Sports
Analysis: After sweep by Phillies, Dodgers face few easy answers to mounting pitching problems
PHILADELPHIA — For the better part of almost two months, the Dodgers have been a .500 team.
And the biggest problem in that time — a lack of reliable starting pitching from an injury-plagued, rookie-reliant rotation — only seems to get worse with each passing day.
In the offseason, the Dodgers thought they had fixed their starting pitching woes. They traded for Tyler Glasnow. They signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto. They spent nearly half a billion dollars trying to bolster both the top of their rotation and the depth behind it.
This week, however, in a series sweep against the Philadelphia Phillies that was cemented with a 5-1 loss Thursday, it’s clear the club’s rotation is an area of concern again.
And not with any easy, obvious fixes.
“If you had told us in spring training that we would be where we’re at with the depth of our starting pitching, I would have doubted it,” manager Dave Roberts sighed before Thursday’s game. “But, we are.”
Indeed, the Dodgers pitching staff is facing question marks almost everywhere it looks.
This week, in what was supposed to be a marquee matchup between the National League’s top teams, the Dodgers struggled to piece together production on the mound and at the plate. The pitching problems were magnified by a slumping lineup that scored just five runs in three games at Citizens Bank Park, and an error-prone defense that contributed to several Phillies rallies, including a decisive two-run sixth inning Thursday that started on a fly ball James Outman couldn’t get to in center field.
“They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” Roberts said.
Added first baseman Freddie Freeman: “We didn’t play very good that series. There’s nothing to spin it any different way.”
In the long term, though, it’s the pitching issues that look toughest to solve.
Philadelphia’s Trea Turner rounds the bases after hitting a home run off Dodgers pitcher Anthony Banda during the first inning Thursday.
(Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
The Dodgers were unable to call on Glasnow, their lone All-Star arm, after he joined Yamamoto on the injured list Tuesday. They decided they no longer could count on second-year right-hander Bobby Miller, demoting him to triple A on Wednesday after a nine-run clunker in the series opener.
And while rookies Gavin Stone and Landon Knack — who gave up three runs in 4⅓ innings of bulk relief Thursday, the best outing by a Dodgers pitcher this week — kept the team in it against the Phillies’ high-scoring lineup, neither was close to spectacular either, a stark reminder of the sudden lack of an established ace amid all the other key absences.
“I try not to fret too much or worry too much about the guys who can’t help us right now,” Roberts said, referencing a group that includes Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Dustin May and several other injured arms. “Hoping that they’ll be back soon.”
Glasnow is expected to return shortly after next week’s All-Star Game. Beyond him, however, the other injured pitchers offer little assurance of front-line success.
Yamamoto still hasn’t started playing catch, suggesting that he remains a month or more from a comeback.
Buehler is working at a private facility in Florida, trying to find any semblance of consistency after eight rough starts in his return from Tommy John surgery.
Kershaw will resume his minor-league rehab assignment this weekend, but as a 36-year-old veteran who’s coming off a major offseason shoulder injury and hasn’t pitched this season, he’s hardly certain to possess the raw stuff required to succeed in October.
And while Miller does possess that natural talent, highlighted by his triple-digit fastball, he is slated to begin the second half of the season in triple A, aiming to clean up the inconsistencies in his delivery that led to an earned-run average of more than 8.00 in seven starts.
Normally, this is where a contending team would look to the trade deadline for answers and target a front-line arm to bolster its postseason pitching plans.
After all, during the Dodgers’ 22-22 stretch over the last 44 games, their starters have a 4.91 ERA, fifth worst in the majors during that span.
This year, though, the trade market is slim on impact pitchers.
The Dodgers have interest in Garrett Crochet, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly, but the Chicago White Sox left-hander already is nearing an innings limit in his return from Tommy John surgery, meaning it’s unlikely he could take regular turns through the rotation between now and October.
Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers is one potential deadline target having a Cy Young-caliber season. But with 21/2 seasons of club control left, it’s unlikely the Tigers would move him — and certainly not for anything less than a massive prospect haul, the kind the Dodgers typically are wary of offering.
