The Sports Report: Should Clayton Kershaw start the MLB All-Star Game?

Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws against the Padres at Dodger Stadium
Dodgers beginning pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws in opposition to the Padres at Dodger Stadium Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Occasions)

Howdy, I’m your host, Iliana Limón Romero, filling for Houston Mitchell, who's on trip and planning the proper fireworks show. Let’s get proper to the information.

Occasions columnist Dylan Hernández argues Main League Baseball ought to discover a approach to correctly honor Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw.

There was no point out of the month Kershaw spent on the injured checklist or how he hasn’t pitched a ample variety of innings to qualify to be on the earned-run common leaderboard.

Within the view of Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, this was a no brainer: Kershaw ought to pitch within the All-Star Recreation.

“I don’t suppose there’s anyone extra deserving to pitch an All-Star Recreation in Dodger Stadium,” Barnes mentioned.

Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws to the plate against the San Diego Padres Sunday
Dodgers beginning pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws to the plate in opposition to the San Diego Padres Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
(Mark J. Terrill / Related Press)

Baseball could make it occur. Baseball ought to make it occur.

In actual fact, Nationwide League supervisor Brian Snitker ought to take it a step additional and designate Kershaw the starter.

Baseball has an opportunity to fabricate a second in what is mostly an unscripted theater, and what higher second can there be than the 34-year-old Kershaw making his first All-Star begin at dwelling in what might be the ultimate season of his Corridor of Fame profession?

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USC BASEBALL

Ryan Kartje and I wrote this report: USC employed Andy Stankiewicz to be its new baseball coach, turning to a well-respected veteran to rebuild a fractured program that has probably the most nationwide titles on the Division I degree however hasn’t reached the postseason since 2015.

Stankiewicz, an Inglewood native, former Main League Baseball infielder and four-time Western Athletic Convention coach of the yr, is leaving Grand Canyon College in Arizona to guide the Trojans.

“Andy has a confirmed file of success in constructing a profitable program,” USC athletic director Mike Bohn mentioned in a information launch introducing Stankiewicz on Sunday. “Enjoying seven seasons within the MLB, he understands what it takes to compete on the highest degree. Andy’s management, relationship-building skills and participant improvement make him a terrific match to guide our program.

“Moreover, his integrity and dedication to student-athletes align completely with our imaginative and prescient and guiding rules. He arrives at USC strongly beneficial and revered by members of the baseball neighborhood, and now we have the utmost confidence that he'll elevate our baseball program again to nationwide prominence.”

Stankiewicz supervised Grand Canyon’s transition from the Division II degree to Division I, profitable 5 regular-season WAC titles throughout each ranges. He led Grand Canyon to its first Division I NCAA regional bid in 2021 after profitable the WAC match. His workforce gained 41 video games in 2022, incomes the primary Division I NCAA regional at-large bid at school historical past.

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UCLA AND USC

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen on UCLA and USC transferring to the Large Ten: It’s about identify, picture and likeness, they mentioned. It’s about like-minded tutorial establishments. It’s about rising alternatives to recruit.

The true motive behind UCLA and USC’s drastic shift to the Large Ten Convention is way less complicated than the language directors use in long-winded statements.

It’s cash.

With the Pac-12’s current struggles and archaic TV deal, the convention’s groups had been merely getting left behind, and leaping ship to the Large Ten offers USC and UCLA their finest monetary lifeline to compete in a university sports activities scene that's blurring the traces between skilled and newbie extra every day.

The Large Ten’s emergence as a monetary titan started when the convention signed a six-year, $2.65-billion TV deal that started in 2017. On the time, the Pac-12 was outpacing the Large Ten in income because of a landmark TV deal beneath former commissioner Larry Scott.

MORE ON THE BIG TEN MOVE:

USC athletic director Mike Bohn has a historical past of punching first in realignment fights

Breaking down what a transfer to the Large Ten means for UCLA and USC Olympic sports activities

Large Ten growth: Will Notre Dame be the following to hitch?

Full protection: USC, UCLA leaving Pac-12 to hitch Large Ten

UCLA GYMNASTICS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen on former UCLA gymnast Nia Dennis: Months after she completed her UCLA gymnastics profession, Nia Dennis flipped, leaped and danced her method throughout the enduring Met Gala steps. A marching band performed behind her. Cameras flashed.

This viral gymnast nonetheless is aware of the best way to steal a present.

Dennis’ internet-breaking Met Gala entrance in 2021 marked the previous UCLA star’s transition into her post-gymnastics life, a section that might entice simply as a lot consideration as her two viral flooring routines. Strolling away from the game has solely broadened Dennis’ affect as she veers into completely different, unpredictable avenues. The 23-year-old is pursuing dancing, modeling and performing, making ready to launch her personal enterprise and persevering with to advocate for points like psychological well being consciousness.

With such a busy schedule, it’s no marvel Dennis jokes that it feels as if greater than a yr has handed since she graduated from UCLA with a level in sociology.

“All of my work was paying off,” Dennis mentioned.

ANGELS

The Related Press on the Angels: Mike Trout watched as a low sinker grazed the surface nook of the strike zone within the third inning Sunday, rung up as soon as once more in a weekend full of strikeouts.

Earlier than trudging again to the dugout he made a face that appeared to scream: Yikes!

The Angels star went 0 for 11 with 9 strikeouts in a three-game sequence and Los Angeles hitters fanned 20 occasions general Sunday because the Houston Astros gained 4-2 for a sweep.

“Mike Trout is an he's a future Corridor of Famer. He’s going to come back round,“ Angels performing interim supervisor Invoice Haselman mentioned. “It’s too lengthy of a season by no means to have struggles. And all people goes by way of it, even the perfect within the recreation. And he’s going by way of it proper now and we’re assured he’ll get out of it.“

SPARKS

The Related Press on the Sparks: Nneka Ogwumike scored 22 factors, Liz Cambage added 16 and the Sparks beat the New York Liberty 84-74 on Sunday at Crypto.com Area.

Chiney Ogwumike contributed 12 factors and 10 rebounds, Katie Lou Samuelson additionally had 12 factors and Jordin Canada completed with 11 factors and 7 assists for the Sparks (11th of September), who gained consecutive video games for the primary time because the finish of Might.

Nneka Ogwumike made a layup halfway by way of the third quarter to offer the Sparks the lead for good at 53-52 and Chiney Ogwumike’s jumper with 1:22 left within the quarter stretched the result in 65-57.

Crystal Dangerfield made a three-pointer, Han Xu hit a hook shot and Marine Johannes adopted with one other three-pointer to trim the Liberty’s deficit to 69-68 with 4:42 to play, however Cambage made baskets to open and cap a 10-2 spurt that gave the Sparks a 79-70 lead with two minutes left.

HORSE RACING

From John Cherwa on Bob Baffert: Coach Bob Baffert awakened at 5 a.m. Sunday, a lot sooner than he has been getting up the final 90 days. He needed to return to a job he has loved and excelled at for greater than 4 a long time.

He thought-about getting up earlier however handed on the concept.

“I thought of getting there at 12:01 a.m. and go to the barn and begin hammering the indicators again up,” he mentioned with amusing whereas sitting in field 227 within the Santa Anita grandstand watching his horses practice for the primary time after a three-month suspension following a constructive remedy take a look at on Medina Spirit eventually yr’s Kentucky Derby.

A handful of individuals had been there to see the acquainted head of white hair. Trainers John Sadler and Tim Yakteen had been there as common as was jockey Mike Smith and a revolving contingent of well-wishers. Yakteen even introduced a field of donuts, which had been sitting there when Baffert arrived round 6:30. Baffert’s spouse, Jill, got here alongside for his first day again at work.

“It looks like the primary day of college,” Baffert mentioned.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1910 — Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Jeffries within the fifteenth spherical at Reno, Nev., to retain the world heavyweight title and spoil Jeffries’ comeback.

1914 — The Harvard eight wins the Grand Problem Cup to turn out to be the primary American crew to seize the highest occasion on the Henley Royal Regatta.

1919 — Jack Dempsey wins the world heavyweight title at Toledo, Ohio, when Jess Willard fails to reply the bell for the fourth spherical.

1923 — Jack Dempsey beats Tommy Gibbon in 15 for the heavyweight title. The battle nearly bankrupts the city of Shelby, Montana, which borrowed closely to stage it.

1930 — Helen Wills Moody wins her fourth straight singles title at Wimbledon with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Elizabeth Ryan. Moody would go on to win 4 extra Wimbledon singles titles.

1964 — Maria Bueno of Brazil upsets Margaret Smith of Australia 6-4, 7-9, 6-3 for the ladies’s title at Wimbledon.

1975 — Billie Jean King beats Evonne Goolagong, 6-0, 6-1 for her sixth and ultimate singles title at Wimbledon.

1982 — Jimmy Connors beats John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 for the lads’s singles championship at Wimbledon. The match lasts 4 hours, 16 minutes.

1987 — Martina Navratilova wins her eighth Wimbledon singles title and sixth straight, beating Steffi Graf 7-5, 6-3.

1999 — Pete Sampras overwhelms Andre Agassi in three units to seize his sixth Wimbledon title and tie Roy Emerson’s file along with his twelfth Grand Slam championship. Sampras is the primary man within the Open period with six Wimbledon titles.

2002 — Venus and Serena Williams win in straight units to arrange their third title match at a serious in 10 months — and the primary all-sister Wimbledon ultimate since 1884. High-seeded Venus, the two-time defending champion, overpowers Justine Henin 6-3, 6-2. Second-seeded Serena routs Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-1 in 55 minutes.

2004 — Meg Mallon wins the Ladies’s U.S. Open with a 6-under 65, the bottom ultimate spherical by a champion within the 59-year historical past of the match. Mallon finishes at 10-under 274 for a two-shot victory over Annika Sorenstam.

2008 — Dara Torres completes her unbelievable Olympic comeback, making the U.S. workforce for the fifth time by profitable the 100 freestyle on the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha, Neb. The 41-year-old wins in 54.78. A nine-time medalist, she already was the primary U.S. swimmer to make 4 Olympic groups.

2009 — Serena Williams beats her massive sister Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 for her third Wimbledon title and eleventh Grand Slam championship. Within the fourth all-Williams ultimate at Wimbledon, Serena comes out on high for the third time. Later, Venus and Serena win their fourth ladies’s doubles title at Wimbledon and ninth Grand Slam doubles title as a pair.

2010 — Rafael Nadal beats Tomas Berdych in straight units, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, to win his second Wimbledon title and eighth Grand Slam championship.

2011 — Tyler Farrar turns into the primary American to win a July 4 Tour de France stage, dominating a dash end within the third leg as teammate Thor Hushovd of Norway saved the yellow jersey.

2014 — Germany turns into the primary nation to succeed in the semifinals for a fourth straight World Cup by beating France 1-0 in a quarterfinal match settled by a first-half header from Mats Hummels.

And eventually

Joyful Fourth of July.

Look again at previous fireworks shows in Los Angeles.

Till subsequent time...

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