The Sports Report: Jason Heyward is early favorite for final Dodger outfield spot

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From Jack Harris: The Dodgers are still four days away from their first spring training game, but already their likely opening day outfield is becoming clear.

On Tuesday, manager Dave Roberts spoke glowingly of veteran Jason Heyward, complimenting the left-handed hitter’s offseason swing changes a day after Heyward hit a home run off Tony Gonsolin in live batting practice.

“The swing mechanically is a lot more clean,” Roberts said. “I was impressed with the live pitching, how he was on time and the rhythm of it. He’s worked really hard this winter and it looks a lot better than it has in the past.”

Asked if Heyward, who signed this winter on a minor league deal, has a leg up on other non-roster invitees for the likely last roster spot in the outfield, Roberts replied, “Absolutely.”

If Heyward can indeed cement his place on the roster, it would give the Dodgers five outfielders going into the season, along with Mookie Betts, Chris Taylor, David Peralta and Trayce Thompson.

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SOCCER

From Kevin Baxter: Giorgio Chiellini is having the time of his life.

Twenty-three years into a professional soccer career that has seen Chiellini play in two World Cups, win an Olympic bronze medal, captain Italy to a European Championship and capture nine Serie A titles with Juventus, Chiellini still embraces every game and training session like it’s his first.

“He’s a big kid, but in a good way,” LAFC teammate Kellyn Acosta said. “Sometimes it’s hard to believe that he’s, I don’t know, 45 years old?”

Close. Chiellini will turn 39 midway through the coming MLS season, which kicks off Saturday with LAFC facing the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl. But if he’s made any concession to age, it’s an insistence on enjoying the final days of an unparalleled career that saw him recognized as one of the best defenders of his generation.

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KINGS

Ryan Hartman scored twice and Filip Gustavsson made 33 saves as the Minnesota Wild beat the Kings 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Gustavsson, who started the day second in the NHL in goals-against average (2.16) and tied for second in save percentage (92.6%), was a winner for the fourth time in five games as Minnesota won its third straight. The Wild ended a seven-game homestand with points in five of the games.

Pheonix Copley made 18 saves for Los Angeles, which had won seven of nine. Anze Kopitar scored with 20.5 seconds remaining for the Kings in the opener of a five-game trip.

DUCKS

Nick Paul scored the first of four Tampa Bay goals in a span of 5:55 in the second period, and Brayden Point scored his 200th NHL goal as the Lightning dealt the Ducks their sixth straight loss, 6-1 on Tuesday night.

Anaheim went 0-1-1 on a two-day swing through Florida and is last in the NHL standings at 17-34-7.

“We’re a rebuilding team,” coach Dallas Eakins said. “We played last night and we were starting to run out of gas after a really strong first period and we’ve got to play a perfect game to be in with teams like this right now. We weren’t able to sustain the game.”

WNBA

It’s official: Brittney Griner will resume her WNBA career after re-signing with the Phoenix Mercury.

The team announced the signing Tuesday.

Griner, a free agent who was detained last February and imprisoned for 10 months in Russia on drug possession charges while traveling overseas, had indicated in December in a social media post that she planned to return this season. She returned to the United States in December in a high-profile prisoner exchange.

Griner, 32, led the Mercury to the 2021 WNBA Finals. The 6-foot-9 center, the No. 1 overall draft choice by Phoenix in 2013 out of Baylor, averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 rebounds that season.

LAKERS POLL

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1919 — The first dog race track to use an imitation rabbit opens in Emeryville, Calif.

1936 — Figure skater Sonja Henie wins her 10th straight world championship.

1959 — Lee Petty, driving an Oldsmobile, wins the first Daytona 500.

1969 — Barbara Jo Rubin becomes the first female jockey to win a race at an American thoroughbred track. She rides Cohesian to a neck victory over Reely Beeg in the ninth race at Charles Town in West Virginia.

1975 — Madison Square Garden hosts its first women’s college basketball game. In a rematch of the 1973 national championship game, defending national champion Immaculata beats Queens College 65-31 before a crowd of 11,969.

1980 — The U.S. Olympic hockey team stuns the Soviet Union with a 4-3 victory in the medal round of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. Captain Mike Eruzione scores the winning goal midway through the final period.

1981 — Rookies Peter and Anton Stastny total eight points apiece, sending the Quebec Nordiques past the Washington Capitals 11-7. Peter has four goals and four assists; Aaron has three goals and five assists.

1988 — Hersey Hawkins scores 63 points to lead Bradley over Detroit 122-107. Archie Tullos scores 49 points for the Titans.

1988 — Bonnie Blair wins America’s second gold medal at the Winter Olympics in world-record time, beating Christa Rothenburger of East Germany by .02 seconds in the 500-meter speed skating.

1990 — Lionel Simmons scores 27 points to move into fourth place of the NCAA Division I scoring list at 3,024 and becomes the fifth player to score 3,000 points as the Explorers beat Manhattan 100-60.

1993 — Glenn Anderson becomes the 36th NHL player with 1,000 points, picking up a goal and two assists to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks 8-1.

1998 — Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian cross-country skiing great, extends his Winter Olympics record by picking up his 12th medal, and record eighth gold, in the last race of Nagano — the 50-kilometer.

2006 — Gene Bess becomes the first college basketball coach to win 1,000 games when Three Rivers Community College beat Forest Park 77-60.

2008 — Lindsey Vonn clinches the World Cup downhill title, becoming the first American woman to claim the crown since Picabo Street in 1996. Nadia Styger of Switzerland wins the race at Whistler, British Columbia with Vonn finishing 0.01 behind Styger.

2008 — The Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series sign a deal to unify the two American open-wheel circuits, bringing them under the umbrella of the IRL.

2010 — Caltech ends its 310-game conference losing streak in men’s basketball beating Occidental College 46-45 in its season finale.

2013 — The Chicago Blackhawks sets an NHL record for the best start to a season, beating the San Jose Sharks 2-1 to give them at least one point in their first 17 games.

2016 — Tennessee’s 31-year run in the AP’s women’s college basketball rankings ends. The Lady Vols had been ranked for 565 consecutive weeks. The streak started Feb. 17, 1985.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

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