There are cheaper yet still productive options — such as the Tigers’ Jack Flaherty, Toronto Blue Jays’ Yusei Kikuchi or White Sox’s Erick Fedde. Depth, however, is not the Dodgers’ biggest need. In the short term, they can rely on young arms such as Stone, Knack and Justin Wrobleski to cover innings and preserve their seven-game NL West lead.
“I just look at it as these guys are getting a good opportunity in a playoff race, in a pennant race,” Roberts said.
The eventual returns of Glasnow, Kershaw, Buehler, Miller and — at some point — Yamamoto should stabilize their depth chart, as well.
Until then, what’s once again missing is a healthy, established, front-of-the-rotation arm — the kind the Dodgers missed sorely against the Phillies and almost certainly will need to key any extended playoff push.
Perhaps Glasnow will return on time and be that pitcher again. Maybe Stone will build off his strong first half and blossom into a postseason weapon. Yamamoto could come back and look like the All-Star-caliber pitcher he was before his injury.
It’s just that none of those outcomes looks inevitable. None of those pitchers can be taken for granted.
Once again, the Dodgers are scrambling to reinforce a rotation they thought they had fixed. And they might have no choice but to cross their fingers, wait on improved health, and hope they have enough talent on the mound to carry them to — and through — October.
This week’s sweep was a reminder that’s no guarantee.
No. 8 UCLA stuck with right-hander Taylor Tinsley throughout the Los Angeles Regional and that faith in the senior paid off.
During the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener at Easton Stadium, Tinsley gave up 10 runs before her teammates rallied for a walk-off win. She returned less than 24 hours to pitch against South Carolina, giving up two earned runs in a victory. Tinsley was back in the circle Sunday afternoon, yielding one run in UCLA’s 15-1 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the super regionals.
“I am proud of Taylor’s resiliency, the ability to do whatever she can to help this team,” UCLA coach Kelly Inouye-Perez said. “She got stronger through the weekend. I am proud of that.”
Tinsley and her teammates will host Central Florida in a super regional that begins Friday.
“I feel good,” Tinsley said after pitching three key games in three days. “I could have gone more innings if needed.”
South Carolina right-hander Jori Heard gave up only one hit through two innings, keeping UCLA’s potent bats relatively quiet. The Gamecocks had runners on first and second with two outs in the second, but Tinsley escaped the inning with a pop-up to left field.
The Bruins got on the board first with a two-run home run from left fielder Rylee Slimp in the third inning. The Bruins followed it up by loading the bases with no outs in the fifth for right fielder Megan Grant.
Grant cooked up a grand slam to make it 6-0. She has 40 home runs, extending her hold on the NCAA single-season home run record. Oklahoma freshman Kendall Wells trails Grant with 37 homers.
“Its just incredible because I am blessed to be able to say the number 40,” Grant said.
South Carolina broke through on an RBI single from left fielder Quincee Lilio to cut UCLA’s lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning after being held to just one hit since the first inning. The Gamecocks couldn’t cash in the rest of the way.
The Bruins resumed scoring in the sixth inning, with the bases loaded and Grant at bat again. Fans at Easton Stadium anticipated another grand slam, holding up their cellphones hoping to catch some magic. Grant served up a two-run RBI single to expand the lead 8-1.
Jordan Woolery added to the scoring with a two-run RBI double down the left-field line, and Kaniya Bragg hit a home run to left-center field. Soo-jin Berry put a bow on the win with one more home run.
Sports
Pro wrestling star learns what ‘land of opportunity’ means in US as he details journey from Italy to America
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Cristiano Argento has been tearing up opponents in the ring for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as he worked his way up the ladder to get a few shots at some gold.
But the path to get to one of the most prestigious pro wrestling companies in the U.S. was long and a path that not many wrestlers have taken.
Argento was born and raised in Osimo, Italy – a town of about 35,000 people located on the east side of the country closer to the Adriatic Sea. He told Fox News Digital he started training in a ring at a boxing gym before he got started on the independent scene in Italy. He wrestled in Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark before he came to the realization that, to become a professional wrestler, he needed to make his way to the United States.
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Cristiano Argento performs in the National Wrestling Alliance (Instagram)
He first worked his way to Canada to get trained by pro wrestling legend Lance Storm. He moved to Canada, leaving most of his friends and family behind and without a firm grasp on the English language.
