SCOTTSDALE — After the third inning at the Giants’ minor league facility on Friday, bullpen coach Garvin Alston approached right-hander Landen Roupp in the dugout.
“If you have another inning like that, we’re going to put some runners on for you,” he said, laughing.
Against Colorado Rockies minor leaguers, Roupp was so dominant that getting on base wasn’t even a reasonable goal. Simply making contact against Roupp was difficult enough.
The 26-year-old pitched in a High-A game to get his pitch count up while Jordan Hicks faced the Milwaukee Brewers a few miles away, and in five one-hit innings, Roupp struck out 13. He started the afternoon with nine straight strikeouts, but didn’t realize what was going on at first.
“People were going wild. All the minor leaguers have to stay and watch us so some of my friends that I got drafted with were screaming after I struck someone out and I was like, ‘What are they doing?’ I guess it was because I struck out nine in a row,” Roupp said. “I noticed that and realized what was happening but during the moment I didn’t know that I was doing what I was doing. I was just locked in.”
The 13 strikeouts were a lifetime high at any level for Roupp, who twice struck out 12 in a game in college. He said he couldn’t remember ever getting more than six in a row.
The hitters were young and inexperienced, but often that’s a tougher test for big leaguers since hitters in the low minors view those matchups as opportunities to make a name for themselves and often are needlessly aggressive. Roupp didn’t give them a chance to chase base hits; the majority of his strikeouts came on three pitches and he needed just 66 — 51 of which were strikes — to get through his five innings.
A day later, Alston said Roupp’s outing would be impressive against any level of competition. The right-hander certainly chose a great time to be that sharp, as manager Bob Melvin skipped the big league game to get a closer look at Roupp, who is trying to beat out Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong for the final rotation spot. Melvin said he was impressed by how Roupp got his adrenaline and intensity going in front of only about 50 people.
“He didn’t let anybody play,” Melvin said, smiling. “All he needed was a catcher.”
Roupp has been nearly as dominant at times this spring in Cactus League games. He allowed just one hit and struck out 11 in his first three appearances before stumbling last weekend against the Chicago Cubs and allowing five runs. Roupp said he didn’t feel focused against the Cubs for some reason, and vowed to not let that happen again.
Birdsong and Harrison will try to keep pace in Sunday’s game against the Athletics, and the Giants insist the competition is still wide open. Melvin wouldn’t commit when asked Saturday if Roupp has at least locked up a bullpen job, but at this point it’s hard to see how the Giants could head to Cincinnati later this month without Roupp, who hopes to be in the rotation.
“I don’t think the competition is going to be over until the last day of camp,” he said. “I’ve still got to pitch well and continue to do what I’ve been doing.”
Roupp continues to work on a cutter that he hopes can become a weapon against left-handed hitters. He’s already comfortable with a changeup that is modeled after Logan Webb’s, and the curveball and sinker are as deadly as ever. In 17 innings this spring, Roupp has 27 strikeouts.
Nearly half of them came in a memorable hour at the minor league facility, and a day later, he offered perhaps the understatement of the spring.
The Montreal Canadiens welcomed the Florida Panthers Saturday night at the Bell Centre for the first of three duels in three weeks. The Stanley Cup champions came to town without elite defenseman Aaron Eklad, ace scorer and agitator Matthew Tkachuk, and newly acquired, longtime Boston Bruins pest Brad Marchand. Even without those players, the Cats remain a force to be reckoned with and the Canadiens passed the test with flying colours.
Compared with the Seattle game, this was night and day, effort level-wise in the first frame. Against the Kraken, Jakub Dobes had to fend for himself, with the Canadiens giving up 15 shots in the first 20 minutes. On Saturday night, everybody was skating hard and trying to be first on the puck at both ends of the ice.
