The Sports Report: Angels part ways with Albert Pujols

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

Jack Harris and Mike DiGiovanna on the Angels: In the hours after the Angels’ loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, general manager Perry Minasian and team President John Carpino held a meeting with Albert Pujols.

During the season’s first month, Pujols had played almost every day as the Angels first baseman. He’d hit five home runs in his first 18 games. But his performances had also dropped off in recent days, the 41-year-old slugger returning to the underwhelming form that had come to define much of his time with the Angels.

Meanwhile, the Angels’ front office had been considering a big decision. The team already had Shohei Ohtani at designated hitter. They wanted Jared Walsh, who’d spent much of the first month in the outfield, to be their primary first baseman. And they knew doing so would relegate Pujols to the bench.

As a result, they spent the past two weeks weighing whether or not to move on from Pujols entirely, deciding if it was time to sever ties with the future Hall of Famer.

On Wednesday night, they pulled the trigger, informing Pujols he would be designated for assignment on Thursday and ultimately released, ending his Angels tenure in the last season of a 10-year, $240 million contract.

“This is more about playing time and who we have,” Minasian said Thursday before the Angels’ game against the Rays, adding: “Albert is not a bench player. We felt like, with respect to him, keeping him on the bench, him not getting any playing time, would not do him any good or the team any good. There’s never a good time for this. But we felt like it was the best thing for the organization.”

Minasian said Pujols wants to keep playing. The question is whether another team gives him a chance. This year, Pujols was batting .198 with a .622 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. His OPS+, an all-encompassing advanced metric, hasn’t been above league average since 2016.

And while a team probably would be able to sign him at a league-minimum salary — the Angels are still responsible for paying remainder of his $30-million salary this year — there aren’t many obvious fits.

“If he does go somewhere else and pursue playing somewhere else,” Minasian said, “I would not bet against him.”

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Bill Shaikin: Albert Pujols was not the star the Angels wanted him to be

LAKERS vs. CLIPPERS

Lakers center Andre Drummond can’t grab a defensive rebound while being double-teamed by Paul George and Ivica Zubac.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Andrew Greif on the Clippers-Lakers game: They have shared the same city since 1984 and same arena since 1999, but the degree to which the Lakers and Clippers have circled one another reached a new level in the summer of 2019.

With their Playa Vista practice facility undergoing renovations, the Clippers hosted workouts at an El Segundo high school less than a half mile from the Lakers’ facility. Inside their temporary office space about a mile further south, Clippers executives took cover during an earthquake late on the night of July 5 — then shook the rivalry themselves a few hours later by trading for Paul George and landing Kawhi Leonard, the free agent both teams had wooed and waited on during the previous days.

Their orbits could draw closer than ever in just two weeks, should the looming possibility of the first postseason series between Staples Center’s co-tenants become reality. And yet not since both franchises assembled star-studded rosters two years ago has one of their regular-season meetings been marked by such a gulf between them as Thursday’s 118-94 Clippers victory.

Paul George scored 24 points, and the Clippers outscored the Lakers by 26 points in his 31 minutes.

Kyle Kuzma scored a game-high 25 for the Lakers.

Ominous signs flashed from well before tipoff. Without LeBron James, whose right ankle will cause him to miss Friday’s game against Portland, as well — a matchup loaded with seeding significance if the Lakers hope to steer clear of the play-in tournament — and Dennis Schroder and Talen Horton-Tucker, the Lakers played without three of their primary ballhandlers.

When Anthony Davis stepped backward just nine minutes in and knocked his right ankle on the scorer’s table, they were suddenly down the All-Star big man, too, who was later ruled out because of back spasms. Davis had been so sorely needed for offense because of attrition that he’d taken nine of his team’s first 20 shots, even as Clippers defenders, unafraid of the shooters surrounding him, collapsed around Davis, allowing him only four shots inside the paint. He finished with four points.

DODGERS

Andrew Friedman celebrates with the trophy after Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Bill Shaikin on the Dodgers: In 2017, the Dodgers lost 16 times in one 17-game stretch. They still got to the World Series.

In 2018, the Dodgers were in fourth place in the National League West as late as June. They still got to the World Series.

The Dodgers today find themselves in third place, losers of 13 of their last 17 games. It’s been worse, and it’s turned out fine. You would think Andrew Friedman might have taken some comfort in that history.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” said Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.

“I think that is helpful perspective. But, when you’re mired in it, oftentimes you don’t have that clarity of thought, and you’re just more frustrated than anything.”

Frustrated, same as you. He lets it out too.

