Dodgers’ Michael Grove ready for 2023 debut Monday

• April 2, 2023

LOS ANGELES ― When spring training was all said and done, Michael Grove didn’t expect to see his name on the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster. He was already in Oklahoma City, keeping his arm loose in near-freezing weather, preparing for the start of the Triple-A season.

Two days after the Dodgers told him to pack his bags, Grove was re-packing for Southern California. Pitcher Ryan Pepiot had an oblique strain and was a surprise addition to the injured list on the morning of Opening Day. Grove, not Pepiot, was suddenly in line to fill the rotation spot of injured right-hander Tony Gonsolin.

Grove will make his regular season debut Monday against the Colorado Rockies.

“I guess it was a little awkward,” he said of the last-minute change of plans. “That’s the nature of the business ― just have to be ready when my name’s called, whenever that may be. This time it was before the season started. I’m just trying to be ready mentally and physically.”

Spring training was a bit of an adventure for Grove. In his final outing, he retired one of the five Arizona Diamondbacks hitters he faced in the first inning, then was removed from the game. The relaxed Cactus League rules allowed Grove to return to the game when the second inning began. He pitched another four innings without allowing a run.

Prior to that game, he had allowed one walk and struck out 14 batters across 12⅓ innings. He’d also allowed three home runs among five earned runs in all.

Underneath those uneven statistics, there were encouraging signs. Grove has tinkered with his slider in an attempt to elicit more movement from the pitch. In the game against the Diamondbacks, the pitch averaged 2,448 rpm, according to Statcast; last season it averaged 2,274 rpm.

It was only one game, but the results were encouraging. The Diamondbacks swung and missed at Grove’s slider eight times and put the ball in play only once. There is reason to believe it could be an even better pitch Monday.

“In Arizona, it’s cold, dry air, and altitude,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Get to sea level and the ball does a little bit more as far as spin. Michael can really spin the baseball. I do think that slider and curveball will play up.”

Roberts said Grove figures to get two or three starts if Gonsolin returns from his sprained ankle later this month as expected. Pepiot’s injury could take even longer to heal. For his part, Grove said he isn’t thinking about what a strong debut Monday would do for his long-term future in the Dodgers’ rotation.

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Only recently, Grove was told what he needed to do to get back to the major leagues. Now that he’s back, it’s a matter of doing the same things in order to stick around.

“For me it’s just consistency and making sure that my pitches are in a good spot,” Grove said. “I have a little different arsenal this year than last year. Sequencing-wise, making sure that I’m using pitches in the right spot.”

ALSO

Max Muncy was not available one day after he absorbed a baseball to the groin. Chris Taylor started at third base and Mookie Betts got the start at second base in place of Miguel Vargas, who had a scheduled day off. Roberts said he doesn’t believe Muncy’s injury will require an injured-list stint. … Tony Gonsolin’s threw 40 pitches over two “innings” in a bullpen session. Roberts said his next appearance on a mound will come Wednesday against live hitters at the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in Arizona. … James Outman stole the Dodgers’ first base of the season in the seventh inning.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Michael Grove) vs. Colorado Rockies (RHP Ryan Feltner), Monday, 7 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570-AM

​ Orange County Register 

1 killed, another injured in Santa Ana hit-and-run

• April 2, 2023

One person died and another remained in the hospital on Sunday, April 2, after being struck by a hit-and-run driver along a residential street in Santa Ana, authorities said.

Around 2 a.m., the two pedestrians were standing near a vehicle in the street along the 500 block of West St. Gertrude Place when they were struck by an SUV heading west, the Santa Ana Police Department said in a news release. The driver fled before authorities arrived to find the two victims lying in the roadway.

The victims were taken to a hospital where one was later pronounced dead, police said. Their identity was not released Sunday afternoon pending notification of family.

Information on the other victim’s condition was not immediately available.

A description of the SUV was not available Sunday afternoon and no arrests had been announced. It was not immediately known if drugs or alcohol factored into the collision.

