The Sports Report: All eyes on Bobby Miller

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

From Jack Harris: Dave Roberts delivered the initial message.

Lance Lynn made sure to hammer it home.

After watching an amped-up, and at times over-hyped, Bobby Miller navigate a laborious four-inning start in San Diego in early August, both Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager, and Lynn, their veteran trade-deadline acquisition, came to the same conclusion about the team’s rookie star.

Miller had the stuff to be a viable postseason starter.

But, more than two months into his debut campaign, he needed to home in more emotional control, too.

So, after that San Diego outing — in which a fiery Miller romped off the mound after escaping several early jams, but also seemed to run out of gas in early innings — Roberts and Lynn had conversations with the 24-year-old pitcher.

“Me and Lance, we double-teamed him,” Roberts recalled last week with a laugh.

“We had a good conversation,” Lynn added, coyly. “He’s just becoming his own person. That’s what it’s all about.”

Whatever they said, it worked.

Two months later, the Dodgers are not only entrusting Miller with a playoff rotation spot, but they are also counting on him to help them get out of their National League Division Series hole against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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NLDS SCHEDULE

Best-of-five
All times Pacific

Dodgers vs. Arizona
Arizona 11, Dodgers 2 (box score)
Tonight at Dodgers, 6 p.m.
Wednesday at Arizona, 6 p.m.
*Thursday at Arizona, 6 p.m.
*Saturday at Dodgers, 6:20 p.m.

All games will be on TBS.

Philadelphia vs. Atlanta
Philadelphia 3, Atlanta 0 (box score)
Today at Atlanta, 3 p.m., TBS
Wednesday at Philadelphia, 2 p.m., TBS
*Thursday at Philadelphia, 3 p.m., TBS
*Saturday at Atlanta, 3 p.m., TBS

*-if necessary

ALDS SCHEDULE

Best-of-five
All times Pacific

Texas vs. Baltimore
Texas 3, Baltimore 2 (box score)
Texas 11, Baltimore 8 (box score)
Tuesday at Texas, 5 p.m., Fox
*Wednesday at Texas, 4 p.m., FS1
*Friday at Baltimore, 5 p.m., FS1

Minnesota vs. Houston
Houston 6, Minnesota 4 (box score)
Minnesota 6, Houston 2 (box score)
Tuesday at Minnesota, 1 p.m., Fox
*Wednesday at Minnesota, 11 a.m., FS1
*Friday at Houston, 1 p.m., FS1

*-if necessary

MLB playoffs: Bryce Harper homers, Phillies shut down Braves in Game 1 of NLDS

RAMS

From Gary Klein: This time the deficit was too great, the time too short.

And the opponent was just too strong.

A week after winning in Indianapolis with a touchdown drive in overtime, the Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford could not work similar late-game magic.

With the Rams trailing by nine points with just more than four minutes left, the Philadelphia Eagles unloaded on Stafford and extinguished any hope of a comeback, sending the Rams to a 23-14 defeat on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

The loss dropped the Rams’ record to 2-3 and took some of the shine off the return of star receiver Cooper Kupp.

With a thunderous ovation accompanying every stride, Kupp sprinted onto the field as the last Rams player announced during pregame introductions.

The 2021 NFL offensive player of the year was playing for the first time this season after recovering from a hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve.

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Rams box score

Sunday’s NFL scores

Philadelphia 23, at Rams 14
Jacksonville 25, at Buffalo 20
at Atlanta 21, Houston 19
at Detroit 42, Carolina 24
at Indianapolis 23, Tennessee 16
at Miami 31, NY Giants 16
New Orleans 34, at New England 0
at Pittsburgh 17, Baltimore 10
Cincinnati 34, at Arizona 20
NY Jets 31, at Denver 21
Kansas City 27, at Minnesota 20
at San Francisco 42, Dallas 10
Bye week: Chargers, Cleveland, Seattle, Tampa Bay

Tonight
Green Bay at Las Vegas, 5:15 p.m.. ABC, ESPN

NFL box scores

NFL standings

USC FOOTBALL

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Don’t worry that Mason Cobb’s rib popped out of place. The linebacker lives for moments like this.

The Oklahoma State transfer, fighting through a nagging rib injury, sniffed out Arizona’s toss play to DJ Williams and instead of going over the blocks like he did earlier, he sliced between them. He had a free lane. He won the game, sealing a 43-41 triple-overtime victory for the No. 9 Trojans at the Coliseum on Saturday by enveloping the Arizona running back on a tackle with USC defensive back Prophet Brown during Arizona’s final two-point conversion attempt.

After the No. 9 Trojans (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) coasted through their first three home games, winning them by an average of 42 points, Cobb soaked in the roar of the home crowd as he shouted to his celebrating teammates.

“To me, personally, I don’t want to win by 40 points. I get bored,” Cobb said. “You want that grind … that grit, man.”

Here are four takeaways from the USC victory:

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UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: Funny how a season’s complexion can change in a matter of hours.

On Saturday morning, UCLA was widely regarded as on its way to another unremarkable season. Unranked and unable to protect its freshman quarterback, the Bruins weren’t even sure how credible their defense was.

By sundown, the outlook had brightened like the sun radiating off the Rose Bowl’s seats. UCLA did a much better job of keeping Dante Moore upright during a 25-17 comeback victory over then-No. 13 Washington State that vaulted the Bruins back into the national rankings, at No. 18.

