The Sports Report: Phil Nevin will return as Angels manager

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

From Sarah Valenzuela: Phil Nevin worked for this moment.

The interim manager had the “interim” dropped from his title when the Angels announced before Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics that he signed a one-year contract to remain the team’s manager for the 2023 season.

And the longtime major leaguer turned minor league manager turned MLB manager got choked up remembering all the people who prepared him for exactly this.

“There’s a lot of special people involved in this,” Nevin said as tears welled up in his eyes. “We talked about, you know, everybody wants to make a big deal, like the grind to get here. I’ve never looked at it as a grind. The grind is on your family.

“That’s the grind and there’s certainly people I wish I could call, my college coach, Augie [Garrido], Kevin Towers. Those are people that led me down this path, pushed me, kind of. I know they’d be proud.”

Garrido, who coached Nevin at Cal State Fullerton, and Towers, the general manager of the San Diego Padres when Nevin was a player there, both died in 2018. Nevin, who is from Fullerton, was drafted out of college in 1992, played in the big leagues for 12 years, including for the Angels, and managed in the minor leagues for seven, making his major league coaching debut in 2017.

The Angels went 46-60 under Nevin.

Nevin was called in to talk to general manager Perry Minasian on Tuesday night.

“I was a little nervous because I’ve been called into that room before,” he said. “It certainly means a lot. It wasn’t exactly how I envisioned these things happening, but I know I’ve been given a heck of an opportunity.”

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DODGERS

From Jack Harris: On Tuesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Julio Urías would get his vote for the National League Cy Young Award.

On Wednesday morning, however, Roberts said the Dodgers still haven’t picked a Game 1 starter for the NL Division Series next week, with the club still deciding between Urías and Clayton Kershaw.

So, what’s the disconnect? Why wouldn’t the Dodgers just start the pitcher who has been best for them this season?

The reason, it turns out, might really be all about Game 5.

While Roberts was largely vague when pressed about the Game 1 decision hours before the team’s regular-season finale Wednesday, he did make one thing clear.

“Just to give you a peek behind the curtain, it’s more of who we feel is best to potentially come back on regular rest in Game 5,” he said. “So it’s not opponent-driven. It’s certainly not talent-driven. It’s kind of where we feel: Who is in the best spot to do that?”

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KINGS

From Helene Elliott: Playing goal was as natural to Manon Rheaume as breathing.

She didn’t intend to be the only girl on her youth teams, the first girl to play in the famed Quebec International Pee Wee tournament and the first girl to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. There weren’t many options for girls to play hockey in the 1980s and 1990s. She had to compete against boys if she wanted to play at all, and she was determined to play.

She also didn’t intend to make history, but she couldn’t say no when the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning invited her to their training camp after she had helped Canada win gold at the 1992 women’s world championships. She played one period of an exhibition for Tampa Bay against St. Louis on Sept. 23, 1992, becoming the first — and still only — woman to suit up for an NHL game.

“I never even thought I would even play in the NHL. It wasn’t even a dream of mine,” said Rheaume, who played one period of an exhibition against Boston a year later and spent several seasons playing in men’s minor leagues. “I just happened to stumble into it.”

Thirty years later, she has made it to the NHL. Not in uniform but as a member of the Kings’ player development department, one of many accomplished women who have been hired for meaningful roles on NHL teams the past few years. Rheaume, mother to hockey-playing sons Dylan St. Cyr, 23, and Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen, 15, joins a staff that also includes scout Blake Bolden, the first Black woman to play in the now-defunct National Women’s Hockey League.

USC BASKETBALL

From Ben Bolch: At a time of year when hope runs rampant in college basketball, every team unbeaten and longing for a storybook season, there’s perhaps no more inspiring tale than the comeback bid of Vincent Iwuchukwu.

The USC freshman forward is riding a bike and comes to every practice at the Galen Center, small but significant steps given what he recently endured.

“He’s energetic with his teammates, he supports and encourages his teammates,” Trojans coach Andy Enfield said Tuesday, “and it’s just awesome to see him every day in practice with that energy and so he’s doing extremely well right now.”

Part of a freshman class ranked No. 7 nationally by 247 Sports, Iwuchukwu collapsed during an informal team workout in July. The five-star prospect told CBS Sports he had suffered sudden cardiac arrest and was hospitalized for a few days.

RAMS

From Gary Klein: It took a few seasons, but Sean McVay finally could not take it anymore.

After a 2020 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers, McVay called out quarterback Jared Goff for committing too many costly turnovers. He eventually traded Goff and two first-round draft picks to the Detroit Lions for Matthew Stafford.

McVay might never reach the point of similarly criticizing Stafford, who led the Rams to the Super Bowl last season.

That was evident again Wednesday as the Rams (2-2) began preparations for Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys (3-1) at SoFi Stadium.

The Rams are coming off a 24-9 defeat to the 49ers.

Stafford completed 32 of 48 passes for 254 yards but committed two turnovers, including a fourth-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown to seal the embarrassing loss on “Monday Night Football.”

And yet McVay said that Stafford played “excellent” in the defeat.

“If you look at some of the different things that he was dealing with, I thought he played excellent,” McVay said. “I thought he did a lot of good things. I think the margin for error was that much smaller. ... I thought that was a performance that he could build on.”

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CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: The Chargers have given up only 13 first downs on the ground, tops in the NFL.

Against Jacksonville, they had six tackles for loss on runs after producing only seven such plays through the first four games of the 2021 season

After finishing 30th in the league against the run a season ago, the franchise’s offseason defensive investments clearly have paid early dividends.

But here’s something else also quite clear: The improved Chargers have developed an odd hobby of giving up huge runs.

In each of their last three games, they’ve permitted a rush of at least 50 yards, something that happened only once all season against last season’s run-challenged bunch.

“Each run has a different story, for sure,” coach Brandon Staley said. “It’s just trusting the run fit. In all of those runs, they’ve been to the perimeter. We have to have better perimeter run support. That’s where it starts.”

LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Darvin Ham wanted to see a lineup, the one that plenty of NBA folks feel could be one the team’s best.

Anthony Davis would start Wednesday’s game against the Suns in Las Vegas at center, the type of small-ball group that should allow the Lakers to fly around on both sides of the court.

He wanted to go with LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, Austin Reaves and Davis.

But to see it, Ham’s going to have to wait.

Davis was a late scratch Wednesday with lower back tightness. A team spokesperson said it wasn’t anything “new” and just “precautionary” with the Lakers scheduled for three games in four nights. Prior to being held out, Davis did do an on-court pregame workout.

Before he was ruled out Wednesday, Ham said he didn’t think it mattered whether Davis played power forward or center when it comes to keeping him healthy.

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1928 — Leo Diegel wins the PGA championship, beating Al Espinosa 6 and 5.

1956 — Oklahoma blanks Kansas 66-0 to set a modern college football winning streak of 32 straight. The Sooners had the previous record of 31 set 1948-50. The victory is also a conference record of 54 straight wins.

1973 — Washington’s Chris Rowland ties an NCAA record with four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, but still loses to California, 54-49.

1976 — Roland Erickson of the Minnesota North Stars has four assists in his first NHL game, a 6-5 loss to the New York Rangers.

1980 — Marvin Hagler wins the world middleweight title, beating Alan Minter in three rounds at Wembley Arena in London.

1985 — San Francisco’s Joe Montana passes for 429 yards and five touchdowns and sets an NFL record with 57 passes attempted and no interceptions in a 38-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

1990 — Stacey Robinson sets an NCAA quarterback rushing record with 308 yards and scores five touchdowns to lead Northern Illinois to a 73-18 victory over Fresno State.

1993 — Michael Jordan announces his retirement after nine seasons in the NBA.

2000 — Marty McSorley is found guilty of assault with a weapon for his two-fisted stick attack on an opponent by a Canadian court. McSorley is convicted for the Feb. 21 blow that sent Vancouver Canucks forward Donald Brashear sprawling to the ice.

2001 — Maurice Hicks runs for a record 416 yards and four touchdowns, but it isn’t enough as Morgan State defeats N. Carolina A&T 52-42. Hicks breaks the Division I-AA single-game rushing record of 409 yards set by Charles Roberts of Sacramento State in a 1999 game against Idaho State.

2001 — Middle Tennessee State beats Idaho 70-58 as the teams set a Division I record for total points scored in a game. The teams combine for 1,445 yards of offense.

2001 — Michigan’s victory, combined with Yale’s 32-27 loss to Dartmouth, gives the Wolverines the record for all-time wins in all divisions at 809.

2003 — Indianapolis, led by Peyton Manning, becomes the first team in NFL history to win after trailing by 21 or more points with less than 4 minutes left in regulation. Mike Vanderjagt’s 29-yard field goal with 3:47 left in the extra period gives the Colts a 38-35 victory over Tampa Bay.

2007 — Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree sets the NCAA record for touchdown receptions by a freshman with a 32-yard scoring catch in a 42-17 win over Iowa State. Crabtree scores three times against the Cyclones, giving him 17 for the season.

2010 — Roy Halladay pitches the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading the Philadelphia Phillies over the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NL division series.

2013 — Tiger Woods beats Richard Sterne, 1 up, to give the Americans the 18 points they need to win the Presidents Cup for the fifth straight time. It’s the third straight Presidents Cup that Woods wins the cup-clinching match.

2013 — Matt Prater kicks a 28-yard field goal as time expires and Peyton Manning and Denver overcome the first 500-yard passing game in Dallas history for a 51-48 victory over the Cowboys. Tony Romo throws for 506 yards and five touchdowns for Dallas, but he is intercepted by Danny Trevanthan inside the Dallas 30 to set up Prater’s winning kick. It’s the second-highest scoring game in regulation since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. Manning finishes with 414 yards and four scores for Denver.

2017 — The Vegas Golden Knights defeat the Dallas Stars 2-1 in franchise’s inaugural season opener. James Neal scores both of the Knight goals in the third period and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stops 45 of 46 shots for the win.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Roy Halladay pitches a no-hitter in the postseason. Watch and listen here.