“At the time, my English was horrible. I didn’t speak any English at all,” he said. “But I was with my friend, Stefano, he came with me and he translated everything for me. I probably missed 50% of the knowledge that Lance Storm was giving to us because I was unable to understand. I was only given a recap and everything I was able to see. I’m sure if I was doing it now with a proper knowledge of English, it would have been a different scenario.
“Eventually, I moved back to Italy after the training and I said, OK, now, I want to go to the U.S. So, I studied English more properly, and eventually I got my first work visa that was in Texas. I was in Houston for a short period of time. I trained with Booker T at Reality of Wrestling. I got on his show, which was my debut in the U.S. That was awesome. I eventually got a new work visa in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I currently live since 2017. Since then, my wrestling career, thankfully, kept growing, growing, growing and growing until now wrestling for the NWA. One of the bigger promotions in the U.S.”
Argento said that his family thought he was “nuts” for chasing his pro wrestling dream.
He said they were more concerned about his well-being given that he was half-way around the world without anyone he knew by his side in case something went sideways.
“My family, friends, everybody was like why do you want to move to the opposite side of the world not knowing the language, not knowing anybody, by yourself, to try to become a professional wrestler? And I was like, well, we have one life, I love, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he told Fox News Digital. “Eventually, my family was really supportive. But when I first said, ‘Hey, mom and dad, I want to do that.’ They looked at me like, ‘Are you nuts? Are you drunk or something? What are you talking about?’ And I said, no that’s what I want to do. And they knew I loved this sport because in Italy I was traveling around Europe, spending time in Canada training, so they started to understand slowly that’s what I want to do with my life. They were proud of me.
Cristiano Argento works out in the gym. (Instagram)
“They’re still proud of me. I think more like the fact that you’re gonna try that, that it’s hard than more like you’re gonna leave us. The fact like, oh, my son is gonna go on the opposite side of the world for a six-hour time difference and we’re gonna see him maybe, when, like, I don’t know. Not often. I think it was more that. And for me too, it was really hard. It was heartbreaking not being able to see my family every day or every month. Like once a year if I’m lucky. I think that was the biggest part for them because of concern or that I was here by myself and if I have any issue or any problem, I didn’t have nobody. So they were scared. Like, you get sick, if you have a problem, anything, and they’re not being able to be here next to me. But they were really supportive since day one.”
Argento is living out his dream in the U.S. He suggested that the moniker of the U.S. being the “land of opportunity” wasn’t far from what is preached in movies and literature – it was the real thing.
“I was inspired by people who came to the U.S. and made it big,” Argento told Fox News Digital. “The U.S. was always like the land of opportunity. That’s how they sell it to us and this is what it is. I feel like, in myself, that was true because anything I tried to do so far I was able to reach a lot more than if I wasn’t here. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I see like there’s so many opportunities in this country. Not just in wrestling but like in any business to reach the goal. I’m really happy of the choices I did here.
National Wrestling Alliance star Cristiano Argento poses in Times Square in New York. (Instagram)
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“But my big inspirations were big-time actors who moved to the country, who didn’t know English, with no money, no support system. I had one dream, I have to go right there to make it happen and I’m gonna go and do it and I’m gonna make it happen. So those people were always the biggest inspiration even if it wasn’t in wrestling, just how they handled their passion, how they pursued their dream without being scared of anything, how far you are, how alone by yourself … You don’t know the language, you’re like, let’s go, let’s do it.”
Outside of the NWA, Argento has performed for the International Wrestling Cartel, Enjoy Wrestling and Exodus Pro Wrestling this year.
There’s no denying that Loyola’s lacrosse program is best in Southern California and could be that way for years to come with the number of elite young players participating.
On Saturday night, the Cubs (16-3) won their latest Southern Section Division 1 championship with a 14-6 win over Santa Margarita. The Cubs have won three title since the sport was adopted as a championship event in the Southern Section. Defense has been Loyola’s strength all season.
Senior defenders Chase Hellie and Everett Rolph and junior goalkeeper William Russo led one of the best defenses in program history under coach Jimmy Borell.
Senior Cash Ginsberg finished with five goals and junior North Carolina commit Tripp King finished with two goals.
In girls Division 1, Mira Costa upset top-seeded Santa Margarita 12-6.
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