From Gary Klein: Tutu Atwell was the forgotten man.
After signing a one-year, $10-million contract, the Rams diminutive receiver seemed to be virtually ignored while playing in the shadow of stars Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Atwell went into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts with only one target in each of the first three games.
He got only two targets against the Colts.
But the speedy Atwell made one count.
With less than two minutes left, he broke free, caught a midrange pass from Matthew Stafford and turned it into an 88-yard touchdown that gave the Rams a 27-20 victory before 71,257 at SoFi Stadium.
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Rams summary
NFL standings
CHARGERS
From Sam Farmer: Before they boarded their airport-bound buses for their 3,000-mile trip across the country Sunday, the physically spent Chargers were a collection of thousand-mile stares.
Not that they were anticipating an undefeated season — they were bound to lose sometime — but did anyone think they would fall to a winless team starting a rookie quarterback who had never thrown an NFL pass?
“It stings,” said coach Jim Harbaugh, trying to wrap his head around a 21-18 defeat to the New York Giants and savvy-beyond-his-years quarterback Jaxson Dart, making his rookie debut in place of the benched Russell Wilson.
Dart, who began his college career at USC before moving on to Mississippi, was both deft and durable, running for a touchdown, scoring a second with a shovel pass, and repeatedly climbing back to his feet after absorbing five sacks, four by linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu.
Now it’s on the Chargers to climb back onto their own feet after starting the day as one of the NFL’s six undefeated teams, emboldened by three consecutive AFC West victories.
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Chargers summary
NFL standings
JUJU WATKINS OUT FOR SEASON
From Ryan Kartje: USC women’s basketball star JuJu Watkins will miss the upcoming college basketball season as she recovers from the serious knee injury she sustained during the NCAA tournament in March.
Watkins said in an announcement on social media that she planned to take the 2025-26 season to “fully focus on continuing to recover so I can come back to the game I love.”
“The last few months have been filled with a lot of healing, rest and reflection,” Watkins said in a statement. “Recovering from this injury hasn’t been easy, and I want to say thank you — your love, support and kind words have truly lifted me up during one of the most challenging times in my life.”
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DODGERS
From Jack Harris: It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.
And it ended, fittingly, on one last swing-and-miss.
In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez helplessly waved at it like so many others before him.
With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings en route to his 223rd career win, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).
In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts quickly motioned to veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman. As Kershaw’s last career start came to an end, Roberts wanted one of his fellow superstar teammates to be the one to remove him.
“To be able to take, in my opinion, the greatest pitcher of our generation out of his last regular-season start,” Freeman said, “I think that might be up there as one of my favorite baseball moments that I’ve had.”
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Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Reds in the NL wild-card series
Plaschke: Dodgers hero Kirk Gibson now tries to be a hero for those battling Parkinson’s disease
Dodgers box score
MLB standings
ANGELS
From Bill Shaikin: The standings spoke for themselves, but the Angels’ management wanted you to know they had comprehended the lesson.
“Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way,” team president John Carpino told reporters five years ago. “We’re not winning games. So something is not right in our organization.”
That was after the 2020 season, and after five consecutive losing seasons. The Angels since have endured another five consecutive losing seasons.
The general managers have changed, and so have the managers. The only constants in this run: Carpino and owner Arte Moreno.
I wanted to ask both men to share with fans what the Angels have determined about what was not right in their organization and how they have been going about trying to fix it. Neither man was available for an interview, a team spokesman said.
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Angels box score
MLB standings
MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE
National League
Cincinnati at Dodgers
Tuesday, 6 p.m., ESPN
Wednesday, 6 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 6 p.m., ESPN
San Diego at Chicago
Tuesday, noon, ABC
Wednesday, noon, ABC
*Thursday, noon, ABC
American League
Detroit at Cleveland
Tuesday, 10 a.m., ESPN
Wednesday, 10 a.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 10 a.m., ESPN
Boston at New York
Tuesday, 3 p.m., ESPN
Wednesday, 3 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 3 p.m., ESPN
*-if necessary
CLIPPERS
From Steve Henson: On the eve of Clippers training camp, owner Steve Ballmer and the team are facing pressures over an NBA probe into allegations that the team circumvented the league salary cap when a sustainability firm paid star Kawhi Leonard $21 million.