Anyone with information on the hit-and-run crash should contact Santa Ana Police Inv. L. Bao at 714-245-8223 or the Santa Ana Police Department’s Traffic Division at 714-245-8200.

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​ Orange County Register 

Angels’ Luis Rengifo credits Jose Altuve for new approach at plate

• April 2, 2023

OAKLAND — Luis Rengifo may have taken more from the World Baseball Classic than simply the experience of playing in a charged atmosphere.

Rengifo said he spent a lot of time with José Altuve while they were teammates with Venezuela. Previously, the Angels infielder only had a few short conversations with Altuve on the field when the Angels played the Houston Astros.

“Altuve is a leader,” Rengifo said. “He knows what he’s doing before every at-bat. He puts the ball in play every single time. That’s what I want.”

After struggling for much of his sporadic opportunities in the majors, Rengifo enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2022. The switch-hitter hit .264 with 17 homers and a .724 OPS in 511 plate appearances, including a .909 OPS against lefties.

Through his first two games this season, Rengifo has already drawn three walks. One of them opened the floodgates for an 11-run inning after the Angels had struck out four times in two scoreless innings against Oakland right-hander Shintaro Fujinami.

“Luis’ at-bat to lead off that inning was phenomenal, spitting on a couple of those splits that  guys had swung over the top of in the first two innings,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. “The last-pitch slider that he took down and in was a great take, and we were off and running.”

Nevin said that Rengifo has a slightly more upright stance from the left side now, and that could help his pitch recognition.

Rengifo, however, said that one of the changes is the approach that he learned from Altuve.

“I feel more confident every single time when I go in the box,” he said. “I am ready every single time. The game has slowed down.”

RENDON SITS

Third baseman Anthony Rendon was out of the Angels’ lineup a day after banging his left knee against the rolled up tarp while chasing a ball in foul territory.

“The tarp won,” quipped Rendon, who added that he still could have played on Sunday and he expects to play on Monday.

Nevin said the Angels had planned all along for Rendon to have one of the days off on this season-opening six-game trip, and now he’s planning on Rendon playing all three games in Seattle.

“He went into the tarp pretty hard yesterday, and with everything that’s going on, I thought today was the best one (for a day off),” Nevin said.

Rendon is also awaiting discipline from Major League Baseball, which is investigating his altercation with a fan after Thursday’s game. Nevin said he has “not heard anything” about a decision on Rendon.

NOTES

Right-hander Griffin Canning (groin) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Monday. …

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First baseman Jared Walsh (headaches, insomnia) has been making progress on the issues at a facility in Utah, Nevin said. Walsh began taking  swings with the Angels’ Triple-A team in Salt Lake City. Nevin said there is still “no timetable” for Walsh to return. …

Catcher Max Stassi (hip) is on the injured list, but the family emergency that initially took him away from the team is the primary issue, Nevin said. “Keep him in your thoughts,” Nevin said. “That’s all I can say.” …

Although the Angels were using a straw Golden State Warriors hat to celebrate homers this weekend in Oakland, that won’t be a season-long fixture. Staff assistant Tim Buss, who is unofficially in charge of such things, said the Angels are still searching for something to use throughout the season. …

Catcher Matt Thaiss is scheduled to get his first start of the season behind the plate on Tuesday, Nevin said.

UP NEXT

Angels (LHP Reid Detmers, 7-6, 3.77 ERA in 2022) at Mariners (RHP George Kirby, 8-5, 3.39 in 2022), Monday, 6:40 p.m., T-Mobile Park, Bally Sports West, 830 AM.

​ Orange County Register 

Speed puzzling competition series launches in Orange County

• April 2, 2023

Decisions have to be made fast: What’s the plan for sorting? By color? By texture? Pull out all the edges?

This is speed puzzling, and teams have to decide quickly what is their best bet for turning the 500 tiny pieces they just dumped out of a box into the picture on the cover — in minutes, not hours.

On Saturday, the relatively new Orange County Speed Puzzlers hosted its third competition. The winning time was 34 minutes 57 seconds, completed by Trisha Siedlecki of Roland Heights and Allyson Longo of Anaheim.

