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Y E S T E R D A Y…

Rockies 5, Dodgers 3: The Rox managed to squeak this one out in an unfamiliar way — instead of relying on the big bats of the Killer Hs (Helton, Holliday, Hawpe), they won a game with great pitching. Yes, pitching! Good bullpen work is even more of a foreign concept for Colorado, but indeed, their relief core came through Wednesday night. After the Dodgers put runners on second on third, Taylor Buchholz wiggled off the hook, and Brian Fuentes slammed the door shut in the ninth for his 102nd save, tying a club-record.

Angels 14, Indians 11: You know the mark of a winning ballclub? When one part of a team can pick up the slack when another part struggles. That’s exactly what happened Wednesday night, as the typically uber-trusty Halo pitching got roughed up by the Tribe. Fortunately, the offense had their back. Jeff Mathis made his case to be the full-time starter with four hits and a homer, and Casey at the Bat used it well — Kotch had five hits on the night. Howie Kendrick took part in the hit parade as well, with four of his own.

T O D A Y…

MLS All-Stars vs. West Ham United (4 pm, ESPN): It wouldn’t be English soccer without a hooligan brawl, now would it? Already got that checked off the list…now all this All-Star game needs is for the American league’s best to keep it competitive against a mediocre EPL club. We’ll see if Donovan and Becks are up to the task. If history means anything, the MLS boys are in good shape.

Sparks at Sun (4 pm, NBA TV): After taking a page out of Ron Artest’s book on Tuesday against the Shock, Coop’s Crew will go back to playing basketball the traditional way on Thursday when they take on Connecticut. That is, minus the violence. While Lisa Leslie said after the game that the incident caused negative publicity for the struggling WNBA (which has never in its history made an annual profit), P.T. Barnum would disagree, and so would I — no publicity is bad publicity. To simply raise the national awareness about the league one iota was, in my mind, well worth it.

N E W S W O R T H Y…

• Ducks’ coach Randy Carlyle inks an extension to keep him in Anaheim through the 2010-2011 season.
• Apparently, performance-enhancers haven’t only pervaded baseball and cycling — they’ve seeped into the water, too. Olympic swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for them, and her spot on the team is in jeopardy.
• With all this talk about the newest would-be Trojan forward Alex Stepheson, maybe some attention should be given to another Stepheson — Lance. The 6-foot-5 Brooklyn baller from Lincoln High (Bassy’s old stomping grounds) is the consensus No. 1 high school player in the nation for the 2010 class.

C O L U M N S…

• Clearly, great minds think alike…the Times’ Helene Elliott took the same view on the WNBA brawl (it still seems funny typing that) as I did — though it was ugly, the scuffle gave the WNBA a fighting chance.
• The Times’ Jerry Crowe says the Dodgers should be counting their blessings for even being in the hunt at this point in the season, even despite how brutally pathetic the NL West is.
• While the WNBA brawl showed us the ugly side of sports, Wildomar’s Ricky James reminded us how the games we play can be so beautiful.

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