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Dodgers put on a pitching-clinic in epic 2-0 shutout victory over the Padres in Game 5 to advance to NLCS – NBC Los Angeles

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Dodgers put on a pitching-clinic in epic 2-0 shutout victory over the Padres in Game 5 to advance to NLCS – NBC Los Angeles

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In sports, stories of redemption are often the ones that pierce through our psyche and pull on our heartstrings. The game’s biggest moments always seem to find the person most deserving of redemption, call it baseball’s version of the circle of life. 

Enter Yoshinobu Yamamoto from stage left, the Los Angeles Dodgers newest import who signed one of the richest contracts in baseball history in the offseason without even throwing a single big league pitch. The Dodgers invested $325 million in his electric right arm. They did it for games in October when the lights are the brightest and the moments are the biggest. 

However, after a disastrous start in Game 1, that saw Yamamoto allow five runs in just three innings, many questioned if he should be trusted with the baseball in the most important game of the Dodgers season. 

Equipped with the focus and intensity of a steady flame on a melting candle, and with every nerve in his body strained like a harp-string, Yamamoto delivered the pitching performance of a lifetime, and one that the Dodgers so desperately needed. 

Yamamoto threw five shutout innings, and Kiké and Teoscar Hernández both homered as the Dodgers defeated the rival San Diego Padres, 2-0, in a dramatic Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Friday night. 

“He was outstanding tonight,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of Yamamoto. “I knew he wasn’t going to run from this spot. I’m looking forward to riding him through the World Series.”

With the victory, the Dodgers advance to the National League Championship series against the New York Mets. 

“The job’s not done and you will see the focus, the fire going forward, with the expectation to win eight more games,” said Roberts looking ahead to the NLCS. “We’re ready to play and we’re ready to win four games against the Mets. I’m not thinking about anything else but our 26 guys and beating the Mets. That’s it.”

Maybe it was fate that the biggest moments found Yamamoto, or destiny that it was the Hernándezes that delivered, two players who have proven that they are built for October baseball: performing at their best when the pressure is at its peak.

“This guy right here [Teoscar] likes the big moment, too,” said Kiké Hernández sitting next to a champagne-soaked Teoscar after the victory. “I’m glad we’re both on the team. I’m glad we both have the same last name. I’m glad the accent goes over both A’s. I told him before Game 4, it’s never been done in the history of the game: two Hernándezes going deep in the same game in the playoffs. But it happened tonight.”

Regardless of whether or not it was divine intervention, a twist of fate, or simply the magic of baseball, each and every moment of the decisive Game 5 was the kind of stuff you dream about as kids playing in the backyard. Dodgers vs. Padres, a budding rivalry between to division foes filled with respect, hatred, and uncoiled emotions.

“These types of games are the ones we’ve been dreaming about since we were little kids,” said Kiké Hernández of Game 5 between the Padres and Dodgers. “We didn’t come here to win the NL West; we came to win the World Series. We were not worried about anything else other than winning tonight.”

But before the Dodgers could come spilling out of the dugout, stumbling on the dirt as they smiled, screamed and hugged each other, there first had to be a beginning to this dream. And trust me, it was a start as much mired in drama and suspense as the finish was.

Hernandez helped the Dodgers fire the first shot when he jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Yu Darvish with two outs in the second inning. It gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, and in the series, the team that led after four innings ended up winning the game.

“I was looking for that pitch and that pitch only,” said Hernández of his assault on Darvish’s first-pitch fastball. “And he gave it to me, and I didn’t miss it.”

Yamamoto was aware of that statistic as well, so he set the tone early with a 1-2-3 first inning. 

“He set the tone,” said Roberts of Yamamoto’s first inning. “I think that Yoshi’s had a lot of success in his professional career. I said it before; he’s pitched in big ball games. And I believed in him. I knew he was going to rise to the occasion.”

