SPORTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/SPORTS
D
The Pittman family
group text has never been
busier.
Michael Pittman Jr. and
his younger brother Mycah
can’t sling trash talk fast
enough. Their father,
Michael Pittman Sr., en-
courages it all. The Super
Bowl-winning running back
interjects with a “tell him
then!” when Mycah lands a
particularly strong jab.
A champion in this family
feud will be crowned Sat-
urday when Michael Jr. and
USC host Mycah and No. 7
Oregon.
“We have to win because
I’m never ever going to hear
the end of it,” USC’s senior
receiver said. “He always
wants to beat me. He has lit-
tle brother syndrome.”
An Oregon win might
cure that ailment for Mycah.
“I was like if we beat you,
I’m big brother now,” the
freshman receiver told re-
porters in Eugene this week.
But for as competitive as
the brothers are, they’re just
as supportive of each other.
So when it comes to the first
— and possibly only —
Pittman Bowl of their col-
Family
affair
moves
to field
Pittman brothers will
be playing for
bragging rights when
USC-Oregon meet.
By Thuc Nhi Nguyen
[SeePittmans,D8]Ron Fairly, the reliable,
red-haired outfielder and
first baseman who spent
more than five decades in
baseball — 21 years as a play-
er, first with the Dodgers
and lastly with the Angels,
and 30 more as a broadcast-
er — died Wednesday in In-
dian Wells, Calif., after a
year-long battle with pan-
creatic cancer. He was 81.
A graduate of Long
Beach Jordan High School
and a former USC standout,
Fairly played his first 11^1 ⁄ 2
years (1958-69) in the big
leagues with the Dodgers,
helping the team to three
World Series champi-
onships, and he closed his
playing career with the An-
gels in 1978.
“The worst day in a base-
ball uniform,” Fairly wrote in
a 2018 memoir that he co-
wrote with former Times
sportswriter Steve Springer,
“was better than the best
day I could have had in any
other career.”
Fairly turned down a
basketball scholarship from
UCLA’s John Wooden and
RON FAIRLY
1938-2019
Baseball
lifer, on
field and
in booth
A five-decade love
affair with sport
included three rings
with the Dodgers.
By Mike DiGiovanna
[SeeFairly, D7]WORLD SERIES ::WASHINGTON 6, HOUSTON 2
NATIONALS WIN SERIES 4-3| SERIES MVP:STEPHEN STRASBURG (2-0, 2.51 ERA, 3 WALKS, 14 STRIKEOUTS)HOUSTON — Ryan Zimmerman, the long-
est-tenured member of the Washington Nation-
als, the franchise’s first draft pick after relocat-
ing from Montreal in 2005, the guy who has ex-
perienced it all, from the 100-loss seasons to the
most improbable championship run in recent
baseball history, reveled in the celebration late
Wednesday night.
Zimmerman had just hoisted the World Se-
ries trophy on the stage set in the middle of
chilly Minute Maid Park after the Nationals
used another late-inning comeback, their Octo-
ber signature, to defeat the Houston Astros 6-2
in a winner-take-all Game 7.
Max Scherzer, three days removed from be-
ing unable to lift his right arm, couldn’t hold
back the tears after grinding through five in-
nings. Dave Martinez, the manager not ex-pected to survive the season, was surrounded
by family. Ted Lerner, the club’s 94-year-old
original principal owner, was nearby absorbing
the moment he envisioned when he brought
baseball to Washington.
Zimmerman had trouble describing what
was happening around him as he thought about
what had occurred on this night and over the
last five months since they were left for dead.
But he was not surprised.
“What a weird year,” Zimmerman said.
“What a weird team. We just kept going, man.
Could’ve quit. Could’ve rolled over. But this
group of guys, we bounce back. It’s almost fit-
ting that we won this way.”
