Sports
Dalton Rushing and Freddie Freeman help revive Dodgers' offense in win over Padres
SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers finally landed a lot of little jabs as an offense Sunday against the San Diego Padres.
And in a pivotal, sweep-evading 8-2 win at Petco Park — which once again tied the two teams for first place in the National League West standings — it allowed their slumping lineup to deliver some badly needed knockout blows.
For the first time this weekend, the Dodgers looked like themselves at the plate.
They bashed four home runs, none bigger than a tie-breaking three-run shot from backup catcher Dalton Rushing in the seventh that ultimately decided the game.
They strung together nine hits and four walks, cracking a Padres pitching staff that had smothered them over the first two games in this rivalry’s final renewal of the season.
Most importantly, however, they did all the little things that have too often gone missing during their recent two-month funk; one in which they’ve ranked 24th in the majors in scoring since the start of July, and let what was once a nine-game lead in the division turn into a dogfight down the stretch.
They extended at-bats. Battled with two strikes. And, at long last, earned the kind of pitches their star-studded roster could wallop.
“For us to come out here and execute as an offense, way better than we did the last couple days, that’s a big boost for us,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had two home runs to help the Dodgers salvage the series finale.
“When you expand the zone, the slugging percentage is going to go down, because pitchers are going to continue to expand,” manager Dave Roberts added. “But when you earn good counts and get good pitches, control the zone, then slug happens. You can’t always chase it. Which, I thought, today we did a really good job of.”
Ahead of first pitch, Roberts spoke at length about the team’s recent offensive struggles — following up on his Saturday night critique of the club’s increasingly all-or-nothing approach.
“We haven’t really been in-sync,” Roberts said. “It’s been disjointed a lot, as far as the offense.”
Freddie Freeman, right, is congratulated by third base coach Dino Ebel after hitting a home run in the sixth inning Sunday.
(Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)
When asked if that meant his team needed to adopt more of a small-ball mentality, however, Roberts pushed back.
“I think it’s a fair question,” he said. “But I couldn’t disagree more.”
After all, his team is still stocked full of All-Stars, MVPs and future Hall of Famers. At their core, they are built to bludgeon opponents — not slap singles and drop down sacrifice bunts.
“Slugging is still a part of it,” he said. “I definitely don’t want guys to hit like I did.”
Around the margins, though, there were ways Roberts felt the Dodgers (74-57) could better position themselves to do that. Like trying to work better counts, stay alive with two strikes, and striking a better balance between patience and aggression.
“I want my cake, and [to] eat it as well,” he quipped, a devilish smile on his face.
“I’d be shocked,” he added, “if we don’t see a different offensive output from here forward, starting today.”
The change started in the first inning, with the Dodgers putting Padres starter Nick Pivetta under immediate stress.
Shohei Ohtani drew a five-pitch leadoff walk. Mookie Betts shortened up his swing on an 0-and-2 slider to line a single up the middle. Freeman loaded the bases by grinding out a full-count free pass.
It was a string of small victories that provided cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández the perfect chance to slug.
Hernández tried to, getting a fastball over the plate in a 3-and-1 count and launching a deep fly ball that seemed destined to be a grand slam. The drive, however, hung up just enough for Ramón Laureano to rob it at the wall.
The sacrifice fly brought in the Dodgers’ only run of the inning — giving them a 1-0 lead that would soon be erased on Elias Díaz’s two-run homer in the third off Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the only runs he allowed in a six-inning start).
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Padres in the first inning Sunday.
(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
Still, it set the tone for a flurry of offense that would follow, when a weekend of non-existent offense finally started to turn.
“Getting the guys on and scoring in that first inning was huge,” Freeman sad. “Even though we could have got more out of it, just getting one run across was a good boost for us coming off the last couple games.”
In the sixth, Freeman hit his first home run of the day, crushing another center-cut fastball from Pivetta to right-center for a tying blast.
Then, against Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada in the seventh, the club put all the pieces together in a five-run rally.
Andy Pages rolled a single through the left side to lead off. Michael Conforto came up next, fouled off a full-count slider, then took a borderline fastball at the top of the zone for a stress-inducing walk.
Miguel Rojas couldn’t get a bunt down after that, eventually swinging away for a fly out to center.
