The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani still has that MVP swing
Howdy, I’m your host, Austin Knoblauch, filling in for Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.
From Jack Harris: In his first two live at-bats of the spring, new Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani went down on strikes.
Then, in his third trip to the plate, he offered a potential preview of what could come in his debut Dodgers season.
Taking live batting practice for not only the first time this spring, but since undergoing elbow surgery last September, Ohtani dazzled a crowd of fans, reporters and team personnel at Camelback Ranch on Monday by cracking a long home run off reliever J.P. Feyereisen.
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The fact Ohtani was ready to face real pitching at all — exactly five months since his second career Tommy John procedure — was a positive sign about his potential to be ready for opening day.
That the two-way star punctuated the session with a scorching line-drive blast off Feyereisen was simply a bonus for the Dodgers, who are growing ever-more optimistic about the progress their $700 million investment has been making this spring.
“Each day he has a plan,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve kind of given him the latitude that when he feels like he can participate, I’m confident that he knows what it takes to get himself ready.”
Ohtani declined a request to speak to reporters Monday, but Feyereisen was a good sport when swarmed by those eager to ask him about Ohtani’s blast (one of three long balls Feyeriesen gave up in his live BP on Monday).
“Oh god,” he said with a laugh as a pack of cameras and microphones approached him. “When you give up homers, this is what happens.”
When he took the mound Monday, Feyereisen said he wasn’t even aware Ohtani was one of the batters he was scheduled to face. Upon seeing the two-time MVP step into the box, Feyeriesen tried to approach him like “he’s just another hitter.”
A Spanish radio station in Las Vegas adds MLB broadcasts — of the Dodgers, not the A’s
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AUTO RACING
From John Cherwa: You can always count on two things about the Daytona 500. The predictable one is that there will always be a couple of race-defining wrecks in the last 10 laps. And the unpredictable one is the winter weather in Florida.
Those two factors were on display at this year’s Daytona 500 when William Byron was awarded the win when two cars pushing to get the lead from Byron tangled just past the start-finish line on the last lap.
That sent the decision of who was the winner to a video review by NASCAR and Byron had it nailed, leading Alex Bowman by .006 seconds. Not even close.
The race was held on a Monday for only the third time when two days of persistent rain pushed the schedule back.
It’s not unusual for the race to be interrupted by rain, but it’s usually finished the same night and doesn’t need to be postponed before it even starts.
If the schedule wasn’t topsy-turvy enough, NASCAR ran its Xfinity Series race about an hour after the 500 on Monday before an ever-diminishing crowd.
“I don’t know [what the difference was], just really good strategy,” Byron said. “We obviously laid back and tried to save fuel for most of the race and we would get up there at the end of the stages and make some moves. ... I’m just thankful for great power under the hood, all of our partners, Chevrolet, everybody who allows us to do this.”
UCLA GYMNASTICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Selena Harris landed on the blue mat like a dart fired into a board. The UCLA sophomore was so stunned by her flawless vault that she almost forgot to celebrate.
“It’s about time,” Harris deadpanned.
Harris scored her second consecutive perfect score on vault, but the performance wasn’t enough to save UCLA from its sixth consecutive dual meet loss to Pac-12 rival Utah on Monday. The Utes charged back from a 0.425-point deficit after two events to win 197.300-196.975 at Pauley Pavilion as the Bruins stumbled to their second-lowest beam score of the season.
After No. 8 UCLA gave up the lead on the third rotation, Utah’s Maile O’Keefe squashed a final-event comeback attempt with a score of 9.975 on beam that put the meet out of reach by the time Nya Reed took the floor as UCLA’s final competitor. The Bruins didn’t record a beam score higher than the 9.825 from Ciena Alipio and Emily Lee, letting No. 4 Utah jump ahead by two-tenths of a point going into the final event.
Elliott: No longer gasping for air, a rejuvenated Nya Reed is thriving with UCLA
BASEBALL
From Jack Harris: Like the rest of the baseball world, Tony Clark reacted with surprise at Shohei Ohtani’s decision to defer $680 million of his $700 million contract with the Dodgers this offseason.
Unlike some voices around the industry, however, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn. didn’t question whether MLB’s contract deferral rules needed to be changed as a result.
“We want the players and their individual representation to have as many tools in the tool bag to work with teams to find common ground,” Clark said in an interview with The Times. “All of those things we should assume to be correct.”
Clark’s comments came Monday, minutes after he and other MLBPA officials met with Dodgers players at the team’s Camelback Ranch facility; and more than three months after Ohtani inked a record-setting deal that stunned many agents, executives and evaluators around MLB.
“I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn,” Clark said, “to suggest that Shohei was a fairly unique player with unique opportunities.”
