Josh Hamilton admits his confidence has wavered during a brutal season in which the five-time All-Star and 2010 American League most valuable player is batting .213 with 10 home runs, 24 runs batted in and 73 strikeouts for the Angels, numbers that are hardly commensurate with his five-year, $125-million contract.

And many fans have lost faith in Hamilton, as evidenced by the boos in Angel Stadium, which were as loud Tuesday night after Hamilton grounded into three double plays and struck out twice in a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners as they have been all season.

Did they bother Hamilton?

“No, I’ve been hearing it all year,” he said before Wednesday night’s game. “I hate to say you get used to it because it’s not something you want to get used to. But I can’t blame them. I feel like I’m giving them everything I have, but obviously the results aren’t there, so they have a right to do or say what they want.”

The fallout from...

Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will defend his belt Nov. 16 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas against hard-hitting Johny Hendricks, UFC President Dana White told The Times on Wednesday.

St-Pierre (24-2) will seek to defend his belt successfully for the 10th consecutive time after recapturing it in 2007 following a loss earlier that year to Matt Serra.

The main event of the UFC 167 card will coincide with planned festivities to commemorate the organization’s 20th anniversary.

“I’m ready to go,” St-Pierre said. “He’s a big puncher, with big hands, but I’m ready for it. I’ve fought guys before with knockout power; it’s not my first time.

“Everyone is different. He brings a different arsenal than most guys I’ve fought. But everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. I’ll work on that, and I’ll be ready.”

St-Pierre told The Times on Tuesday that following a Fox Sports...

The Clippers and Boston Celtics have renewed talks Wednesday again to try and broker a deal for Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to come to Los Angeles, said league officials who were not authorized to speak publicly on the situation.

The deal had broken down several times because the Celtics had requested DeAndre Jordan and two No. 1 draft picks and the Clippers refused.

Boston and the Clippers had agreed that Eric Bledsoe wouldn’t be a part of the deal.

The Clippers also had been prepared to pay Rivers, who has three years left on his deal for $21 million, $6 million to $7 million per year over five seasons, the officials said.

Rivers met with Danny Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations, Wednesday to talk about the situation.

Interestingly enough, Clippers owner Donald Sterling had dinner with Byron Scott on Tuesday night about becoming the team’s new coach and Brian Shaw returned Wednesday for his second interview at the team’s facility. He was...

UCLA basketball Coach Steve Alford was in Franklin, Ind., on Wednesday to receive an honor from Johnson Memorial Hospital, where he was born in 1964.

Alford, in town to help run a local basketball camp, was born at the hospital in 1964. He grew into an Indiana Mr. Basketball winner and was an All-American at Indiana.

So how do you honor one of the most prolific shooters in Indiana history, a guy so obsessed he would practice by tossing ping-pong balls into a Pringles can?

Well nothing says “great shooter” like a brick.

The brick, inscribed “Steve Alford, Indiana Basketball Legend, Born Nov 23, 1964, Johnson Memorial Hospital, was placed in the hospital’s new reflection garden.

Hospital officials might have taken a moment to reflect on the choice of material.

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One night after he accounted for eight outs, with three double-play grounders and two strikeouts in a 3-2 loss to Seattle, Josh Hamilton was dropped from the second spot in the order to seventh for Wednesday night’s game against the Mariners.

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia had moved the struggling right fielder from the fifth spot to the second spot, between Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, on June 8 in an attempt to spark Hamilton, but it hasn’t worked.

Hamilton, the former Texas Rangers star who signed a five-year, $125-million contract with the Angels in December, is batting .213 with 10 home runs, 24 runs batted in and 73 strikeouts. The last time Hamilton hit seventh was in 2009.

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When Byron Scott met with Clippers owner Donald Sterling Tuesday night for dinner to talk about the team’s coaching vacancy, league officials said the meeting between the two was “really good.”

Scott had met with the Clippers’ front office last week to pitch his case on why he should be the team’s next head coach. He had his first face-to-face meeting with Sterling Tuesday.

Scott, the former coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Hornets and New Jersey Nets, wasn’t offered the job by Sterling, the officials said.

Scott was fully aware that the Clippers had flirted with the idea of hiring Boston Coach Doc Rivers to replace Vinny Del Negro, an official said, but the talks were called off.

Scott, who coached Chris Paul when both were with New Orleans, is very interested in the Clippers' job, the officials said.

Indiana associate head coach Brian Shaw was scheduled to meet with Sterling on Wednesday, officials said. Shaw, who interviewed for the...

If there’s any lingering Jaguars-to-Los Angeles speculation out there, this should put it to rest:

The Jaguars announced Wednesday that they have agreed to terms with the city of Jacksonville for about $63 million in major enhancements to EverBank Field, including two new end-zone video boards that will be the largest of their kind in the world.

“Jaguars fans are going to fall in love with the new EverBank Field,” said Mark Lamping, team president, in a written release. “We do not take for granted the emotional and financial investment of Jaguars fans. In return, we’re doing everything we can to produce a winner on the field.”

The Jaguars have not been to the playoffs, and in recent years rumors have swirled that the franchise is inching closer to relocate to either L.A. or London. It’s not immediately clear how the latest agreement affects the team’s lease, which already would make it very difficult for the team to leave before 2027.

&...

Barrett, who won a silver medal in the women’s high jump at the London Olympics last summer and is a six-time NCAA champion, sang the national anthem before winning her most recent NCAA title for the University of Arizona. She brings the world’s second-best high jump mark this year into the U.S. track and field championships, which will take place this weekend at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

The U.S. championships help determine who will represent the U.S. at the world championships, to be held Aug. 10-18 in Moscow. Much of this weekend’s action can be seen via webcast. There's some national coverage, too. 

Barrett, who cleared a personal-best 6 feet 6 1/4 inches to win her medal in London, said she’s aiming this weekend for the U.S. record of 6 feet 8 3/4 inches, set three years ago in Des Moines by Chaunte Howard-Lowe.

“I’m going to be a U.S.A. champion, and...

Chris Christie might have committed political suicide Tuesday. Luckily the members of his audience were all well under voting age.

While admitting “is not the smartest thing for the governor of New Jersey to be,” Christie told a group of students at a school in central New Jersey his favorite football team is the Dallas Cowboys.

His announcement was met with a resounding chorus of boos, with maybe a few cheers scattered in there.

The Cowboys are NFC East division rivals of the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles, both of which have large fan bases in New Jersey.

But the governor had already admitted to being a fan of the Cowboys -- as well as the more locally acceptable New York Mets, Knicks and Rangers -- back in 2010.

"I was a big fan when I was your age," Christie told the kids of the Cowboys.

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MIAMI -- The San Antonio Spurs didn't know what to do with themselves after their excruciating Game 6 loss. So they went and had a late, late meal together after leaving American Airlines Arena after 1 a.m. Wednesday.

They'll try to pull themselves together for Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, also in Miami.

"It was a great dinner," Tony Parker said Wednesday afternoon. "We shared histories and what happened in different games, and sharing stuff like when I was with the [French] national team, when we were up seven and lost in 35 seconds, the European Championship. You just share those moments and try to see what you can do better and prepare for Game 7."

Parker wasn't very good in Game 6, making six of 23 shots. Tim Duncan started well, scoring 25 points in the first half but finishing with 30.

What did he think of the late-night dinner conversation?

"Yeah, it helped," Tim Duncan said. "The other option is a bunch of us go back to our rooms and sit in our rooms and sit there by...

MIAMI -- Barely 12 hours after one of the most stunning outcomes in NBA Finals history, the Miami Heat went back to work.

After all, there's a Game 7 on Thursday.

LeBron James had 16 points in the fourth quarter of Game 6, pushing the Heat toward a 103-100 overtime victory undoubtedly aided by Ray Allen's three-point shot with 5.2 seconds left in regulation.

What's next for James, who finished with 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds? There's obviously nothing bigger in the NBA than a Game 7 in the Finals, the first he's ever experienced.

"I understand the moment for me," he said Wednesday. "I've been pretty relaxed, though. I've been pretty relaxed throughout the playoffs. I'm going to be antsy, I'm going to be excited. I'm going to have some butterflies. I'll be nervous. Everything. That's how I should be."

"The moment is going to be grand. I'm happy to be a part of it."

Dwyane Wade will also be part of it, but in what capacity?

Wade had a quiet Game 6, scoring 14 points on six-...