Head On

For days now, people have talked in amazement about Hiroki Kuroda's last pitch. The ball coming off the bat of Arizona's Rusty Ryal, shooting into the side of Kuroda's head, bouncing off his skull and back into the stands, dropping him to the dirt with a ground-rule concussion. For days now, people have talked in amazement about Hiroki Kuroda's last pitch, which sent me to Dodger Stadium on Thursday in search of something even more compelling. His next pitch. How exactly does one do that?

Scott Dettorre was a young firefighter in 1993 when the infamous Green Meadow wildfire swept through, leaving a path of destruction from Ventura County to Malibu. The fire, which destroyed 53 homes and consumed 44,000 acres, caught firefighters unprepared and prompted officials to rethink the way they fight blazes driven by fierce Santa Ana winds. This week, Dettorre helped lead the battle against the Springs fire, which like the devastating 1993 blaze covered a wide swath of the county.

One person was killed and another critically injured Friday evening in a head-on collision on California 126, just east of Piru near the Los Angeles-Ventura County line, officials said. A witness said a westbound pickup truck hit an eastbound auto, killing the female driver. The 23-year-old man who was driving the truck was airlifted by a helicopter rescue team from the Ventura County Fire Department to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Valencia, where a nursing supervisor said he was in critical condition.

Two people are dead after a fatal head-on collision in Tustin late Thursday night caused by a wrong-way driver, authorities said. A woman in her mid-20s was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of Jamboree Avenue near Edinger Avenue sometime before 10:44 p.m. Thursday. Her car collided with a vehicle headed northbound driven by a male in his 30s.  Both were killed as a result of the collision, according to the Tustin Police Department. The identity of the deceased has not been released.

Five people were killed near Atlanta in a multi-car crash when a Mercedes crossed the median and hit other cars head-on, then caught fire, police said. A sixth person was in critical condition.

In an effort to reduce intersection accident rates, city planners are considering the usual fixes, including increased ticketing of violators, more left-turn lanes and longer traffic light intervals (April 29). Most of these suggestions ought to be considered DOA--we'll never have enough police to make a dent in driving behavior, and longer intervals will only increase drivers' incentives to speed through red lights. It's about time we gave serious consideration to English-style roundabouts at big intersections.

City police have determined that a mass-transit bus driver was speeding on a wet road when his bus collided head-on with a school bus on May 23. A total of 58 people, most of them first-graders from a northeast Philadelphia Catholic school, were injured in the crash.

An intoxicated driver caused a four-car collision that killed him and another driver, the California Highway Patrol reported Sunday. Angel Sandate, 49, of Colton was driving north on Sierra Avenue north of Karen Lane about 8 p.m. Saturday when he veered toward the edge of the road. He over-corrected and spun into the southbound lane, into the path of a Kia Spectra driven by Delana Elizabeth Jones, 44, of San Bernardino, who was killed, according to the CHP. Sandate's car also struck a Ford F-150 head-on.

Sour grapes (Calendar letter writers Tepper, Reyes, Bracegirdle et al., Sept. 6)! Madonna is an entertainer and as such, has an obligation to her public. Some of us happen to think she fulfills that obligation pretty damn well: she's a tough, gutsy, funny, independent, neo-feminist chameleon who represents these changing times head-on with a constantly amusing, talented and dedicated persona. Like any great of the stage and screen, she has foes, and she has fans. To the former I say, quite simply, save it!

Re "2 die in head-on collision," Jan. 29 We never think it will happen to someone we know. But on Jan. 28 it did, when a young man with a death wish decided to drive the wrong way on the 10 Freeway and Sgt. Curtis Massey of the Culver City Police Department was killed in a head-on collision. In 1970, my family moved to Pacific Palisades when the middle class could still afford to live there. The Masseys were our neighbors. I baby-sat Curt and his little brother, Brett. Curt grew up to be a man any mother would be proud of. He wasn't just a cop -- he served our community in and out of uniform.

Laguna Beach Police closed Laguna Canyon Road for four hours Tuesday and returned to the scene of a previous fatal head-on auto collision between a Tesla and Honda Accord. Two men who were driving to work April 2 were killed there. Police said a Tesla outbound from Laguna Beach veered into oncoming traffic and hit a Honda Accord head on just before 7 a.m. that day. Alberto Casique-Salinas, 46, of Anaheim and Armando Garcia-Gonzales, 38, of Santa Ana, who were in the Accord, died at the scene, according to police.

Laguna Beach police said they are continuing to investigate a head-on traffic collision that involved a Tesla car and a Honda Accord. Authorities received calls reporting the accident around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus. Emergency personnel found two vehicles involved in the collision and debris scattered across all lanes of Laguna Canyon Road between El Toro Road and State Route 73, a police statement said. Two men inside a "severely damaged" Honda Accord were declared dead at the scene, officials said.

A head-on traffic collision in Laguna Beach early Tuesday killed two people and injured another, forcing the closure of Laguna Canyon Road between El Toro Road and State Route 73. Authorities received calls reporting the accident around 6:40 a.m., according to Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus. Emergency personnel found two vehicles involved in the collision and debris scattered across the northbound and southbound lanes of the roadway, a police statement said. Two adult men inside a "severely damaged" Honda Accord were declared dead at the scene, officials said.

Three people are dead after a head-on car crash early Sunday morning in Sylmar, authorities said. The crash occurred at about 2:30 a.m. near the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Rinaldi Street when the driver of a Honda apparently lost control and careened into oncoming traffic and struck a Chevy Volt, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Greg Hayhurst. Two passengers in the Honda were pronounced dead at the scene and the driver was taken to a hospital where he died, Hayhurst said, adding that the driver of the Chevy emerged without major injuries.

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin suffered a compression fracture in his lower back in the last-lap crash in Fontana, his team said Monday. Hamlin, who has a history of back problems, damaged his L1 vertebra after his car slammed head-on into the inside wall at Auto Club Speedway during Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Hamlin, 32, hoped to be released from a nearby hospital Monday to fly home to North Carolina, his team Joe Gibbs Racing said. The Cup series doesn't race again until April 7, at Martinsville (Va.)

Ticketmaster, long the dominant player in the concert ticket space, now has major company. Los Angeles-based AEG, the sports and entertainment empire that owns Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, L.A. Live, the Kings and a minority stake in the Lakers, is angling to reinvent the ticketing business. It's counting on Staples Center, the busiest concert venue in the United States, to get there. AEG is now selling concert tickets at its trio of L.A. Live venues via its 18-month-old AXS ticketing platform.

When Greg Louganis hit his head on the diving board and spilled his blood into the pool at the 1988 Olympic Games, did he have an obligation to disclose to doctors who treated him and to other athletes using the pool that he was HIV-positive?

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

The police officers made their way though the Costa Mesa park known as "ground zero," the crowded hub for the city's homeless, handing out fliers and encouraging people to get on a bus that would take them out of town. Like other cities, Costa Mesa has had a tenuous relationship with its homeless, and many would just as soon they all simply leave. But efforts on this crisp afternoon had a different motivation: They were nudging them to seek shelter from the near-freezing nights that had gripped the area and board a shuttle to the Santa Ana armory.

After he was done serving himself seconds, Fernando Godenez turned left to his classmate and extended his arms out, holding the bowl of meatballs and marinara in one hand, a serving spoon in the other. " Quieres ?" the 3-year-old asked in Spanish, the physical effort a monument to his improving motor skills, a sign that he's becoming more comfortable with other kids. "In his way, he's communicating, he's coming out of his shell," said Rashmi Kothari, one of Fernando's teachers.