ht, for $30,000, and when he won the Breeders Cup

LOS ANGELES -- With their bats finally catching up to their pitching, the Los Angeles Dodgers are taking a three-game winning streak and a jolt of confidence into the All-Star break.Everybodys swinging the bat really well, said Howie Kendrick, who had three hits in the Dodgers 3-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.It took us a little while to get it going. (Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzalez) had a little lull there. (Corey) Seagers been hot all year, but its good to see different guys get it going.Rookie Kenta Maeda (8-6) struck out a career-high 13 over seven innings and held San Diego to a run on two hits, including a solo homer to Derek Norris. He retired 14 of the first 15 batters he faced and struck out six straight near the end of his outing.It seemed like everything played off the fastball, catcher Yasmani Grandal said. He was commanding it, and then he was the same ol Kenta, throwing curveballs for strikes, sliders for strikes, good pitches for changeups. But we kept them honest with the fastball.Gonzalez got his first homer in 25 games to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead in the fifth against Christian Friedrich (4-5). Gonzalez has hit safely in five straight games and is batting .455 over his past 12 games.Kendrick extended his hitting streak to seven games. He doubled and scored in the first and drove in the Dodgers second run with line-drive single in the second. He also reached safely on an infield single in the sixth.Corey Seager, voted into the All-Star Game by the players, continued his hot-hitting with an RBI single in the first. The rookie has hit safely in 19 of his last 21 games, batting .366 during the stretch.The Dodgers fought off an anemic offense early in the season to go into the All-Star break a season-high 11 games over .500.For our guys it was just staying focused on winning each game, and not getting focused on what players are hurt, what people are saying about us, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. There were a couple of stretches in there where we could have gone the other way.Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 27th save.For the Padres, the three losses to end the first half left them 18-18 since June 1 and headed into the break needing to regroup.I thought it was just bad baseball, Padres manager Andy Green said. Theres nothing else to say. I thought we were somewhat listless offensively. We had opportunities to square up the baseball and didnt.One Padre did, when Norris drove the first pitch he saw from Maeda with one out in the fifth over the left-field wall for his 12th homer.Friedrich lost for the fourth time in five starts, giving up three runs and seven hits over five innings.BULLPEN SESSIONClayton Kershaw threw 25 pitches off a mound before the game and Roberts said there was definitely encouraging progress in the left-handers rehab from a back injury.The Dodgers have not set a timetable for the three-time Cy Young Award winners return.He will not be in the rotation when we come back from the break, Roberts saidFIRST SERVETennis player and Thousand Oaks resident Sam Querrey threw out the games ceremonial first pitch. Querrey upset top-ranked Novac Djokovic in the third round at Wimbledon on July 2.TRAINERS ROOMPadres: 2B Jemile Weeks (right hamstring strain) continues to progress through his running program. The Padres hope to get him into minor league rehab games after the All-Star break. ... 2B Corey Spangenberg (left quad strain) suffered a setback running on Friday and has been sent back to San Diego to be re-evaluated. ... RHP Tyson Ross (right shoulder inflammation) has suffered a sprained ankle and will see a doctor on Monday. Hes been throwing still, but just cant get off the mound from a stability standpoint with the ankle, Padres manager Andy Green said.Dodgers: Bud Norris, Brandon McCarthy and Maeda are slated to start the first three games after the All-Star break in Arizona, with Scott Kazmir and Hyun-Jin Ryu to go in Washington. ... Long-time Dodger announcer Vin Scully, in his final season at age 88, took a routine day off on Sunday.NEXT UPPadres: Andrew Cashner (3-7, 5.40) will make his third start of the year against the Giants when the Padres open the second half hosting San Francisco. Cashner has lost five of his last six decisions, dating to May 8.Dodgers: Bud Norris (4-7, 3.98) will make his third start in a Dodger uniform when Los Angeles opens the second half in Arizona on Friday. Norris is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA for the Dodgers since being acquired in a five-player deal from Atlanta on June 30.Custom Marlins T-shirts . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Custom Marlins Jerseys . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. http://www.custommarlinsjersey.com/ .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Authentic Custom Marlins Jersey . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. Custom Marlins Jersey China . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games.ARCADIA, Calif. -- Trainer Bob Baffert appeared to be holding a pretty strong hand when entries were drawn Monday for the $1.5 million Breeders Cup Sprint, with two of the top contenders in the field, including potential favorite Lord Nelson. But Bafferts chances of winning his fifth Sprint title suffered a major blow several days later when he was compelled to scratch Lord Nelson due to an infection.Fortunately for Baffert, his other Sprint candidate was the speedy and steadily improving 3-year-old Drefong, who proved he was more than a backup for Lord Nelson by outdueling 8-5 favorite Masochistic on the lead before edging away to an impressive 1-1/4-length victory in the Sprint under jockey Martin Garcia.Drefong, a son of Gio Ponti, is owned by the Baoma Corp. He completed six furlongs over a fast track in 1:08.79 and paid $9.80. Garcia was a last-minute replacement for Drefongs regular rider, Mike Smith, who opted to keep his regular seat aboard Masochistic.Masochistic broke best, with Smith rating him just outside and off Drefong, who sped to a short lead nearest the rail after an opening quarter in 21.41 seconds. Masochistic gained a short advantage on the turn and was seemingly going easiest at that point, but Drefong would not be denied, responding to some vigorous urging to dispose of Masochistic nearing midstretch before edging clear at the end.Mind Your Biscuits, last, as expected, in the run down the backstretch, finished best of all, falling just a nose short of catching Masochistic for second money.A. P. Indian had his six-race win streak come to an end after finishing fourth, 4-1/2 lengths behind the winner. He was followed by Limousine Liberal, a tiring Delta Bluesman, and Noholdingback Bear, who was eased to the wire after having his best chances compromised by a slow start. Like Lord Nelson, Joking was scratched this week.It really hurt losing Lord Nelson this week. He was doing so well, and it would have been nice to have him in here, said Baffert. But Drefong, he was ready to go. And it was a great time for Marrtin [Garcia] to reunite with me.ddddddddddddBaffert and Garcia parted ways in April, just prior to the Kentucky Derby, before mending fences last week.Drefong broke with him [Masochistic], and Martin just let him ease up there the first part of it, said Baffert. When I saw the fractions, 21 and a tick, I thought that was manageable. Good horses could handle it.I could see Masochistic was bringing his A game, I knew it was going to be a battle. About the three-eighths pole, it looked like Masochistic was going to have the edge on us. But this little horse, when the running started, he just brought it, and at the eighth pole, he showed the will he has to win.Baffert won the Sprint for the first time with Thirty Slews in 1993. He also won the race with Midnight Lute in 2007 and 2008 and with Secret Circle in 2013.Thirty Slews was the first horse I ever bought, for $30,000, and when he won the Breeders Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park, it was so exciting, I thought Id reached the pinnacle of my career, said Baffert. I never had that feeling again until I won the Kentucky Derby. And its still a thrill to win any Breeders Cup race because theres so much on the line, not only the money, but championships as well. Hopefully, this will put Drefong in the conversation.Garcia said he had no choice but to put Drefong on the lead after breaking from post 2.As fast as I was going, he was running easy, said Garcia. It looked like that other horse [Masochistic] outside went past us, and I just asked my horse a little bit, and he responded.Smith, who had ridden Drefong to three straight easy wins, including the Grade 1 Kings Bishop, said he thought he had control of the race on the turn.When we hit the turn, we were looking good, sitting perfect, but I know Drefong, hes a tough son of a gun, said Smith. He doesnt stop. Thats why I tried to put him away over there on the turn. I thought I did too, and here he comes again. ' ' '