Montreal was also much brighter with the puck, not giving it away too much. They only committed two turnovers in the first, and it was through Jayden Struble and Joshua Roy. The game appears to be going a wee bit too fast for Roy. He found himself on the receiving end of a turnover in the slot, but he had two Panthers on him before he could launch his shot. The same is true when deciding whom to pass to; he tends to run out of room and time, which rarely leads to good decisions.
The Canadiens were able to maintain a high level of play all the way through the 60 minutes, only giving Florida nine giveaways, while the Cats cough up 25. Even though the Panthers had an 11-2 edge in shots in the final frame, Montreal played a smart game, controlling the puck as much as they could and committing very few mistakes.
The way Martin St-Louis' men were able to kill Dvorak penalties at six on four with so little time left in the game was clear evidence that this team is maturing nicely. In Seattle, they failed that same test and they learned from it.
Attacking As A Five-Men Unit
While the Canadiens had their best scoring opportunities on the power play on Saturday night, they seemed to consciously try to generate more attack involving the five players on the ice.
Whether it was Mike Matheson, Lane Hutson, or Arber Xhekaj, the forwards used the blueliners more. Perhaps it’s just because the chemistry’s improving, but it was refreshing to see Xhekaj get a couple of clear looks on the net in the same sequence in the second frame.
The Canadiens were also looking for deflections, and it worked like a charm on Christian Dvorak’s goal, the 100th of his career which came off a David Savard shot deflection.
The Benefits Far Outweigh The Downsides
Patrik Laine may not be as complete a player as some would like, but the chatter about a buyout is downright ridiculous. This is a player who cost next to nothing to acquire and who, granted, has a big contract, but it’s not like the Canadiens need the cap space.
Whichever way you look at it, the benefits of having Laine in the lineup far outweigh the downsides. Some would like to make you believe he’s bad for the team culture, but considering how Martin St-Louis handles him, that’s a baseless claim. When the big Finn isn’t pulling his weight on the defensive side of the puck, he plays less; that’s as simple as that.
He may not like it, but the coach holds firm: give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want. Tonight, Laine gave him what he wanted, given what he had to say about the second line:
Newie’s line played well, Patty had a lot of minutes tonight, and it was deserved. He was then asked if he felt it was one of Laine’s best games, and the reply immediately came: “Yes, that’s what we’re looking for.”
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For a second game in a row Laine set the tone with a timely power play goal and that's invaluable. A working power play can be so important to a team's momentum and it truly is for the Canadiens right now.
The atmosphere was simply magical in the Bell Centre, especially in the third frame; the wave went around and around the rink for such a long time; it was impressive. By the end of it, I was wondering if the Panthers’ players were seasick, to be honest. As for the coach, he loved it:
From start to finish, it was one of the best games we've played since I’ve been here. The fans gave us a treat in the third, and we want to give our all to them. It was a great experience for everyone who was in the building tonight. I had a lot of fun in the third, with how we behaved, the atmosphere, and everything else. We must go try to earn moments like these.
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After this much deserved 3-1 win over the Stanley Cup champions, the Canadiens will enjoy a day off on Sunday, but the coach will still be watching some hockey. He’s headed to Clarkson to see his son Lucas and his Harvard side take on the Knights in game three of the ECAC quarterfinals.
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Shohei Ohtani, center, gestures to teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, left, as Roki Sasaki looks on during a press conference. All three have joined the Dodgers since the 2023 season ended. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Andrew Friedman remembers the talent, the crowd and maybe most of all, the hats.
In February 2023, in the lead-up to the most anticipated World Baseball Classic to date, the Dodgers president of baseball operations accompanied team scouts and executives on a trip to Japan to get an in-person look at the nation’s Samurai Japan national team.
For years the Dodgers had been scouting the improving talent coming out of the country, recognizing that a pipeline of potential major league stars was being cultivated in its rich baseball culture.
While he sat at the Hinata Sun Marine Stadium in Miyazaki, observing nothing more than bullpens and batting practices, Friedman was struck by the scene.
On the field he watched pitchers take the mound in groups of four, each one seemingly pumping high-velocity fastballs and eye-popping breaking pitches with stunningly consistent ease.
