Dodgers Slump Again in Post Season

April 22, 2022 Post a Comment

Hello, I'm your host, Austin Knoblauch, filling in for Houston Mitchell, who probably spent Oscar nighttime writing a screenplay about Saint Peter's March Madness run. Let'southward get right to the news.

From Jack Harris: Dave Roberts sounded like a professor education a class on the complexities of hitting.

The Dodgers' manager used technical terms like "flexion," "levers" and "barred out." He dissected next-level batting nuances, from base width to manus placement to firing position at the start of each swing. He spent x minutes Saturday trying again to explain the standing development of Cody Bellinger's swing.

Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger bats against the Colorado Rockies in spring training on Thursday.

Roberts' message to his uber-talented but ever-inconsistent center fielder, however, is much more than elementary.

"Be a proficient hitter first."

It's an objective Bellinger has struggled to achieve this spring, with fourth dimension running short for him to snap a preseason slump — one that looks eerily like to his career-worst functioning last twelvemonth — before the start of the regular season.

In seven Cactus League games, the 2019 National League MVP has struck out in fourteen of 19 at-bats. Of his iii hits, none have gone for extra bases. And even afterward finding success in the playoffs last season, he is trying to remake his swing over again, hoping to detect a "happy medium" betwixt the player he used to be and the one he is at present.

"Believe it or non, I'k actually feeling a lot better than the results are saying," Bellinger said Sunday, answering some other round of familiar questions nearly his struggles at the plate. "That's real. That's what spring preparation is about, obviously. You don't want to do what I'm doing, but I feel better than what the stat sheets are showing."

Alarm bells aren't ringing even so. It'south still March, and Roberts believes Bellinger'south timing is the problem more anything else. For at present, his function as the team'southward everyday center fielder remains condom. And the hope is that, with more at-bats, he will grow more comfortable with his newest iteration of mechanics at the plate.

But even Roberts best-selling that Bellinger, who struck out in all four of his at-bats in a Saturday night game against the Kansas City Royals, could benefit from better results correct now.

Until and then, the Dodgers tin just promise his spring slump doesn't stretch into the regular season.

"The functioning is up to Cody," Roberts said. "Information technology's our task every bit coaches to create an environment and the piece of work to let him to succeed. Simply at the end of the day, he's the one in the concoction's box. He knows that, and he'due south got to produce. He's a big part of what we want to do this twelvemonth. He's a big part of information technology, and he knows that."

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Baseball

Albert Pujols is mobbed at home plate by his St. Louis Cardinals teammates.

From Mike DiGiovanna: Albert Pujols is going back to where he launched his Hall of Fame-caliber career in 2001 — the St. Louis Cardinals.

The onetime Angels and Dodgers slugger has agreed to a 1-year, $ii.five-million deal with the Cardinals, pending a physical, according to a person familiar with deal who can't speak publicly about it.

Pujols, who starred for xi seasons with the Cardinals, struggled through ix-plus injury marred seasons with the Angels and finished out 2021 as a key reserve for the Dodgers. He has clubbed 679 homers to rank fifth on baseball game's all-time list behind Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Alex Rodriguez.

The burly first baseman and designated hitter is among the height 10 in several other offensive categories, ranking tertiary in RBIs (2,150), quaternary in extra-base of operations hits (i,367), fourth in total bases (6,042) and fifth in doubles (672), filling out a resume that is expected to earn him first-ballot entry into baseball's Hall of Fame.

Pujols established himself every bit the most feared right-handed hitter in the game during his time with the Cardinals. He hit .328 with 445 homers, ii,073 hits, 455 doubles, 1,329 RBIs and a 1.037 OPS in 11 years in St. Louis, leading the Cardinals to World Series titles in 2006 and 2011. He also won ii Gold Glove Awards with the Cardinals.

NCAA TOURNAMENT

Saint Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway, left, talks with Jaylen Murray during a win over Purdue in the Sweet 16 on Friday.

From Bill Plaschke: The glass slipper cracked as everyone feared information technology would crack, jagged shards spilling all over a hopeful higher basketball game landscape, loudly, messily, sadly.

I shining moment became 1 shattering moment, the greatest surprise story in the history of the NCAA men'southward tournament suffering a profoundly expected but terribly feared ending.

Cinderella finally complanate.

Saint Peter's, the lowest-seeded team to advance to the Elite Eight, finally met a hurdle it could not magically articulate, the 15th-seeded Peacocks falling to mighty North Carolina on Sunday in the Due east Region concluding, 69-49.

It began with a roar. Saint Peter'due south has no pep band, but information technology made no matter, equally it took the Wells Fargo Center floor to the music of a screaming oversupply speaking for a nation of believers.

