Baseball

Beneath the bill of his sweat-stained baseball cap are scrawled three simple words: Go get it. As in go get the strikeout. Or go get the win. Kyle Petter, the ace of the West Torrance staff, slid a finger over those words -- "It's an expression that stays with me," he said -- then he peered out to the vacant ball field where he had just struck out 10 batters in four shutout innings. He grinned. "Yeah, go get it." As a sophomore two years ago, Petter was getting something else: poor grades.

Bonds by the Bay? The Angels don't have John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar in their rotation, and closer Francisco Rodriguez and his tender ankles are at the back end of a suddenly shaky bullpen. The Mariners don't have ace Erik Bedard and closer J.J. Putz, and outfielder Brad Wilkerson, the replacement for Jose Guillen, is hitting .150. So the A's could hang in the AL West race through Memorial Day, the traditional start to GM Billy Beane's summer trading season. Designated hitter Jack Cust hit 26 homers last season, in the first extended playing time of his seven major league seasons, but he's off to a .167 start, with one home run and 20 strikeouts in 48 at-bats.

On any baseball gambler's list of top money pitchers before the start of the major league season, it would not have been a surprise to see Boston's Josh Beckett and the New York Mets' Johan Santana rank near the top. Nor would it have been news for the list to include San Diego's Jake Peavy, Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and Arizona's Brandon Webb. But the Angels' Joe Saunders? That would have been a reach when you consider that Saunders had only a 15-8 record in 33 career starts before this season.

For the first time since Bo Jackson and Nolan Ryan graced Anaheim Stadium, the All-Star game is returning to Southern California. The Angels have been awarded the 2010 All-Star game, with Commissioner Bud Selig scheduled to make the official announcement Wednesday at Angel Stadium, according to three sources not authorized to speak publicly in advance of the announcement.

UCLA used the old hidden ball trick to perfection Friday in their NCAA baseball regional opener against Virginia, but it was a different kind of hidden ball that gave the Bruins a 3-2 victory over the Cavaliers at Cal State Fullerton. UCLA pinch-hitter Cody Decker came to bat with one out and runners at first and second in the bottom of the ninth and the score tied, 2-2.

Careful examination of an old photograph and a street map determined this had to be the spot -- or at least near the spot. It's all tract homes now, the memories buried beneath cul-de-sacs just downslope from the intersection of Brea Boulevard and Lambert Road, but something special happened here a long time ago. Did anyone know? A man, on a Saturday, was washing his car on St. Crispen Avenue when a reporter approached and posed the question, half expecting a "what-the-?" response.

Cal State Fullerton will advance to a super regional for the sixth consecutive season after holding off feisty UCLA, 5-4, in a regional-deciding game Monday night at Goodwin Field in Fullerton. The Titans (40-20) will face Stanford in a three-game series beginning Friday with a berth in the College World Series on the line.

Jeff Kaplan may have been named an All-American pitcher for Cal State Fullerton, but he was not treated like one Friday night at Fullerton's Goodwin Field. Facing Stanford in the first game of their NCAA Division I super regional, Kaplan struggled from the outset, was hit hard and took a 4-3 loss.

It happened more than 38 years ago, yet Manny Mota still can't bring himself to talk about it. "It's very difficult," the Dodgers coach and former All-Star outfielder said. "It brings up bad memories." "It" was a foul ball Mota lined into the seats down the first base line at Dodger Stadium during the third inning of an otherwise uneventful mid-May game against the San Francisco Giants in 1970.

Dodgers: The last time the Dodgers played the Florida Marlins, the Dodgers swept three games, outscoring the Marlins, 25-10, in the series April 29-May 1. Both are now in second place and have arrived there in decidedly different ways: Entering the weekend, the Marlins led the majors with 122 home runs; the Dodgers ranked third to last with 57. The Dodgers' team earned-run average was 3.68 -- almost a run better than Florida's 4.53. Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla has 23 homers -- two more than the Dodgers' starting infield of James Loney, Jeff Kent, Angel Berroa and Blake DeWitt combined.