Editor’s note: This is the Tuesday, February 14, edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.
Good morning. Two magical datelines return to the newspapers this week: “GLENDALE, Ariz.,” having nothing to do with the Super Bowl just played in that city, and “TEMPE, Ariz.,” unrelated to Arizona State sports. Those are the spring-training homes of the Dodgers and Angels. Baseball is back.
In other news:
- The Lakers, again without LeBron James, were blown out as the Trail Blazers hit 23 3-pointers.
- New Clippers Mason Plumlee, Eric Gordon and Bones Hyland have different backgrounds but a common purpose.
- Adrian Kempe scored his seventh goal in three games and the Kings beat the Sabres.
- And columnist Mirjam Swanson says JuJu Watkins is pro quality already but fortunately we can still watch the nation’s top women’s basketball recruit at Sierra Canyon High (Chatsworth) and next season at USC.
Baseball beat writers Jeff Fletcher and Bill Plunkett are back on the job as spring training opens with the first workouts for pitchers and catchers Wednesday for the Angels and Thursday for the Dodgers and full-squad workouts Monday, building to the first Cactus League games Feb. 25, the Freeway Series in Los Angeles and Anaheim March26-28, and opening day March 30.
Both teams arrive having added players to the middle of their payrolls but no super-expensive superstars. That similar winter strategy means something different in each camp.
For the Angels, 73-89 last season despite more brilliance from Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, it looks like a step forward to have worked to “improve the middle of the roster,” as GM Perry Minasian puts it in Fletcher’s spring-training preview story.
The Angels, whose glitziest additions are left-hander Tyler Anderson (signed away from the Dodgers) and left fielder Hunter Renfroe (in a trade with the Brewers), might benefit just as much from the…
Read the full article here
