The Sports Report: Shohei Ohtani reunites with old friends

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

From Mike DiGiovanna: Shohei Ohtani exchanged handshakes and hugs in the outfield with former teammates and coaches before Tuesday night’s Cactus League game at Camelback Ranch, and he posed arm-in-arm with Angels star Mike Trout for a picture that was viewed by 2.4 million people on X (formerly Twitter) by the end of the game.

The new Dodgers designated hitter then went hitless with two strikeouts in three at-bats in a 4-0 exhibition loss to the team he spent his first six big league seasons with before signing his historic 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers in December.

A relatively sparse, midweek, night-game crowd was on hand for Ohtani’s first action against his former club, giving the reunion the feel of a typical exhibition game for the Dodgers slugger. But Ohtani knows the emotions will probably flow more freely when the Dodgers play a two-game series in front of a packed stadium in Anaheim on Sept. 3-4.

“I didn’t really feel too weird or uncomfortable, because it kind of is what it is,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “If I was playing at the Angels’ home [stadium], it might have been a little different story.”

A number of Angels regulars, including Trout, Taylor Ward, Brandon Drury, Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto and Matt Thaiss, made the trip from Tempe. Ohtani, the American League most valuable player in 2021 and 2023, said none expressed any hard feelings toward the two-way star for leaving.

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With Ohtani gone, how are the Angels? Baseball isn’t priority for Rendon. Trout may want out

UCLA BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: He evaluated the prospects, recruited them and signed them to play for him.

So how much responsibility should Mick Cronin bear for what could be UCLA’s first losing season in nearly a decade?

“One hundred percent,” the coach said Tuesday. “A hundred percent. Who else would it be?”

The players, perhaps, given they’re the ones who have struggled to generate an offensive flow and grab rebounds, among other things?

“They’ve done the best they can do,” said Cronin, whose Bruins (14-15 overall, 9-9 Pac-12) must beat No. 5 Arizona on Thursday and Arizona State on Saturday to assure themselves of at least a .500 record by season’s end. “It’s just reality. We got stuck in a rebuilding year, we tried to overcome it with our recruiting and it’s the way it is.”

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USC BASKETBALL

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: After winning 14 of 17 Pac-12 freshman of the week honors, USC’s JuJu Watkins was named conference freshman of the year Tuesday.

The phenom who leads the conference in scoring at 27.8 points rewrote USC’s record books.

The Sierra Canyon alumna’s laundry list of program records includes USC’s single-season freshman scoring record (751), the most points scored in a game (51 against Stanford) and most 30-point games in a season (11). Not only was she the first woman in conference history to sweep the conference player and freshman of the week awards multiple times in a season, she did it three times. She led the Trojans to their highest-ever seed in the Pac-12 tournament, entering this week’s event as the No. 2 team that will open the postseason in the quarterfinals on Thursday against Washington or Arizona.

Watkins was named to the All-Pac-12 team, along with USC’s second-leading scorer McKenzie Forbes and UCLA‘s Lauren Betts, Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice. The Bruins, who have the third seed in the Pac-12 tournament, could play USC in the semifinal on Friday in Las Vegas.

UCLA FOOTBALL

From Ben Bolch: In his first attempt to explain his self-imposed demotion, Chip Kelly said he’s never thought about quitting anything.

That’s funny considering he was quiet quitting for most of his six seasons at UCLA.

He put in a minimal effort in recruiting. Barely engaged boosters. Did next to nothing to enhance his team’s name, image and likeness efforts.

Let that sink in. The highest-paid state employee in California did not want to do his job, so he left.

Some have painted him as an offensive savant with a few quirks. Given what he said Tuesday in his first remarks in his new post, he’s an oddball who lacks honor.

Kelly said coaching the Bruins quarterbacks in that December bowl game led to a realization that he wanted to get back to the essence of football.

“I think my wife remarked, she’s like, ‘I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time,’” Kelly told reporters at his introductory news conference in Columbus, Ohio.

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CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: The Chargers continued moving toward salary cap compliance Tuesday by releasing veteran linebacker Eric Kendricks.

The decision opened $6.5 million in cap space, leaving the team $19.1 million over the threshold of $255.4 million, according to overthecap.com.

The deadline for being at or under the cap is March 13, the first day of the new league year.

Kendricks, who turned 32 less than a week ago, was a team captain last season, during which he started 14 games and finished second among the Chargers with 117 tackles.

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KINGS

J.T. Miller scored on a delayed penalty 1:36 into overtime, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Kings 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Miller scored from the right faceoff circle on a slap shot for his 31st of the season. Vancouver earned its second straight win and remained on top of the Western Conference.

Elias Pettersson, who signed an eight-year extension with the Canucks on Saturday, scored in the second period. He became the seventh player in franchise history to record at least 30 goals in three straight seasons.

Quinn Hughes had the second assist on Pettersson’s goal and became the fourth defenseman in NHL history to record three consecutive 60-assist seasons. The others were Paul Coffey, Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque.

Trevor Moore scored for Los Angeles, and Cam Talbot made 29 saves.

Despite the loss, the Kings moved into a tie with Vegas for third place in the Pacific Division.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1964 — Boxing legend Cassius Clay joins the Nation of Islam and changes his name to ”Muhammad Ali.″

1976 — Dorothy Hamill wins the World Figure Skating Championships in Goteberg, Sweden.

1977 — Montclair State’s Carol Blazejowski scores 52 points against Queens College, setting a new collegiate scoring record (for men or women) in the current Madison Square Garden in New York.

1982 — The San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks combine for 337 points in the highest scoring game in NBA history, to that point. The Spurs win, 171-166, in three overtimes.

1983 — The 12-team United States Football League begins its first season with five games.

1984 — Dale Hawerchuck of the Winnipeg Jets sets the NHL record for most assists in one period, with five in the second period of a 7-3 triumph over the Kings.

1988 — Julie Krone becomes the winningest female jockey in history with her 1,205th victory. Krone rides a filly named Squawter to victory in the ninth race at Aqueduct Racetrack.

2000 — Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers scores an NBA season-high 61 points and has 23 rebounds in a 123-103 victory over the Clippers.

2001 — George Mason beats North Carolina-Wilmington 35-33 in the second-lowest scoring game in the shot-clock era of NCAA basketball.

2011 — Lindsey Vonn clinches her third discipline title in three days with a super-G victory to wrap up a memorable weekend of ski racing in Tarvisio, Italy. Vonn took the super-combined and downhill titles the previous two days.

2014 — The Clippers rout the Lakers 142-94. It’s the most lopsided victory ever for the Clippers’ franchise and the most one-sided loss in Lakers history.

2015 — Shane Walsh scores the winning goal in the fifth overtime to lead UMass to a 4-3 victory over Notre Dame in the longest game in NCAA Division I ice hockey history.

2019 — LeBron James scores his 32,293rd point in the 2nd quarter of a Lakers’ 115-99 loss to Denver to pass Michael Jordan into 4th place on the NBA all-time point scoring list.

Compiled by the Associated Press