It ended with a sob, half dozen Peacocks players huddling with coach Shaheen Holloway in front of the scorers' table in the final minute to share their pain.

"We merely told each other, just stay together," KC Ndefo said. "What we did was amazing."

MEN

Dominicus's Elite Eight results

No. 1 Kansas 76, No. 10 Miami 50

No. 8 Northward Carolina 69, No. 15 Saint Peter'southward 49

Saturday'southward Last Four schedule (all times PDT)

No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 1 Kansas, 3:09 p.m., TBS

No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Duke, 5:49 p.g., TBS

WOMEN

Sun's Elite Eight results

No. one Southward Carolina lxxx, No. 10 Creighton 50

No. 1 Stanford 59, No. 2 Texas l

Monday's Aristocracy Eight schedule (all times PDT)

No. ii UConn vs. No. one North Carolina State, 4 p.m., ESPN

No. iii Michigan vs. No. i Louisville, six p.grand., ESPN

LAKERS

From Dan Woike: On the exterior of the Superdome, across the street from where the Lakers suffered their latest basketball indignities, the words "The road ends here" are printed in behemothic letters — a phrase meant to celebrate the college basketball teams that will play in the Final Four in this city adjacent weekend.

Inside the edifice where the Lakers blew a 20-point halftime pb before losing to New Orleans 116-108, the signs were even more than obvious.

LeBron James, the Lakers' all-time hope to save their season, limped badly through the hallways, a new injury threatening to button the Lakers' postseason hopes into full-fledged mirage.

All the talk most the progress the Lakers had been making over the terminal week, the optimism that Anthony Davis could return presently and that Russell Westbrook was settling in, all got erased with another misstep.

The talocrural joint, James said, feels "horrible." And the losing? That "feels like s—."

"I mean, alibi my linguistic communication," he said, "but that's what it feels like."

In one of their biggest games of their flavor, the Lakers fighting for their postseason lives, the squad wasted a dominant first half and crumbled when the Pelicans fought back in the second, exposing the best and, more than chiefly, the worst in who they are as a team.

"Nosotros are who nosotros are," James said.

SOCCER

U.S. forward Christian Pulisic, center, celebrates with his teammates after scoring on a penalty kick.

From Kevin Baxter: The U.S. couldn't be any closer to the World Cup without really beingness in information technology.

With Christian Pulisic scoring three times in a 5-ane rout of Panama at a sold-out Exploria Stadium on Sunday, about the but matter the Americans have to do is show upwardly in Republic of costa rica for their final qualifying match Midweek and they're through to Qatar this fall.

"Nosotros made a large footstep towards our goal of qualifying for the World Cup," coach Gregg Berhalter said. "We know we're not there yet. We however have a game to go and it's a difficult game in Costa rica."

Oh sure, the statisticians — and the omnibus — will say there is still a mathematical adventure the U.S. won't brand it. Reality and commonsense say otherwise.

With Sunday'due south win, which matched the Americans' nigh i-sided victory in a World Cup qualifier over the concluding v years, the U.S. (seven-2-4) remained second in the viii-team CONCACAF qualifying table, tied with Mexico at 25 points and iii points head of Republic of costa rica (six-3-4). Only the top three teams are assured spots in Qatar.

But if the U.Southward. did little more than stand up its ground in the standings, the lopsided win swelled its advantage in goal differential. Even if Costa rica wins Wednesday, information technology would accept to make up a 10-score deficit in the tiebreaker to pass the Americans and take their World Cup spot.

Done deal, right?

Don't tell that to U.S. forward Paul Arriola. He was on the U.S. squad that won its penultimate qualifier — over Panama, by 4 goals, in Orlando — 5 years ago to almost lock up a spot in the 2018 World Cup.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 22, 2022: First year USC football coach Lincoln Riley.

From Ryan Kartje: The first official practices of the Lincoln Riley era at USC are in the rearview mirror. And so what take we learned well-nigh USC's new regime through one calendar week of spring football practice?

Caleb Williams has seamlessly stepped into a leadership part. He might've taken a wrong plow into his first USC practice, only the Trojans' new QB1 has looked completely at ease at the captain of his new law-breaking. Teammates are already raving. His gravitational pull inside the program is powerful.

"He's a baller," running dorsum Austin Jones said. "He's a leader. Most definitely, he's an alpha."

Those qualifications should come up as no surprise after Williams smoothly took the reins from Spencer Rattler in the middle of the season equally a freshman at Oklahoma. He'll take the benefit of an unabridged spring and summer to institute himself at USC.

"He'south ane of those guys who can walk into a room with people he doesn't know and he's kind of a chameleon, he tin fit in in any identify," Riley said.

KINGS

From Helene Elliott: Todd McLellan heard the phrase often. He certainly knew what it meant, simply he just hadn't lived it during his commencement two seasons of coaching the Kings through a slow and painful rebuild.