The defense might be the best it’s been since coordinator DeWayne Walker helped put USC on lockdown during that epic 13-9 upset in 2006. And everything UCLA (4-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-12) wants is back in play heading into another showdown against No. 15 Oregon State next weekend in Corvallis.

Here are five takeaways from UCLA’s first conference victory of 2023:

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Pac-12 standings

AP TOP 25

Team (first-place votes), record, points, Last week

1. Georgia (50), 6-0, 1,559, 1
2. Michigan (11), 6-0, 1,489, 2
3. Ohio State (1), 5-0, 1,408, 4
4. Florida State (1), 5-0, 1,389, 5
5. Oklahoma, 6-0, 1,278, 12
6. Penn State, 5-0, 1,273, 6
7. Washington, 5-0, 1,239, 7
8. Oregon, 5-0, 1,150, 8
9. Texas, 5-1, 1,052, 3
10. USC, 6-0, 999, 9
11. Alabama, 5-1, 971, 11
12. North Carolina, 5-0, 894, 14
13. Ole Miss, 5-1, 748, 16
14. Louisville, 6-0, 731, 25
15. Oregon State, 5-1, 725, 15
16. Utah, 4-1, 567, 18
17. Duke, 4-1, 479, 19
18. UCLA, 4-1, 438, 29
19. Washington State, 4-1, 412, 13
19. Tennessee, 4-1, 412, 22
21. Notre Dame, 5-2, 374, 10
22. LSU, 4-2, 321, 23
23. Kansas, 5-1, 103, 35
24. Kentucky, 5-1, 99, 20
25. Miami, 4-1, 74, 17

Others receiving votes: Missouri 69, Wyoming 42, Air Force 41, Wisconsin 41, Tulane 27, West Virginia 26, Clemson 17, Maryland 9, Iowa 7, James Madison 7, Texas A&M 5

Dropped from top 25: Missouri, Fresno State

CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: An NBA guard for 11 years who has coached LeBron James, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, Tyronn Lue knows how veteran players think. In particular, he knows how they feel about the preseason.

“Veteran players, they always try to ease into it,” Lue said Sunday, before the Clippers’ first preseason game at Stan Sheriff Center. “And I wanted to try to change that mind-set of just establishing who we are from Day One.”

It has become the Clippers’ theme of training camp, that no matter the setting, the Clippers say they expect an urgency they lacked at times last season.

“I know it doesn’t count, but we still can establish … offensively a pushing the pace, attacking the basket, having great spacing defensively and being physical one through five, just bringing our physicality,” Lue said.

The Clippers did not unveil a full preview of who they could be against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, losing their first game of the preseason at the University of Hawaii 101-96. Starting point guard Russell Westbrook and forward Nicolas Batum didn’t play, the team citing rest. Backup point guard Bones Hyland took Westbrook’s place and Terance Mann joined him in the starting lineup.

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ANGEL CITY

Savannah McCaskill scored the game-winner in stoppage time and Angel City stayed alive for the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dash on Sunday.

Andressa scored for the Dash in the 44th minute with a shot from the top of the box that went through Jun Endo’s legs and into the goal. It was her first NWSL goal.

Alyssa Thompson came into the game as a substitute and moments later outmaneuvered Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell for a goal in the 68th minute to pull Angel City even. McCaskill got the game-winner about a minute into stoppage time.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1928 — NY Yankees beat St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Sportsman’s Park to become first to sweep consecutive World Series; Babe Ruth hits smashes 3 HRs for Yanks.

1934 — Baseball World Series: St Louis Cardinals rout Detroit Tigers, 11-0 at Navin Field to clinch 4 games to 3 series victory and 3rd championship.

1965 — The United States wins the Ryder Cup 19½-12½ at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. Arnold Palmer clinches the title, beating Peter Butler 2 up. It’s the 13th victory for the Americans in this event, which began in 1927. Britain, a three-time winner, last won in 1957.

1966 — Baseball World Series: Baltimore Orioles claim first championship in franchise history; edge Dodgers, 1-0 at Memorial Stadium for 4-0 sweep; MVP: Orioles outfielder Frank Robinson.

1993 — Carey Bender rushes 33 times for 417 yards, setting an NCAA all-division single-game rushing record, in Coe’s 69-7 Division III victory over Grinnell.

2004 — Texas Tech beats Nebraska 70-10, the worst lost in the Cornhuskers’ storied 114-year history.

2004 — Texas loses to Oklahoma 12-0, getting shut out for the first time in 282 games and ending the longest streak in the country.

2005 — Chris Burke hits a home run in the bottom of the 18th inning and Roger Clemens pitches three scoreless innings of relief in Houston’s 7-6, series-ending victory over Atlanta in the NLDS. The longest postseason game in history takes 5 hours, 50 minutes.

2011 — The NHL returns to Winnipeg, but Carey Price stops 30 shots and the Montreal Canadiens dampen a city celebration with a 5-1 victory over the Jets.

2015 — Sepp Blatter, hoping to return to power as FIFA president, is banned for 90 days, essentially ending his 17-year reign as the leader of soccer’s governing body. UEFA President Michel Platini also gets a 90-day ban following an investigation of financial misconduct at FIFA in a Swiss criminal case.

2016 — Tom Brady returns from his four-game “Deflategate” suspension, passing for 406 yards and three touchdowns to Martellus Bennett in the New England Patriots’ 33-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns.

—Compiled by the Associated Press