mansfields as a god among men. For our purposes today, he’s a fantastic illustration of the kind of changes to the game Jones was referencing.

In 2018, Ohtani threw 185 pitches that broke at least 10 inches away from the hitter. Already this season he’s thrown 116. In 2021, Ohtani threw 256 pitches at 97 mph or harder. In a little more than one season since, he’s thrown 552.

But let’s not fall prey to making an example of the game’s most extreme talents. In Jones’ final season, 2012, only 0.5% of all pitches were 97 mph or harder and broke 10 inches or more away from the batter. Already, that percentage has more than doubled.

If you (realistically, your great-great-great grandparents) thought it was difficult to hit a baseball 150 years ago, just consider the last decade. Tweaking the rules to make it easier for batters to beat shifts, or for baserunners to steal a base, amounts to bringing a knife to a gunfight against the advances made by pitchers in the last 10 years.

This is an imperfect analogy. Maximizing pitch movement and velocity required the near-extinction of complete games, the proliferation of eight-man bullpens, and turning position players pitching into regular occurrences. It isn’t just that today’s pitchers are gods among men; they’re not being asked to throw nearly as many innings as their 19th-century counterparts.

That’s why one of the rules being tested in the Atlantic League this season will require teams to keep their starting pitchers in the game for at least five innings, or else be forced to sacrifice their designated hitter: MLB has the data. The rule makers know that only by reversing the trends that enabled superhuman pitching performances – not by banning shifts and throws to first base, or instituting pitch-clock penalties – can baseball reverse the biggest changes to the game enough to make someone like Chipper Jones a .300 hitter again.

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​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: With everything else going on, it’s NFL draft night

• April 27, 2023

In a crazily busy sports springtime in the most diverse market on this continent, with the NBA and NHL playoffs and baseball going full tilt and the LPGA tour making a second visit to L.A. within a month on this weekend, among other things … well, of course we’re talking football. The NFL never takes time off, you know.

So, what is there tangible to discuss in the run-up to Thursday night’s draft in Kansas City?

The Chargers have the 21st pick. Most of the mock drafts seem convinced it will be used on defensive help or another target for Justin Herbert. And the last we heard, General Manager Tom Telesco was noncommittal about whether he was going to lug the surfboard that seems to be his lucky draft talisman to the team’s draft party Thursday at the Westfield Century City Atrium.

“I haven’t even thought about that yet,” Telesco said at his pre-draft availability earlier in the week. “I’ve been pretty busy.”

The surfboard made its first appearance during the 2020 proceedings amid the pandemic, when Telesco was working from home and the team-branded board appeared over his shoulder while he was interviewed after picking Herbert with the No. 6 pick overall after the Miami Dolphins had selected Tua Tagovailoa at No. 5. With that success in mind, the board made it to the draft room at the Chargers’ Costa Mesa facility in 2021 and to their draft party at SoFi Stadium last April, both of which have been bountiful drafts.

We’re guessing it’ll somehow find its way to Century City, where the war room will be set up and Telesco and Coach Brandon Staley will be available after Thursday night’s pick is announced.

As for the Rams? They’ve again secured a house to use as their draft “lab,” this time in Tarzana. The 10,000-square foot residence includes a movie theater, putting green, pool, outdoor bar and fire pit, and given that the Rams will be idle on Day 1 barring an unexpected (read: shocking) trade that gets them back into the first round, those amenities might be useful.

The Rams also have a huge gap between their third-round pick, No. 77, and their fifth-round selection, No. 167. They have 11 picks all told, four compensatory selections for the losses of free agents, and all but three come in the final three rounds.

“I think a lot of people on our staff would love for us to at some point move back to cover some of that gap,” General Manager Les Snead said this week. “It’s always a beneficial option based on accumulating more picks, maybe filling that gap. But you can always trade up too from the fifth round into those gaps so there’s many ways to accomplish that.

“And at the end of the day, it’s going to be, ‘Hey, when we get on the clock is there a trade partner? Is there not? Is there a player in that moment that we really feel good about and we want to make a Ram.”

The dilemma: The Rams could be in the market for a quarterback, which sounds funny considering that Matthew Stafford won them a Super Bowl two seasons ago and appears to be back to full health. But Stafford is also 35 and has 14 seasons of tread on his tires. Snead is daring enough to try to get into the first round, but daring enough to trade a batch of future first-round picks to get a shot at, say, former Rancho Cucamonga High and Ohio State standout C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson, or Kentucky’s Will Levis?

Forget Alabama’s Bryce Young, the former Mater Dei High standout who is expected to be the No. 1 selection. Carolina spent plenty to get that pick – specifically, sending wide receiver D.J. Moore, two first-round picks and two second-rounders to Chicago – and the only way the Rams could wrest that away might be to trade Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald, and two or three future No. 1’s to the Panthers. Better, maybe, to wait a year and take a run at USC’s Caleb Williams next spring when they’ll have their own first-rounder to spend?

For the Chargers’ Telesco and his staff, at 21 there are options.

A survey of 35 mock drafts – out of, what, hundreds of lists that professional and amateur draft geeks have compiled and will be revising right up to Thursday night’s first pick – revealed a little bit of consensus. Twelve different players were listed as probable/potential/bear-with-me-because-I’m-guessing picks, and Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers (9), USC’s Jordan Addison (6), and tight ends Dalton Kincaid of Utah and Michael Mayer of Notre Dame (5 apiece) were on the most lists. Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (3) was the only other player listed more than once.

As to the suggestion that the Chargers might be looking at additional running back help while Austin Ekeler’s trade request plays out, Telesco said at his pre-draft briefing that Ekeler’s situation wouldn’t change the team’s approach. Part of that likely goes back to the idea that running backs – even high-production ones – are replaceable in today’s NFL. And part of it is the idea that some players need a year or two to find their footing, as Ekeler once did.

“We had Joshua Kelley and Larry Rountree (III) here, then we drafted Isaiah Spiller last year,” Telesco said. “Isaiah kind of fits in the category of players from previous drafts having to step up and fill needs.

“Typically, like in this year’s draft, not a lot of these guys are going to come in and (immediately) fill a need. When you look at the draft, when you draft players in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth round, people think that they are going to come in and immediately fill a need. You hope that they come in and earn a role. But you’re really looking for players from previous draft classes to rise up, (for safety) JT Woods, (defensive back) Ja’Sir Taylor, Isaiah Spiller and some other guys, have those guys step into roles. We think that it’s a pretty good room right now, so I wouldn’t necessarily look at it like that.”

It’s worth noting that Kelley was a fourth-round pick in 2020, Rountree a sixth-rounder in ’21 and Spiller a fourth-rounder in 2022. In other words, for Telesco and particularly the Rams’ Snead, the real work will occur Friday and Saturday and the report card likely won’t be filled out until two to three years down the road.

Bottom line, given that strange things can happen in any draft? Be ready. (And, in Telesco’s case, bring the surfboard.)

jalexander@scng.com

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