Dodger fans face bitter taste of Series loss
LOS ANGELES — Everyone in Los Angeles knew it. This was the Dodgers’ year. And then it wasn’t.
The boys in blue, who had the best record in Major League Baseball, never threatened Wednesday in a Game 7 World Series loss to the Houston Astros. And people who thought they would be watching a parade through the city streets this week will have to turn their thoughts to next spring, again.
On a day the team’s fans thought they would finally get the sweet taste of 1988, the last time the Dodgers won a World Series, they instead got the bitter taste of 1978, the last time they lost it.
“I’m more heartbroken over this loss than I was over my last relationship,” Dodger fan Jess Bishop said.
“Heartbroken” was a word that came up constantly in the Dodger corners of Facebook and Twitter after the 5-1 loss.
Some fought back real tears.
“Houston deserves this,” said Rene Lopez of Pomona, choking up. “It was a great baseball series and that’s all I can wish for.”
Fans did their best to stay optimistic but the Dodgers made it hard, falling behind 5-0 in the opening innings and never getting close.
“I smell a comeback!” one person shouted during the fifth inning at Tom’s Urban, a sports bar in downtown LA.
But the comeback never came.
Sasha and Ryan Mendeville from nearby Torrance were still glad they got tickets and went to the game.
“We don’t regret it,” Sasha said. “This is history and we’re huge Dodger fans.”
Joanne Lopez- Rojas, 71, said she was going to “cry and stop on the way home and have a drink.”
She and her husband Delfino Lopez-Rojas, 71, are retired restaurant owners from Ventura who watched the game at Tom’s Urban.
Joanne had her face painted. One side was white with colorful flowers painted in celebration of the Day of the Dead — the Mexican holiday where people celebrate loved ones who have died — but her right cheek had the Dodgers logo: the linked blue letters LA.
Now both cheeks were likely to be streaked with tears.
It was a far cry from Wednesday afternoon, when the city was buzzing with excitement and bursting with joy at the thought of a Game 7 in town.
In the city’s Solano Canyon neighborhood, which leads into Dodger Stadium, houses had shed their Halloween decorations overnight in favor of Dodgers signs, flags and other memorabilia for Tuesday’s game.
Public relations professional Ross Goldberg of Westlake Village flew his 22-year-old son, Josh, out from the East Coast, where he recently graduated from Georgetown University, to see the game.
“Tonight is the biggest game in the history of baseball in Los Angeles,” said Goldberg. “It’s not just a matter of waiting 29 years. You don’t know if this will ever happen again.”
NEW YORK — UConn is in a familiar spot to start the season — No. 1 in the poll.
The Huskies were a unanimous choice in the top spot of The Associated Press women’s basketball preseason poll on Thursday. It’s the 12th time in school history that UConn has been No. 1 in the preseason poll, matching Tennessee for the most all-time.
“Being ranked number one in the AP preseason poll is something we certainly do not take for granted but I think those are the expectations, internally and externally, as it relates to this program,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “This is an honor and a testament to the hard work of our players, but we all know that what really matters is where you finish the season and not necessarily where you are when the season starts.”
UConn also was the preseason No. 1 in 1995, ’99, 2000, ’ 01, ’ 03, ’ 08, ’ 09, ’ 10, ‘13, ‘14 and ‘16. The Huskies open their season on Nov. 12 against No. 10 Stanford in Columbus, Ohio — site of this season’s Final Four. UConn has gone on to win the national championship in seven of those years it was preseason No. 1.
The Huskies, who saw their 111- game winning streak come to an end in the Final Four last season, return four starters from that team and add a stellar freshman class to go along with two solid transfers. The entire 32-member national media panel picked UConn first, marking the fifth time the team has been the lone choice atop the preseason poll.
Texas is second — the Longhorns’ best ranking since the second poll of the 2004 season. That was also the last year that the Longhorns were ranked second in the preseason Top 25.
“We appreciate the national media recognizing the hard work and dedication of our players and coaching staff in recent years to return our program back to a place where we have the expectation to compete for championships,” Texas coach Karen Aston said.
AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ women’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 1, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last week’s ranking:
Record Pts Prv 1. UConn (32) 36-1 800 1 2. Texas 25-9 722 14 3. Baylor 33-4 709 5 4. South Carolina 33-4 674 3 5. Ohio St. 28-7 635 11 6. Notre Dame 33-4 629 2 7. Mississippi St. 34-5 619 7 8. UCLA 25-9 612 15 9. Louisville 29-8 546 13 10. Stanford 32-6 527 6 11. Oregon 23-14 485 - 12. Duke 28-6 435 9 13. West Virginia 24-11 359 22 14. Tennessee 20-12 344 - 15. Maryland 32-3 325 4 16. Missouri 22-11 315 25 17. Marquette 25-8 264 - 18. Florida St. 28-7 234 10 19. Oregon St. 31-5 201 8 20. California 20-14 169 - 20. Texas A&M 22-12 169 - 22. Oklahoma 23-10 143 23 23. South Florida 24-9 117 - 24. Michigan 28-9 113 - 25. DePaul 27-8 65 19 Others receiving votes: Kentucky 42, Arizona St. 25, Virginia 23, Miami 21, LSU 11, North Carolina 9, Gonzaga 9, Florida 8, Quinnipiac 6, NC State 6, Washington 4, Drake 4, Purdue 4, Michigan St. 4, Georgia Tech 3, Kansas St 3, Syracuse 2, Alabama 2, Washington St 1, Indiana 1, Oklahoma St. 1.
Big 12 rival Baylor is third followed by defending national champion South Carolina and Ohio State. Notre Dame, Mississippi State, UCLA, Louisville and Stanford round out the first 10.