When the coronavirus arrived three years ago and people suddenly found themselves at home with a lot of time on their hands, many dusted off puzzle boxes that had been stashed away.

And when it got hard because of the shutdowns to buy more puzzles, they started trading with others to refresh their supply.

“There is a really great puzzle swap community in Orange County,” said William Shandling of Anaheim, who is a co-founder of Orange County Speed Puzzlers with Lisa Moskowitz.

Several from the local swap community attended the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association’s speed puzzling nationals in San Diego in October, Shandling said, and were interested in a regular competition closer to home.

So Moskowitz and Shandling teamed up and the first was held in February.

For Saturday’s competition, they got sponsorship from Ravensburger, a German toy company that has numerous puzzle lines.

But the company didn’t just pull 30 boxes of the same puzzle off a warehouse shelf, Shandling said. It surprised the organizers by offering to design a new puzzle for the competition, he said.

“It’s a really important step in the process, picking the puzzle for the competition,” he said. Along with being something that can be finished within time, it has to be fun for the puzzlers.

“We don’t want any diabolical puzzles where people are going to be frustrated,” Shandling said.

The organizers decided on a graphic arts motif, with a little April Fool’s twist here and there, he said, in honor of the competition’s date. The image included all the trappings of a puzzle competition, including name tags, a tiny version of the puzzle and a first place certificate.

Saturday’s competition drew 30 teams of two to GameCraft Brewing in Laguna Hills. Each played at their own table with spectators watching from an outside perimeter.

Competitions start with a lot of frenetic energy. Teams quickly sort the pieces into piles based on how they most likely will come together — maybe all the pieces that look like they would fit a building in the background or a grassy area.

Then they get to piecing things together.

“Our top puzzle pros, they won’t say more than 10 sentences to each other the entire game,” Shandling said.

Sometimes if a teammate gets stuck on a part of the scene they are working on, the pair might swap chairs or push piles around, Shandling said. “Just to give ourselves a fresh perspective.”

The winning team Saturday received two newly released 1,000-piece puzzles from Ravensburger. Second place received 700 piece puzzles and third place 550 piece puzzles.

June 4 will be the group’s next competition at GameCraft. Find them at Instagram.com/orange_county_speed_puzzlers or search on Facebook.

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​ Orange County Register 

2 injured, 1 arrested after fight at pro-Trump rally in Huntington Beach

• April 2, 2023

At least two people were injured and one was arrested after skateboarders fought with crowds gathered at the Huntington Beach Pier in support of former president Donald Trump.

The clash was reported about 12:30 p.m. Saturday said Huntington Beach police spokeswoman Jessica Cuchilla.

She said one person with “minor injuries” was transported to the hospital, and a man was arrested in connection with the fight.

Trump supporter Nick Taurus, injured at the rally, posted on Instagram that after “taking a skateboard in the head for President Trump … I’m still alive, I’m still kicking, it didn’t knock me out.” At one point, he removed a bloody bandage from his forehead to show the wound.

About 50 people attended the rally, “and for the majority, it was peaceful,” Cuchilla said.

The demonstrators carried U.S. and “Make America Great Again” flags, chanted “God bless Trump!” and proclaimed Huntington Beach to be “MAGA Country.”

The rally came two days after a grand jury in New York voted to indict the ex-president, who is accused of paying off porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential bid to keep information about an alleged affair out of the campaign. His then-attorney, Michael Cohen, served prison time for the crime.

Trump and his attorneys have denied any wrongdoing in the case. He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in New York.

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​ Orange County Register 

Susan Shelley: The persecution of Donald J. Trump

• April 2, 2023

Arrested for corruption or corruptly arrested?

As of this writing, the former president of the United States and frontrunning GOP candidate for president in 2024, Donald J. Trump of Florida, has been indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan on charges that are still under seal as of this writing. According to some news reports, Trump will be in New York City on Tuesday to be formally charged, arrested and booked.