The pitching matchup in Game 5 between Yamamoto and Darvish was the first between two Japanese-born starting pitchers in MLB postseason history, so it was only fitting that they each dazzled in what turned out to be a good ol’ fashioned pitcher’s duel between the two countrymen. 

“Yoshi [Yoshinobu], Darvish, these guys that are from out of the country, they’re pitching on a bigger scale,” said Roberts who was born in Japan himself to a Japanese mother. “They are pitching for their country. When you pitch for the WBC, for the country of Japan, those are the highest stakes that you can have. They both have done that and pitched well in those moments. I have to give Yu a lot of credit for what he did tonight.”

Yamamoto fired five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

“I think in Japan, like a lot of fans were looking forward to today’s match-up because this is the first time that two Japanese pitchers are facing off on the same game on the postseason,” said Yamamoto, through a translator, of the matchup and his performance. “I was just trying to be aggressive and then get initiative. I think my mechanics were locked in today.” 

Darvish delivered 6.2 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts, but he allowed two solo home runs that proved to be the difference in the game. 

“I would take that start from Yu every time,” said San Diego’s manager Mike Shildt. “I thought Yu was magnificent again. Had them off balance. Couple of swings got him. Other than that, he was really good.”

The second of those swings, which provided the Dodgers with a much-needed insurance run, came off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“I try not to run away from the big moments,” said Teoscar Hernández of his 7th inning homer. “I learned how to control my mind, my emotions in those big situations, and I try not to do too much and just do the things that I know how to do, which is just try to get a good pitch and put it in play. I know if I hit the ball, it’s going to have a big chance that it’s going to go in a positive way.”

“I was just trying to get on base, he was pitching really good, he was dotting a lot of pitches on the corners, I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Hernandez told FOX during the game. “This is why I signed here. I’ve never seen the stadium as loud as this.” 

The MVP of Game 4; the Dodgers bullpen, did the rest, sending the 53,183 blue-towel waving fans into a frenzy with four shutout innings to secure the victory. 

After allowing six runs in a sloppy second inning in Game 3 of the series, the Dodgers pitching staff combined for 24 scoreless innings against San Diego. 

“I think stunning is appropriate,” said Shildt of his offense getting shut out for 24 consecutive innings. “You’ve got to tip you hat, and while we’re doing it, congratulations to the Dodgers.”

Roberts said the bullpen was the MVP of the series.

“You can have whatever plan or script, but it comes down to the players,” said Roberts of his pitching staff over the last three games of the series. “From Yoshi [Yoshinobu] today to the bullpen, if you’re talking about a series MVP, it’s out bullpen, clearly.”

Whether it was the bullpen, the Hernándezes, or the team as a whole, the Dodgers redemption arc was completed against the Padres in Game 5.

Los Angeles swept San Diego in the 2020 NLDS, but the Padres bested the Boys in Blue in four games in 2022.

On Wednesday, it was the Dodgers who saved their best for the end of the third act of the trilogy, getting revenge on the Padres for their shocking defeat just two years prior.

“It’s redemption. I wanted to beat those guys. We all wanted to beat those guys really bad,” said Roberts who improved to 6-2 in winner-take-all elimination games as Dodgers’ manager. “We’re going to celebrate tonight.”

Thanks to Roberts’ excellent leadership over the course of the series, seemingly pushing all the right buttons in their comeback, the Dodgers celebrated on their own field, clinching a postseason series at Dodger Stadium for the first time since the 2013 NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.

Now, it’s on to the “OMG” Mets, who are on a magical run of their own over the last couple weeks.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven NLCS is scheduled for Sunday, October 13th at 5:15PM PT on FOX.



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How the homeless can vote in Los Angeles County and across California – NBC Los Angeles

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October 14, 2024

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How the homeless can vote in Los Angeles County and across California – NBC Los Angeles

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Latinos, women and independents are among the voting blocks often discussed during elections.

One woman tells the NBC4 I-Team it is time to consider the homeless, a group she was once a part of.

