Sports
Kiké Hernández trying to ‘stay level’ after slow start with Dodgers, live interview error
The silence on the broadcast was deafening.
In a campaign already full of frustration and inconsistency, Kiké Hernández suffered another exasperating low Friday night.
During a choppy in-game interview between Hernández and the Apple TV broadcast duo of Wayne Randazzo and Dontrelle Willis on Friday — a second-inning chat in which the mic’d up Hernández struggled to hear the broadcasters through an on-field earpiece — a ball was hit to the third baseman right as Willis asked him a question.
“You guys are a close-knit ballclub,” Willis said, just as Gleyber Torres sent a two-hopper Hernández’s way. “Where does that come from?”
Hernández didn’t have time to answer.
The ball took a big hop, hit him in the midsection, and resulted in his second error of the year. As Torres pulled into first, neither Hernández nor the broadcasters said anything.
The awkward silence lasted close to 30 seconds.
“What was the previous question, before I made that error?” Hernández finally said, after the broadcasters analyzed the grounder — which Hernández said took a “funky” sideways hop — in his ear.
“I don’t want to ask it again, because I don’t want you to boot the ball again,” Willis joked, trying to infuse the moment with some humor. “I’ll take that E for you, big dog.”
In a split-screen camera shot on the broadcast, a stoic Hernández simply looked forward, focused on the next play.
The entire scene, in hindsight, was a reflection of Hernández’s season so far, one in which the 11-year veteran and Dodgers fan favorite has tried to find the light amid much on-field dismay.
In 50 games to this point, the super-utilityman is batting just .207, second worst on the Dodgers’ active roster ahead of only Chris Taylor.
He also has 31 strikeouts. His OPS is under .600. And he has spent considerable time trying to refine his once-productive swing, recording near-daily observations in a notebook in his locker amid a tedious process of trial and error.
“I feel like I’m, little by little, making progress,” Hernández said. “But you don’t just get rid of bad habits from one day to the next.”
Especially bad habits, Hernández believes, that were multiple years in the making.
After his initial six-season stint with the Dodgers ended following their 2020 World Series championship, Hernández spent three years with the Boston Red Sox, where he signed as a free agent.
The first went well, when he hit 20 home runs to help Boston reach the American League Championship Series. The latter two, however, were clunkers, caused in part by a pair of sports hernia injuries that hampered his swing.
“I was hurt for two years,” Hernández said. “And when you’re playing hurt, you compensate in many ways.”
Hernández did finish last season decently, batting .262 after being traded back to the Dodgers at the midseason deadline. Before re-signing in L.A. on a one-year deal this offseason, Hernández also underwent surgery to repair his hernias, allowing him to enter this season back at full health.
“He looks great,” manager Dave Roberts said in spring training. “He’s moving like Kiké of old.”
Swinging like the Kiké of old, though, has proved a taller task over the first couple months.
Mental cues and mechanical thoughts Hernández once relied upon have taken little effect (a problem Taylor also cited after a couple injury-plagued seasons). And while Hernández’s body is no longer ailing, he said, the bad habits he developed have been slow to fully dissipate.
“Bad habits for a couple weeks are hard to get rid of. For a couple months, even harder,” Hernández said. “[For me], it was years. It’s a lot. So just trying to put in the work and understand, maybe there are things that click here or there, but for it to become consistent it’s gonna take some time.”
With a deep breath, he added, “I’ve been giving grace to myself every once in a while … It’s about riding the roller coaster and figuring out a way to stay level, stay present in the moment.”
Friday’s mid-broadcast error presented his latest test.
While Hernández didn’t blame the error on his in-game interview — “I think that ball would have hit my [midsection] regardless of whether I was wearing a mic or not,” he quipped — the veteran did acknowledge the awkward nature of the moment.
“You get exposed and then everybody talks about, ‘You made an error because you had a mic on,’ ” he said, later adding: “You can say it’s embarrassing, because you’re in the spotlight. You’re talking as the play is happening.”