In the stands, Friedman was struck by the roughly 20,000 spectators that flocked to the workout, getting a clear reminder of “just how passionate they are about baseball.”
As Friedman scanned the seats, he made another observation: Many fans wore hats of MLB clubs.
“You’d see a Padre hat, a Yankees hat, a Red Sox hat, a Cubs hat, a Rangers hat, a Dodgers hat,” he recalled this spring. “And it got us thinking about an incredible potential opportunity.”
What if, Friedman and fellow executives wondered, the Dodgers could corner the market on top Japanese talent? What if they made themselves Japan’s most popular MLB team?
The Dodgers already were contemplating how to approach Shohei Ohtani’s upcoming free agency. They had long been scouting Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, preparing to pursue each pitcher once they were posted for MLB teams to sign.
Now, they had visions of what Friedman termed a “dream scenario.”
Sign all three. And in the process, effectively “paint Japan blue.”
Fans stop for photos at the entrance plaza of the Tokyo Dome as they arrive to watch the Dodgers work out Friday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“It was something that I think we envisioned and dreamed of and hoped,” said Galen Carr, who as the Dodgers’ vice president of player personnel has been a central figure in their overseas scouting.
Two years later those grand plans have become a reality. Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki are Dodgers — adding the latter after the former pair helped the team win the World Series last year. And a Japanese fan base once divided has coalesced around its interest in the Dodgers, who arrived in Tokyo last week for their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs as if they are the home team.
“In 2022, it wasn’t that easy to find a Dodger hat, but more because they weren’t in stock by the volume,” Friedman said.
But over the last year, he quipped: “They weren’t in stock that much — because they kept selling out.”
Long before the Dodgers got Ohtani or their other current stars, they began gaining popularity in Japan’s baseball culture.
It started in 1995, when Hideo Nomo became the first Japanese star to permanently move to Major League Baseball. That career began in controversy, with the pitcher having to exploit a contract loophole with his Japanese team in order to sign with the Dodgers. But it opened the door for others to follow in his footsteps. And more players, particularly pitchers — such as Hiroki Kuroda, Kenta Maeda and Yu Darvish — made a home at Chavez Ravine.
“For this particular organization, there is a historical and inherent appeal in Asia,” Carr said, also noting the Dodgers’ connections in South Korea with pitchers Chan Ho Park and Hyun-Jin Ryu. “I think a lot of us felt strongly about trying to revitalize that; that brand, that excitement for the Dodgers.”
So, over the last several years, the team began dedicating more and more resources to its scouting in the Pacific Rim. And by that point, Yamamoto (a three-time most valuable player in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league) and Sasaki (a longtime scouting darling who’d been throwing 100 mph since high school) already were emerging as two of their top targets — coinciding with Ohtani’s upcoming free agency in MLB.
“For us,” Friedman said, “a major win would have been to get two.”
But in their pursuit of painting Japan blue, they held out hope of landing all three.
Like with most Japanese players, scouting Yamamoto and Sasaki was a nuanced process. MLB officials got virtually no direct access to either since they were still under contract with their Japanese clubs. So when Dodgers officials such as Carr, Asian Pacific scouting director Jon Deeble and others in the international scouting department embarked on trips to see them — Carr estimates he went to Japan roughly 20 times over the last two years — they focused on accomplishing two main purposes.
One: to gather information with both their eyes (by watching games, practices and team workouts) and ears (by collecting more personal nuggets from sources connected to either the player or team).
“That is very similar to what we’d go through here [with domestic draft prospects],” Carr noted.
Two: to simply be seen and “make it known you’re making the effort” to be present.
“As it happens, you kind of stand out when you go over there,” Carr said. “These players, rightfully so, they’re not accessible to us. And for good reason. They’re on someone else’s team. But when you are in the stadium watching, as someone who has made the trip over from the States, that typically garners some attention with the media over there.”