The last count found more than 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County and many of them may not realize that they can register to vote, including at county shelters and online.

“The main thing I feel for any homeless person, is you have to learn to become vocal, you know? That’s why we are invisible, because a lot of us tend to be so embarrassed, we don’t want to reach out for help,” Justice Butler said. 

The 65-year-old former radio disc jockey says she found herself homeless at various times in her life, from her hometown of Houston to Los Angeles. She now lives in a studio apartment near McArthur Park.  

One thing that never waned was her desire to be part of the voting process. 

“It means a lot every year, because the first time I’m voting, and I’m teary-eyed because of the people before me, and I’ve really learned to connect to my history,” Butler said. “They died and fought for this right to vote.”

Butler registered to vote while at a Los Angeles city shelter.  

“When I went into the shelter on Skid Row, they gave me all this paperwork to fill out, and one of it was a voter registration card,” she said.  

Her story is not unique.  

California law allows an unhoused or homeless voter to participate in the election, said Dean Logan, who oversees the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

“They can register to vote, they can list the cross street where they spend the most of their time, where they lay their head at night,” Logan said. 

“They can list the shelter where they’re staying for residents’ purposes that ensures they get the most localized ballot that’s effective for them,” he added. 

Logan tells the NBC4 I-Team, currently there are about 800 voters registered with an intersection address and then another approximately 5,500 voters who registered with a shelter, a church or similar place that provides services. 

Still there is the fact that every active registered voter in California receives a vote by mail ballot. 

“So you can list a mailing address. So a lot of those voters may list even a Department of Social Services address where they’re receiving information about their benefits or they can use a shelter address or a PO box to receive the voting materials,” Logan said.   

He says the fail-safe method remains the in-person vote centers, including mobile ones that the county sends to different neighborhoods.  

“We utilize that program to also go to homelessness encampments that are in North County or out in Long Beach or areas like that to ensure that we have access for those voters,” he said.  

The need goes beyond the homeless population.  

“This is a particular issue in this election because we know that there are a group of citizens who through the end of rent control after the pandemic have been displaced from their homes and may not receive their voting materials because they’re dealing with trying to find a new home or a new place to stay,” Logan said.  

Butler says she is battling a debilitating lung disease and is focused on issues that matter to her this election.  

“It’s about somebody having a plan for healthcare,” she said. 

Her message to others, no matter where they live is, is to vote.

“We got to go out to vote,” she said. “This time, we got to go out and vote, y’all, real.”

Vote by mail ballots have been mailed out.  Some of the dozens of in-person vote centers in Los Angeles County will open as soon as 11 days before election day and people can vote at any location, even registering on site. 

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Dodgers can’t overcome early six-run deficit in 7-3 loss to Mets in Game 2, NLCS even at one game apiece – NBC Los Angeles

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October 14, 2024

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Dodgers can’t overcome early six-run deficit in 7-3 loss to Mets in Game 2, NLCS even at one game apiece – NBC Los Angeles

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October baseball is infamous for its unscripted nature. Just when you think you can predict the outcome, a literal curveball gets thrown at you, flipping the script, turning everything topsy-turvy. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers threw a bullpen game with their season on the line in Game 4 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres. 

Pundits, analysts, and experts alike all said it would be the end of the 2024 Dodgers. Instead, eight different relievers combined for a shutout, extending their season and their scoreless inning streak. 

Jack Flaherty and the bullpen threw another shutout in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday to tie the MLB record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings in the postseason. So another bullpen game in Game 2 with the same relievers lined up should reproduce the same results, right?

Wrong. 

Francisco Lindor snapped the scoreless streak with a leadoff homer in the first, and Mark Vientos broke the game open with a grand slam in the second, and the New York Mets defeated the Dodgers 7-3 in Game 2 to even the best-of-seven NLCS at one game apiece. 