"I kept hearing the term 'meaningful games afterward in the twelvemonth,' " he said the other day. "Information technology's a common term that's used in sport, and nosotros're doing that right now. It's a great thing for our team."

The NHL'southward regular season has most a calendar month left but the Kings are, in many means, already in postseason manner. With 15 games left on their schedule they've put themselves in position to finish in the top three in the Pacific Sectionalization and earn an automatic Stanley Cup playoff spot. They might fifty-fifty get home-ice reward if they hold on to 2nd place ahead of the criminal offense-rich but defense-poor Edmonton Oilers.

That's a lot to enquire of a young squad that'southward still missing key players because of injuries, just the depth that general managing director Rob Blake accumulated over likewise many dreary losing seasons is commencement to surface and blossom.

"This is the playoffs for us and we've shown signs of growth during it," McLellan said, "and it's going to have to go along for whatever we have left."

THIS Engagement IN SPORTS

1939 — The barnstorming Renaissance Five beat out the NBL champion Oshkosh All-Stars, 34-25, to win the first almanac Globe Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago. Sports reporters of the day make no mention of the fact that all the Rens are black and the All-Stars are all white.

1942 — Stanford beats Dartmouth 53-38 for the NCAA basketball championship.

1944 — Arnold Ferrin's 22 points leads Utah to a 42-forty victory over Dartmouth for the NCAA handbasket championship.

1950 — CCNY beats Bradley 71-68 in the NCAA basketball final to become the only squad to win the NIT and NCAA titles in the same yr. CCNY shell Bradley 69-61 in the NIT on March 18.

1971 — Gail Goodrich of the Los Angeles Lakers sets an NBA playoff tape for nigh free throws (17) without a miss in Game iii of the Western Conference semifinals. Goodrich leads all scorers with 39 points in the 106-98 loss at Chicago.

1977 — Marquette beats North Carolina 67-59 for the NCAA basketball game championship.

1982 — Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney Country 76-62 in the NCAA'southward first women's basketball game championship. The tournament replaces the AIAW title which had been held since 1972.

1989 — Southwestern Louisiana pitchers Cathy McAllister and Stefni Whitton pitch back-to-dorsum perfect games against Southeastern Louisiana, a outset in NCAA Division I softball history. McAllister strikes out 10 in a 5-0 victory and Whitton has 14 strikeouts in a 7-0 triumph.

1990 — Michael Jordan scores 69 points to help Chicago beat Cleveland 117-113 in overtime and clinch a playoff spot.

1992 — Christian Laettner hits a fifteen-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give defending champion Knuckles a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky and a 5th sequent trip to the Concluding Four.

1992 — Eric Forkel posts a 217-133 victory over Bob Vespi in the title match of the $300,000 PBA National Title. Vespi's 133 sets a record for the lowest in tournament concluding history.

1993 — Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets scores his 69th and 70th goals of the season in a 3-3 tie with Los Angeles Kings. Selanne is the 8th player, and commencement rookie, to accept a 70-goal NHL season.

1995 — Michael Jordan, playing in his 5th game in 22 months, scores 55 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 113-111 victory over the New York Knicks.

2006 — Oklahoma centre Courtney Paris is the first freshman selected for The Associated Press All-America team in women'southward basketball game. Paris averaged 21.iv points and led the nation in rebounding (xv.1). She is the starting time NCAA women's thespian with 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a flavor.

2012 — The NFL's new dominion for postseason overtime is expanded to embrace the regular season on a thirty-2 vote by the NFL owners. All games that go into overtime cannot terminate on a field goal on the start possession.

2015 — Breanna Stewart has 31 points, 12 rebounds and vii assists to assist UConn rout Texas 105-54, earning coach Geno Auriemma his 100th NCAA Tournament win. Auriemma is the 2nd omnibus to reach the century marker, joining Pat Summitt, who finished with 112 victories in her career.

2015 — Kentucky escapes with a 68-66 win against Notre Dame to go to 38-0 and advance to the Final 4. Wisconsin tops Arizona 85-78 to attain consecutive Terminal Fours for the offset time.

2016 — Rodney Hood scores 30 points and the Jazz turn Kobe Bryant'southward terminal visit to Utah into the worst loss of his career with a 123-75 victory that matches the Lakers' largest defeat in franchise history.

And finally

The U.S. men'due south soccer team went on a scoring frenzy against Panama to all but dial their Globe Cup ticket. Check out all of the team's goals here.

Until adjacent time...

That concludes today'due south newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you'd like to see, e-mail me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To go this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

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Source: https://www.latimes.com/sports/newsletter/2022-03-28/cody-belling-dodgers-albert-pujols-lakers-lebron-james-sports-report

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