Hitting coach Thames headlines additions to Angels’ staff
ANAHEIM — Marcus Thames is the Los Angeles Angels’ new hitting coach, and Phil Plantier will be his assistant next season.
Bill Hezel, the director of pitching at the Driveline Baseball development program, will be the assistant pitching coach to Matt Wise, who is returning to the Angels for the 2023 season on manager Phil Nevin’s staff.
The Angels also announced Monday that third base coach Mike Gallego, assistant pitching coach Dom Chiti and assistant hitting coach Paul Sorrento will be reassigned within the organization.
Thames, who played a decade in the majors as an outfielder, was the Miami Marlins’ hitting coach last year after spending the previous four seasons in the same job with the New York Yankees. Nevin was the Yankees’ third base coach during that stretch before joining the Angels’ staff last season and being promoted to manager after Joe
Maddon’s firing.
Plantier was a hitting coach in the Marlins’ system last season. The former big league outfielder was the San Diego Padres’ hitting coach from 2012-14.
Thames and Plantier will supervise a batting lineup that ranked in the bottom half of the sport in most statistical categories last season despite the presence of former AL MVPs Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. The top-heavy lineup led the majors with 1,539 strikeouts and ranked 22nd in hits, 23rd in OPS, 25th in runs and 26th with a .297 on-base percentage.
Hitting coach Jeremy Reed and assistant John Mallee were dismissed after the Angels completed their seventh straight losing season and eighth straight non-playoff campaign. Both are the longest active skids in the majors.
Hezel is a former college baseball coach who later served as a consultant to the Phillies while working at Driveline, the development training complex where dozens of major leaguers — including Ohtani — work in the offseason.
Nevin is on a one-year contract as the Angels’ permanent manger. The entire organization is in transition with owner Arte Moreno actively exploring a sale of the team.
Garcia beats Sabalenka in straight sets for WTA Finals title
FORT WORTH, Texas — Caroline Garcia took a tight first set and
went on to a 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Aryna Sabalenka to win the championship of the WTA Finals on Monday night.
The sixth-ranked Garcia became the second Frenchwoman to win the season-ending event after Amelie Mauresmo in 2005, also the last time the WTA Finals were held in the U.S.
There was only one break point in a meeting of the tour (Garcia) and tournament (Sabalenka) leaders in aces coming into the match.
Garcia converted that break point in the first game of the second set while handing No. 7 Sabalenka just her third loss in 12 career hard-court finals on the temporary indoor court at Dickies Arena.
Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens beat defending champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 to win the doubles title in the WTA Finals on Monday night.
No. 9 USC escapes Cal on Saturday
LOS ANGELES — Caleb Williams passed for 360 yards, rushed for a touchdown and threw two of his four scoring passes to Michael Jackson III, leading Southern California over California.
Tahj Washington caught seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown for the Trojans (8-1, 6-1 Pac-12), whose defense allowed 28 points in the second half of a third straight subpar outing.
But Williams went 26 for 41 without a turnover and coolly kept the Trojans ahead in the fourth quarter of his second straight outstanding performance without his top two receivers, injured Jordan Addison and Mario Williams.
In his last three games, Caleb Williams has passed for 1,152 yards with 14 TDs and no interceptions to make a run into Heisman Trophy consideration.
Travis Dye also rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown in USC’s 15th victory in 17 meetings with Cal (3-6, 1-5). Tight end Lake McRee caught a TD pass with 5:34 to play while the Trojans held off the Bears’ late rally.
No. 10 UCLA holds strong against Arizona State
TEMPE, Ariz. — Dorian Thompson-Robinson hurdled a defender on a 33-yard touchdown run, one of his two rushing scores, and also passed for two TDs as UCLA held off Arizona State.
Thompson-Robinson led drives of 75, 77, 91 and 90 yards to give UCLA (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) a 28-10 halftime lead that grew to 35-10 on his 4-yard run in the third quarter.
Arizona State quarterback Trenton Bourguet threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns, and the Sun Devils (3-6, 2-4) scored 17 straight points to close to 42-36 on Xazavian Valladay’s 1-yard TD run and Bourguet’s 2-point conversion pass with 6:24 left.
UCLA put it away on its next possession on Colson Yankoff’s 1-yard touchdown run with 2:30 remaining. Thompson-Robinson finished with 169 yards passing and 120 yards rushing.
The Bruins played without Pac-12 leading rusher Zach Charbonnet.
Kazmeir Allen had 137 yards rushing, including a touchdown, and 63 more receiving for UCLA. Keegan Jones added 98 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns.
Colts fire Reich as stagnant offense continues to sputter
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts have fired coach Frank Reich after another lackluster offensive performance in the team’s third consecutive loss.
The Colts announced the move on Monday, one day after it went 0 for 14 on third down and totaled just 121 yards of offense in an ugly 26-3 loss at New England.
Indy (3-5-1) has the league’s lowest scoring offense. Team officials are expected to speak about the decision Monday night.
Reich was hired in 2018 after serving as offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles. He led the Colts to the playoffs in two of his first four seasons and had them on the cusp of making it last season. But Indy lost its last two games to miss the postseason.