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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. >>The pregame was once again packed with activity as Santa Margarita’s all-stars were greeted by players from both the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals at the Little League World Series. The MLB teams were in town forSundayNight Baseball, which was played at a minor league baseball stadium in Williamsport as part of the festivities. Before getting ready for their game, the big-league players met the young ballplayers. The moment was special, but the Southeast Region champions from Greenville, North Carolina, gave Santa Margarita little to celebrate once the...

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. >> The bond between twin brothers can become stronger than most in the dynamic of the family. A twin brother can be both a best friend and brother at the same time. They can be motivators and they can even be there in the for the most important moments. They can also give their brothers an extra wardrobe just in case. The important things in life. For Santa Margarita, the bond between twins is on full display every practice, every game. The team has the rarity of two sets of twins in Nick and Matt Haddad and Bobby and Joey Gray. “We have the humblest group of boys I’ve...

WILLIAMSPORT. Pa. >> It only took Joey Gray one swing of the bat to make his name ring throughout Little League circles at the World Series in Williamsport on Friday. A walk, a double from Drew Rutter, and another walk set the stage for Gray, who walked to the plate for a bases-loaded, first-iing at-bat against the Northwest’s Caiden Thomsen. Gray worked his way to a full count, then hit a towering shot over the right-field fence. It was the second grand slam of the Little League World Series, and it proved more than enough for Santa Margarita as Joey’s brother Bobby Gray took a no-hit...

Little League World Series 2017 Santa Margarita Little League All-Stars by the numbers: 15-0: Santa Margarita’s record, which includes sweeps in District 68, Section 10, Southe Califoia Divisional and West Regional touaments. 2: Number of sets of twins on the team, Bobby and Joey Gray and Nick and Matt Haddad 1: Number of iings in which Santa Margarita trailed through four games of the West Regional Touament 33: Total number of runs Santa Margarita scored in four games of the West Regional Touament The team Bobby Gray Age: 12 Height: 5-9 Weight: 150 pounds School: home schooled Fa...

More than half of the players on the Santa Margarita National Little League all-star team play together on a travel ball team when the Little League season is over. Assuming the Little League season would be finished by now, the travel ball team was scheduled to be competing in a touament in Coope...

ANAHEIM >> There will be no awkwardness between Cameron Maybin and Ben Revere when the Angels left fielder retus from injury to supplant his hot-hitting replacement. Revere, who was hitting .375 over his last 11 games before Saturday night, while Maybin recovers from a sprained kneesuffered...

ANAHEIM >>By now you should know all about Mike Trout. Two-time American League MVP. Six-time All-Star. Two-time All-Star Game MVP. Rookie of the Year. Angels superstar center fielder. Probably the best player in baseball now and maybe for the foreseeable future. You would be forgiven for kno...

BEDMINSTER, N.J. >> The U.S. Women’s Open has not had a repeat wier since Karrie Webb in 2001 and the chances of Brittany Lang doing it this year don’t seem good. The 31-year-old Lang has finished no better than 13th in 14 events on the LPGA Tour, and she missed the cut in the KPMG Women’s P...

PAU, France — Ahead of two grueling days filled with some truly punishing ascents, the main contenders on the Tour de France were all hoping that Wednesday would be a nice, relaxed day on the bike. It didn’t happen. Instead of what riders call a “transition” day, with a comfortable run to the gatewa...

BERGERAC, France — Marcel Kittel has no serious challenger for the King of the Sprint title at this year’s Tour de France. The German sprinter won the 10th stage with remarkable ease on Tuesday, while Chris Froome stayed safely in the main pack to retain the race leader’s yellow jersey. Kittel perfe...

ARLINGTON, Texas >> There is nowhere to go but up for the Angels’ offense. The Angels reached the All-Star break averaging 4.10 runs per game, the worst in the American League. Certainly, they figure to get help in that area when Mike Trout retus, likely on Friday. They also are counting on ...

LOS ANGELES >> The New York Mets might owe the rest of baseball an apology for more than Mr. Met’s behavior. Two weeks ago, the Mets hit four home runs off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, roughing him up for six runs in a game the Dodgers won anyway. But it was the first time in Kershaw’s career ...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bronson Koenig made a school-record eight 3-pointers and scored 28 points and Nigel Hayes added 16 as NCAA Touament-tested Wisconsin advanced in the East Region with an 84-74 victory over Virginia Tech on Thursday night.The eighth-seeded Badgers (26-9) made all the big plays i...

