What can UCLA and USC expect in their bowl games?

The UCLA Bruins football team will play Baylor in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27. So, who exactly are these Baylor Bears? It might be best to start with who they are not.

They are not Robert Griffin III’s Baylor Bears. The Heisman Trophy winner is the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins these days. But even though Baylor lost a first-round quarterback to the NFL, the football team was left in two capable sets of hands.

The first pair belongs to receiver Terrance Williams. He is making a variety of All-America teams and breaking even more school records. Williams leads the nation with 1,764 receiving yards and was a finalist for the Fred Belitnekoff Award. (Marqise Lee of USC won the award).

Williams holds the school record for receiving yards and is second in school history in receiving TDs with 12 and receptions with 95. He needs 236 yards in the Holiday Bowl to become only the second player in NCAA football history with 2,000 receiving yards in a season. The  way Baylor runs its offense, 236 receiving yards is not out of the question.

Trevor Insley from Nevada is the only college receiver with more than 2,000 receiving yards in a season. He caught 134 passes for 2,060 yards in 1999. Only two receivers have more than 1,900 receiving yards in a season, Michael Crabtree at Texas Tech and Troy Edwards at Louisiana Tech.

Nick Florence, Baylor’s senior quarterback, has more than delivered after RG3 left the team. Florence is 174 yards shy of breaking Griffin’s school record for passing yards in a season. Florence is also six touchdown passes short of breaking Griffin’s school record in that category.

Florence leads the nation with an average of 387.7 yards per game of total offense. He is an academic All-American, the fourth quarterback from Baylor to earn that honor. Of course, the last quarterback to do it was Griffin in 2011.

Suffice it to say Baylor can put up some points. The team can put up points at Oregon Ducks pace. The Bears might have a more potent offense than USC. The Bruins will have their hands full, but then again, USC was supposed to give them a handful, too.

Dodgers end season on a hot streak, but fall short of playoffs

The Dodgers finally caught fire, but it was a little too late to do any damage in the National League playoffs.
They put together a little six-game winning streak in the final week of the season and averaged nearly seven runs a game.
This is the kind of offense Dodgers fans can expect next season. Too bad it didn’t do them any good this season.
Still, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told MLB.com there is no reason to think his players can produce like this on a regular basis.
“It’s good. It’s kind of fun playing like this,” Mattingly said. “It makes you think, ‘Why can’t you do this over the course of a season or a month?’”
Why, indeed.
It would have been nice if the Dodger bats woke up a month ago.
Adrian Gonzalez put together a 13-game hitting streak over the final two weeks of the season. It was the longest hitting streak for any Dodger this season. It started on Sept. 19 against the Washington Nationals. He hit .396 during the streak and the Dodgers were 9-4 over those 13 games.
Gonzalez had two hits, including his 47th double of the season, a career-high, against the Giants on Monday.
Matt Kemp ended the season on a hot note as well. He hit .458 with four home runs and nine RBIs in seven games from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1.
Luis Cruz was a tough out during that same time span, hitting .320 with a home run and four RBIs. He hit .313 in September and had the second-highest batting average on the team for the month.
Little-used Elian Herrera even got into the hitting act with a game-winning, RBI single against the Giants in a game the Dodgers needed to win to stay alive in the playoff picture.

Dodgers fall short of playoffs, lose to Giants

LOS ANGELES – The San Francisco Giants snuffed any chance the Dodgers had at a playoff spot with a 4-3 win on Tuesday night.

“It could have ended a little bit better,” Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said. “We came up a little bit short. It’s tough. You work hard. Everybody’s main goal was to make the playoffs. We kind of failed.”

The Dodgers needed a win to stay in the playoff picture and keep within striking distance of the St. Louis Cardinals, who entered the night with a two-game lead in the wild-card playoff race over the Dodgers.

The Reds beat the Cardinals, 3-1, earlier in the night leaving the door open for the Dodgers to stay alive in the playoff chase for another day.

But Buster Posey’s home run in the second inning and Marco Scutaro’s two-run double in the fifth sealed the Dodgers’ fate before 42,473 at Dodger Stadium.

“We’re going to learn from this,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “This is a feeling we don’t want to have again.”

The Dodgers had a chance to tie the score in the ninth inning. Andre Ethier led off the inning with a single up the middle, but AJ Ellis couldn’t sacrifice him to second. Pinch runner Dee Gordon came in for Ethier and stole second with two outs.

Mark Ellis ended the game when he lined out to centerfield.

“We still had a chance to do it,” said Kemp, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. “We just came up short. We kind of rebounded, but we didn’t make it at the end. No excuses, man. No excuses.”

Posey hit a solo home run to lead off the second inning and gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. It was his 24^th home run of the season.

The Dodgers tied the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the second. Hanley Ramirez hit a one-out triple into the right field corner. Luis Cruz knocked him in on a groundout.

Adrian Gonzalez led off the second inning with a deep drive to left field. Xavier Nady made the catch crashing into the outfield wall for the first out of the inning. Gonzalez singled in the sixth inning to extend his hitting streak to 14 games.

Joaquin Arias put the Giants back on top, 2-1, with a solo home run to centerfield in the third inning. It was his fifth of the season.