“Everything is great when it works well and guys are throwing up zeros, but you’re still facing really good ball clubs,” said Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts of the bullpen game in Game 4 of the NLDS compared to Game 2 of the NLCS. “And there is a margin that you have to guard against and kind of really appreciate the cost of the next games, and not forgetting that this isn’t a winner-take-all game. It’s not a three-game series.”

Ironically, everyone in the extended baseball multiverse spent the last 24 hours praising the Dodgers pitching staff and wondering when or if they would allow another run. 

Flaherty said the pitchers were “feeding off each other,” after Game 1. On Monday they got eaten alive by the “OMG” Mets’ hitters. 

Lindor, likely the runner-up for MVP in the National League to Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, hit the Mets sixth leadoff homer of the season, and first in the playoffs since Curtis Granderson in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series, when he crushed a cutter from opener Ryan Brasier sending the ball soaring into the New York bullpen for a 1-0 lead. 

Los Angeles went to right-hander Landon Knack for length, but instead of keeping the game close, he opened the flood gates, surrendering five runs in the second inning, including a back-breaking grand slam on the ninth pitch he threw to Vientos. 

“I really didn’t have a feel for things. I just wasn’t sharp today,” said Knack of what happened in the second inning. “I wasn’t able to execute pitches the way I normally do. I wasn’t able to put guys away. I kept leaving things middle.”

From that moment on, nothing happened on Monday afternoon that echoed anything that preceded it. The Dodgers scorching hot offense, that had produced 19 runs over their last three games, went dormant. The dominant pitching staff was ineffective and subordinate. 

Ohtani, who was 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored in Game 1 was hitless with two strikeouts in Game 2. 

“I thought he didn’t look comfortable versus Manaea,” said Dave Roberts of what he saw from Ohtani at the plate today. “The heater is away. You can see he was just kind of trying to keep the ball away from Shohei.”

Sean Manaea, who entered the game with nearly an 8.00 ERA against the Dodgers in his career, silenced the most-lethal lineup in the Majors for the better part of five innings.

“He’s a really good pitcher,” said Mookie Betts of Manaea on Monday. “He’s been pitching really well lately and has a lot of confidence. He threw the ball well again today. We lost. It sucks. I don’t think anyone here was expecting them to roll over. We have to turn the page and prepare for Game 3 now.”

Manaea, who changed his arm angle in the offseason, delivering his best season since 2019 with the Oakland Athletics, allowed three runs (two earned), on two hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in five innings of work.

Maybe it was the early start time that did the Dodgers in. The Mets, who are still on Eastern Standard Time are accustomed to afternoon starts. Los Angeles hasn’t had one since the final game of the regular season on September 29th. 

The Dodgers have spent the past decade monopolizing the Majors with a businesslike attitude. Stoic and forceful, less emotion, and more determination than their counterparts, they looked lackadaisical and lost in Game 2, like the drowsy sleeper who keeps hitting snooze on their alarm clock. 

It took five innings for the Dodgers to finally awaken from their slumber. Max Muncy put the boys in blue on the board with a solo shot in the fifth inning, his 12th career postseason homer, tied for second on the Dodgers all-time list.

Los Angeles cut the lead in half thanks to a pair of walks and some bad defense by the Mets.

Tommy Edman drove in two runs when a ball bounced off the glove of first baseman Pete Alonso, but the rally ended when Enrique Hernández hit into a double-play with the bases loaded two batters later.

Hernández had another opportunity to tie the game with runners on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, but he popped out to shallow right field to end the inning.

The Dodgers were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Game 2 and left a total of ten runners on base in the loss.

“We’re never out of the fight,” said Dodgers’ catcher Will Smith of the missed opportunities.. “We were one big swing away from tying the game or taking the lead. As long as we keep giving ourselves opportunities like that we’re going to be okay.”

The Dodgers better sound the alarm when they head to Citi Field on Wednesday for Game 3, or they will be in danger of falling behind in this series. That’s not something they want to do against the team that had the most ninth inning comebacks in baseball this season. 

