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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...

Long Beach State Athletics Director Andy Fee aounced Monday that Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley signed a contract extension through the 2022 season. The extension includes four additional years, increased base salary and supplemental compensation based on success on and off the field. “I am very grateful and appreciative of this opportunity to continue to lead this historic program going forwa...

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 ...

Las Vegas Summer League did not just provide a platform for Lonzo Ball to show early retus on his NBA potential. It also gave Alex Caruso a setting to convince the Lakers to keep him. The Lakers and Caruso agreed to a two-year deal on a two-way contract, a new mechanism that allows NBA teams and t...

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...

The Ducks signed forward Deis Rasmussen to a one-year contract worth $725,000 on Friday. Rasmussen, 27, spent his first two NHL seasons with Chicago after playing with the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League team in 2014-15 following three seasons playing professionally in his native Sweden. Rasmus...

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...

LOS ANGELES >> Adrian Gonzalez has been dealing with back pain on and off since 2012 – more frequently on than off over the past two years. He is not willing to put up with it much longer. The Dodgers’ veteran first baseman said he went to the DL for the first time in his 14-year career last m...

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...

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...

DENVER >> The Rams have signed receiver Tavon Austin to a four-year contract extension worth $42 million, the team confirmed Saturday, shortly before the Rams’ preseason game against the Denver Broncos. In May, the Rams had picked up the fifth-year option on Austin’s rookie contract, which kept him under contract through the 2017 season. Now, Austin will be with the Rams through at least 2021. The new contract includes $30 million in guaranteed money. Austin, 25, was a first-round draft pick (No. 8 overall) out of West Virginia by the Rams in 2013. He is considered the team’s primary big-play threat, both as a receiver and on frequent ruing plays, and is also the Rams’ primary punt ret...

LOS ANGELES >> Amazon Prime offers same-day delivery. The Dodgers had to be more patient. Twenty-three days after they traded three well-regarded prospects to the Oakland A’s for outfielder Josh Reddick and someone suited to fill the void at the front of their starting rotation, Rich Hill finally made his debut for the Dodgers. There was no buyer’s remorse. Hill looked like the top-tier starter the Dodgers thought they were getting – and have sorely lacked since Clayton Kershaw went to the DL. He pitched six scoreless iings Wednesday night as the Dodgers won, 1-0. “I’m not surprised. That’s Rich,” Reddick said. “I’ve seen it all year. “It just shows what a competitor he is. He hasn’t ...

The High Desert Mavericks and Bakersfield Blaze will be contracted from the Califoia League today, the Southe Califoia News Group has leaed. According to a report Sunday on the website todaysknuckleball.com, the league will not seek to replace the two franchises. That would leave the Cal League with eight teams — including the advanced Single-A affiliates of the Dodgers (Rancho Cucamonga Quakes) and Angels (Inland Empire 66ers) — for the first time since 1978. The aouncement comes as little surprise. Earlier this month the Blaze and the Mavericks, who have played in Adelanto since 1991, did not have their affiliation contracts renewed by the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers, respectively. ...

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...

@MWhicker03LANG on Twitter The only game he played was basketball. He didn’t pose, he didn’t sell, he didn’t market, he didn’t Tweet, he didn’t post (except in the lane), he didn’t “brand.” He played like nobody was watching and sometimes it seemed nobody was, except for the five times he would surface in June with a championship net. The world surrounded Tim Duncan but he kept it offshore, through 19 professional years and five NBA championships. Few people knew Duncan. A high percentage of those knew him well. He did not hold a retirement press conference. Instead, he did an online conversation with Rashidi Clenance, his boyhood friend from the Virgin Islands, and the two punctuated it by ...

Trumaine Johnson’s first season in Los Angeles also might be his last. The Rams failed to reach agreement with Johnson, their top coerback, on a long-term contract extension, so on Friday afteoon, the team officially applied its franchise-player tag to Johnson for the 2016 season. Johnson will receive a guaranteed salary of $13.95 million this season, but if he fails to sign a new contract with the Rams by next March, he will become a free agent. Friday marked the deadline for teams to reach agreement on a contract and avoid having to use the franchise tag on a player. At one point, the Rams hoped to sign both of last year’s starting coerbacks, Johnson and Janoris Jenkins, to long-term exte...