There’s obviously a lot of interest in the booking photo. You can expect to see it on shirts, hats, coffee cups, tote bags, posters, flags and murals on the sides of trucks. Trump supporters are ready to run with Notorious DJT.

Two days before the indictment was announced, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on MSNBC telling host Joy Reid that “we spend too much time talking about him….We cannot keep giving him all the press he wants.”

Right, good luck with that.

Pelosi seemed to think Trump was fabricating the story when he announced on his Truth Social account that he was going to be arrested. “This whole thing about his indictment coming out when he didn’t even really know if he was going to be indicted, I don’t think,” she said. “And for a week and a half, all we hear is about him. And that’s exactly what he wanted.”

The former House speaker obviously noticed Trump’s rising popularity. Last week, a Fox News poll found that the man Pelosi sniped at as “a former, ex, impeached, twice, president, and defeated, president of the United States” had expanded his lead in the GOP primary race and was at 54%, leading Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by 30 points. In February, Trump led DeSantis 43% to 28%.

Fox News’ pollster stated that “the rumor that Trump is going to be indicted by the district attorney in Manhattan has helped him quite a bit among Republican primary voters.”

But Pelosi’s comments are cause to wonder if the rumor was also helping Trump among independents and perhaps even some Democrats.

By Thursday evening, the Trump campaign had sent out a fundraising email that featured the New York Times headline, “Grand Jury votes to indict Donald Trump in New York.” It referred to the indictment as “a disgusting witch hunt” and slammed the DA, Alvin Bragg, as a “Soros-funded District Attorney” who had “relied on the testimony of a convicted felon and a disbarred liar.”

That’s a reference to Michael Cohen, a now disbarred attorney who reportedly worked as a “fixer” for Trump, and who went to prison for lying to Congress six times. Cohen also pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, which may be relevant. Reporters and legal experts have speculated that Bragg has taken a New York state misdemeanor related to maintaining accurate business records and enhanced it to a felony by claiming that it was tied to a federal crime, specifically a campaign finance law violation.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume the speculation has hit the nail on the head, and let’s also assume that Trump did exactly what he’s accused of doing. What is he accused of doing?

He’s accused of using his own money to pay his own lawyer to prevent public embarrassments threatened by an adult film actress and a former Playboy model. He’s accused of writing it down in the business records as “legal” expenses. And he’s accused of doing this so close to the 2016 election that it must be considered a donation to his own campaign, which should have been reported as such and wasn’t.

Even assuming this is all true, it’s questionable whether campaign finance law required these payments to be reported as donations to the Trump presidential campaign. There are many reasons why a married businessman, whose business is built on licensing his own name, would seek to prevent splashy headlines about alleged affairs with the women in question. Don’t forget that at the time, the whole known universe expected Hillary Clinton to win the 2016 election. Experts in politics and polling thought Donald Trump was on his way back up the escalator to shoot promos for “The Apprentice.”

But even assuming that the payments had to be reported as donations from the candidate to the campaign and were not, is that a crime for a grand jury to spend months investigating? Calling witnesses? Issuing indictments?

Hardly. Campaigns might be fined for a reporting violation. But federal prosecutors didn’t bring any charges against Trump for campaign finance violations or anything else.

Interestingly, a federal prosecutor was working in the Manhattan district attorney’s office for a while. And this is a very strange story.

Mark Pomerantz, according to his biography on the website of Simon & Schuster, publisher of his “fascinating inside account of the attempt to prosecute Donald Trump” (list price $29.99), “was a retired lawyer living a calm suburban life when he accepted an unexpected offer to join the staff of the district attorney of New York County in February 2021 to work on the investigation of former president Donald Trump.” Oddly, this job offer came with no salary. This former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York worked in the county district attorney’s office on the Trump case “pro bono” from February 2021 to February 2022.

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He resigned in a huff after newly elected District Attorney Bragg, who replaced Cyrus Vance, Jr., reportedly expressed hesitancy about the evidence that supposedly justified an indictment of Trump.