RAMS
From Gary Klein: With Zac Robinson having left to become offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, Rams coach Sean McVay is making moves to fill out his staff.
Dave Ragone, most recently the Falcons’ offensive coordinator, will be the new quarterbacks coach and Nate Scheelhaase, Iowa State’s offensive coordinator, will be the pass game specialist, a person with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly said Monday. The person requested anonymity because the hirings have not been announced.
Robinson had served as quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator the last two seasons.
ANGELS
From The Associated Press: Mike Trout discussed his future and Anthony Rendon talked about his priorities as the two Angels veterans made some interesting comments Monday with hitters reporting to spring training camps across Arizona and Florida.
Trout, a three-time MVP and 11-time All-Star who has played in only one postseason series, said he has no interest in requesting a trade even as the Angels retool following two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani’s move to the Dodgers.
The 32-year-old Trout has spent his entire 13-year career with the Angels and signed a 12-year, $426.5-million contract with them in 2019. The Angels went 73-89 last year for their eighth consecutive losing season. They haven’t reached the playoffs since 2014, when they were swept by the Kansas City Royals in the divisional round.
“I think the easy way out is to ask for a trade,” Trout told reporters. “There might be a time, maybe. I really haven’t thought about this. When I signed that contract, I’m loyal. I want to win a championship here. The overall picture of winning a championship or getting to the playoffs here is the bigger satisfaction than bailing out or taking the easy way out. I think that’s been my mind-set. Maybe down the road, if some things change.”
DUCKS
From The Associated Press: Troy Terry scored the go-ahead goal with 64 seconds left in the second period and had two assists for the Ducks, who rebounded from their most-lopsided loss of the season with a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
Frank Vatrano scored twice to increase his season total to a career-best 26 goals, and Mason McTavish added three assists in an outing in which the Ducks’ top scoring line combined for three second-period goals. Adam Henrique also scored and John Gibson stopped 34 shots two days after Anaheim was routed in a 9-2 loss at Toronto.
After giving up five goals on 14 shots in relief of starter Lukas Dostal on Saturday, Gibson made several key third-period saves.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1887 — The International Association, the first minor league baseball association, is organized in Pittsburgh.
1951 — The college point-shaving scandal prompts Long Island University to drop basketball and all other intercollegiate sports. LIU revives basketball in 1957.
1971 — En route to a record 76-goal season, Boston’s Phil Esposito becomes the first player to score his 50th goal in February, but the Bruins lose to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4.
1972 — Larry Brown of the Denver Rockets sets ABA records for assists in a game (23), half (18) and quarter (10) during a 146-123 home win over the Pittsburgh Condors.
1974 — Gordie Howe, the NHL’s career scoring leader, comes out of retirement and signs a $1 million, four-year contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the WHA and sons Mark and Marty.
1976 — Muhammad Ali beats Jean-Pierre Coopman with a fifth-round knockout at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico to defend his world heavyweight title.
1988 — In Calgary, Alberta, Brian Boitano of the U.S. wins the Olympic figure skating gold medal on a technical merit tiebreaker and nearly flawless free skate.
1993 — Julio Cesar Chavez records a fifth-round TKO over Greg Haugen in a WBC super lightweight title bout before a record crowd of 130,000 at Mexico City’s Aztec Stadium.
1998 — Tara Lipinski, 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion, beating fellow teen and U.S. teammate Michelle Kwan to take the gold. Lipinski is two months younger than Sonja Henie was in her 1928 victory.
2006 — Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto end the U.S. medals drought in Olympic ice dance competition with a silver. The last to do so were Colleen O’Connor and James Millns, who won bronze in 1976.
2009 — Lindsey Van of the U.S. becomes the first female ski jumping world champion. Women’s ski jumping makes its debut at this year’s Nordic world championships in the Czech Republic. Todd Lodwick wins the opening Nordic combined event to give the U.S. two golds in one day. Before Van’s victory, the U.S. had not won a gold at a Nordic worlds since 2003 when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint.
2010 — Switzerland’s Simon Ammann wins the large hill at the Vancouver Games to become the first ski jumper with four individual Olympic titles.
2011 — Trevor Bayne, 20, wins the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race, in only his second Sprint Cup start.
2011 — Kobe Bryant wins his record-tying fourth All-Star game MVP award, scoring 37 points before his hometown fans and leading the West past the East 148-143.
2016 — Lindsey Vonn clinches a record 20th World Cup crystal globe title and surpasses Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark. It’s Vonn’s record eighth downhill title. Stenmark won 19 globes between 1975 and 1984.
Compiled by the Associated Press
And finally
UCLA gymnast Selena Harris earned the third perfect score of her collegiate career on vault during a dual meet against Utah on Monday. Check out her latest 10 here.
Until next time...
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
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