But, in what was easily his best moment of a trying rookie season, Rushing connected on the fatal blow seven pitches later — resetting after a bad first strike call, fouling off his own two-strike slider to keep the at-bat alive, then clobbering another slider to right for his go-ahead three-run homer.
“When I’m in the box and I get put in a hole, it’s almost like, ‘All right, I’m going to find my way out,’” said Rushing, who entered the day batting just .184 with two home runs. “I kind of played the game with him. He threw every pitch that he had, and I was totally banking on just being able to put a good swing on the ball whatever he threw.”
“I think today,” Roberts added, “was a big step in the right direction for him.”
The same, of course, was true of the Dodgers’ entire offense — which also got a second homer from Freeman later in the seventh, then another when Ohtani belted his 45th homer of the season in the ninth.
They got back to doing the little things right. They reeled off one big swing after another as a result.
“Today was more indicative of what we’re going to do, we expect, going forward,” Roberts said. “The fight, the grind, taking what the pitcher is giving you — and then if there’s slug there, it’s there. Just the byproduct of good at-bats all day.”
Sports
Chris Johnson’s former teammate reflects on ex-star’s surprise ALS diagnosis, tight-knit bond after milestone
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The NFL world was stunned on Monday when it became public that Chris Johnson, one of just nine players ever to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, is suffering from ALS.
The news hit close to home for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who played for Johnson’s Tennessee Titans for a season. And despite it being just one year, the two have a special connection.
“He was a great teammate when I got to play with him for the one year, and obviously a super talented guy on the football field. We texted about a year ago. I was just looking back at our text messages, and one of the things that I had sent him — the 100th touchdown pass that I threw in the NFL was to CJ2K, and he signed the football for me and gave it to me. It says, ‘To my cool white boy. Congrats on number 100,’” Fitzpatrick recalled in an interview with Fox News Digital. “So the amount of street credit I have from Chris Johnson calling me a cool white boy has always been awesome to me.”
Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, No. 4 of the Tennessee Titans, hands off to running back Chris Johnson, No. 28, against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on October 13, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. (Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)
But ALS is just such a tough thing to have to deal with, obviously for Chris and for everybody around him. You can just imagine the frustrations of his mind being there but his body starting to fail him and how difficult that is. We’re obviously all hoping for the best for him, and all our love and support goes to him and his wife and his family.”
In a lengthy social media post, Johnson said that there is growing research that shows a link between repetitive head trauma and ALS, and studies have shown that NFL players are four times as likely to develop ALS as the general population.
Fitzpatrick, personally, said that when it comes to football, he would do it all over again, even as the risks are more prevalent now than ever before. However, what comes with age is more grim reality.
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson runs against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 28, 2010. (Sam Sharpe/USA TODAY Sports)
FORMER NFL STAR CHRIS JOHNSON SAYS HE’S BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ALS
“I do think guys playing football understand at least the broad scope of what the risks are. I think a lot of guys would tell you, and I would be the same way, football has given me so much in my life that it’s something I would do again in a heartbeat. And for my kids that want to pursue it, I’m happy for them to pursue it,” Fitzpatrick said.
“But as you get older, I’m 43, as you get older, and your parents get older, I lost my mom five years ago, there’s just more stuff that seems to happen. It’s really sad. One of my best friends from high school was diagnosed with ALS. So seeing that firsthand, and the difficulties that come with it, not just for him but everybody that is around him, it’s really hard. As you get older, stuff happens, and there are things that you have to deal with and figure out. So unfortunately, it’s a tough part about aging.”
There is no known cure for ALS – known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It’s a progressive disease in which the brain loses connection with the muscles, according to the ALS Association. The afflicted slowly lose their ability to walk, talk, eat, dress, write, swallow and, eventually, breathe.
Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson breaks free for a long run against the San Francisco 49ers in the fourth quarter at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Nov. 8, 2009. The Titans defeated the 49ers 34-27. (Cary Edmondson/USA TODAY Sports)
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The former running back played in the NFL from 2008 to 2017 with the Titans, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals.
Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos and Angelica Stabile contributed to this report.
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I will miss watching the greatest maestro and savant in the history of basketball, LeBron James. He is to basketball what Van Gogh was to painting, Coltrane to music, Hemingway to literature. He came from poverty and rose to a global hero and gave back. His after-game interviews were always intelligent and sometimes humorous. To all his detractors and haters? Eat your hearts out, he is a happy man.