“It’s a little bit embarrassing,” Carr added with a laugh. “Even when I’m over there, there’s all these pictures. But you know that’s making some kind of impression.”
An electronic billboard spanning nearly a city block features advertising starring Shohei Ohtani near the Tokyo Dome — a sign of how much Ohtani and the Dodgers have become something of a de facto home team in Japan. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
As last offseason approached and the Dodgers began crafting their free-agent pitches for Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki (who some around the sport thought might be posted to MLB after the 2023 season), there was still one dynamic they couldn’t be certain of.
There was an industry belief that Japanese stars preferred to not play on the same MLB teams. And while the Dodgers had their doubts about that theory — to Friedman, it didn’t square with the camaraderie he witnessed from Japan’s victorious 2023 WBC team — they remained wary of the unknown deep into their discussions with Ohtani and Yamamoto.
“Going through the process with Yoshinobu and Shohei, and asking the question of, ‘How comfortable would you be to play with the other,’ the answers were positive,” Friedman recalled. “But we still weren’t sure what that meant.”
After Ohtani signed his unprecedented $700-million deal in December 2023, he immediately went to work on recruiting Yamamoto. And when those efforts resulted in another record-breaking $325-million agreement — giving Yamamoto the largest contract in MLB history for a pitcher outside of Ohtani — the Dodgers turned their sights toward Sasaki the following offseason.
Their dreams of painting Japan blue were coming true.
He’s become the agent of many Japanese players in recent years, representing Darvish, Kodai Senga, Seiya Suzuki and Yamamoto too.
But even Joel Wolfe, the executive vice president and managing executive of baseball at Wasserman Media Group, couldn’t help but notice the way things changed in Japan once Ohtani and Yamamoto joined the Dodgers.
Every single game, he noted, was broadcast live on television in the morning — a 7 p.m. start in Los Angeles, for example, is on at 11 a.m. in Japan — and rerun in the evening. At almost every Japanese stadium there would be pop-up shops selling gear for three teams: the home team, the road team and the Dodgers.
It led Wolfe to make a resounding observation this offseason, when he said “the Dodgers do have a home-field advantage in Japan.”
“They’re everywhere,” he said. “All the players and fans see the Dodgers every day, so it’s always in their mind, because of Ohtani and Yamamoto.”
And when it came to Sasaki — Wolfe’s latest star Japanese client — that influence seemingly applied once again.
Dodgers teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrate winning the World Series at Yankee Stadium last October. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers were considered front-runners throughout his free agency. And while two other finalists, the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, made late pushes, his decision to sign in Los Angeles surprised almost no one in the industry.
“Getting Shohei and Yoshinobu,” Carr said, “I think really helped set the table for Roki.”
The Dodgers cite other reasons for their ability to land Sasaki — who will make his MLB debut Wednesday in Tokyo, following Yamamoto as the team’s second starter during their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs.
Friedman noted the “don’t assume anything” ethos to the club’s recruiting pitches — a style forged through past, often unsuccessful bids for such players, including Ohtani when he first came over from Japan in 2017.
Carr, meanwhile, also pointed to the years of scouting information the club collected on Sasaki, knowledge that proved crucial when the pitcher presented interested teams with a “homework assignment” that solicited ideas on how he could reverse a dip in fastball velocity that plagued him last year.
“There’s a ton of value in being able to source that information, and look back to [what was working] two years before when his velocity was up,” Carr said. “We had people to do that. You can’t just ask anyone.”
Still, when asked this week how the Dodgers’ popularity in Japan changed last year in the wake of Ohtani and Yamamoto signing in L.A., Sasaki noted how often he saw them on TV and how much attention their run to the World Series generated.
“That made their presence even greater,” he said in Japanese.
The Dodgers’ hope is for that same dynamic to apply to future waves of prospects coming out of Japan — with Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki, in the view of team evaluators, serving as the forebearers of a potential golden generation of Japanese baseball.
