Good morning! It is September, and both Southern California teams that spent last week getting swept woke up Monday and stopped it. Walbert Ureña carved up the Yankees in Anaheim while the Angels put together their best offensive night in a month. In Cincinnati, Manny Machado had four hits and the Padres shut out the Reds. Eric Lambkins II has a piece on the thing Sean McVay values that never shows up in a box score. And the Angels quietly reorganized their front office. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
⚾ Seven and none. Ureña’s best start yet ended a seven-game skid, 10-1 over New York — Jack Janes at Angel Stadium.
🏈 McVay’s secret weapon. The voices in the Rams’ huddle, and why they matter — Eric Lambkins II at the Rams’ practice facility.
⚾ Four AGMs. The Angels restructured the front office — Jack Janes at Angel Stadium.
🏈 Still reading. Aaron Donald’s return, one day later — Eric Lambkins II and Fredo Cervantes.
🏈 The Chargers’ 53. Fernando Ramirez on a roster he calls the deepest in recent memory — Fernando Ramirez at The Bolt.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — MONDAY
⚾ MLB: Angels 10, Yankees 1 · Padres 5, Reds 0
⚾ ELEVEN STRAIGHT FIRST-PITCH STRIKES
A week ago in this newsletter, Walbert Ureña walked five in three and two-thirds innings and Kurt Suzuki was talking about arm-side miss. Monday night he faced the Yankees and threw a first-pitch strike to the first eleven hitters he saw.
“When you face the Yankees and the Phillies and the Red Sox, there’s always a little bit of a sense of anxiety,” Suzuki said. “When you watch Walbert from pitch one, it was zero anxiety. That’s the sign of an ace.”
Seven innings. One run. Eight strikeouts. No walks. First-pitch strikes to 76 percent of the men he faced, and 72 percent strikes overall. The only mistake was a sinker that stayed middle to Spencer Jones, who hit it out.
Ureña knew exactly what he had fixed. “I’ve been working on my glove side,” he told Jack Janes. “Last time, I was opening too much. I’ve been working in my bullpen, my training program, and every time now, I stay on the line and I’m making pitches.”
The numbers around him are becoming remarkable. His ERA is down to 2.85 — second among American League rookies, behind only Cleveland’s Parker Messick, who beat this same Angels lineup a week ago. In franchise terms, 2.85 would be the second-best ERA by an Angels pitcher in his first big-league season with at least 20 starts; only Rickey Clark’s 2.59 in 1967 is better. And with 120 strikeouts, Ureña passed Jim Abbott on Monday for the second-most in a debut season in Angels history.
Suzuki’s read on him has less to do with stuff. “He’s not going to change because he has a bad start or whatever. This guy’s going to be the same guy every single day.”
The offense finally cooperated. Twelve hits, ten runs, four multi-hit games, and Vaughn Grissom 3-for-5 with four RBI — all of it without a home run, only the second time this season the Angels have scored ten that way.
“Not trying to hit a homer every time,” Suzuki said. “I thought it was just quality at-bats.”
GO DEEPER
› Jack Janes: Ureña continues dominant rookie campaign, offense finally wakes up (The Sporting Tribune)
🏈 THE VOICES IN THE HUDDLE
Eric Lambkins II filed from the Rams’ practice facility on something that does not appear in any box score: who talks in the huddle, and why Sean McVay treats that as an asset rather than an accident. It is a good companion to a week in which the Rams added the most decorated defensive player of his generation and cut fifty-something men who wanted to be in that huddle.
GO DEEPER
› Eric Lambkins II: Why the voices in the Rams’ huddle are McVay’s secret weapon (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ MACHADO’S FOUR HITS IN CINCINNATI
The Padres needed something after Tampa Bay swept them, and they got it in Ohio: Manny Machado went 4-for-4 at the plate, Michael King struck out six over six innings, and San Diego shut out the Reds 5-0.
It is one game, but it is the right one. The Padres came into the week holding the last National League wild card by a single game and spent the weekend finding new ways to lose. Monday they didn’t.
GO DEEPER
› Eric Evelhoch: King helps Padres snap losing skid with emphatic shutout win at Cincinnati (The Sporting Tribune)
⚾ FOUR ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGERS
Separately, Jack Janes reports the Angels have restructured their baseball operations department and now employ four assistant general managers. In a season that has produced a rookie starter this good and very little else, how the front office is organized is not a small story.
GO DEEPER
› Jack Janes: Angels make front office changes, now have four AGMs (The Sporting Tribune)
🍔 THE DEALS BOARD
Active today across Southern California — brought to you by Ike’s Sandwiches, home of the world famous Arash Markazi sandwich, which has fried chicken, purple slaw, wasabi mayo, honey mustard, and cheddar on a Dutch Crunch roll. Just ask for the 500 at any Ike’s location. Here is what Monday night triggered under the published rules — confirm in the apps before you order.
🍟 McDonald’s — free medium fries with a $2 purchase. The Angels won, which is the whole trigger, and this one has not been live since Aug. 22. Rewards & Deals section of the app.
🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast, if any home run cleared 420 feet Monday. It has triggered on 97 percent of game days this season, so the odds are good, but we could not confirm Monday’s list at deadline. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
Dark today: every Dodgers deal. They were off Monday, so Panda Express, Jack in the Box, ampm, Sunright, El Portal, Con Azúcar, Habit Burger and Uber Eats all reset. The board refills tonight against St. Louis — and a home win puts the whole slate back in play tomorrow.
📺 WATCHLIST — TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
⚾ MLB: Padres at Reds — 3:40 p.m. — Padres TV
⚾ MLB: Yankees at Angels — Angel Stadium — 6:38 p.m. — ABTV
⚾ MLB: Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — 7:10 p.m. — SNLA
Coming up: The Dodgers open a homestand tonight, their first game at Chavez Ravine since Aug. 23. The Rams face San Francisco in Melbourne on Sept. 10.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
Get-in prices across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii — brought to you by TickPick, the no-hidden-fee ticket marketplace.
⚾ Cardinals at Dodgers — Dodger Stadium — $35
⚾ Yankees at Angels — Angel Stadium — $5
🏈 Fresno State at USC — Coliseum (Friday) — $19
🌴 TST TRIVIA
Walbert Ureña passed Jim Abbott on Monday for the second-most strikeouts by a pitcher in his first major league season in Angels history. He needs 25 more to pass the franchise record holder. Who is it?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
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Trivia answer: Bo Belinsky.
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