Dell Franklin
Cayucos
I have always been in awe of LeBron’s athleticism and basketball IQ. And I greatly admire his dedication to maintaining his physical abilities throughout the years and his philanthropic pursuits.
But, as a lifelong Lakers fan, I will not miss LeBron. He was never a true Laker. He made it clear when he announced that he was taking his talents to South Beach that he cared only about LeBron, not the team.
So, as he closes out his career elsewhere, I will enjoy watching his superior playing prowess from afar. But I will be grateful that I can now cheer for my Lakers without the drama LeBron brings to every team he’s been on.
Linda Salzman
Rancho Palos Verdes
I agree that it was probably time to move on from LeBron simply in the interest to pursue a long-term player versus one more year from the King. But Bill Plaschke’s argument that he was tired of the mind games LeBron supposedly was playing is a terrible take. Losing 27-7-7 is not replaceable overnight, if ever.
George Metalsky
Redondo Beach
While acknowledging LeBron James as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, it never really felt as if he was selflessly committed to the Purple and Gold team concept like so many of the legendary players that preceded him.
During his eight years as a Laker there seemed to be countless occasions when Lakers brass capitulated to his “demands.” Year after year we endured a mishmash roster with his hand-picked players, just to appease LeBron.
During the Lakers’ dynasty we had championship teams. With LeBron we had a king shaping his fiefdom to first and foremost best serve him.
He’s a great player but a horrible GM. The Lakers will be a better team without him.
David Griffin
Westwood
I only have one question regarding LeBron James: What happens to Bronny now?
David Waldowski
Laguna Woods
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On Friday, Argentina looked to continue its quest for back-to-back World Cup titles, and to do it, they had to get through one of the darlings of this year’s tournament, Cape Verde.
The small island nation off the coast of West Africa came into the match as the No. 64-ranked team in the world, and they managed to hold Argentina — the No. 2 team behind France at the moment — scoreless for almost thirty minutes.
But in the 29th minute, Lionel Messi scored to give Argentina the lead.
WATCH THE WORLD CUP FINAL ON FOX ONE
That was the 20th World Cup goal of his career, and it also made him the first player to score seven or more goals in multiple World Cups, having done it in Qatar as well.
It was also Messi’s eighth-straight World Cup match with a goal.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi scored in his eight-straight World Cup match and potted the 20th World Cup goal of his career. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images))
Well, typically when Argentina takes the lead, they don’t cough it up, but early in the second half, Cape Verde’s Deroy Duarte pulled off a stunner and tied the game at 1-1.
HARRY KANE RESCUES ENGLAND FROM SHOCK WORLD CUP EXIT WITH TWO GOALS IN 11 MINUTES AGAINST DR CONGO
While there was some late pressure from Argentina, that included an always-dangerous Messi free kick from just outside the box that Cape Verde managed to stop.
And with that, it was off to extra time.
Cape Verde celebrates after scoring one of their two tying goals against Argentina. (Photo by Pablo Morano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
However, it only took moments for Cape Verde to find themselves once again battling from behind.
Lisandro Martinez found the twine in the 92nd minute to give Argentina the lead.
It looked like that would be all she wrote… but Cape Verde had other plans.
They stuck with the defending World Cup champs, and in the 103rd minute, Sidny Lopes Cabral scored an unbelievable goal to tie the game again.
Coming into this game, Argentina had given up just two goals in their ten-match World Cup winning streak.
Cape Verde did that in one match.
Argentina’s Cristian Romero gets his head on what proved ot be the game-winning goal. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
But in the 111th minute, Messi took an Argentina corner kick and put it in the perfect spot for Cristian Romero to head it to the back post and into the back of the net.
This was eventually updated to an own-goal, as it went off the Cape Verde defender’s arm, but it counts the same on the scoreboard.
Despite a late flurry of chances, Argentina held on to avoid what would have been potentially the biggest upset in World Cup history.
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What a match, and what a run Cape Verde had in the tournament.
Argentina will now have to recompose and get ready for a tough Round of 16 match against Egypt, which will take place on Tuesday in Atlanta.
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