Alexander: Just guys being guys, or a message for Angels owner Arte Moreno?
The world according to Jim:
• We didn't realize it at the moment, but evidently the "Tarps Off" phenomenon that has spread through baseball – i.e. young men who maybe (OK, probably) have had a few, take their shirts off and pinwheel them over their heads – reached Anaheim this week during the Angels' series against the West Sacramento A's.
But maybe this particular demonstration was a combination of Bro Culture and fan protest because chants of "Sell The Team" could be heard, pretty obviously directed at Arte Moreno. Given the direction this season has taken, I'm shocked that it took until home game No. 22 for that chant to be heard so audibly. …
• Then again, maybe this was a sneaky way of making the point. After all, if these guys had worn "Sell The Team" T-shirts into the ballpark, I wonder if they'd have been asked to change or leave. …
• The visiting team earlier this week should be familiar with the concept; A's fans in Oakland made their feelings obvious, frequently, during the franchise's final months there. But they didn't persuade John Fisher to sell the team. And the new stadium in Las Vegas, the ultimate landing point, is actually taking shape. …
• This is one of the best times of the sports year – especially if you have control of the TV remote. This Space was switching between baseball and the NBA and NHL playoffs on back-to-back-to-back evenings earlier this week.
And yes, it's irritating when all the games are in commercial breaks at the same time. …
• You know the game is being played in a small market when everyone in the arena, or at least in the lower-tier seats, feels compelled to wear the giveaway T-shirts draped over their seats when they arrive.
Maybe it's just my contrary nature, or perhaps something to do with where we live, but I find that sort of conformity rather scary. …
• Did you, too, miss Lawrence Tanter's unmistakable voice over the public address system at Lakers home games over the last weeks of the regular season and the postseason? Tanter, who is 76 and has been at the mic since the 1982-83 season, is the last of the PA guys who doesn't feel it necessary to yell and scream and pump up the "energy" in the arena. When it was announced that he was away because of a "health matter," that raised some red flags.
He's cool jazz – fitting, given his background as a jazz radio host – in a world of ubiquitous in-game hosts wielding the three most terrifying words in the English language: "MAKE … SOME … NOISE!!!!" Sorely missed doesn't begin to describe it. Prayers up for LT's health, and hopefully he can make it back to the microphone this fall if he chooses. …
• If you are wondering what true player development in baseball looks like – and, ahem, some franchises just can't quite seem to get the hang of it – look at what Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages has become. …
• And remember, as Joe Davis reminded his listeners on the Dodgers-Padres telecast the other night, Pages was almost traded to the Angels in January of 2020 along wtih Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling for Luis Rengifo and multiple Angels prospects. But while that deal was held up until the Mookie Betts trade with Boston was finalized, Moreno – quite likely out of impatience – stepped in and killed the deal. …
• Also worth noting: At the end of that COVID-19 marred 2020 season, Moreno fired General Manager Billy Eppler and replaced him with Perry Minasian. Under Minasian the Angels are 112 games under .500 (and 17-34 this year) following Thursday night's 10-inning loss to the A's. So when he says things like "We'll be fine," believe him at your peril. …
Today's quiz: The Rams will begin their season on Sept. 11 Australian Time (5:35 p.m. PDT on Sept. 10) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against the San Francisco 49ers. At which venues have the Rams and the Dodgers both played home games? Hint: There's an overseas component here. Answer below. …
• It sounds like the people at Amazon Prime are a little miffed that ESPN's Shams Charania broke the story of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's second straight NBA MVP trophy. Evidently the plan was for the award to be announced on Prime's NBA programming, but Charania – whose job description as "insider," remember, is breaking NBA stories – beat them to it.
The legacy media strikes back, perhaps? …
• Incidentally, Luka Doncic might have been the league's leading scorer but the Lakers star got no first-place votes in MVP balloting and finished a distant fourth. Feel free to suggest that it's an outrage, but keep this in mind as well: Team performance matters, which helps explain SGA's 83 first-place votes out of 100 ballots cast. …
• There might be no SoCal teams remaining in the chase for the Lawrence O'Brien Trophy, but there are five players from SoCal high schools, two of whom played for USC, and plenty of former Lakers and Clippers.
We'll start with those who used to work here: Knicks (and former Lakers) coach Mike Brown, former Lakers Alex Caruso (OKC), Jordan Clarkson and Josh Hart (both New York) and Dennis Schröder, Larry Nance Jr. and Thomas Bryant (all Cleveland), along with former Clippers James Harden (Cleveland), Isaiah Hartenstein (OKC) and Landry Shamet (New York).
Harden, from Artesia High, is also one of the five former prep stars from here. The two former USC Trojans both have Inland Empire ties: Cleveland's Evan Mobley (Temecula Rancho Christian) and San Antonio's Jordan McLaughlin (Etiwanda). And two former Corona Centennial players are squaring off in the Western Conference finals, OKC's Jared McCain and San Antonio's Carter Bryant (who prepped at Fountain Valley and Sage Hill before transferring to Centennial for his senior year.)
So see, there is potential rooting interest out there. …
• Quiz answer: The first part's easy. When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn in 1958 they shared the Coliseum (misshapen for baseball) for four years with the Rams before Dodger Stadium opened. The other answer: The Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers opened their 2025 regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs. The Rams played an exhibition game there in August of 1989, beating the 49ers, 16-13. …
• The asterisk: The Rams will be playing the 49ers this year on a cricket ground, just as the Dodgers did against Arizona to open the 2014 season. But that Dodgers series – a two-game sweep of Arizona – took place in Sydney. …
• Earlier this month we suggested the Professional Women's Hockey League should expand to Los Angeles, especially since Dodgers/Sparks controlling owner Mark Walter also owns the league. Instead, the PWHL is expanding to Las Vegas and San Jose, as well as Detroit and Hamilton, Ont.
Was it something we said? Or were they just nervous about the competition for attention here?
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 9:17 AM.