Since purchasing the team a decade ago, Ballmer has been on a quest to bring the also-ran Clippers their first NBA title. The billionaire philanthropist has been alternately encouraged and frustrated with a team that has posted a winning record every season under his ownership, but has made early exits from the playoffs a habit. He also spearheaded the construction of the most technologically advanced and environmentally friendly arena in sports — the $2-billion Intuit Dome that opened a year ago to rave reviews.
Now, a top-rated law firm hired by the NBA is trying to determine whether the team violated league rules by funneling extra money to Leonard through a separate company in which the Clippers’ owner was an investor.
Over the last few weeks, Ballmer has been pressed for details about his $50-million investment and 2%-3% ownership stake in the firm Aspiration Partners, and whether the Clippers knew that the now-defunct company paid millions to Leonard through an endorsement deal. Aspiration provided what the company described as “socially-conscious and sustainable banking services and investment products.”
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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1923 — Gene Sarazen beats Walter Hagen 1-up to capture the PGA championship.
1941 — Joe Louis knocks out Lou Nova in the sixth round at the Polo Grounds in New York to retain the world heavyweight title.
1967 — American boxer Emile Griffith regains his world middleweight crown on points in a brawling re-match with Italian Nino Benvenuti at Shea Stadium, NY; second of famous trilogy of fights.
1974 — Dr. Norbert Sander Jr. wins the New York City Marathon in 2:26:30 and Kathy Switzer capture the women’s division in 3:07:29.
1977 — Muhammad Ali wins a unanimous 15-round decision over Earnie Shavers at Madison Square Garden in New York to retain his world heavyweight title.
1984 — Mike Prindle of Western Michigan sets an NCAA record by kicking seven field goals in a 42-7 rout over Marshall.
1985 — Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon is sacked 12 times in a 17-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys to tie an NFL record.
1988 — American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee wins her second gold medal of the Seoul Olympics by taking the long jump with an Olympic record leap of 7.40m; previously won the heptathlon.
1988 — American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner sets women’s 200m world record 21.34; completes sprint double at the Seoul Olympics.
1988 — U.S. men’s basketball team beats Australia 78-49 to take the bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics; last time U.S. represented by a team that doesn’t feature NBA players.
1988 — U.S. retain women’s basketball title at he Seoul Olympics with a 77-70 win over Yugoslavia; star guard Teresa Edwards top scores for the Americans with 18 points.
1991 — Pat Bradley wins the MBS LPGA Classic by one shot over Michelle Estill for her 30th career victory, qualifying her for the LPGA Hall of Fame.
1995 — The NHL and NHL Players Association strike a deal to allow league players to participate in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
2000 — At the Sydney Olympics, the U.S. men’s basketball team escapes the humiliation of playing for a bronze medal with an 85-83 victory over Lithuania in the semifinals. It’s the closest victory and biggest scare for a U.S. Olympic team since NBA players started competing in 1992.
2002 — After losing to Iowa State, Nebraska drops out of the Associated Press Top 25 football poll after being ranked for 348 consecutive weeks. The last time Nebraska was missing from the poll was Oct. 5, 1981.
2002 — Seattle’s Shaun Alexander scores an NFL-record five touchdowns in the first half of a 48-23 rout of Minnesota. He finishes with 139 yards rushing and 92 receiving and one TD short of the league mark of six in a game.
2012 — Geno Smith throws for 656 yards and ties a Big 12 record with eight touchdown passes to lead No. 9 West Virginia to a 70-63 win over No. 25 Baylor. Smith outduels Baylor’s Nick Florence, who has a standout game of his own with 581 yards and five TDs. Baylor’s Terrance Williams sets a Big 12 record with 314 yards receiving. The old mark was set minutes earlier by West Virginia’s Stedman Bailey, who had 303 yards and five TDs.
