Sports

As if the pitching-thin Angels need another reminder of what might have been, there it is, on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, New York Mets ace Matt Harvey, the one who got away. The Angels picked Harvey in the third round in 2007 knowing it would take first-round money to sign him out of high school, but when owner Arte Moreno authorized an offer of only $1 million - half of what Harvey wanted - the right-hander went to the University of North Carolina. Harvey signed for $2.6 million with the Mets in 2010 and, armed with a 97-mph fastball and devastating curve, has emerged as a Cy Young Award candidate this season, going 5-0 with a 1.55 earned-run average in his first nine starts.

The Southern Section track and field championships are set for Saturday at Mount San Antonio College, and the 100-meter races could be as sizzling as the weather. Khalfani Muhammad - the defending state champion from Sherman Oaks Notre Dame - continues to be the runner to watch, but there are a lot of competitors closing in, which should push him to keep lowering his times. In the Division 3 final, Muhammad will face a challenge from Encino Crespi freshman Tarrik Brock, who ran the fastest 100 time by a freshman in state history in the preliminaries at 10.57 seconds.

Among the most intriguing May peaches are three patented by Alan and Lori Asdoorian of Kingsburg, whose century-old Island Farms lies between two branches of the Kings River, southeast of Fresno. Because of the short period from bloom to harvest, May peaches naturally tend to be small, with only moderately sweet, clingstone flesh and a susceptibility to split pits. But early-season varieties can be lucrative for breeders and farmers, who have striven to find improved selections.

Keegan Bradley shot a one-under-par 69 in a round that started and ended with bogeys, good enough for a three-stroke lead after two rounds in the Byron Nelson Championship at Irving, Texas. A day after setting the TPC Four Seasons course record with a 60, also with two bogeys, Bradley went into the weekend at 11-under 129. That is the lowest 36-hole total at the Nelson since 2001. Tom Gillis, who shot 63 in the first group of the day off the No. 10 tee, and Sang-Moon Bae were tied for second.

Obviously the owners of the Angels and Dodgers have never heard of team chemistry. Arte Moreno and the Guggenheim Guy thought they could build better teams just by adding more expensive elements. Here's a lesson from Chemistry 101: You won't improve water (H2O) by replacing the O (oxygen) with Au (gold). H2Au won't work: Just ask Torii Hunter, the professor of Team Chemistry 101. Steve Stanage Corona :: I hope Angels management, and fans, can look between the lines of T.J. Simers' smarmy Josh Hamilton piece and realize that what they have in Hamilton is nothing compared to what they had in Torii Hunter.

The Kings recently had a day off, a brief respite from the otherwise hectic postseason, with coaches holding an abbreviated morning skate for a dozen or so players. Drew Doughty chose to skip practice, hanging around the locker room, playing ping-pong with teammate Slava Voynov. "It's good to have a break," he said. "Make sure to get some rest. " The defenseman has earned it. During the regular season, Doughty ranked among the NHL's hardest-working players, averaging more than 26 minutes on the ice, fourth-most in the league.

When Zack Greinke made his last start for the Dodgers before Wednesday, the team had a winning record and was only half a game out of first place in the National League West. Then Greinke wrestled with the Padres' Carlos Quentin, breaking his collarbone, and things took a turn. Three other pitchers followed the right-hander to the disabled list over the next 10 days and the Dodgers lost 19 of their next 31 games, falling to the bottom of a division they were supposed to win. So when Greinke stepped back on a major league mound for the first time in more than a month, the team was hoping for a return to those halcyon days of early April as much as it was hoping for a win. And for one night at least they got both, with Greinke holding the Washington Nationals to a run on five hits over 51/3 innings and driving in what proved to be the winning run in a 3-1 win at Dodger Stadium.

Trevor Lewis, the mellowest of the low-key Kings, is hardly given to outsized statements or outlandish proclamations. You can understand why he was out of sorts after his game-winning goal in the Kings' 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks, a blow that completed a dizzying comeback. The Kings scored two late power-play goals within 22 seconds to steal Game 2 on Thursday night at Staples Center and take a 2-0 series lead. "I think I almost passed out in the celebration," Lewis said.

Zack Greinke returned to the Dodgers' rotation this week, recovering from surgery on his left shoulder in five weeks, three ahead of schedule. Hanley Ramirez came back last month from a broken thumb two weeks earlier than expected. But head trainer Sue Falsone has little time to celebrate how cutting-edge procedures and rehabilitation methods accelerated Ramirez's and Greinke's recoveries. The Dodgers are in last place not only in the standings, but also in injury prevention.

Phil Jackson never liked to compare Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan. Believe me, I tried everything. Sometimes I'd ask him after random Lakers practices or before games against Charlotte, the team Jordan owned. Or after games in Chicago, where nostalgia hopefully would add to the mix. There would be a little nugget here, a tiny nibble there, but nothing that mattered. It's coming out now, though, in Jackson's 339-page memoir co-written with Hugh Delehanty and available Tuesday: "Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success.