Associated Press Dodgers manager Joe Torre hugs closing pitcher Jonathan Broxton after the clinching win.

LOS ANGELES – After giving up drinking alcohol, a friend of Dodgers President Jamie McCourt handed her a bottle of champagne yesterday. “You won't believe it,” McCourt said later. “It's from 1988.”

LOS ANGELES – The memory is nearly 27 years old, but it bothers Lou Piniella to this day. It was Oct. 23, 1981, the first inning of the third game of the World Series. The New York Yankees had two on and one out when Piniella decided to muscle up against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Fernando Valenzuela.

MIAMI – Even while LaDainian Tomlinson was unable to do much more than run straight ahead, his aching right big toe limiting his burst moving laterally, defenses were stacked to stop him. So nothing is going to change now that he is moving so ably left and right – and now that he is entering the time of the season when in the past couple of years he's really begun to produce.

• Statistics: Chargers vs. Dolphins
• Chargers predictions for Sunday
• Five things to watch
• Accuscore analysis: Chargers at Dolphins

FORT WORTH, Texas – A prognosis already dim just grew considerably darker. San Diego State, whose prospects of success this season largely hinged on the right arm of quarterback Ryan Lindley, may have seen their immediate future crumble when Lindley suffered a potentially separated throwing shoulder in the first quarter of yesterday's 41-7 loss at TCU.

• Aztecs backup QB critical of performance
• Aztecs game summary

As the Padres emerge from the wreckage of 2008 and chart a course for 2009, their challenge might be less daunting than their 63-99 record and last-place finish suggest. That's the view of a hitting coach who six months ago agreed to study the club's hitters and report his findings.

• Manuel: Mets need to 'marinate' on failures
• Padres report card