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“WHILE I WAS AWAY”
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Lots happened-lots to comment on in the sports world while I was away on vacation.

PADRES..Just when you think they turned the corner and were on the brink of making it an NL-West pennant race, they lose again at home, to the suddenly hot Arizona Diamondbacks.  This pitching situation is getting nightmarish.

Dylan Cease has not had a good start in his last 11-outings.
Adam Mazur has to stay in the rotation and he has bad innings and loses.
Robert Suarez has to pitch 3-days in a row again and gets blasted.
The middle of the bullpen is leaking oil.
The Dodgers-Braves have a large number of ‘games in hand’ on the Friars.

AJ Preller needs a starter and maybe a trust worthy long reliever, but the questions, how does he do this?

Zach Elfin-Tampa..Cal Quantrill-Rockies..Sean Manaea-Mets..are among those on the trade block, but at what price, and Preller would be dealing to bring back guys he got rid of.

Oh by the way, Trevor Bauer is now (10-0) with a 1.66-ERA with the Mexico City Diablos, and yet no phone calls from anyone.

Yu Darvish is gone because of a family issue.  The club and the pitcher have yet to comment on the reason.  Could be a serious illness.  Could be a death in the family.  Could be a marital issue.  Tough setback for him, worse setback for the Padres.

How cool to have 5-Friars named to the All Star game, especially for Jurickson Profar and Jackson Merrill.

DODGERS…They are almost at a panic stage and appear ready to topple with all these pitching injuries.  Now the bullpen has problems again.

Yosh Yamamoto has yet to throw, recovering from the lat-shoulder issue.  The LA starting rotation has run up a (5.03-ERA) since the Japanese rookies last start

A trade could be in the offing and LA has resources in the farm system to move.

Showtime Ohtani will not take part in the Home Run Derby.  A fun event to follow but the stress on the players is significant.  He needs to protect the rehab he is doing after the elbow surgery.

Clayton Kershawn is ready for another rehab start after bouncing back from shoulder soreness after his last start.  They will limit his pitch count and hope for the best when he throws at Oklahoma City.

ANGELS…The young guys have done well, mostly Zach Neto-Logan O’Hoppe, but still no Mike Trout-Anthony Rendon sightings, so another losing streak has hit them.

They have won 6-in a row, now have lost 8-of-9 in what is turning into a brutal summer of bad baseball in Anaheim.

LAKERS…Enough with this hype for Bronny James.  He goes (2-for-9) shooting in his first summer league game, then has knee swelling and cannot play in the second game.  He is only (6’1)  and the media coverage is over the top.  The first round pick Dalton Knecht went (3-for-12) in his debut.

The bigger story is no one wants to play for the Lakers.  The first example was Klay Thompson accepting the deal to leave Golden State for Dallas.  Then Chris Paul exited as a Warrior free agent and went to the Spurs.  The Lakers-Atlanta trade talks failed and Dejontae Murray left, he went to the Pelicans.  And now DeMar DeRozan chooses to leave Chicago and accept a deal in Sacramento, yes Sacramento.

The Lakers are now at 188M payroll with LeBron’s new deal, capped out, and are not a better team today than what finished last season.

CLIPPERS…How do you replace Paul George’s big gun productivity?  Big issue now that most of the marquee players are gone off the board.  How do you help yourself if you have to trade Norman Powell to go get a shooting guard?

DUCKS..We are in the 3rd year of GM-Pat Verbeek’s rebuild program, and they look worse now than before.  They still have the big contract of goalie John Gibson who could have brought them veteran players to put around all their kids.

Their draft list did not bring them instant help, but more young players likely to stay in junior hockey, college or in Europe.

They made a trade with the Red Wings to get some grit from Robbie Fabbri, and added some 4th line players, but nothing that gets them closer to a playoff spot.

KINGS..Rob Blake, under fire for mistakes on the Pierre Luc Dubois contract, shed the big money forward for a journeyman goalie.  They got some feistiness and guys that should protect their goal scorers.  They need to take another step forward next year.  Maybe team chemistry will have a different look

GULLS…The health of our AHL franchise is tied to the tooth-ache rebuild by the parent Ducks.  As Pat Verbeek entered the draft week, he had 9-picks and 31M cap space, and did virtually nothing to help the Gulls.  Complicated too, he lost 4-top AHL veterans who anchored the Gulls starting lineup cards, and they have yet to re-sign Chase DeLeo.  Guys seem to be shopping for better deals with other NHL clubs.

SAN DIEGO WAVE…Where there is smoke, there is likely fire, this ‘toxic workplace’ issue.  1-employee who left.  Then a second came forward.  Now there are four more who have spoken out against Team President Jill Ellis.  The team fired its coach just a couple of weeks ago.  They are (3-7-6) and cannot score goals.  The bloom is off the rose with the NLWS franchise.  Sounds like they are circling the wagons to protect Ellis.  What might be next might be lawsuits.

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