2015 — NCAA bans the SMU men’s basketball team from the postseason and suspends coach Larry Brown for nine games, saying he lied to investigators and ignored a case of academic fraud by a player.
2018 — Seventeen-year-old Hailie Deegan uses a bump-and-run on her teammate to become the first female winner of a NASCAR K&N West Series race. Her last-lap shove of Cole Rouse at Meridian Speedway in Idaho gives her the victory.
2020 — Ben Ainslie wins the Olympic gold medal in the Laser class, beating previous Laser Olympic champion Robert Scheidt.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1913 — Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators finished the season with 36 victories by virtue of a 1-0 decision over the Philadelphia A’s.
1915 — The Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first NL pennant, beating the Boston Braves, 5-0, behind Grover Alexander’s one-hitter.
1954 — Willie Mays made his famous over-the-shoulder catch of Vic Wertz’s long drive to center field and pinch-hitter Dusty Rhodes homered off Bob Lemon in the 10th inning to lead the New York Giants to a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the World Series.
1963 — John Paciorek of the Houston Colt .45s, in his only major league appearance, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and four runs scored against the New York Mets. A back injury ended his baseball career the next season.
1976 — John Montefusco of the San Francisco Giants pitched a 9-0 no-hitter over the Braves in Atlanta.
1983 — Mike Warren of the Oakland A’s pitched a no-hitter to beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0.
1986 — Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven broke Robin Roberts’ 1956 record of 46 home runs given up in a season when he gave up a two-out, third-inning homer to Cleveland rookie Jay Bell. It was the first major league pitch Bell had seen. Despite giving up two more homers, Blyleven was the winner when the Twins rallied in the eighth for a 6-5 victory.
1986 — Chicago Cubs rookie Greg Maddux defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 8-3 in the City of Brotherly Love. The losing pitcher was his brother, Mike, also a rookie. It was the first time brothers faced each other as rookie pitchers.
1996 — Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles became the 14th player to reach the 50-homer mark in a 4-1 loss at Toronto. Anderson’s previous season high was 21.
2001 — Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki set the major league rookie record for hits in a season but the Mariners fell to Oakland 8-4. Suzuki got his 234th hit, breaking the previous rookie mark set by Shoeless Joe Jackson with Cleveland in 1911.
2004 — Major League Baseball announces that the Montreal Expos franchise will move to Washington D.C.
2011 — The Tampa Bay Rays clinched the AL wild-card with a stunning rally, overcoming a late seven-run deficit and then beating the New York Yankees 8-7 on Evan Longoria’s home run in the 12th inning. The Rays’ win came four minutes after Boston blew a one-run lead in the ninth at Baltimore and lost 4-3. The Red Sox held a nine-game lead over the Rays in early September. Boston became the first team to miss the postseason after leading by as many as nine games for a playoff spot entering September.
2011 — Chris Carpenter and St. Louis completed one of the more remarkable comebacks in baseball history, clinching the NL wild card with an 8-0 win over Houston and a later loss by Atlanta. The Cardinals got their playoff spot when the Braves fell to Philadelphia 4-3 in 13 innings. St. Louis trailed Atlanta by 10 1/2 games on Aug. 25. The Cardinals won 23 of their last 31 games.
2013 — On the last day of the season, Miami’s Henderson Alvarez pitched one of baseball’s most bizarre no-hitters. Alvarez celebrated in the on-deck circle when the Marlins score on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0.
2017 — Rockies OF Charlie Blackmon set a new record for RBIs by a leadoff hitter, 101, with a two-run home run in the second inning.
2018 — The Yankees set a new record for home runs in a season with No. 265 hit by Gleyber Torres in the 5th inning against the Red Sox. It eclipses the mark set by the 1997 Seattle Mariners, but will be topped again next season.
2022 — Another day, another incredible performance by Shohei Ohtani. Today, he takes a no-hitter into the 8th inning before giving up a single to Conner Capel with two outs, on his way to winning his 15th of the year, 4 – 2 over the Athletics. The Angels’two-way superstar also shines at the plate, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and extending his hitting streak to 14 games – the longest in the majors at this time.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…