sport world

ANAHEIM >> A pair of headphones engulfed Justin Verlander’s ears Tuesday afteoon. A giant computer monitor, maybe a foot in front his face, commanded his attention. Glance up a couple inches and Verlander could watch the Detroit Tigers play the Cleveland Indians on a television inside the Astros’ clubhouse, but with his first pitch a few hours away, his gaze stayed true. His uniform may ha...

HOUSTON >> The Houston Astros have acquired Justin Verlander in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that includes Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers. Astros owner Jim Crane says: “He adds a boost to our rotation. He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dime...

PITTSBURGH >> The media gets blamed for everything these days. For most of the season, Dodgers third baseman Justin Tuer has led the National League in batting average. Then people started asking him about it. Tuer is presumably only joking when he claims a causal effect between answering reporters’ questions about a batting title and losing points off his average. But he is not joking w...

Baed former U.S. Olympic team coach Don Peters has denied under oath having sexual relations with underage gymnasts while serving as U.S. national team coach in the 1980s, according to court documents obtained by the Southe Califoia News Group. Peters, who built SCATS, the Huntington Beach gymnastics academy, into one of the biggest names in inteational gymnastics, was baed by USA Gymnas...

After a disappointing 1-9 season in 2016, the Millikan football team was in need of a culture change. Former Lakewood High standout and University of Notre Dame defensive lineman Justin Utupo takes over as Millikan’s head coach after serving as the defensive coordinator last year. Utupo brings youth, enthusiasm and recent experience to a Millikan team with loads of young talent. “I want to establish a wiing culture and get the boys to compete,” Utupo said. “I’m trying to build a wiing program on the field and off the field in the community and in the classroom.” The Millikan offense is ex...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. >> Justin Thomas remembers hearing the roar before he ever saw the shot. He had access to the clubhouse at Valhalla in 2000 as the 7-year-old son of a PGA professional, and the thunder from the gallery reached his ears before the TV showed Tiger Woods making the most important ...

By Joey Kaufman jkaufman@scng.com @joeyrkaufman on Twitter LOS ANGELES >> A reporter asked USC coach Clay Helton this week about the status of his team’s kicking competition. Helton, who normally answers questions during his post-practice press scrums with a peppy demeanor, sighed. “I’m thanki...

LOS ANGELES >> Darren Andrews could do nothing but watch. The senior wide receiver stands on the sideline, surrounded by the rest of his offensive teammates, and watches the UCLA defense jog across the field and back. He’s mad. He wanted to run. That’s how these Bruins gloat. The unit that win...

LOS ANGELES >> To Jim Mora, UCLA’s defensive line is its deepest position and the offensive line is the biggest question mark. When the two units face off in daily one-on-one periods at practice, the fight doesn’t always seem fair. But don’t tell offensive line coach Hank Fraley that. “That’s ...

The Angels signed Yusmeiro Petit because they felt he could be an asset either in the rotation or bullpen, and this weekend he’ll finally get a crack at the former. Petit will start Saturday in Toronto, filling a void left by Alex Meyer’s placement on the disabled list. Because Petit has only pitche...

ANAHEIM — A year can make a difference. That is apparent when it comes to Marcus Pettersson. The scruffy facial hair covering his cheeks and chin has rendered his once teenage-boyish appearance obsolete. “Growing up,” Pettersson said, smiling. The same could be said about his game. Amid all the hoop...

LOS ANGELES >> All in all, you’d have to say that went pretty well. Justin Tuer hit two home runs and Clayton Kershaw threw a complete game as the Dodgers reached the All-Star break with a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Sundayafteoon. The win completed a sweep of the interleag...

SAN DIEGO >> Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is known for his cutter. But he went with a high, hard one Sunday afteoon. “I’m sorry Dodgers’ fans,” he said. “I’ll say it loud and clear. It’s the Dodgers fans’ fault. We should have voted for those two guys. They should be starters.” Jansen was re...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. >>The box score won’t show a victory or a save for Yusmeiro Petit in the Angels’ 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. But it’s not that much of a stretch to say he got the biggest outs of the game. Matt Shoemaker’s dominant six iings had given way to a diffi...

Even with a couple of chord changes to tweak the twang, Pete Weber’s broadcasting career in Nashville shouldn’t sound like the starting point for another tired country weste song.It’s hardly been a long, lonesome 20 years behind the microphone, be ...

LOS ANGELES >> USC ruing back Justin Davis, who has a high ankle sprain, will not play on Saturday at Arizona, Trojans head coach Clay Helton aounced. Davis was not at practice this week. “He’s still being very tender on the ankle,” Helton said. Through six games, the 6-foot-1 senior leads the Trojans in rushing with 476 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. He had 341 yards in the past three games, including consecutive 100-yard rushing efforts against Utah and Arizona State. Davis injured his right ankle in the second half of USC’s 21-17 win over Colorado last Saturday. He left the locker room afterward on crutches. A walking boot was placed on his right foot. “It’s a next-man-up ...

LOS ANGELES >> Three years ago this week, Justin Davis reached a college milestone. In a loss at Arizona State, Davis, then a freshman ruing back for USC, eclipsed 100 rushing yards for the first time. Hours after the game had ended, after the team’s chartered flight retued to LAX in the early Sunday moing hours, he saw his first coach fired. Lane Kiffin, who once offered him a scholarship to USC in his Heritage Hall office, was out. Davis, like the rest of his senior class, has since navigated a tumultuous period with four head coaches in his first three seasons, including two midseason firings. “I never thought any of this stuff was going to happen,” Davis said. “I thought we were g...

LOS ANGELES >> There were flames and smoke and daylight fireworks, the big homecoming dressed up entirely too well Sunday for something that would implode into rubble. Oh, the Rams won, 9-3, beating Seattle in a football game decided by actual feet, the kicker-infested victory coming in their first regular-season game in Southe Califoia since 1994. But the homecoming king? He lost, Pete Carroll watching helplessly from the sideline as his Seahawks did what his USC teams rarely did in the Coliseum - lose and in a way more offensive than OFFensive. • Box score • Photo gallery Just one lousy field goal? Carroll’s Trojans regularly produced more highlights during pre-practice calisthenics...

PHOENIX >> The way Justin Tuer views his impending free agency, he’s been unemployed before and he’ll be unemployed again. Tuer was a non-tendered free agent when the New York Mets elected not to offer him a contract following the 2013 season. He was unsigned until February 2014 when the Dodgers gave him a one-year, $1 million contract. Circumstances have changed considerably as Tuer approaches free agency this fall. He leads the Dodgers in RBIs and has set career-bests in games played, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, walks and RBIs. Tuer could head onto the open market this time as one of the best offensive players available. “Yeah. But technically when the season ends I’ll be...

The coffee cup still sits on Peter O”Malley’s desk. The Dodgers logo, in that familiar cursive script, is on the cup. But the baseball that flies out of that logo is replaced by a football. Undeeath, there is a date: 199? It represents what might have been, the first and best replacement of the Rams and Raiders, who left after the 1994 season. Had O’Malley wound up with an expansion NFL franchise in a football palace bordering Dodger Stadium, we might be looking at our 16th or 17th NFL campaign. Instead, L.A. skipped a football generation. Maybe that’s not all bad. Maybe the new Rams fans, who tune in for the season opener against San Francisco on Monday night and then fish out their old Di...