EL SEGUNDO HERALD April 6, 2017 Page 5 Cody Esphorst throws out the ceremonial first pitch before the championship game. Davis & DeRosa Physical Therapy, Inc. Davis & DeRosa Physical Therapy, established in 2003, provides a quaint boutique practice located in El Segundo, California. The 4,000 square foot facility is a well known practice offering its patients private, personal treatment by a licensed therapist at every visit. Patients are guaranteed one-on-one attention for their 45-minute treatment. THE PRACTICE SPECIALIZES IN DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT FOR: Chronic Neck and Back Pain Pre and Post Surgical Rehabilitation Sports Injuries Work Injuries Neurological Disorders Foot and Ankle Disorders (including orthotics) Osteoporosis and other Age Related Disorders Balance and Vestibular Disorders Injury Prevention Troy Davis Owner, PT, DPT • Chris DeRosa Owner, PT, OCS Leo Valenzuela, PT, DPT • Lianne Nakazaki, PT, DPT • Garret Wong, PT, DPT Rachael D’Angelo, PT, DPT • Tami Chang, PT 325 Main Street El Segundo, CA 90245 310.648.3167 www.davisandderosa.com Dodgers Officially Begin New Season By Adam Serrao In honor of what is now the new, ongoing Major League Baseball season, it has become time to take a look at how the 2017 Los Angeles Dodgers will fare in their quest for the team’s first World Series appearance since 1988. Obviously, 162 games make for quite a long season. For that reason, instead of breaking down how the team has done in their first few games of the season against the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies, we’ll take a look at a few fun storylines to keep your eye on as a new season of Dodger baseball gets it start. The one thing that will stick out like a sore thumb to baseball fans everywhere this season is the absence of the golden voice of Vin Scully up in the press box. This past Monday, the Dodgers played their first opening day since 1950 without Scully calling their games. Scully had previously said that he wouldn’t even attend the game either. “It’s a day game,” Scully remarked. “I’ll probably have things to do.” At least the 89-year-old ex-announcer who spent 67 years calling games for the Boys in Blue is keeping busy. “Sure, after 67 years, you bet I’ll miss it,” Scully continued. “But heck, I miss the guys I hung out with when I was in school.” One thing is for sure; baseball fans everywhere will certainly miss Vin this year. After Scully, there may be no one person who is more important to the Dodgers than Clayton Kershaw. This season, it will be fun to watch a presumably healthy Kershaw dominate opposing hitters like he has always done. Kershaw should be back to full form and is certainly the top candidate in the league to bring home yet another Cy Young Award and maybe even another pitching Triple Crown (league lead in wins, ERA and strikeouts). There’s no doubting the competitive streak that runs deep down in the blood of Kershaw. He has been known to challenge his fellow pitchers on the team to competitions similar to the one he had with former Dodger Zack Greinke to see who could swing the bat better at the plate. This year, look for Kershaw and Rich Hill to compete to see who can throw the filthier curveball. The Dodgers have been very diligent with their farm system--and so far, it has been somewhat unclear if that diligence has fully paid off. All signs are beginning to point to “yes” because of the All-Star ability of Corey Seager. Seager should be due for another fantastic year to follow up his 2016 National League Rookie of the Year awardwinning season. What should be even more fun, however, is to watch him play alongside Joc Pederson. Some might say that Pederson has underperformed so far in his career, and some even go so far as to call him a bust. This season should be when Pederson finally breaks out in a major way. With Seager and Joc up the middle, the Dodgers will have a young core that should even rival the 2016 World Series champs, Chicago Cubs. When is it not fun watching Kenley Jansen come into a game? He and Justin Turner turned down bigger offers from other teams to come back and play for the Dodgers. There may not be any one thing that makes a player more fun to watch than knowing that they want to be there. For Jansen, though, his cut fastball may just take the cake. Even though hitters know that Jansen is coming with the heat, they still swing and miss entirely all the same. The velocity and spin rate on Jansen’s cut fastball both rank top two in all of baseball. Jansen’s estimated .438 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) is the best in the Majors. The 29-year-old is one of the best closers in the league and with a cut fastball like the one that he puts on display, Jansen may just be able to put his name up there with the likes of Mariano Rivera by the time all is said and done. One thing that is always fun about watching a new baseball season is becoming familiar with the names on the team that aren’t necessarily fully recognizable yet. You may have heard of Hyun-Jin Ryu, but the pitcher is back nonetheless and is said to be looking healthy and impressive just in time for a 2017 See Dodgers, page 12 Burkley Brandlin Swatik & Keesey LLP AT T O R N E Y S AT L AW Lifetime El Segundo Residents Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litigation DEADLINES OBITUARIES: Monday at noon. CALENDAR ITEMS: Monday at noon. PEOPLE ITEMS: Monday at noon. CLASSIFIEDS: Tuesday at noon. LEGAL NOTICES: Wednesday at 11:00 am. REAL ESTATE ADS: Monday at noon. AD CANCELLATIONS: Prior Thursday. LATE CANCELLATIONS WILL BE CHARGED 50% OF AD 310-540-6000 *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization History-Making Win for Japan Team at Brett Field Story and Photos by Gregg McMullin The Beach Cities Baseball Academy International Invitational baseball tournament was a showcase of talented Little Leaguers from as far away as Germany and Japan as well as local teams from Encino, Torrance, West Los Angeles and right here. The tournament now in its sixth year was one of the most competitive yet, but in the end the players from Kitasuna, Japan demonstrated why you’ll see them playing on the world stage at the Little League World Series in August. Kitasuna won its fifth Invitational out of six appearances in the finals. In fact, it has just one loss in the six years playing in the tournament--in last year’s final to Beach Cities. The Kitasuna players might be the most disciplined athletes on the globe. Their work ethic and respect for the game is second to none--from showing respect by bowing to their opposing team before the game and to the umpire at each at-bat to their all-out hustle on and off the field. They practice for eight hours each day on weekends at home with no objections. Perhaps that’s one reason why they’ve been to the Little League World Series four of the past six years. This year they would not be denied--not with their style of play, big bats and overpowering pitching staff. They ended up defeating The Extreme from West Los Angeles 18-2 in the final. Two local teams did well again, with the Waves made up of mostly El Segundo Little Leaguers, and Beach Cities. The Waves advanced to the Silver Division semifinal after losing to Beach Cities 2-1. With the score tied 1-1 in the fifth inning, the Waves loaded the bases with one out. But Beach Cities’ pitcher Gavin Grace induced a one-two-three double play to end the threat. In the top of the sixth inning, Grace hit a towering 240-foot home run. The Waves didn’t threaten in their final at-bat. In their next game the Waves blanked Torrance’s Surf 10-0, and because of the run differential formula they moved on to play West L.A. Extreme Elite in the Gold Division semifinal. With Ryan Garcia on the mound for the Waves, the Extreme Elite had no chance. The hard-throwing Garcia limited his opposing hitters to three hits and struck out nine. In a scoreless tie, The Waves broke through in the fifth inning with two runs. With a runner on first, Nolan Kelly hit into a fielder’s choice that drew the shortstop off the bag at second base. Tucker Stevens drew a walk to load the bases and Garcia’s infield hit and a subsequent error on the play scored both runs. Garcia held the Extreme Elite in check the rest of the way to advance to play Extreme Select in the semifinal, but the locals got shut out 15-0. Beach Cities had a nice run in the tournament under manager Derrick Duarte. After defeating The Waves, they faced a vastly improved Germany National team. In their third year coming to the tournament, the German squad hasn’t been as strong as the Japan team--but this year was different. Beach Cities and Germany locked up in a 0-0 tie when neither team could push across a run. These two teams would end up facing each other in the Gold Division semifinal, but this time Germany took a 9-0 win. See Japan Team, page 14
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