The Sports Report: Padres even series with Game 2 win over Dodgers

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

From Jack Harris: Entering this week’s National League Division Series, the Dodgers seemed to have every advantage over the San Diego Padres.

They were the more rested team, enjoying a five-day break while the Padres battled through a three-game wild-card series.

Their pitching was better positioned, as the rotation’s top two starters were lined up with ample prep.

And after surviving a narrow Game 1 victory the night before, they returned to Dodger Stadium on Wednesday with the chance to take a commanding two-game lead in the best-of-five matchup.

So much for all that.

Instead, the Dodgers dropped Game 2 in a sloppy 5-3 defeat, erring on the mound, at the plate, in the field and on the bases to let the Padres turn this NLDS into a brand-new series.

“We weren’t clean,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game.

“Now it’s a three-game series,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “Kind of like a regular-season series, with a little bit more intensity.”

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Hernández: Yu Darvish overcomes the ghosts of his Dodger Stadium past in Game 2 win

Trea Turner’s costly error in Dodgers’ loss dims his bright start to postseason

Column: Dodgers at some point must figure out what to do with Cody Bellinger

Photos: Goose gets loose as Dodgers lose to Padres in Game 2 of NLDS series

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Rams coach Sean McVay and his players make no secret about their desire for star free-agent receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to return to the team.

They keep a locker with his name on it and they have made numerous public comments about him since training camp.

But the defending Super Bowl champion Rams’ pursuit of Beckham apparently has not been as smooth as one of the routes run by the three-time Pro Bowl player, who is recovering from knee surgery and is not expected to be ready to play until perhaps late this season.

In a series of tweets between Beckham and other Twitter users on Wednesday, Beckham indicated that negotiations with the Rams did not seem to be progressing well.

“LA knows where I wanted to be… but they didn’t offer me…. ANYthing!” he wrote. “So idk what people want me to do, I def kno my worth and what the offer was isn’t reflective of that. So it’s tough to say that I can come on back even tho I thought I finally found that home !”

CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: Facing a middle-of-the-pack run defense Sunday, the Chargers blew apart Cleveland’s front en route to amassing 238 yards on the ground.

That was the franchise’s most prolific single-game rushing performance since Week 6 of the 2018 season.

On Monday, the Chargers will face another middle-of-the-pack run defense, Denver — on average — yielding one fewer yard per game than the Browns had entering last weekend.

The similarities guarantee nothing as it relates to production, of course, but it can be reported as fact that the Chargers do feel better about the running game as their Week 6 prime-time matchup approaches.

“It’s been a team effort,” coach Brandon Staley said. “It starts with that premise. It takes a team effort to play like that. It’s not just the O-line. It’s their coaches. It’s the skill players around them. It’s the protection plan, the run-game plan.”

CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: In an attempt at self-deprecation before tipoff Wednesday inside Toyota Arena, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that although his own playing career left him unable to empathize with reaching the same heights as Kawhi Leonard and John Wall, he certainly knew what they felt like at the low points.

It took months after knee surgery, Lue said, for him to regain the confidence to quell his internal questions.

“You still have that inner thought about you know, am I ready, can I do this?” Lue said.

The topic has been on his mind this preseason as the Clippers have worked Leonard, the two-time Finals most valuable player who missed last season with a knee injury, and Wall, the former No. 1 overall pick who has battled injuries and a season away from the NBA in 2022 on his road back to the court, into the rotation.

Lue, for one, doesn’t have any doubts at this point, after a 126-115 loss in Wednesday’s preseason finale against Denver, whether Leonard and Wall are ready to do this.

LAKERS

From Dan Woike: Believe it or not, Patrick Beverley insisted that when the Lakers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night in their preseason finale at Crypto.com Arena, there’d be no extra juice, no extra snarl, no extra energy.

That Beverley was the emotional leader for the Timberwolves last season, pushing them into the postseason after being sent packing by the Clippers, didn’t matter.

“I’m happy to be playing against anybody,” Beverley said flatly before the Lakers’ 118-113 loss. “You can’t take this game for granted. We see the injuries that happen throughout the league, see the injuries that happen throughout the preseason. Any game you play is important.”

