Latest news with #Dodgers'
New York Post
10 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Shohei Ohtani appears to doze off during Dodgers' demolition of Yankees
Fans weren't the only ones dozing off during the Dodgers' demolition of the Yankees on Saturday. So was Shohei Ohtani. Cameras caught the Dodgers' megastar with his head on the dugout railing and appearing to get some shuteye during the 18-2 victory over the Yankees. Ohtani quickly woke up and appeared to realize what was happening, but we can unofficially call it the first time a superstar has ever reached stage 1 sleep inside of the dugout. It's hard to blame Ohtani for giving himself a rest. In addition to being a new father — he and his wife, Mamiko, had a baby girl in April — there wasn't much going on Saturday to keep anybody engaged. Advertisement 3 Shohei Ohtani runs to third base during the Dodgers' win over the Yankees on May 31, 2025. AP The Dodgers put up four runs in the first inning and six more in the second, knocking Will Warren out of the game and rendering the last seven innings a slow procession to 27 outs. Advertisement Ohtani, who was 2-for-4, was lifted in the sixth for a pinch-hitter, as there was just no need for him to stay in the game. While the Dodgers are tied with the Yankees in the loss column, the gap between the two teams looks like it's grown into a gulf since the World Series, when the Dodgers beat the Yankees in five games. 3 Shohei Ohtani takes a quick snooze in the Dodgers dugout on May 31, 2025. X 3 Shohei Ohtani wakes up from his slumber. X Advertisement The Dodgers have dominated the Yankees in the first two games of the World Series rematch, beating them 8-5 on Friday — with Ohtani homering twice and the Bombers blowing a lead in the sixth — before embarrassing them on Saturday. The series finale is Sunday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound for L.A. and Ryan Yarbrough for the Yankees. Hopefully the Yankees can do enough for everyone to stay awake, with the game getting ESPN's primetime treatment.
Los Angeles Times
16 hours ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
‘Let's go': How media from Japan track down Shohei Ohtani's home-run balls
Shohei Ohtani was about halfway through his home-run trot when Taro Abe stood up from his second-row seat in the Vin Scully Press Box and tucked his green scorebook under his right arm. 'Let's go,' Abe said in Japanese. Abe, a writer for Japan's Chunichi Sports newspaper, was followed into the concourse of Dodger Stadium's suite level by four other reporters from his country. They were on a mission: Find the person who caught Ohtani's home-run ball. There was nothing special about this blast, which was Ohtani's second on Friday in an eventual 8-5 victory over the New York Yankees. The homer was Ohtani's 22nd of the season and reduced the Dodgers' deficit at the time from three to two. 'We have to do this every time,' Abe said. This practice started a couple of years ago, when Ohtani was still playing for the Angels. The appetite for Ohtani content was insatiable in Japan, but the two-way player started speaking to reporters only after games in which he pitched. Naoyuki Yanagihara of Sports Nippon and Masaya Kotani of Full Count figured out a solution for their problem: They started interviewing the fans who caught his home-run balls. The feature was received well by their readers and gradually spread to other publications. Now, besides the homers that land in bullpens or any other place inaccessible to fans, a group of Japanese reporters will be there to interview the person who snagged the prized souvenir. Neither Yanagihara nor Kotani was on this particular journey into the right-field pavilion, as Yanagihara was temporarily back in Japan and Kotani remained in the press box. Both of their publications were represented by other reporters. I was there too. One of the reporters, Michi Murayama of Sports Hochi, looked at me curiously. 'You're coming?' she asked. Abe joked: 'He's coming to write how ridiculous the Japanese media is.' As we walked down a carpeted hallway by the suites down the first-base line, Abe turned around and asked if anyone had seen who caught the ball. No one had. Before departing from the press box, reporters usually study replays of the homer to find identifying features of the ballhawk. But in this case, the scramble for the ball was obscured by a short barrier that divided a television cameraman from the crowd. Abe led the pack out of an exit near the Stadium Club. When we re-entered the ballpark at the loge level, we heard a familiar chant: 'Fre-ddie! Fre-ddie!' The reporters stopped to watch the game from behind the last row of seats. Freeman doubled in a run to reduce the Dodgers' deficit to one, and pandemonium ensued. A young woman clutching a beer danced. Strangers exchanged high-fives. Others performed the Freddie Dance. Yankees manager Aaron Boone removed Max Fried from the game, and called Jonathan Loáisiga from the bullpen. It was time for us to move on. Seniority heavily influences professional and personal interactions in Japanese culture, which was why when we reached the top of the right-field pavilion, the two-most-junior reporters were told to find the ball-catching fan and return with him. Iori Kobayashi of Sports Nippon, 25, and Akihiro Ueno of Full Count, 27, accepted their fates without question. However, the veteran Murayama noticed they weren't making any progress, and soon she was in the middle of the pavilion with them. She came back soon after to tell us we were in the wrong place. 'We have to go down to the Home Run Seats,' she said, referring to seats directly behind the right-field wall that are in a separate section as the rest of the pavilion. The ushers there were helpful, describing how the ball struck the portable plastic wall behind the cameraman, rolled under the barrier, and was taken by a boy in a gray jersey. Murayama found the boy and said he would speak to the group when the inning was over. 'They usually come after the inning because they want to watch the game too,' Abe said. While we waited, Eriko Takehama of Sankei Sports approached Abe and showed him a picture of a fan holding up a piece of the plastic wall that was struck by Ohtani's homer. The piece had broken off, and the fan told Takehama that he was taking it home. 'Do you want to talk to him?' Takehama asked Abe. 'He said he caught a ball three years ago.' Abe declined. While watching Max Muncy taking first base on an intentional walk, Abe said, 'Everyone has a story. You ask them where they live, where they work and there's usually something interesting. We're writing human-interest stories with Ohtani as a cover.' This story would be about a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Monrovia named Fisher Luginvuhl. With his mother standing nearby, the Little League catcher gushed, 'It's like the best thing that's ever happened to me.' The reporters circled the boy and photographed him holding up the ball. They exchanged numbers with Luginvuhl's father so they could send him links to the stories they produced. While the reporters worked together to locate Luginvuhl, they were also in competition with each other to post the story first. Murayama wrote hers on her phone as she walked. Ueno sent audio of the six-minute interview to the Full Count offices in Japan, where the recording was transcribed by an English-speaking reporter, who then used the quotes to write a story. Walking to the right-field pavilion and back was exhausting. I mentioned this to Abe, and he reminded me, 'This was my second time doing this today.' Abe wrote 13 stories on Friday night, 10 of them about Ohtani, including two on fans who caught his homers. Just as we returned to the press box, the next hitter was announced over the public-address system: 'Shohei Ohtani!' Abe laughed and braced for another long walk.
