Management

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly held outfielder Carl Crawford out of the lineup Wednesday and he plans to do the same with Andre Ethier on Friday, when the team opens a six-game trip in Atlanta. Only Matt Kemp has played in more games or had more at-bats than Crawford and Ethier, both of whom, the manager said, were in need of a break. "The [body] language tells you kind of where he's at. And then you see it on the field in his energy level," he said. "You can kind of feel it with guys.

Arte Moreno has placed blame for the team's brutal 2013 start, its failure to make the playoffs for three straight years and several high-priced moves that have paid minimal dividends on the one person the Angels owner can't fire: Himself. "If you're going to blame anyone, you've got to blame me," Moreno told FoxSports.com on Wednesday in New York, where he is attending the owners' meetings. "I'm the one at the end of the day that has the final call. " Moreno orchestrated the signing of first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal before 2012.

After the scoreboard bulbs showing a playoff-eliminating loss were turned off at Honda Center on Sunday, more came to light Tuesday as Ducks players were processed through exit interviews. For one, the team was more banged up than advertised down the stretch. For another, veteran star Teemu Selanne might indeed be swayed to return for a 21st season because of the "unfinished business" after the first-round Stanley Cup playoffs loss to the Detroit Red Wings. Also, General Manager Bob Murray is bent on toughening his team after regular-season and playoff bullying incidents went unchecked, and admitted Tuesday that the Ducks were hamstrung late in the season by injuries.

After watching Brandon League struggle through another tough outing in the series finale with the Miami Marlins, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly was asked Monday whether the right-hander was still his closer. His answer wasn't exactly a vote of confidence. "Yeah, for now he is," Mattingly said. "I hate to say it like that. But yeah, for now. " League has given up runs in six of his last seven appearances and has just two hitless innings in the last month.

If Sir Alex Ferguson had stuck with his original plan, today we might be praising his pasta and Chinese noodles rather than his decision to start Robin van Persie over Wayne Rooney. Or if he had chosen to pursue his interest in U.S. history, particularly the Civil War and the JFK assassination, he might have become a master teacher of men rather than a master motivator of them. But then again, if Ferguson hadn't passed on those two options to become the most successful coach in British soccer history, we wouldn't be calling him sir. After all few chefs, and even fewer U.S. history buffs, get knighted by the queen.

The Dodgers' starting lineup Sunday did not include first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who has been bothered by a strained neck. And there was some doubt outfielders Carl Crawford (hamstring) and Andre Ethier, who banged his toe against the outfield wall Saturday, would play, adding to the growing injury concerns for a team that already has nine players on the disabled list. But Manager Don Mattingly said the small, persistent injuries do little more than complicate his lineup card from time to time.

Matt Kemp came to Don Mattingly's defense Friday in light of the mounting speculation regarding the manager's job status. "He doesn't go out there and hit for us, pitch for us, field for us, run for us," Kemp said. "It's not his fault that we're losing. It's the players. " The Dodgers are in last place in the National League West. "All he can do is talk to us and help us out," Kemp said. "That's it. " As much as the Dodgers players like and respect Mattingly, Kemp said rumors about his possible dismissal wouldn't be a distraction.

A makeup artist and longtime friend of Michael Jackson said Thursday that in the days before his death the singer was paranoid, repeated himself continuously and was so cold she bundled him in a blanket, put him in front of a space heater and hugged him to try to stop the shivering. Karen Faye, who had known Jackson for 27 years, said she took her concerns to an AEG executive five days before Jackson died of an overdose of the anesthetic propofol at his rented Holmby Hills mansion.

A judge ruled on Thursday that The Times could not be stopped from reporting on testimony from the top manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in a deposition for an open-government lawsuit. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Luis A. Lavin said that in asking the court to deny Times reporters access to the testimony and a prohibition against articles about it, the commission sought “essentially a gag order.” “This is a public matter,” Lavin said of the lawsuit brought against the commission by The Times and a 1st Amendment group, Californians Aware.

In youth baseball, there are certain laws of the game. The kid who can't hit a lick will always be first in line for snacks. The hitter with the most expensive bat will almost always finish last in home runs. At almost any level, you can't buy a title - with equipment, with players. To even try futzes with the gods of baseball. In our Pony League, there are no million-dollar contracts - not yet, anyway. We pay our 9- and 10-year-olds in pizza that tastes like it was trod upon by Russian tanks, reward them with home-baked brownies that their sisters put their grubby fingers in, ply them with too warm watermelon.