And that’s when Pomerantz wrote his book, “People vs. Donald Trump.” In it, the publisher informs us, he tells “why he believes Donald Trump should be prosecuted.” The book was published two months ago.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told Fox Business News that Bragg only decided to pursue charges against Trump after the former president announced his candidacy for 2024. “He’s leading in every single poll,” Jordan said, “so I think that’s what changed his mind.”

The Judiciary Committee is now investigating Alvin Bragg for election interference.  However, with the way Republicans are raising money on this indictment, that could turn out to be a victimless crime.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on Twitter @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

Volunteers hop to delivering Basket of Miracles to children battling illness

• April 2, 2023

The Easter Bunny is getting a little help from Miracles for Kids with brightening the day for children with life-threatening illnesses.

The Irvine-based organization will deliver 316 Easter baskets and care packages to the children and their families through its Spring Basket of Miracles program.

More than 125 volunteers have been collecting donations and filling the baskets since the start of the year. Each basket contains candy and egg decorating kits, games and puzzles, and cleaning products and hygiene items for the family.

“It’s important, especially during these uncertain economic times, to make sure that the low-income families that we serve are able to concentrate on their critically ill child and not have to worry about expenses,” said Autumn Strier, co-founder and CEO of Miracles for Kids.

Miracles for Kids also provides financial support, housing and access to counseling for families who are supporting an ill child. The nonprofit was founded in 2002.

More information can be found here.

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​ Orange County Register 

Proposition 22 should remain law in California so gig drivers can retain flexible schedules

• April 2, 2023

In 2020, I was proud to be one of the nearly 10 million California voters who cast their ballots in support of Proposition 22. As a long time app-based driver, I worked  hard to help educate my friends and families about the importance of being an independent worker, something that provides the flexibility I really need as a working mom. The measure gained the support of almost 60 percent of voters and protected my right to remain an independent contractor while gaining meaningful income as an app-based driver. Not only did Prop. 22 ensure that I can choose my own hours and maintain flexibility that works for me, but it also assured that I get new benefits, a healthcare stipend and guaranteed earnings.

Despite overwhelming voter support, special interests who opposed the initiative back in 2020 immediately took the measure to court, attempting to overturn the law with blatant disregard for millions of Californians and for drivers like me who want to remain independent.

Thankfully, an appellate court saw through this special interest effort and ruled to uphold the core principles of Prop. 22. I won’t be surprised if opponents try to find other avenues to overturn our independent status, but I’m hopeful those efforts are swiftly stopped in their tracks. The voters have spoken, drivers have spoken and the court has spoken. Enough is enough.

As an app-based driver, the recent decision from the California Court of Appeal was a huge relief.

App-based work has been an invaluable resource helping me make ends and provide for my family while I pursue my passions. As a film producer and director, my projects can be irregular and I often have unpredictable days that wouldn’t allow me to have a traditional job while being able to build my own business. When projects are slowing down, I have the comfort of knowing I can work extra hours driving to help bring in needed income. And when my plate is full at work, I know I can take a few hours driving here and there without any pressure. An added bonus is that as a working mom, I have the flexibility to care for a two-year-old, helping to save on what would otherwise be costly childcare.

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With rising costs of living, economic uncertainty on the horizon and lingering impacts that COVID had on my industry, independent driver status is more important to me than ever. Plus, Prop. 22 ensures guaranteed earnings and important other benefits like access to a health insurance stipend that we didn’t have before the law was passed.

Those against Prop. 22 aren’t representing what’s best for hundreds of thousands of drivers like me. In fact, eighty-eight percent of drivers surveyed in 2021 said that Prop. 22 has been good for them. They, like me, love being their own boss by working when they want and how they want —with Prop. 22 benefits that help my family. Eighty-seven percent of drivers also believe Prop. 22 “should be protected by the courts.”

I’ve met countless drivers in my efforts to uphold Prop. 22 who feel just like I do and who are committed to ensuring Prop. 22 stays the law of the land. I hope that our elected officials, courts and most importantly – the people – understand that any attempt to undo independent contract status for app-based drivers is a direct affront to voters, drivers, and the very democracy that we live in.

Alexsyia Flora is a Lyft driver in Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register