Hernández also clarified a pithy quote he gave to the Associated Press in the postgame clubhouse that night, when he was asked if he would reconsider doing future in-game interviews — for which players are paid $10,000 for their participation.
“No, because we’re getting paid,” he told the AP. “I like money.”
Two days later, he said that the comment was meant to be sarcastic.
“I gave a very ‘me’ answer,” said Hernández, who has long been the Dodgers’ equivalent of a class clown in the clubhouse. “[The AP story] took it literally.”
Roberts didn’t initially realize Hernández was being interviewed at the time of his error, but brushed the whole situation aside with reporters on Saturday.
While Roberts noted he probably wouldn’t have done in-game interviews in his playing days, he understood why some current players like Hernández (who has done in-game interviews “four or five” times in his MLB career, he said) agree to them regularly.
“It’s part of sports now,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, Kiké made an error. It’s not the only error he’s ever made.”
Asked if he spoke to Hernández about the play afterward, Roberts said there was no need.
“He prepares,” Roberts said. “I know he likes the limelight. He’s into the social media thing. He still plays hard, practices hard, but he still likes to build his brand. So I get it. I’m OK with it. He plays his butt off.”
For all the ways Hernández’s season has gone awry so far, Roberts seemed intent on making that latter message clear.
The Dodgers, after all, still trust Hernández with regular playing time, especially lately with Max Muncy sidelined by an oblique injury.
They’ve praised his defensive improvements from last year, when his 18 errors were fifth most in the majors.
And they remain optimistic in his potential at the plate, hopeful Hernández’s four-game hitting steak to end last week’s trip to Pittsburgh and New York (including a tie-breaking home run Saturday night at Yankee Stadium) can help erase the frustration that has accompanied his slow start.
“He wants to perform, like all players do, but he sometimes tries to get four hits in one at-bat,” Roberts said, preaching patience amid Hernández’s early-season struggles. “[Lately], he’s not swinging as much at balls off the plate. And he’s using the whole field. So, for me, the at-bat quality is better. That’s what I’m looking for, for him, regardless of results right now.”
Clayton Kershaw update
Clayton Kershaw could be close to a minor league rehab assignment, after pitching two simulated innings with the Dodgers’ low-A Rancho Cucamonga affiliate Friday.
According to Roberts, Kershaw touched 90 mph with his fastball during the session — a mark he struggled to reach late last season, when he was dogged by a shoulder injury that eventually required offseason surgery.
Kershaw, who is hopeful of returning to a big league mound by July or August, will throw three simulated innings this coming week. After that, the team will decide whether he is ready for a rehab assignment (the last precursor to his long-awaited return).
Bobby Miller not yet ready
Right-handed starting pitcher Bobby Miller will likely make at least one more outing in his current rehab assignment, Roberts said, as the 25-year-old continues to work his way back from a shoulder injury.
While Roberts was initially hopeful of getting Miller back this week — the club’s 2023 rookie star hasn’t pitched since early April — he said Sunday that the team is now leaning toward continuing Miller’s rehab assignment another week.
Miller has made three rehab starts with Rancho Cucamonga and triple-A Oklahoma City, working into the fifth inning of a one-run, two-strikeout outing last Friday.
Short hops
Miguel Rojas has been battling “overall soreness” in his leg the last couple weeks, Roberts said, leading the manager to “pick my spots” with Rojas’ playing time “to try and keep him as fresh as possible.” Despite his .283 batting average this season, Rojas has started back-to-back games just once in the last month. … Injured pitchers Dustin May (elbow surgery) and Brusdar Graterol (shoulder) have both been throwing bullpen sessions at the club’s Arizona complex lately, Robert said. May reportedly eclipsed the 90-mph mark … Muncy has been taking dry swings in recent days, but is still on a “slow program,” Roberts said, with his timeline to return remaining unclear.
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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.
It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.
So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.
We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)
After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.
9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)
How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.
8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)
This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.
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.
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