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YESTERDAY…

Angels 5, Athletics 1: John Lackey got the Halos back in the win column with a dominating complete game performance to pick up his 11th win. Torii Hunter was 3-4 with an RBI.

Nationals 2, Dodgers 1:  Not even a game against the lowly Nats can solve LA’s offensive woes. They waste another strong outing from Derek Lowe and manage to get just one run across to drop to 0-5 on the road trip.

TODAY…

Dodgers at Nationals (4:10 p.m., PRIME): Greg Maddux takes the mound for the Blue, who will be searching for their first win on this increasingly frustrating road trip.

Angels vs. Athletics (7:05 p.m., FSW): Joe Saunders will be in search of his 15th win in tonigh’ts rubber game of the series. Gio Gonzalez will take the mound for the A’s.

NEWSWORTHY…

• USC Freshman Aaron Corp will officially be the backup at QB.
• USC QB Mark Sanchez is cleared to play on Saturday at Virginia.
• Joe Torre isn’t too pleased with comments made by Orel Hershiser.
• Garret Anderson and Vladamir Guerrero should be making their returns to the lineup very soon.

ON SPORTSHUBLA…

• Eric Patten breaks down UCLA’s first game of the season against Tennessee.

IN THE BLOGS…

•  David Friedman of Twenty Second Timeout gives Laker/Olympian Kobe Bryant an “A” for his work in China. 
• It’s the question man (specifically, Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts) has pondered for centuries: Were the so so 2005 Dodgers better than the so so 2008 version?

COLUMNS…

• Gregg Patton of the LA Daily News writes about the domination that USC’s had in recent years and the quest to win their first National title since 2004.
• Michael Lev of the OC Register explains that while the Trojan defense is set, the growth of the offense is really what will determine if the Trojans are going to play in the big game come January.
• Now that the Olympics are over, Randy Youngman gives his ten points on how to make them better.
• SportsHubLA.com Column of the Day: With the season set to kick off this Saturday, it looks like UCLA’s Rick Neuheisel is realizing just how tough this season is about to be. Marcia Smith of the OC Register writes about how reality has set in for Neuheisel and the immense challenges he and his team will be facing this fall. I guess all that optimism flew right out the door.

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