USC FOOTBALL

From Ryan Kartje: The last time Mark Dye lost a game of ping-pong, he proudly proclaims, was back in 1987, years before his sons were born and his prowess became a point of family contention. Each of the Dye boys, all five of who would go on to play college football, eventually got their swings at the king, spending hour after hour testing each other at their house in Norco.

The competition intensified as the boys grew older. Paddles were thrown. Fights broke out. Still, none of the five boys — not Tony, Jordan, Thierry, Troy nor Travis — nor their younger sister, Jamie, ever managed to beat their dad, he claims.

“They all tried to knock me off of my ping-pong perch,” Mark says, with a laugh.

Under those pretenses one of the Pac-12’s most prolific running backs was born, forged by the competitive fire within his family. At USC, Travis has emerged in his first season as one of the unquestioned leaders of a dynamic Trojans offense, capable not only of carrying the load in the rushing attack but leading the way in the locker room.

“I love what he stands for. He’s a competitive guy,” USC coach Lincoln Riley said. “And I appreciate that he’s made it a point to not just come in here and be a good running back and get better as a running back. He’s come in here because he wanted to make this place better.”

UCLA SOCCER

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: She lives near the beach, but the tranquil environment isn’t enough to help Margueritte Aozasa unwind. That’s the burden of a coach.

“Way more sleepless nights as a head coach,” UCLA‘s first-year leader joked last month.

After seven years as a Stanford assistant, Aozasa has made a dream transition into her first head coaching position, leading UCLA to a program-best 13-0 start and the top ranking in the country. The Bruins (5-0 Pac-12) travel to No. 9 Stanford on Friday in a key conference matchup that is also an emotional homecoming for Aozasa, who was an assistant at Stanford for seven years.

The Bay Area native said she’s feeling “every emotion I can imagine.”

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1893 — The U.S. yacht Vigilant wins the America’s Cup with a three-race sweep over the British challenger Valkyrie II.

1903 — The Boston Pilgrims win the first World Series, 5 games to 3, with a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1947 — The NHL holds its first All-Star game with the All-Stars beating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Toronto’s Harry Watson scores the game’s first goal and assists on the other two goals. Trailing 3-2 after two periods, Montreal’s Maurice Richard and Chicago’s Doug Bentley each score to give the All-Stars the win.

1960 — Bill Mazeroski opens the bottom of the ninth with a home run off Ralph Terry of the New York Yankees to give the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory and the World Series championship.

1961 — Jacky Lee of the Houston Oilers passes for 457 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-31 tie with the Boston Patriots. Charley Hennigan of the Oilers catches 13 passes for 272 yards.

1963 — Mickey Wright wins her fourth LPGA championship in six years by beating Mary Lena Faulk, Mary Mills and Louise Suggs by two strokes.

1985 — Phil Simms of the New York Giants passes for 513 yards with an NFL-record 62 pass attempts in a 35-30 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Simms completes 40 passes with 29 for first downs, also an NFL record.

1998 — For the first time in NBA history, the league cancels regular season games after labor talks break off.

2001 — DeShaun Foster of UCLA runs for a school-record 301 yards and four touchdowns as the Bruins beat Washington 35-13.

2001 — Georgia Southern fullback Adrian Peterson is held to 71 yards rushing, snapping his NCAA-record streak of 36 straight regular-season games with at least 100 yards.

2011 — American Jordyn Wieber wins another gold medal, beating Russia’s Viktoria Komova for the all-around title at the world gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Wieber, who led the Americans to the team title two days earlier, finishes with 59.382 points, just 0.033 ahead of the Russian.

2013 — Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, six weeks removed from a bout of malaria, breaks the course mark in capturing the Chicago Marathon. Kimetto finishes in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 45 seconds, leading a 1-2-3 finish for Kenyan men. He beats the mark of 2:04:38 set by Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Kebede last year.

2017 — Gustav Nyquist scores twice and Detroit has four goals in the third period to beat Vegas 6-3, handing the NHL’s newest franchise its first loss. Vegas is the first NHL expansion team to win its first three games.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Bill Mazeroski hits a walkoff homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Watch and listen here.