Fox Sports
a day ago
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Max Muncy hits 200th career HR, sparks Dodgers' offense with a pair of 3-run shots
Los Angeles Dodgers' third-baseman Max Muncy reached a career milestone, hitting his 200th home run in the fifth inning of Saturday's game. Muncy turned on a splitter that Mark Leiter Jr. threw inside, pulling it deep into right field and off the foul pole. It was a three-run shot that extended the Dodgers' lead over the New York Yankees to 14-1. It was also Muncy's second home run of the night as he hit another three-run dinger in the second inning. In his eighth season in Los Angeles, Muncy, a two-time All-Star, had been struggling. He entered Saturday hitting .210 from the plate with just four HRs. But, during the Dodgers' offensive barrage in the second of three games of the 2024 World Series rematch with the Yankees, Muncy took center stage. He delivered the 16th two-HR game of his career, and the first this season, to grasp an individual achievement that's been there for the taking. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! recommended Get more from Max Muncy Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss rest of the season
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips will have Tommy John surgery next week and miss the rest of the season in the latest blow to the World Series champion's pitching staff. 'Evan tried to play catch a couple days ago when we were on the road and it didn't go well, so he's going to get Tommy John surgery on the 4th,' manager Dave Roberts said Friday. 'Unfortunately that's going to be season-ending.' Advertisement The 30-year-old right-hander had been out the last three weeks because of forearm discomfort. He didn't progress in his recovery despite what had been anticipated to be a short stint on the injured list. 'It's surprising, more disappointed for Evan,' Roberts said, 'but he just wasn't responding to the rest and then tried to ramp back up and so ultimately, that was kind of the advice.' Phillips began the season on the IL while recovering from a partially torn rotator cuff he sustained in the playoffs last year. He returned in late April and made seven scoreless appearances before getting hurt during the Dodgers' trip to Miami earlier in May. Advertisement The Dodgers' staff has been riddled by injuries this season. Starters Blake Snell (shoulder inflammation), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder inflammation) and Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki (shoulder impingement) are on the IL. Shohei Ohtani is at least 1 1/2 months away from pitching in a game while rehabbing from 2023 surgery. He's expected to face hitters for the second time this weekend. Relievers Blake Treinen (forearm tightness) and Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement) are sidelined. Phillips was 5-1 with a 3.62 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings last season. He is 15-9 with a 2.28 ERA in 194 games since coming to the Dodgers five years ago. He previously played for Atlanta, Baltimore and Tampa Bay.
NBC Sports
2 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss rest of the season
Daniel Palencia has four saves in his last four appearances, and James Schiano examines how the 25-year-old flamethrower has officially asserted himself as the Chicago Cubs closer moving forward. LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips will have Tommy John surgery next week and miss the rest of the season in the latest blow to the World Series champion's pitching staff. 'Evan tried to play catch a couple days ago when we were on the road and it didn't go well, so he's going to get Tommy John surgery on the 4th,' manager Dave Roberts said Friday. 'Unfortunately that's going to be season-ending.' The 30-year-old right-hander had been out the last three weeks because of forearm discomfort. He didn't progress in his recovery despite what had been anticipated to be a short stint on the injured list. 'It's surprising, more disappointed for Evan,' Roberts said, 'but he just wasn't responding to the rest and then tried to ramp back up and so ultimately, that was kind of the advice.' Phillips began the season on the IL while recovering from a partially torn rotator cuff he sustained in the playoffs last year. He returned in late April and made seven scoreless appearances before getting hurt during the Dodgers' trip to Miami earlier in May. The Dodgers' staff has been riddled by injuries this season. Starters Blake Snell (shoulder inflammation), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder inflammation) and Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki (shoulder impingement) are on the IL. Shohei Ohtani is at least 1 1/2 months away from pitching in a game while rehabbing from 2023 surgery. He's expected to face hitters for the second time this weekend. Relievers Blake Treinen (forearm tightness) and Michael Kopech (shoulder impingement) are sidelined. Phillips was 5-1 with a 3.62 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings last season. He is 15-9 with a 2.28 ERA in 194 games since coming to the Dodgers five years ago. He previously played for Atlanta, Baltimore and Tampa Bay.