“If you ask me about the next five years in Japan, I could name at least three really interesting names that we’re going to be looking at moving forward and have our eyes on,” Carr said.
“In our ideal world,” Friedman added, “kids are growing up in Japan, watching Dodger games, being a fan of the team. And when they have a decision to make, that gives us some advantage in the process.”
Time will tell exactly how impactful the Dodgers’ popularity surge proves to be. As even Wolfe noted, “every player is an individual and sees the world through his lens and his background and upbringing.”
“Yoshinobu and Roki,” he added, “chose the Dodgers for very different reasons.”
Still, early in this week’s trip to Tokyo, the team has seen one sign of its popularity after another — including at yet another well-attended workout Friday at the Tokyo Dome.
Just like Friedman’s trip to see Team Japan two years earlier, the Dodgers’ practice attracted fans by the thousands (10,507 to be exact, a capacity ticket allotment that sold out in an hour). They cheered for batting practice, baserunning drills and sessions of catch in the outfield.
This time, however, there was no question about which team was best represented. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but Dodgers swag and waves of blue.
“There’s gonna be a lot of representation for the Dodgers,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think our mission was accomplished, painting the country of Japan blue.”
Wales U18s girls have travelled to Treviso to face Italy U18s at Villorba Rugby Club in a training game this afternoon ahead of their Six Nations Festival campaign next month. Wales head coach, Siwan Lillicrap said the match offers a fantastic opportunity for the squad to put into practice all the hard work they’ve put […]
After Moses Moody called Green’s version of Steph Curry’s “night night” celebration the “nightmare” following the Warriors’ 97-94 win over the New York Knicks on Saturday night at Chase Center, the Golden State veteran responded with a suitable one-word reaction on his Instagram story.
“Spooky,” Green wrote with several laughing emojis.
Draymond approves of Moody’s name for his night night celly 😂
Green hit the night night after his driving layup with 25.8 seconds remaining secured Golden State’s win — the last laugh after he and Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns were going at it all game.
Following the Warriors’ seventh consecutive win, Moody told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke about Golden State’s special name for Green’s version of Curry’s iconic celebration.
“We say in the locker room, Draymond does the ‘nightmare,’ ” Moody told Burke. “Nah, but it’s cool. That’s something obviously started with Steph, but he passed it on, moved it around and the whole team is sending them home.”
SAN FRANCISCO – Steve Kerr would be the 1,001st person to tell you he owes much of his glorious coaching career to the organizational structure that supports him and, moreover, the talented Warriors roster he inherited nearly 11 years ago.
The first 1,000 to tell you that would be those who have spent the past few seasons punching their keyboards to gripe about Golden State’s incompetent head coach.
In the words of Stephen Curry some 33 months ago after the Warriors closed out the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals in Boston: “What they gonna say now?”
When asked immediately after the game about his journey to this moment in NBA history, Kerr couldn’t resist a moment of sarcasm.
“Well, it’s amazing to do this without any talent at all,” he told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke. “I had to coach up these guys who you know, and they …
“I mean are you kidding me to be able to coach Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala,” Kerr said, turning serious. “We have been blessed with such incredible rosters the entire 11 years. And more than anything, this was a reflection of organizational strength, stability and collaboration that we all share. The players, coaches, management, ownership. We have an incredible group of people, and the record is just a reflection of that.”
Since Kerr took over as coach in May 2014, the Warriors have won four NBA championships – one more than the franchise achieved in its first 68 seasons. Of the 384 playoff games the Warriors have appeared in beginning in 1947, 140 of them came under Kerr. His 70.7 postseason win percentage (99-41 record) sits atop the all-time list – ahead of such Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers as Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley and Gregg Popovich.
This latest milestone, however, is about regular-season accomplishments. Kerr’s 558-302 record and 64.9 winning percentage rank behind Jackson and Auerbach but ahead of Riley and Popovich, and No. 1 among active coaches with more than three seasons’ experience.