LOS ANGELES — Utah coach Kyle Whittingham caught the news like everyone else Monday. USC had picked a new starting quarterback. Redshirt freshman Sam Daold was in. Redshirt junior Max Browne was out. It seemed possible the Trojans’ abrupt shakeup could alter the Utes’ prep for the teams’ game Friday night in Salt Lake City. But Whittingham shot down the idea Tuesday. “He’s got two quarterbacks who are pretty da talented and fairly similar,” Whittingham said. “They’re not complete polar opposites as far as their skill sets. It wasn’t, in our estimation, any impact on our game plaing.” One reason is USC has played Daold in its first three games, even as Browne started and saw the majority of ...

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. >> Jude Abbadessa was 5 for 5 with six RBIs to lead Endwell, New York past Bowling Green, Kentucky 13-10 on Wednesday night for a place in the U.S. championship game of the Little League World Series. Abbadessa hit a two-run homer to center field to give New York a 4-3 lead in the second iing. Coer Rush walked with two outs, got to second and third on wild pitches, and scored on Jack Hopko’s single for a 5-3 lead. New York put ruers on first and third with two outs in the third to chase Kentucky starter Devin Obee. On the second pitch from the reliever, Abbadessa had a RBI double to left field for a 6-4 lead and scored on Rush’s bases-loaded, two-run single. Ab...

Four months after the final buzzer sounded on his playing career, Kobe Bryant rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and aounced a foray into the world of investing. Bryant and entrepreneur Jeff Stibel aounced a $100 million fund that will support companies at the “convergence of technology, media and data,” Stibel said on CNBC Monday moing. The Bryant Stibel Investment Portfolio has already invested in 13 ventures, including The Players’ Tribune, video game company Scopely and Legal Zoom. Stipel is the former president of Web.com. Sporting a beard and a sharp blue suit on the floor of the NYSE, Bryant said he and Stibel have been quietly working on putting together ...

LOS ANGELES >> The Rams’ locker room has a story to tell, just like a totem pole. Guys with their own lockers probably are OK. Guys who are splitting lockers with other guys might or might not be OK. Then there’s The Closet. You walk out of the main room and take a left, into what will probably be used as a storage facility when the Rams get down to a working regular-season number. There were about 20 Rams dressing in The Closet Saturday night, their clothes on chairs, getting in and out just to beat the claustrophobia. No one has to tell these residents of The Closet that most of them won’t be hangering around. After all, they wouldn’t be in there if they weren’t spare parts. But the...

DEVORE >> Victor Perez, his two younger brothers and his four nephews made the long haul from Escondido to this rural unincorporated community northwest of San Beardino on Sunday moing to spend the day watching Little League baseball. As a boy, Perez, 45, of Borrego Springs, played Little League from age 9 to 12. He went on to play on his high school baseball team as well. He never lost interest in the sport, a family tradition of sorts. “I’m just a fan. This is my first time in San Beardino,” said Perez, sitting with his four nephews under a portable canopy erected on the concrete steps of the Albert E. Houghton stadium Sunday afteoon. “It’s a family affair,” said Perez. “I come just...

LOS ANGELES >> Dodgers hitting coach Tuer Ward was rambling a bit Saturday, trying to find the right words. He never found them. Ward was asked to think of a hitter in Yasiel Puig’s position who overcame a fatal flaw at the plate. Ward didn’t want to name names, for fear of taking any credit for himself. He also didn’t want to embarrass any hitters by not naming them. OK then. No names. Have you seen a hitter successfully do what Puig is trying to do? “Oh yes,” he said. “Over and over. Over and over.” Puig’s curious flaw this season is that he caot hit a fastball. He’s the worst fastball hitter on the Dodgers, excluding pitchers, according to the website FanGraphs.com. Imagine the str...

Le’Veon Bell believes his surgically repaired right knee feels so good he could play “tomorrow.” The wait will be considerably longer for the Pittsburgh Steelers ruing back, perhaps all the way until October if his appeal for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy is denied. While Bell apologized for being a distraction as the Steelers reported for training camp Thursday, he declined to get into specifics, saying only he was notified in March that he’d been suspended. ESPN.com reported Bell missed a drug test. “It’s a little frustrating,” Bell said. “I’ve got to handle it for what it is and just keep moving forward.” Bell expects the appeal to be heard sometime in August, giving the Ste...