Before Game 1 of the series, Muncy said his team needed to keep the fire and intensity that allowed them to win back-to-back elimination games to advance past the powerful Padres. But instead of fire and intensity, it was lethargy and fragility on display in Game 2. 

The Mets had much better at-bats than the Dodgers, saw more pitches, showed more fight, and overall looked like the better team on the diamond. Oh, what a difference a day makes. 

Momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher, and the Dodgers didn’t have one. 

Their starting rotation is in shambles, injured beyond recognition, with only one pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, still standing from the Opening Day rotation, and even he missed nearly three months of the season with a rotator cuff injury. 

Now the Dodgers will turn to the inconsistent, but battle-tested Walker Buehler in Game 3. Coming off his second Tommy John surgery, Buehler was 1-6 with a 5.38 ERA in 16 games this season. He allowed six runs in the second inning against San Diego in Game 3 of the NLDS. Manager Dave Roberts believes in him and is banking on his past history of big game performances. 

“I like Walker on the road,” said Roberts. “I talked to Walker yesterday, and he’s obviously never lacked for confidence, but he’s in a good place physically, and he certainly lives for the big moments. What better way to change the bad taste that you had in the regular season for him to have a dominant postseason, and he’s on a heater right now.”

Whether it’s a heater or a luke-warmer, however it looks, the Dodgers need Buehler to deliver a gem in Game 3. If so, they’re back on-line with Yamamoto going in Game 4 and Flaherty on regular rest in Game 5. 

It’s funny how fast things can change in a playoff series. 24 hours ago, the Dodgers looked unbeatable, now they’ve lost home-field advantage and their pitching staff has been quelled. But tomorrow is another day, and another opportunity to flip the script. The rest of this series is still unwritten.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven NLCS between the Mets and Dodgers is scheduled for 5:08 PM PT on Wednesday, October 16th at Citi Field in Queens, NY. The game will air live on FS1.



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Riverside County sheriff – NBC Los Angeles

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October 14, 2024

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Riverside County sheriff – NBC Los Angeles

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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Monday he stands by his comments over the weekend when he said his deputies may have prevented a third assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, though a federal law enforcement source told NBC News there’s no indication that there was an attempt to assassinate the former president.

Deputies arrested 49-year-old Vem Miller of Nevada on state weapons charges a quarter mile from the rally. The arrest in Coachella, California, took place before the former president arrived.

“We do know that he showed up with multiple IDs, an unlicensed, unregistered vehicle with fake plates and weapons and ammunition,” Sheriff Bianco said. “In the end ,we found the person with all those monstrous red flags and we were able to arrest him on weapons charges and get him away from the facility before the president got there.”

Bianco’s comments come one day after his weekend press conference where he said he believed another assassination attempt on Trump had been prevented. 

But on Monday we also heard from Miller, who is now out of jail after posting bond.

“I am releasing this statement because of the false information that is currently being released,” Miller said in a video shared on Rumble.

In the video, Miller shared that he’s a longtime supporter of former President Trump.

“Since 2000, I’ve been involved in the Republican Party in Nevada,” Miller said. “I am a Trump caucus captain, I have collected votes for Donald Trump, and I’m also a Trump team leader.”

NBC News was not able to verify Miller’s claim that he worked as a Trump caucus captain or a Trump team leader and that he was invited to the rally.

He said that he was in Coachella working as a journalist for the America Happens Network and always carries guns with him.

“In the trunk of my car I carry two firearms: One is a glock, one is a shotgun, and these two firearms that I carry for me are simply for protection,” he added.

 Bianco wasn’t backing down.

“If he wants to say he was an innocent victim, then he also has to say how dumb it was to come out to believe that he could do all of those and try to get into that event, with guns,” Bianco said. “I don’t care if he’s a supporter of President Trump.”

“I’m very proud of my deputies and everything that they did there,” Bianco said. “We’re not making up anything that he did, we just caught him.”

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