The Sports Report: Dodgers sweep the Padres

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

From Jack Harris: Slam Diego.

As in being body slammed as usual by the Dodgers.

Scam Diego.

As in posing another empty challenge in the National League West.

Sham Diego.

As in, once again, failing to live up to the hype.

Entering the weekend, the Padres were the biggest story in baseball, following a massive trade deadline centered on their blockbuster acquisition of Juan Soto.

By the end of it, however, the Dodgers had made their own resounding statement, silencing the Padres again in a thorough three-game sweep punctuated at Dodger Stadium by Sunday’s 4-0 win.

“We just played all-around good baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It was a packed house, the fans were into it from pitch one. And we responded and put on a good performance these three games.”

As they’d done after their victories on Friday and Saturday, the Dodgers downplayed the significance of this weekend’s meeting, in which they extended their winning streak to eight and improved to 8-2 against the Padres this season.

It’s still only August, after all. The Padres, who remain without star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., still aren’t at full strength.

————

Hernández: Dodgers’ dominance means only one thing — they must win the World Series

ANGELS

Jesse Winker hit a grand slam, Marco Gonzales struck out seven and the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels 6-3 on Sunday as Shohei Ohtani received a visit from trainers and continued to struggle.

Ohtani was visited by trainers before his second at-bat after colliding with Gonzales near the on-deck circle, but stayed in the game and interim Angels manager Phil Nevin confirmed “he’s OK.”

Ohtani and Gonzales collided as the pitcher attempted to back up home plate in the third inning on a throw from the outfield. Ohtani drifted toward the field of play while watching events unfold as Gonzales backpedaled into position.

“I felt bad,” Gonzales said. “I crushed his foot and luckily didn’t roll my ankle too bad and was able to keep going.”

Gonzales also got a visit from the trainer and stayed in the game. Ohtani struck out in that at-bat, but appeared to have a bit of a limp after reaching base on a single in the fifth inning.

————

Pete Rose dismisses sexual misconduct questions at Phillies fete

ANGEL CITY

Angel City twice lost one-goal leads, the last near the end of regulation on an own goal, in a 2-2 tie with the Orlando Pride.

Angel City (5-5-3) got goals from Ali Riley in the 40th minute and Cari Roccaro in the 72nd, while Orlando’s goals were scored by Julie Doyle (64th minute) and on the own goal by Angel City’s Paige Nielsen in the 91st.

On Riley’s goal, she struck a hard shot from the left side of the penalty area into the opposite side of the net. Angel City’s second goal came on a set piece that saw midfielder Roccaro clean up a chance from inside the box to score.

The equalizer at the end for Orlando (3-5-6) came as shot by the Pride’s Kerry Abello’s deflected off the defender Nielsen and into the back of the net to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

SPARKS

Brittney Sykes scored 21 points, including a driving layup in the closing seconds, and the Sparks kept their slim playoff hopes alive Sunday with a 79-76 win over the Washington Mystics.

The Sparks (13-20), who snapped a six-game losing streak, are one of five teams within two games of each other vying for the final two postseason berths. The Sparks are 1½ games back of seventh-place Atlanta (14-18) and a game behind Phoenix (14-19) for the final playoff spot with a week left in the regular season.

Washington is in a battle with Seattle for the fourth spot. The Mystics trail by half a game with two games left.

RAMS

From Gary Klein: It is difficult to gauge what irritates Matthew Stafford more — soreness in his right elbow or questions from reporters about it.

The Rams quarterback on Saturday attempted to quell the controversy that erupted this week when coach Sean McVay said the 14th-year pro was working through a condition that is “abnormal” for a quarterback.

“I’m not too worried about what it’s called or whether its abnormal or not or whatever,” Stafford said after practice at UC Irvine. “What I’m worried about here: How did I feel, let’s continue to progress and get better.”

Though Stafford described it as “a little soreness,” and McVay again claimed he did not know the term for what Stafford is working through, a person with knowledge of the situation said this week that Stafford is coping with tendinitis.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1902 — The United States, led by William Larned, beats Britain three matches to two to capture the Davis Cup.

1903 — Britain wins the Davis Cup by beating the United States 4-1.

1936 — At the Berlin Olympics, the United States finishes 1-2-3 in the men’s decathlon. Glenn Morris sets a world record with 7,900 points, followed by Robert Clark and Jack Parker.

1981 — Shiaway St. Pat, driven by Ray Remmen, wins the first Hambletonian Stakes run at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. in four heats.

1982 — Ray Floyd, who shot a record 63 in the opening round, wins the PGA championship by three shots over Lanny Wadkins.

1984 — Carl Lewis sets the Olympic record in the 200 meters with a 19.80 clocking.

1987 — Mack Lobell, driven by John Campbell, wins the Hambletonian in straight heats with a record-smashing performance. Mack Lobell wins the second heat, and the race, by 6¼ lengths over Napoletano in 1:53 3-5, a fifth of a second off the world all-age trotting record set by Prakas in 1985.

1992 — The Dream Team picks up its gold medal and Carl Lewis anchors a world-record 400-meter relay, winning his eighth gold medal in three Olympics. The U.S. basketball team beats Croatia 117-85, with the 32-point margin of victory the smallest of the Games. In the 400, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Lewis set a world record of 37.40 seconds. Steve Lewis anchors another world-record as the Americans won the 1,600 relay by nearly half the length of a football field. The team of Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson and Lewis ran the 1,600 in 2:55.74.

2006 — Roger Goodell is chosen as the NFL’s next commissioner. Favored for months to get the job, he is unanimously elected by the league’s 32 owners on the fifth ballot.

2010 — Sparks forward Tina Thompson scores 23 points to become the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader in a 92-83 loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars. She surpasses Lisa Leslie’s career total of 6,263 points. Thompson is the last of the original WNBA players.

2012 — Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States become the first three-time gold medalists in Olympic beach volleyball history. The duo beat Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16 in the all-American final, extending their Olympic winning streak to 21 matches.

2012 — Brittney Reese wins the long jump, becoming the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic long jump since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988. Caster Semenya makes her Olympic debut three years after being forced to undergo gender tests, finishing second in her 800 heat.

2015 — Katie Ledecky ends her world swimming championships in spectacular style, lowering her own world record by 3.61 seconds in the 800-meter freestyle for her fifth gold medal. The 18-year-old American completes a sweep of the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles in Kazan, Russia. She was the anchor leg on the victorious 4x200 free relay, too.

2018 — The NCAA Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors adopt a “series of significant policy and legislative changes” as part of an effort to “fundamentally” change the NCAA’s structure. The NCAA changes eligibility rules, allowing top prospects to hire agents in high school and giving college players more leeway to return after declaring for NBA draft.

2021 — USA Women’s volleyball defeats Brazil in straight sets to win the gold medal. It’s the first Olympic gold medal in USA Women’s volleyball history. The win would give the United States 39 gold medals breaking a tie with China on the final day of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

The Dream Team gets gold at the 1992 Olympics. Watch and listen here.