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One should avoid using “crazy” as a pejorative term. Those with mental illness should be spared ridicule, just like cancer patients. So we sit here and wait, in vain, for another term that sums up what ESPN did on Tuesday. It was reported that ESPN was removing play-by-play man Robert Lee from Virginia’s season opener with William & Mary on Sept. 2. With all the controversy over Gen. Robert E....

LOS ANGELES — Vasyl Lomachenko is a fight fan’s fighter. He was a double Olympic gold medalist for the Ukraine. He was 396-1 as an amateur and won a world championship in his third pro fight. But Vasyl Lomachenko could walk down Figueroa with a sign around his neck that says, “I Am Vasyl Lomachenko”...

LOS ANGELES >> The Dodgers signed Julio Urías when he was merely a boy, a 16-year-old throwing faster than some major league pitchers. They protected his golden left arm like no other, removing him from at least one no-hitter every year in order to limit the inherent harm of throwing a basebal...

OAKLAND >> ESPN reporter Shelley Smith said Sunday night she was doing well and undergoing tests at an East Bay hospital for stroke symptoms after a scare in the Golden State locker room following the Warriors’ 113-111 victory over San Antonio ...

SAN DIEGO >> When is an innings limit not an innings limit? As Dodgers coaches and executives contemplate how much more rookie pitcher Julio Urias can — and should — give them this year, it’s worth flashing back to April 11. Urias made his first regular season start that day for Triple-A Oklahoma City in Memphis, Tennessee. Matt Herges, the Oklahoma City pitching coach, watched and waited as Urias threw one scoreless inning after another. Urias’ pitch count reached 73 after five innings wh...

DENVER >> It’s no surprise that the Dodgers will give the ball to rookie left-hander Julio Urias for Friday’s start against the San Diego Padres. The 20-year-old left-hander is 5-2 with a 3.71 eaed-run average in 14 games (12 starts) with the Dodgers. His last four outings, all victories, have seen Urias allow two eaed runs in 19 2/3 innings, good for a 0.92 ERA. “The way he’s throwing the baseball right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “this is the best thing for the Dodgers and f...

CINCINNATI >> While most of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers are operating on a performance-induced innings limit, Julio Urias pitched like he doesn’t need one. The freslhly-20-year-old Julio Urias tued in the best start of his barely-started big-league career Sunday afteoon, holding the Cincinnati Reds scoreless through six innings and helping the Dodgers snap a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 victory. “It was huge. It was huge being able to have him out there for more than five innings...

ST. LOUIS >> Julio Urias’ latest big-league cameo was a short one. The 19-year-old left-hander was sent back to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday after pitching four innings for the Dodgers in Thursday’s win over the Washington Nationals. Urias will get a few days off and then pitch out of the bullpen for OKC, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. That was the plan when the Dodgers sent Urias back to Triple-A following his July 4 start. But he made just one relief appearance before being recal...

WASHINGTON, D.C. >> Now what? For the third time this season, the Dodgers tued to 19-year-old left-hander Julio Urias to fill a short-term need in their starting rotation. Urias went four innings in Thursday’s 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals after left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu went on the DL with elbow tendinitis. Whatever plan the Dodgers had for their precocious pitching prospect must have been written in pencil, erased and rewritten again. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he has b...

LOS ANGELES >> Like leaving the last Oreo in the sleeve, this is not going to be easy. But the Dodgers remain committed to keeping a goveor on Julio Urias’ workload this season, a vow of abstinence that has become more difficult to stand by with each of his five big-league starts. Urias keeps getting better, a trend that led to five scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him after those five innings and 85 pitches this time,...

LOS ANGELES >> Like leaving the last Oreo in the sleeve, this is not going to be easy. But the Dodgers remain committed to keeping a goveor on Julio Urias’ workload this season, a vow of abstinence that has become more difficult to stand by with each of his five big-league starts. Urias keeps getting better, a trend that led to five scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled him after those five innings and 85 pitches this time,...

CLEVELAND — Craig Sager is going to work his first NBA Finals game. The longtime sideline reporter — known in large part for his colorful attire — has been added to ESPN’s broadcast team for Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. Sager, who has worked for Tuer Sports for 34 years, will share sideline reporting duties with Doris Burke on the ABC broadcast. “Welcome to our team,” Burke said in a video message to Sager released by ESPN ...

SAN FRANCISCO >> The Dodgers have handed Julio Urias his leaer’s permit. They just didn’t put any gas in the tank. Urias pitched into the sixth inning for the first time in his four big-league starts Sunday night and showed the kind of poise and talent that prompted the Dodgers to promote him to the majors at age 19. The precocious left-hander made just one mistake and it didn’t come until his 86th pitch of the game. But Brandon Belt crushed that 85-mph slider left over the heart of the pl...

The Dodgers are certainly not making it easy for Julio Urias to break into the major leagues. They asked the 19-year-old prospect to make his major-league debut in New York against the Mets then follow that up with a start against the best team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. Now after one start at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers will shuffle their rotation in order to start Urias in San Francisco on Sunday night against the NL West-leading Giants — oh, and the game will be on natio...

The Dodgers are certainly not making it easy for Julio Urias to break into the major leagues. They asked the 19-year-old prospect to make his major-league debut in New York against the Mets then follow that up with a start against the best team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. Now after one start at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers will shuffle their rotation in order to start Urias in San Francisco Sunday night against the NL West-leading Giants — oh, and the game will be on national...

The Dodgers are certainly not making it easy for Julio Urias to break into the major leagues. They asked the 19-year-old prospect to make his major-league debut in New York against the Mets then follow that up with a start against the best team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley Field. Now after one start at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers will shuffle their rotation in order to start Urias in San Francisco Sunday night against the NL West-leading Giants — oh, and the game will be on national...

Tuesday night featured a hard-fought 4-3 win by the Dodgers over the Colorado Rockies at Chavez Ravine. Among the highlights: • Rookie pitcher Julio Urias making his Dodger Stadium debut and Trayce Thompson hitting a winning homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, • Outfielder Joc Pederson talking about a childhood game helping jumpstart his swing. • Thompson and Rockies star third baseman Nolan Arenado discuss growing up together and how they’re just like brothers. • Video interviews with Thom...

The future of the Dodgers organization will walk through the metaphorical doors of 1000 Vin Scully Ave. on Thursday, the first day of the amateur draft. The present offers a mostly blank expression; the Dodgers have trailed the rival San Francisco Giants in the standings since May 15, never climbing more than four games above .500 in the meantime. Somewhere in between lies Julio Urias, who eaed himself a fourth major league start Tuesday night. Urias held the Colorado Rockies to three hits and o...

Julio Urias spent his first day as a big-leaguer at Dodger Stadium running the waing track and the stairs of an empty lower deck Friday afteoon, a typical between-starts conditioning routine for starting pitchers. The 19-year-old will likely make his first appearance on the mound here Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies, although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts remained non-committal about the starting assignment. “This is an ongoing discussion,” he said. “Right now, yeah, he’s slated to start the...

CHICAGO >> Throwing to a new catcher didn’t matter. Wearing a new number on the back of his jersey didn’t matter. A different media market in a different time zone, even the absence of his family in the bleachers — nothing Thursday could alter the fact that Julio Urias is simply not ready to be a major league pitcher. The cold truth played out on a warm day before 37,422 at Wrigley Field, as the Dodgers lost 7-2 to the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs improved on baseball’s best record (37-15) by wi...