SportsHubLA

Y E S T E R D A Y…

Dodgers 7, Astros 6: Clayton Kershaw is going to get his share of victories, but it just hasn’t happened so far this season. The young lefty went 5 2/3 innings and was staked to a 6-1 lead before the Dodger bullpen, which ranks second in the NL in ERA, gave up 5 runs combined in the sixth and seventh inning to let the Astros tie up the game. With the recent injury news (more on that later), this could have been a devastating loss had it not been for Jeff Kent’s heroics in the 11th inning when he smacked a solo shot to give the blue a much needed victory. 5 games below .500, the boys in blue moved to within 2.5 games of first place. Unbelievable.

Angels 5, Athletics 3: Good ol’ Garrett Anderson. He may be in the twilight of his Angels career but the lifetime Halo has come through with some timely hits in recent years, and last night was no different. Anderson broke a 3-3 tie in the 8th inning with a 2-run shot of A’s lefty Alan Embree to help the Halos avoid losing their second straight to their division rival. The 5 runs scored by the Halo offense snapped a 4 game streak in which they scored 1 run or less. Ervin Santana went 7 innings while giving up 2 runs and K-Rod picked up his major league leading 33rd save - what a surprise. We might be in for a division race in the AL West after all.

T O D A Y…

Angels vs. Athletics (12:35 p.m., FSW): The Oakland A’s have got to be the most pesky team in the entire Major league. Just when it looked like the Halos were gonna run away with the division, here come the A’s to get right back in the division race and look hell bent on making things tough for the Halos the rest of the year. Winning a series against a division rival is huge, so today’s rubber match certainly is a big one. Joe Saunders gets the call as he searches for his 12th win of the season against Dan Eveland of the A’s.

Dodgers at Astros (5:05 p.m., PRIME): Can the blue ever put together some sort of mini winning streak before the All-Star break? Well, winning tonights game would be a nice start. After last nights near collapse, the Dodgers look to take the series tonight when they send Hiroki Kuroda to the mound - making his first start since coming off the Dl- against Houston’s Runelvys Hernandez. Sounds like another pitcher the Dodger offense will help look like a Cy Young winner.

N E W S W O R T H Y…

• Talk about starting free agency with a bang. The Clippers, yes I said the Clippers, sign Baron Davis to a 5-year, $65 million contract. More on the big news below.
• For the second straight game the Sparks blew a double-digit, 4th quarter lead and fell to the New York Liberty last night at Staples. Candace Parker led the way with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• Kelvim Escobar has a major setback and could be done for the year.
• The Ducks resign Corey Perry for 5-years, 26.6 million dollars.
• Ben Howland is gonna be in Westwood for awhile. The nations top coach signed a 7-year contract extension that will keep him at UCLA until the 2015-15 season.
• Don’t expect Rafael Furcal to come to the Dodgers rescue anytime soon. Furcal experienced pain in his back again after a minor league game Monday night and will see a specialist today.
• Rumors are that the Lakers are interested in free agents James Posey and Brent Barry.
• Our very own Kobe Bryant is nominated for an ESPY award in the category of “Male Athlete of the Year”.

C O L U M N S…

• The Angels have gotten some pretty dominant pitching performances from their starters this season, but theres one reason why all those performances translate into Ws at the end of the day: K-Rod. Mark Whicker of the OC Register explains that the lightsout closer is the main reason why the team sits atop of the AL West standing. He also points out the not so comfortable truth that K-Rod is a free agent and could be gone this Winter. Time to bust out the check book, Arte.
• SportsHubLA.com Columns of the Day: For once the talk of the town isn’t about the Lakers. LA’s other team is getting all the pub today after shaking the Wester Conference with the Baron Davis signing. Bill Plaschke of the LA Times says that its a brilliant move coming from owner Donald Sterling - who has been known to hold back on the money - and J.A. Adande of Espn.com explains that Baron Davis makes the Clips relevant again. Suddenly those Laker-Clipper games just got a whole lot exciting.

Discuss: