Read the writeup HERE.

Check out our highlights and interviews from the match in our recap video.

Defensive back Rhedi Short announced his commitment to UCLA on Thursday afternoon, becoming the third member of the Bruins’ 2017 class.

An unranked recruit, the 6-foot-1 safety had 21 tackles and two interceptions last fall as a sophomore at Los Angeles Cathedral — the same school that produced former UCLA defensive back Anthony Jefferson, an All-Pac-12 second-team selection in 2014.

Short joins linebackers Rahyme Johnson and Jaquan Henderson as the high school juniors who have already committed to UCLA.

Social critics often take leaders, particularly Obama, to task for expressing hope, saying that “hope is not a policy.” True enough. But neither is prayer. Both hope and prayer are varieties of magical thinking. And while neither one makes things worse and may bring some comfort, they do not stop bullets and staunch the flow of blood as life drains out of human beings.

Every couple of months we have these tragedies. Every time we pretend we’re at a “teachable moment.” This demonstrably isn’t true, since we never change our behavior. Hell, we never really change the conversation, cum argument.

We actually have some agreement on the major premiss but not the conclusion. We agree that “we have to do something about guns.” One side says “Let’s ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines.” “No. No!” shouts the other side, “Let’s arm more people because the only way to stop a gun is with a gun.”

Okay, I’m convinced that we’re not prepared to do anything meaningful about guns. Even though most Americans want “sensible gun regulation,” the absolutists at the NRA shout No to any regulation, arguing it is a slippery slope to confiscation. Their absolutism may indeed take us to Australian style confiscation and the banning of most guns.

I’m now convinced that sensible and limited regulation will do nothing to protect us from crazies and terrorists of all persuasions. Halfway measures, were they even politically possible, would do little, if anything, to curb the madness.

As with so much in our world, we will not change policies until the pain is both personal and overwhelming. At some tipping point our passive acceptance of regular mass shootings will turn to horror and then to action.

In 19th Century London, the famous fog wasn’t, in fact, fog. It was coal smoke. When over a thousand people died one weekend and even more three weeks later, they started to get rid of the coal stoves. But it wasn’t until 1952 when 4,000 Londoners died after the “Great Smog” or Big Smoke” that they began to take it seriously.

At the moment, we act horrified at the mass shootings but we don’t hurt enough, not yet. We stand by as dozens of young men of color are shot and killed every weekend in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. However the fact that they are people of color reduces their news worthiness to near zero. Dead Black men only count if shot by the police, otherwise not.

So now that we have school shootings, college shootings, church shootings, as well as two at military bases, will we change anything? No. We like 19th Century London are in a fog that obscures both our vision and our thinking. It will get worse before we are moved to change. In the mean time, in these mean times, there’s not much to do except pray.

©2015 Jonathan Dobrer
www.Dobrer.com
Follow me on Twitter @jondobrer

Zach Lee is a two-time Branch Rickey minor league player of the year award winner. (Associated Press photo)

SAN FRANCISCO — Zach Lee and Alex Verdugo were named the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey minor league pitcher and player of the year, respectively, on Thursday.

Lee, 24, has appeared in 22 games this season — one with the Dodgers — with the majority coming at Triple-A. He also won the award in 2013.

Verdugo, 19, opened the season at Single-A Great Lakes and ended it at High-A Rancho Cucamonga.

Both players will be at Dodger Stadium on Friday to receive their award prior to the 7:10 p.m. game against the San Diego Padres. Here’s more from a Dodgers press release:

Lee, who turned 24 on September 13, was honored as the Dodgers’ Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year for the second time (also: 2013) after ranking among the Pacific Coast League leaders (min. 100 IP) in wins (11, T-3^rd), ERA (2.70, 2^nd), WHIP (1.11, 1^st), strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.26, 3^rd) and allowed an average of only 0.40 home runs per nine innings (3^rd).

Lee opened the season very strong, going 5-3 with a 2.38 ERA (15 ER/56.2 IP) and posted an ERA under 3.00 in each of the season’s first two months with a 1.80 ERA (5 ER/25.0 IP) in four April starts and a 2.84 mark (10 ER/31.2 IP) in six May starts. He held opposing batters to a .257 average, while limiting the opposition to a .210 average with runners in scoring position throughout the season.

The Texas native made two stints with Los Angeles this season, including his Major League debut with his first career start against the New York Mets on July 25. Lee was selected with the 28^th overall pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft out of McKinney (Texas) High School.

Verdugo opened the season with Single-A Great Lakes in his second professional season, where he ranked among the team leaders in batting average (.295, 5^th), hits (124, 1^st), doubles (23, 2^nd), home runs (5, T-2^nd), RBI (42, 3^rd), total bases (163, 2^nd) and stolen base (13, 2nd) in 101 games. He had a season-high 14-game hitting streak from June 16-July 2 and batted a league-best .349 (66-for-189) with nine doubles, four home runs, 87 total bases, 20 RBI, seven stolen bases and a .832 OPS in 44 second-half games to earn a selection to the Midwest League’s Postseason All-Star Team.

Verdugo, who turned 19 on May 15, was promoted to Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on August 14 and helped lead the Quakes to a 2015 California League championship, its first title since 1994. He batted .385 (35-for-91) with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 19 RBI along with a .406 OBP and a .659 SLG in 23 games for the Quakes, while posting a .323 average (10-for-31) with a .400 OBP, a double, a homer and seven RBI in eight postseason games. On August 26, he hit for his first career cycle and finished the season with a seven-game hitting streak (September 1-7), while also being honored as the league’s Offensive Player of the week for the period August 31-September 7, batting .577 (15-for-26) with four doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI.

The Arizona native batted .311 (159-for-512) with 32 doubles, four triples, nine home runs and 61 RBI along with a .340 OBP and a .441 SLG in 124 combined games for the Loons and the Quakes. He was also exceptional in both levels with runners in scoring position, batting a combined .316 (37-for-117) with eight doubles and a triple. Verdugo was selected by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Sahuaro High School in Arizona.

Branch Rickey Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year: 1989-2015

Year       Player of the Year                                                                             Pitcher of the Year

1989       Mike Huff, Albuquerque (OF)                                                          Jim Poole, Vero Beach (LHP)

1990       Henry Rodriguez, San Antonio (OF)                                                Jamie McAndrew, Bakersfield/San Antonio (RHP)

1991       Eric Karros, Albuquerque (IB)                                                          Pedro Martinez, San Antonio/Albuquerque (RHP)

1992       Mike Piazza, San Antonio/Albuquerque (C)                                  Todd Williams, Bakersfield/San Antonio (RHP)

1993       Billy Ashley, Albuquerque (OF)                                                        Kip Gross, Albuquerque (RHP)

1994       Billy Ashley, Albuquerque (OF)                                                        Greg Hansell, Albuquerque (RHP)

1995       Adam Riggs, San Bernardino (IF)                                                    Gary Rath, San Antonio/Albuquerque (LHP)

1996       Paul Konerko, San Antonio/Albuquerque (IF)                              Billy Neal, Vero Beach (RHP)

1997       Paul Konerko, Albuquerque (IF)                                                      Dennys Reyes, San Antonio/Albuquerque (LHP)

1998       Angel Peña, San Antonio (C)                                                            Luke Prokopec, San Bernardino/San Antonio (RHP)

1999       Chin-Feng Chen, San Bernardino (OF)                                           Eric Gagné , San Antonio (RHP)

2000       Joe Thurston, San Bernardino (IF)                                                   Carlos Garcia, San Bernardino (RHP)

2001       Phil Hiatt, Las Vegas (IF)                                                                   Ricardo Rodriguez, Vero Beach (LHP)

2002       Joe Thurston, Las Vegas (IF)                                                            Edwin Jackson, South Georgia (RHP)

2003       Franklin Gutierrez, VB/Jacksonville (OF)                                       Greg Miller, Vero Beach/Jacksonville (LHP)

2004       Joel Guzman, Vero Beach/Jacksonville (OF)                                 Chad Billingsley, Vero Beach/Jacksonville (RHP)

2005       Andy LaRoche, Vero Beach/Jacksonville (IF)                              Chad Billingsley, Jacksonville (RHP)

2006       James Loney, Las Vegas (1B)                                                          Mark Alexander, Jacksonville/Las Vegas (RHP)

2007       Chin-lung Hu, Jacksonville/Las Vegas (IF)                                    James McDonald, Inland Empire/Jacksonville (RHP)

2008       Ivan De Jesus, Jr., Jacksonville (IF)                                                 James McDonald, Jacksonville/Los Angeles (RHP)

2009       Dee Gordon, Great Lakes (IF)                                                           Scott Elbert, Chattanooga/Albuquerque/Los Angeles (LHP)

2010       Jerry Sands, Great Lakes/Chattanooga (IF/OF)                            Rubby De La Rosa, Great Lakes/Chattanooga (RHP)

2011       Scott Van Slyke, Chattanooga (IF/OF)                                           Shawn Tolleson, Great Lakes/Rancho/Chattanooga (RHP)

2012       Joc Pederson, Rancho Cucamonga (OF)                                        John Ely, Albuquerque (RHP)

2013       Scott Schebler, Rancho Cucamonga (OF)                                      Zach Lee, Chattanooga (RHP)

2014       Joc Pederson, Albuquerque (OF)                                                      Julio Urias, Rancho Cucamonga (LHP)

                Corey Seager, Rancho Cucamonga/Chattanooga (IF)

2015       Alex Verdugo, Great Lakes/Rancho Cucamonga (OF)               Zach Lee, Oklahoma City (RHP)

The post PHOTOS: Mass shooting at Oregon community college appeared first on LA Daily News Media Center.

Photo courtesy SoundersFC.com

The Galaxy have a chance to clinch a playoff berth this Sunday at CenturyLink Field against the Seattle Sounders (6:30 p.m., FOX Sports 1). On Wednesday, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena and defender A.J. DeLaGarza both noted the difficulty of playing on CenturyLink Field’s artificial turf.

As the defending MLS Cup Champions prepare for their first trip to CenturyLink Field this season, understand the science of how turf changes the game in this ESPN Sports Science clip:

The turf vs. grass controversy was a huge topic for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup as player safety and health were called into question for the tournament.

The Galaxy, whose road struggles in the past few years have been well documented, have had a fair amount of success at Seattle. Since the Sounders played their first MLS game in 2009, the Galaxy have a 5-4-2 record in CenturyLink Field (or what used to be called Qwest Field). One of those losses really turned out to be a win though because Juninho’s wonderstrike in the second leg of the 2014 Western Conference finals sent the Galaxy to the MLS Cup on the away goals rule, despite the 2-1 loss in the game.

Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) wagered gourmet popcorn from Pauline’s Premier Sweets in Burbank, befitting his district. Israel, who is a Mets fan representing areas surrounding Citi Field, wagered “New York bagels, flown in fresh.”

Additionally, the loser will wear the tie of the winner’s team and deliver a one minute speech on the House floor extolling the virtues of the team moving on to the next playoff round.

Here’s more from a press release today:

“There isn’t any question in my mind that the Boys in Blue will best the Loveable Losers, and I can already taste the delicious New York bagels that will be flown in the day the Mets blow it,” said Schiff. “I’m looking forward to seeing the Dodgers continue in their hunt for Blue October after the Mets are long vanquished. Please make sure the lox is fresh, Steve.”

“I hope that Adam will also consider sending a broom so that I can sweep his fancy L.A. popcorn off my floor in the same way my beloved Mets will sweep the Dodgers,” said Israel. “Let’s face it; once his team left New York, it was all downhill from there. Let’s go Mets!”

The last time the New York Mets met the Dodgers in the playoffs was during the 2006 National League Division Series, a meeting the Mets won 3 – 0, and the time before was during the 1988 National League Championship Series, which the Dodgers won 4 – 3. 1988 was the last year the Dodgers won the World Series. Schiff and Israel are friends in Congress, having both entered the House together in 2001.

And Saugus’ Emma Bahr delivered a courageous performance after collapsing near the finish line.

For the full story, click HERE.

Check out our video from the meet that includes highlights and videos.