Dodgers starter Chris Capuano didn’t make it past the third inning. Mattingly replaced Capuano with Jamey Wright in the fourth inning.

Capuano gave up a pair of solo home runs and left the game trailing, 2-1.

Scutaro drove in two runs with a two-out double in the fifth inning and gave the Giants a 4-1 lead.

AJ Ellis hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning off reliever Guillermo Mota to cut the Giants lead to one run, 4-3. Ethier was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Ellis followed with a shot to centerfield that was helped over the fence by the warm night air.

Posey went 2-for-4 and leads the National League in hitting with a .337 batting average.

Andrew McCutcheon of the Pittsburgh Pirates, second in the National League in batting, went 0-for-4 against the Atlanta Braves and saw his batting average drop to .327.

Photo: Matt Kemp signs some autographs for fans after the Dodgers lost to the Giants, 4-3, on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Herrera keeps Dodgers playoff hopes alive

LOS ANGELES – Elian Herrera knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Dodgers a win they needed to stay alive in the playoff race.

Herrera’s single off the glove of second baseman Marco Scutaro knocked in Hanley Ramirez and gave the Dodgers a 3-2 win over the visiting San Francisco Giants before 33,624 at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.

Herrera, who came in the game as part of a double switch in the top of the ninth inning, said it was the biggest hit of his career and gave the Dodgers their sixth win in a row.

“I had to put the ball in play and something can happen,” Herrera said.

The Dodgers needed to win the game to avoid playoff elimination. The Dodgers are two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the final wild-card playoff spot with two games to play. The Cardinals need only one more win to clinch the final wild-card playoff spot after beating the Reds, 4-2.

“It was that kind of game you know? We knew pretty early that we had to do our job,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “We’re looking good and we need to win another game. Right now we have to take care of our part. It would be nice to know that our game means something.”

The Giants jumped on Dodgers starter Aaron Harang early. Buster Posey drove in the first run of the game on an RBI double in the first inning.

Harang settled down after that giving up two hits and two walks with three strikeouts in six innings.

The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on a two-run home run by Andre Ethier. It was his 20^th home run of the season. Ethier has 26 hits against Giants starter Matt Cain. No other player in the majors has more.

The Dodgers tried to tack on another run in the sixth inning. Shane Victorino singled to left field with Adrian Gonzalez on second base. But Xavier Nady threw out Gonzalez at the plate to end the inning.

Scutaro tied the score, 2-2, with a one-out, RBI single in the eighth inning. With the single, Scutaro has an 18-game hitting streak.

Posey entered the game leading the National League in hitting with a .338 batting average. Andrew McCutcheon of the Pittsburgh Pirates was second with a .329 batting average. He went 1-for-3 in a 2-1 win against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.

Posey was 1-for-4 against the Dodgers and has a .336 batting average with two games left in the season.

Brandon League (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win.

Santiago Casilla (7-6) gave up the winning run to Herrera in the ninth inning after loading the bases on a walk and two hits.

Photo: The Dodgers take the field before their game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday night. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Delays at Dodger Stadium and the trade with the Red Sox

Sung to the tune of “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” with apologies to Jack Norworth:

Take me out to the ball game
Except on Vin Scully bobblehead night
Cuz if you run late
(Let’s face it, if you live in LA, who doesn’t run late?)
They’ll make you wait
Outside the gate for an hour
If your son scoots, scoots, scoots away from you
Security will make you stay
For it’s one, two, three innings you’ll miss
At the old ball game.

Suffice it to say, not a good time was had by all at Vin Scully bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. Not only did the Dodgers lose to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0, but it took nearly an hour to get into the stadium while Vin Scully bobbleheads were passed out at the gates.

Photo: Fans waited for about an hour to get into Dodger Stadium on Vin Scully bobblehead night. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Dodgers down Diamondbacks with ninth inning rally

Dodgers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Diamondbacks, 5-4. Adrian Gonzalez knocked drove in the tying and winning runs with a two-run double.
Dodger Stadium was pretty empty for the game. I don't think the attendance was even announced, but my guess would be well below 20,000.
On to San Diego...

Blue moon over Dodger Stadium

The Dodgers lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-0, on Vin Scully bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium.

Grading the Dodgers trades

The Dodgers revamped their roster, making some significant trades before the deadline. They have a little more punch in their lineup, but gave up some promising and reliable arms to get them.
The new faces in the Dodgers clubhouse are All Stars Hanley Ramirez and Shane Victorino, starter Joe Blanton and relievers Brandon League and Randy Choate.
Gone are promising pitching prospects Nathan Eovaldi, Josh Lindblom and a batch of minor leaguers.
To be honest, the Dodgers landed quite a haul for the players they gave up. Ramirez will be around for a couple of years and is only 28 years old. Victorino ends the platoon of Juan Rivera and Bobby Abreu in left field. League and Choate might add new life to a lethargic Dodgers bullpen. Blanton adds a veteran arm to the rotation rather than enduring the growing pains that come with nurturing the likes of Eovaldi and Steven Fife.
Here is a look at how the new players will affect the Dodgers down the stretch and their grades: