TORRANCE TRIBUNE December 17, 2015 Page 5 Up and Adam NEW YEAR’S EVE 2015 PARTY Party Favors, Music, Food Champagne Toast, Free Coffee Live Band “Public Works” 9pm-1am And Bowling December 31st 8pm - 1am Adults: $35.00 | No Bowling Guest: $5.00 Children Over 6: $25.00 Children Under 6: FREE MAKE YOUR RESERVATIONS EARLY! Palos Verdes Bowl 26600 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, CA 90505 (310) 326-5120 Seeking a Skipper, Dodging a Team each our vibrant city’s residents and business leaders by advertising in the Torrance Tribune! Contact Charlene Nishimura at charlenenishimura1@gmail.com or (213) 709-8590. By Adam Serrao The Los Angeles Dodgers have been a busy team this winter, but mostly because they need to be. After losing in the first round of the playoffs last season, Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman decided that they had seen enough of ex head coach, Don Mattingly. Mattingly was shipped off to the Florida Marlins and new skipper, Dave Roberts was introduced. In addition to attaining a new coach, the Dodgers made some moves - or failed to make some moves - that would have put the team in a much better position going into the start of next season. Now that this year’s Winter Meetings have come and gone and the Dodgers have still yet to make any significant roster changes, there is growing concern amongst Los Angeles fans that the boys in blue will be anything close to as good as they were last year. On the surface, Don Mattingly was a great manager while in Los Angeles. Originally arriving in L.A. as a bench coach and under the tutelage of Joe Torre, Mattingly eventually became the teams skipper in 2011 and spent five seasons at the helm of the Dodgers. The team won 55 percent of their regular-season games (446-363) under his watch, but despite having the highest payroll in baseball, suffered catastrophic meltdowns in the playoffs on a yearly basis. “Taking the organization forward...maybe it was a good time for us to make a change,” Zaidi explained. That change came in the form of former Dodgers player and now new head coach, Dave Roberts. Roberts, who played as a Dodger from 2002-2004, was introduced as the 10th manager in Dodgers history at a Dec. 1 news conference. The ex player turned coach enjoyed a 10-year major league career, but will now be given the task of guiding one of baseball’s most storied franchises - and the game’s most expensive franchise - to their first World Series since 1988. Roberts, 43, spent the last two seasons as bench coach of the San Diego Padres but will perhaps always be remembered as the player who stole second base off of Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. The Red Sox not only tied the game up because of Roberts, but also overcame a 3-0 deficit in the series to make history and win their first World Series title since 1918. Now, Roberts will be looking to steal his way into the hearts of Dodger fans everywhere, but will have to do so with a roster R that looks weak, at best. As everyone must have heard by now, Zack Greinke left sunny Southern California to sign in even sunnier Arizona with the Diamondbacks for one more dollar than the Dodgers offered. Well, not literally one more dollar, but Greinke has never been modest about admitting that he takes the contract that offers him the most money with no loyalty involved. This year was no different. Now, the Dodgers have a glaring hole at the No. 2 spot in the rotation and aside from re-signing Chase Utley and extending the stadium netting behind home plate for safety, have made close to zero news this winter. By this time next week, the Dodgers roster could look completely different as free agency looms. Hopefully it does. As currently constructed, however, many questions remain. L.A. appeared to make a big splash by signing Aroldis Chapman to compliment Kenley Jansen at the back end of the bullpen. As the Dodgers luck would have it, questions arose about Chapman and a domestic violence incident and now the fireball- throwing closer is all but stuck in Cincinatti. The team did sign Hisashi Iwakuma away from the Seattle Mariners, but he will serve to be a No. 3 starter, at best. As the offseason rolls on and the Dodgers remain quiet, the club is still in dire need of another top-end starter, help in the bullpen (a lot of it), an impact bat in the outfield, and even a coaching staff to go around Roberts. At the end of last season, Dodger fans were faced with even more heartache after yet another unflattering playoff appearance by their team. Though it was a first round loss for the boys in blue, there was still a lingering optimism that maybe the team was just one tiny move away from having what it took to get over the hump and make it to the World Series. That tiny hump has now turned into a giant, swelling bulge. In an offseason that was supposed to be full of big moves and cash flying down from the sky, the Dodgers have done almost nothing. Greinke walked, leaving the Dodgers with a lot of cap space to spend, but they’ve yet to open their wallets. The big name free agents are all but gone and the Dodgers are left standing with their hands in their pockets. A new manager, a changed roster, and a ton of questions remain. At this point, there’s no telling what the Dodgers will look like next season, but it certainly doesn’t appear like they’ll be gleaming a championship-like glow. Adam Serrao - Asixlion@earthlink.net • Basketball Season Underway for Boys By Adam Serrao The Golden State Warriors aren’t the only ones making news in California. Yet another season of fun, exciting and competitive play has gotten underway in the Pioneer League that features all four teams from the city of Torrance. Last year, it was South that took home the city’s bragging rights and finished better than North, Torrance and West, respectively. This year, the field is wide open. As everyone starts from scratch, tournament play has gotten underway. While tournament standings aren’t necessarily the best precursor for how the rest of the season will play out, they offer the perfect opportunity for teams to gel, mold and build chemistry with each other for the long season to come. That long season is well underway. The Torrance Tartars are enjoying an excellent start to their season and happened to enjoy continued success with a win over Palos Verdes last Friday afternoon in pool play of the El Segundo tournament. Things didn’t look so hot for the Tartars heading into the third quarter, down by a score of 36-23. A 6-0 run to start the quarter, however, followed by a 15-4 run capped a huge comeback as Torrance rallied from behind and eventually came away with a 10 point, 62-52 victory. “It took a half for us to get settled in,” head coach Paul Nitake said of his team. “We had a better game plan in the second half and our guys were more focused.” Torrance certainly looks like a much more focused basketball team. Despite two recent losses to La Salle and Santa Monica in the same tournament, the Tartars (4-3) are enjoying a nice start to the season. Every one of their victories leading up to the Palos Verdes game has been by at least 10 points or more. An 80-56 victory over Chadwick and a 59-38 win over Carson highlight a season that has so far begun much better than last year’s 2-5 start and eventual fifth place finish in the standings. Giovanni Jackson leads a list of senior captains, including Evan Mejia and Justin Hino who will all look to lead Torrance to success this season. The South High Spartans will be looking to repeat last year’s successful second place finish behind retuning head coach Leo Klemm. Despite enjoying success over their crosstown and league rivals, the Spartans were ousted from the playoffs in the first round last year by Compton. Klemm and Spartan fans alike hope to enjoy much more success this season, but haven’t gotten out to the best of starts. Losses to Palos Verdes, de Toledo, and Valley Christian have left the 0-3 Spartans to a winless start to their season. Trent Cowan has led the way on offense for South High so far in the young season, but senior guard Gabriel Zuniga and junior guard Jordan Tang will look to turn the Spartans fortune around soon. The North High Saxons suffered a similar fate to the Spartans to start their season but just as South hopes to do, the Saxons have turned things around recently. Four straight wins including three straight in the Artesia tournament have seen North (4-3) quickly come into a streak of good luck. Also like the Spartans, North finished well enough last season to make it into the playoffs. Again like South, the Saxons were ousted in the first round by Buena Park after finishing in third place in the Pioneer League standings, just behind the Spartans. Senior captains Isaiah Holmes and Shivan Ram will guide a talented group of experienced players under the leadership of head coach Gary Dupperon that figures to challenge for first place in the Pioneer League standings once all is said and done this season. The West High Warriors are attempting to rebound from a season in which they finished in dead last in the standings one year ago. Things haven’t necessarily gotten off to the smoothest of starts for first year head coach Neal Perlmutter. The Warriors lost their first two contests of the season before finally getting a win Sunny Hills in the Cerritos/ Gahr Tipoff Tournament. West went on to drop three straight leading into the Valley Christian Tournament before getting their second win of the season against Los Angeles CES. Junior Noah Carroll and senior Jonathan Atkinson will try to help the team get things turned around and headed into a better season than the one they experienced least season. The Warriors have almost an entire month to get things figured out before league play starts and the real competition begins. Every team from around the city of Torrance is getting to know themselves through holiday tournament play. So far what we know is that the North High Saxons and the Torrance Tartars look to be the class of the league while the Spartans and the Warriors seemingly have the most to figure out. The good news is that the season is young and there is plenty of time for teams to get even better. The Pioneer League is always extremely competitive and it won’t be long before every Torrance team is competing for not only bragging rights, but also a spot in this year’s CIF playoffs. -asixlion@earthlink.net. •
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