The Nationals roared back from 12 games
under .500 on May 24 — becoming a loose, easy-
going, bunch of dancers along the way — to
claim a postseason berth. They won the Na-
tional League wild-card game on a fluky late-in-
ning hit and error.THE WASHINGTON NATIONALShave a party in front of the mound and a mostly somber crowd in Minute Maid Park after rally-
ing to defeat the host Houston Astros in Game 7 to clinch the franchise’s first World Series championship.David J. PhillipAssociated PressVISITING HISTORY
Nationals win World Series in which the home club loses every game
By Jorge Castillo[SeeWorld Series,D7]Less than a minute re-
mained in the second quar-
ter of the Clippers’ game
Tuesday at Staples Center
when forward Kawhi Leon-
ard palmed the basketball in
his massive right hand while
holding it over his defender,
like an adult playing keep-
away from a child.He dribbled from the
three-point arc into the
paint before considering his
next move. A triangle of
Charlotte defenders took
one step forward and locked
their eyes on Leonard, who
stopped his drive, returned
their stares and — without
averting his gaze — bounced
a right-handed pass to
teammate Ivica Zubac, who
had slipped into open spacebehind the Hornets’ trio.
Zubac scored on a layup
and was fouled, and the Clip-
pers’ two-point lead grew to
five.
They never trailed again
and the Clippers improved
to 3-1.
The sequence of passing
fancy was the latest in a four-
game run in which Leonard
has averaged 7.5 assists,KAWHI LEONARD’Sgame has evolved to where he can pass off to teammates
when he draws defenders. The Clippers star has 30 assists in four games.Robert GauthierLos Angeles TimesHE’S OUT TO LEND
A HELPING HAND
Leonard’s game now includes elite playmaking ability
[SeeLeonard,D5]By Andrew GreifSALT LAKE CITY — On
a night when the Clippers
star was absent, Utah’s fi-
nally arrived.
And in a young season
where the play of Jazz point
guard Mike Conley has pro-
duced raised eyebrows, he
instead walked off Wednes-
day to a standing ovation in-
side Vivint Smart Home
Arena.
With Clippers forward
Kawhi Leonard still in Cali-
fornia, missing the first of
what is expected to be sev-
eral games this season for
precautionary reasons, his
team struggled to create
their own shots and stop
Utah’s in a 110-96 loss at
Vivint Smart Home Arena.
For the Clippers (3-2),
there will be many more
nights like this, where they
play shorthanded.
In their attempt to en-sure the healthiest roster
possible by the postseason’s
start, the team’s “load man-
agement” will not stop with
Leonard.
“All year, we’re going to
rest a lot of guys,” coach Doc
Rivers said.
They can only hope they
won’t all end like this.
Trailing by just one at
halftime, the Clippers fell
apart during a third quarter
in which they were
outscored by 18 and unable
to contain Conley. The
guard’s offseason arrival via
trade from Memphis put
Utah (4-1) in the conversa-Hot Jazz deal
Leonard-less
Clippers a loss
Star remains in L.A.
for scheduled rest as
Utah’s Conley takes
advantage of absence.
UTAH 110
CLIPPERS 96By Andrew Greif[SeeClippers,D5]UTAH FORWARDBo-
jan Bogdanovic cele-
brates a basket.Rick BowmerAssociated PressNEXT UP
USC (5-3)vs.
7 Oregon (7-1)
AT THE COLISEUM
Saturday, 5 p.m.
TV:Channel 11
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1997: Florida over Cleveland (4-3)
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2002: Angels over San Francisco (4-3)
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2003: Florida over N.Y. Yankees (4-2)
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2004: Boston over St. Louis (4-0)
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2011: St. Louis over Texas (4-3)
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2014: San Francisco over Kansas City (4-3)
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2019: Washington over Houston (4-3)
-------------------------------------------------------WILD ENDINGS
Washington’s win over Houston marked
the seventh time a wild-card team ended
up as World Series champion, with five of
those Series going seven games.