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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With 48 teams competing and a grueling path through the knockout stage, reaching the semifinals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be an accomplishment in itself.
Only four nations will survive the tournament’s first 100 matches and earn a spot in the final four, putting themselves within two victories of lifting the most coveted trophy in sports.
Let’s take a look at the latest odds to reach the semifinals at FanDuel Sportsbook as of June 26.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
To Reach Semifinals
Argentina: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
France: +110 (bet $10 to win $21 total)
Spain: +120 (bet $10 to win $22 total)
England: +165 (bet $10 to win $26.50 total)
Portugal: +210 (bet $10 to win $31 total)
Brazil: +270 (bet $10 to win $37 total)
Netherlands: +300 (bet $10 to win $40 total)
Germany: +330 (bet $10 to win $43 total)
USA: +380 (bet $10 to win $48 total)
Norway: +550 (bet $10 to win $65 total)
Colombia: +600 (bet $10 to win $70 total)
Belgium: +700 (bet $10 to win $80 total)
Morocco: +750 (bet $10 to win $85 total)
Switzerland: +800 (bet $10 to win $90 total)
Mexico: +850 (bet $10 to win $95 total)
Japan: +1200 (bet $10 to win $130 total)
Croatia: +1300 (bet $10 to win $140 total)
Ecuador: +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total)
Canada: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total)
Austria: +1900 (bet $10 to win $200 total)
Here’s what to know about this oddsboard:
The Top 10: Argentina, France, Spain, England, Portugal, Brazil, the Netherlands and Germany — all considered powerhouse countries — stand at the top of the board, with each nation listed at +330 or better to reach the semifinals. But right after that group? The USA and Norway. The Americans have never made it to the semifinals of the World Cup, and this is Norway’s first appearance in the tournament since 1998.
SAN DIEGO — Hodad’s is a third-generation small business, a San Diego treasure that makes a damn good burger. I dropped by one of their two restaurants last winter, but I didn’t see what I wanted on the menu.
The burger I get at Petco Park, I explained to the server. She knew exactly what I meant.
“The F— the Dodgers burger,” she said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
In San Diego, it had been an impish inside joke for years. If you didn’t know what FTD meant on the menu at the Hodad’s stands at Petco Park, the burger — with cheese, onion rings, pickles, mayonnaise and barbecue sauce — still was a good time.
When the Dodgers played here last month, a fan posted a picture of the menu board and explained what FTD stood for. The next day, Jomboy Media did the same, in a post with 1.6 million views.
“When I first saw that,” Hodad’s co-owner Shane Hardin told me, “I thought, ‘Oh, sweet, Jomboy, cool. We’ll get a little bump.’ ”
Then Hardin got a call from Delaware North, the company that handles the San Diego Padres’ concessions. People are talking, Hardin was told.
“And I’m like, ‘Cool, great, let ‘em talk, there’s no profanity anywhere,’ ” Hardin said.
The Padres and Delaware North did not see it that way. “FTD” was stripped from the menu boards at the four Hodad’s stands, initially replaced by the lame quartet of “Foul to Dinger,” “For the Division,” “For the Dugout” and “For the Diegans” and currently replaced by the strained quartet of “For the Dads,” “For the Dub,” “Faithful til Death” and (gulp) “Flyball to Deep.”
Another new name for the FTD burger at Petco Park.
(Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times)
The Padres declined comment for this column.
Hardin is more amused than annoyed, particularly given the origin of the FTD Burger. It’s been on Hodad’s Petco Park menu since …
“Was it the 2022 playoffs that the Padres beat the Dodgers?” he asked.
This is how a San Diegan tells time, but yes.
“The Padres hit us up and said, ‘We want a special menu item for the playoffs,’” Hardin said. “We go, ‘OK, without us ever saying what it meant, can we call it the FTD Burger?’ They said, ‘Oh, yeah, ha ha, that’s funny, go for it.’ And so we did.”
The burger has been sold at Petco Park ever since, with the same recipe, despite the online conspiracy theory that its three onion rings represented the Dodgers’ three World Series championship rings this decade.
“Dude, I don’t keep track of what the Dodgers have,” Hardin said. “I really don’t care.”
It is in that spirit that I am stunned the Padres made the change.
The San Diego Padres often sell “Beat LA” T-shirts in their team store.
(Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times)
The Padres, the team that sells “Beat L.A.” shirts in the team store. The Padres, the team that put up a meme of Clayton Kershaw crying on the video board. The Padres, the team that begged its fans not to sell their tickets to fans of “a team from a little ways up north” and also refused to sell tickets to that 2022 playoff series to anyone in Los Angeles County.
The Padres deserve a ton of credit for breathing life into what now is a feisty rivalry with the Dodgers. It is odd that, all of a sudden, they’re worried about decorum.
“I was under the impression that FTD was just kind of a fun ‘if you know, you know’ sort of thing,” Hardin said. “People will hold up signs saying ‘FTD’ and they’ll get on the JumboTron.
“At the end of the day, Hodad’s is a little rough around the edges. But we’re still a family place.”
Hardin isn’t upset with the Padres. It’s their ballpark, after all, and he enjoys being part of it.
“I love being there,” he said. “The relationship is great, honestly.”
And he had one other thing to say about the demise of the FTD label: “That first homestand after that news broke, we sold 50% more of that burger each game. I’ll take that.”
The Padres might want to reconsider. In baseball, curses are no joking matter, and the Curse of the FTD Burger might now have befallen the team.
When the Dodgers left Petco Park five weeks ago, the Padres were 1½ games behind them. Before the Padres’ next game, the Jomboy post went viral and the “FTD” name vanished.
As the Dodgers return here Friday, the Padres are nine games behind the Dodgers.
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Team USA’s final group stage match in the 2026 FIFA World Cup may not have had any implications for either team, but patriotism was in full force for the home country as Second Lady Usha Vance was among the many prominent figures at Los Angeles Stadium on Thursday night.
As the U.S. national anthem rang across the stadium, with players and fans singing in unison, the FOX Sports broadcast showed Vance in a suite with a huge smile on her face as “The Star-Spangled Banner” ended.
Vance was present at the match just two days after FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that President Donald Trump would present the World Cup trophy to the winning team at the final in New Jersey on July 19.
U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance attends the 2026 World Cup Group D match between Turkey and the United States at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on June 25, 2026. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Vance was just the beginning of the stars that showed out in Inglewood, as Paris Hilton was seen presenting the match ball before kick-off. Then, cameras started to pick up the many high-profile faces throughout the crowd.
Among them were Edward Norton and Brad Pitt, a pair that many movie lovers know from their hit classic “Fight Club.” Some social media users even hoped that the discussion they were seen having was about a sequel.
TOM CRUISE, DAVID BECKHAM, KATY PERRY AND MORE CELEBRITIES SPOTTED AT 2026 FIFA WORLD CUP MATCHES
Also, movie star Ashton Kutcher was seen speaking with Los Angeles Rams standout wide receiver Puka Nacua, who knows the confines of SoFi Stadium (what it is called outside of FIFA play) very well.
Then, Colin Farrell, though Irish born, was rocking a replica Team USA jersey alongside his son in the stands to support the Stars and Stripes. Leonardo DiCaprio, Scottie Pippen and more were also seen in the seats.
U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance sings the anthem during the 2026 World Cup Group D match between Turkey and the U.S. at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on June 25, 2026. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
There has been a tremendous outpouring of support for the USMNT from everywhere, celebrity or not, throughout this tournament. The 4-2 win over Paraguay at the same Los Angeles stadium caused a frenzy in the stands, as the U.S. made a statement to begin the tournament on home soil for the first time since 1999.
USA WORLD CUP TEAM CLINCHES SPOT IN KNOCKOUT STAGE AFTER ANOTHER HISTORIC PERFORMANCE VS AUSTRALIA
Then, it was on to Seattle, where a 2-0 victory over Australia not only led to a spot in the knockout round, but led to a bellowing of the John Denver classic, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” from everyone in the stands. The USMNT saluted their fans after yet another successful match.
It was a much different look for the USMNT entering Thursday night’s matchup against Türkiye, with nine changes to the starting XI after the team had already secured its place in the knockout stage. The Americans will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Round of 32 on July 1.
Paris Hilton is seen with children before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group D match between Türkiye and USA at Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on June 25, 2026. (Sarah Stier/FIFA)
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No matter who’s on the pitch, some of the biggest names in the country are showing support for the team that has inspired tremendous national pride to kick off this tournament.
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