It’s impressive stuff by any reasonable measure, and Kerr’s achievement was recognized by the Attles family, who presented him with the game ball.
“It was a great moment, being awarded the game ball by the Attles family was really beautiful, to sort of be honored by their presence,” Kerr said. “Obviously, Al Attles is Mr. Warrior forever. The record, it’s kind of surreal to even think that this could happen.”
The feat took more than 10 seasons, some marvelous, some forgettable. After losses, Kerr often was a popular target for armchair coaches, some even urging his firing. Once a regular on Twitter, now known as X, Kerr avoided the platform for three years and since has deactivated his account.
What they gonna say now?
Here, in chronological order, are five wins under Kerr in the regular season that are particularly notable on the road to 558:
March 31, 2015, at Los Angeles Clippers
Kerr’s first season, Game 74, against Golden State’s most detested rivals. He’s hired one week after the Warriors dismiss Mark Jackson after losing a searing seven-game playoff series against the Clippers. The new coach is on the spot.
The Warriors, who had won nine consecutive games, trail by as much as 17 points against a Clippers team that had won seven in a row. Golden State comes back to outscore LA by 10 in the fourth quarter for a 110-106 victory at Staples Center. The Warriors sweep LA 4-0 in each of the next two seasons. The rivalry is dead.
Feb. 27, 2016, at Oklahoma City Thunder
The defending champion Warriors were 52-5, the Thunder 41-17. Kerr and Green have a screaming match in the locker room at halftime. Curry limps off the court in the third quarter after spraining his left ankle. He returns – to the surprise of many – later in the quarter.
Iguodala, shooting 61.4 percent from the line that season, is fouled and awarded two free throws with Golden State down two and 0.7 seconds left. He makes both, sending the game into overtime.
Curry puts the Thunder to sleep with a 32-foot 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining for a 121-118 victory. It’s the last three of his 46 points in what is known is the “double bang” game, as described by play-by-play announcer Mike Breen.
April 10, 2016, at San Antonio Spurs
The Warriors took a 71-9 record into one of the NBA’s toughest environments against a mighty team; the Spurs were 39-0 at home. The Warriors needed to win Game No. 81 to keep alive a chance to reach a league-record 73 wins. Game 82 was at Oracle Arena, where they were invincible.
Golden State, however, had lost 33 consecutive games at San Antonio, the last win coming in 1997, when Kerr still was an active player with the Chicago Bulls.
Curry scores 37 points, 20 in the second half, as the Warriors slip out of town with their 72nd win. Three days later, they snag No. 73 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Dec. 25, 2017, at Oracle vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
Still sore about losing the 2016 NBA Finals to Cleveland on a late shot in Game 7 by Kyrie Irving, the Warriors seek a modest form or revenge in a national TV game on Christmas Day against LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kevin Love.
Curry is sidelined, with Patrick McCaw starting in his place. Zaza Pachulia is out, too, with rookie Jordan Bell starting at center. How would this makeshift lineup fare against the champs?
Maybe it helps to have Kevin Durant. He has 25 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Thompson scores 24. Green posts a triple-double. Final: Warriors 99, Cavs 92.
April 2022
The dynastic Warriors are a thing of the past. The rebuilt Warriors are trying to close with a surge to finish among the top four teams in the Western Conference. They are 48-29, with five games remaining.
Curry misses all five games. Thompson is sidelined for two of the five. Kerr picks starting lineups from a hat, inserting Gary Payton II for one game, Damion Lee for another and rookie Moses Moody in a third.
The Warriors win all five games. By an average of 13.2 points. Two months later, they win their fourth championship under Kerr.
VCU is 0-4 in games decided by 3 points or fewer. The Patriots are 17-3 in A-10 play. George Mason has a 4-3 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.
The Gators are 16-4 against SEC opponents and 13-0 in non-conference play. Florida has a 24-1 record in games decided by 10 points or more. The Volunteers are 14-6 in SEC play.