“I’m not the best-behaved person,” Friedman said. “It’s not something I’m all that proud of. It definitely affects my personality more than I would like.

“It’s funny: I thought there was a chance that winning a World Series would help give you perspective for games that you lose in April, but it has not.”

Frustrated, but with control of the team. So what’s wrong with the team?

“It’s just kind of an imperfect storm,” Friedman said. “I think the offensive slump that a number of guys are going through is part of the game, and to be expected over the course of the season. I think it’s really rare for five or six guys to be going through it at the same time. That, coupled with the number of injuries we’ve had that have been so concentrated, has contributed to it as well.”

Fernandomania @ 40

“Fernandomania @ 40” is a multi-episode documentary series that examines star pitcher Fernando Valenzuela’s impact on the Dodgers, Major League Baseball and the Latino community in Los Angeles 40 years ago.

Episode 3 of explores the forming of the perfect storm that made Fernandomania possible. More than 1,800 families in the Chavez Ravine communities — La Loma, Palo Verde and Bishop — were asked to leave their homes starting in 1950, because the City of Los Angeles believed the land could be better utilized for build public housing. Some sold their property, others were forced out due to draconian eminent domain laws.

In the end, the public housing idea was a political non-starter, but not long after the City of Los Angeles designated the land for public use, it was used as the bait to lure the Dodgers away from Brooklyn in 1958 — leaving large swaths of displaced Angelenos resentful of the Dodgers for occupying the land at Chavez Ravine. For many, those feelings of resentment lingered, until Fernando Valenzula’s rookie season in 1981.

You can watch episode three by clicking here.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1938 — Lawrin, ridden by Eddie Arcaro, wins the Kentucky Derby by one length over Dauber.

1955 — Swaps, ridden by Willie Shoemaker, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths over Nashua.

1972 — The Lakers win their first NBA championship with a 114-100 victory over the New York Knicks in Game 5.

1977 — Heavily favored Seattle Slew, ridden by Jean Cruguet, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1 3/4 lengths over Run Dusty Run.

1982 — A federal jury rules the NFL violated antitrust laws when it unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the Oakland Raiders from moving to Los Angeles.

1988 — Winning Colors, ridden by Gary Stevens, leads from start to finish to win the Kentucky Derby by a neck, becoming the first roan and the third filly to win the race.

1989 — Chicago’s Michael Jordan hits an 18-foot shot over the outstretched fingertips of Craig Ehlo to give the Bulls a 101-100 victory in the deciding Game 5 of their 1989 Eastern Conference first round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

1993 — Wayne Gretzky of the Kings scores his 100th and 101st playoff goals in a 7-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

1994 — The Denver Nuggets, with a 98-94 overtime win against the No. 1-seeded Seattle SuperSonics, become the first eighth-seeded playoff team to win a series. The Nuggets come back from an 0-2 deficit in the best-of-5 series.

1995 — Reggie Miller scores eight points in the last 16 seconds to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 107-105 win over the New York Knicks in the second-round opener of the NBA playoffs.

2005 — Giacomo, a 50-1 shot, wins the Kentucky Derby, running down a game Afleet Alex in the final strides and generating a huge payoff. Closing Argument, a 70-1 shot, finishes second with Afleet Alex third.

2005 — Dallas’ 116-76 victory over Houston is the most lopsided Game 7 score in NBA history. The Mavericks are the third team in playoff history to win a seven-game series after losing the first two games at home.

2010 — Before a record hockey crowd of 77,803, the U.S. loses to Germany 2-1 in the opening game of the world hockey championships. Felix Schutz scores the winning goal 21 seconds into overtime at Veltins Arena, ordinarily the home of the Schalke soccer team.

2014 — Russell Westbrook has a triple-double, Kevin Durant falls one assist short and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers 112-101 to tie their Western Conference semifinal series at one win apiece. Westbrook has 31 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Durant has 32 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists before leaving the game with 1:21 remaining.

2016 — Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/4 lengths, improving to 8-0 in his career as the fourth consecutive favorite to win the race. Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, Nyquist finished in 2:01.31. The 3-year-old colt became the eighth unbeaten winner in the race’s 142-year history.

2017 — Bradley Beal scores 29 points and Washington Wizards used a 26-0 third-quarter run to beat the Boston Celtics 121-102 to tie the second-round series at two games apiece. John Wall, who adds 27 points and 12 assists, has seven points, three assists and two steals during the third-quarter spree.

And finally

Seattle Slew wins the Kentucky Derby. Watch it here.