Dee Gordon has three hits, three RBIs in Dodgers' 7-2 win over Rockies

AT THE PLATE: Dee Gordon was three for four with two triples, three runs batted in and two runs scored. No Dodgers player had tripled twice in a game since Rafael Furcal on Sept. 28, 2010, also in Colorado. Like Gordon, Hanley Ramirez also showed signs of breaking out of a slump, as he was two for four with a couple of RBIs. The Dodgers scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to build a 6-0 lead.

ON THE MOUND: Hyun-Jin Ryu didn't give up a run until the bottom of the sixth inning, when he served up a solo home run to Drew Stubbs and a run-scoring triple to Charlie Culberson. Ryu pitched six inning and was charged with two runs and eight hits. Brandon League, Brian Wilson and Chris Perez combined to pitch three scoreless innings in relief.

ROSTER MOVES: The Dodgers sent down shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to triple-A Albuquerque rather than have the $25-million Cuban prospect continue to sit on the bench. "We weren't doing him any favors," Manager Don Mattingly said. Arruebarrena's demotion led to the first-ever major league call-up for infielder Miguel Rojas. "Dream come true," said Rojas, who spent parts of nine seasons in the minor leagues. The defensive specialist said his first phone call was to his grandparents in his native Venezuela. Rojas made his debut on this night as a eighth-inning defensive replacement for Hanley Ramirez. Rojas made an error on the first ball hit to him.

ON THE MEND: Doctors have detected circulation and growth in the surgically reattached portion of Alex Guerrero's left ear, increasing the chances that the ear can be saved, according to agent Scott Boras. "It's looking like the surgery will be successful," said Boras, who represents Guerrero. Catcher Miguel Olivo, a teammate of Guerrero on the Dodgers' triple-A Albuquerque affiliate, bit off the top off the ear during an in-game argument on May 20. The Dodgers suspended Olivo the next day and released him the day after that.

UP NEXT: Zack Greinke (8-2, 2.50) will face the Rockies and Jhoulys Chacin (0-4, 5.51) at Coors Field at 1 p.m. On the air: TV: SportsNet LA; Radio: 570, 1020.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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C.J. Cron, Grant Green vying for a chance to stay with Angels

Both C.J. Cron and Grant Green were in the Angels' lineup Friday night, Cron at first base and Green at second, giving the on-the-bubble players what seemed like a last chance to impress Manager Mike Scioscia and General Manager Jerry Dipoto before one is sent to triple A.

Scioscia hinted after an 8-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in Angel Stadium that the much-anticipated move to add a reliever and demote Green or Cron — or, possibly, release struggling designated hitter Raul Ibanez and his .143 average — will probably come Saturday.

"We're evaluating some stuff right now," Scioscia said, when asked whether he was still comfortable carrying a six-man bullpen, as he has for a week. "Some of these guys have been throwing a lot, and we might have to get some coverage."

Green, who singled during a five-run fourth inning and turned two double plays Friday night, is batting .359 in 22 games, and he is far more versatile than Cron, able to play four infield positions and left field.

But Cron, with his power and knack for delivering in the clutch, is the clear front-runner in the race to retain a big league spot.

With two outs, runners on second and third and the Angels leading, 2-1, in the fourth inning Friday, Cron laced a two-run double to left field to give the Angels a 4-1 lead and spark a five-run rally that made it 7-1.

The former University of Utah standout is batting .299 in 28 games, with three homers and 14 runs batted in. He is hitting .444 (12 for 27) with runners in scoring position and .533 (eight for 15) with runners in scoring position and two outs.

It's a small sample size, but as a comparison, Angels slugger Albert Pujols is batting .155 (11 for 71) with runners in scoring position and .138 (four for 29) with runners in scoring position and two outs.

"He's very comfortable in the box — he's certainly not intimidated," Scioscia said of Cron. "He has the confidence that he's going to put the ball in play hard in those situations. With runners in scoring position, he's been doing a great job. … He's certainly earning more at-bats, making the most of his opportunity."

That bodes well for Cron, but not for Green, who, when asked whether he's been playing on pins and needles, said, "A little bit. It's in the back of your mind, of course; everyone wants to be here. But it's something I can't control. When the time comes, if they decide to make a move, they'll make a move."

Before the game, the Angels announced that reliever Sean Burnett underwent elbow reconstruction surgery this week, a procedure that will sideline the veteran left-hander for 12 to 18 months and probably will end his career in Anaheim. Burnett, 31, is in the second year of a two-year, $8-million contract that includes a $4.5-million option for 2015 that the team will buy out for $500,000.

Burnett, who had his first Tommy John surgery in 2004, appeared in only 16 games for the Angels, spending most of his two seasons rehabilitating from elbow injuries and surgery to repair his flexor tendon last August.

He sat out April and most of May. He returned May 23 and appeared in three games, only to tear his ulnar collateral ligament May 27 in Seattle. But Scioscia thinks Burnett will pitch again.

"It seems like Tommy John surgery has become routine, and the results have been great, but on the second one, there's a little more gray area on how he'll react," Scioscia said. "I know he wants to pitch again, and a year from now, he'll get an opportunity to do what he loves to do and something he's very good at."

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Dee Gordon has three hits, three RBIs in Dodgers' 7-2 win over Rockies

AT THE PLATE: Dee Gordon was three for four with two triples, three runs batted in and two runs scored. No Dodgers player had tripled twice in a game since Rafael Furcal on Sept. 28, 2010, also in Colorado. Like Gordon, Hanley Ramirez also showed signs of breaking out of a slump, as he was two for four with a couple of RBIs. The Dodgers scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to build a 6-0 lead.

ON THE MOUND: Hyun-Jin Ryu didn't give up a run until the bottom of the sixth inning, when he served up a solo home run to Drew Stubbs and a run-scoring triple to Charlie Culberson. Ryu pitched six inning and was charged with two runs and eight hits. Brandon League, Brian Wilson and Chris Perez combined to pitch three scoreless innings in relief.

ROSTER MOVES: The Dodgers sent down shortstop Erisbel Arruebarrena to triple-A Albuquerque rather than have the $25-million Cuban prospect continue to sit on the bench. "We weren't doing him any favors," Manager Don Mattingly said. Arruebarrena's demotion led to the first-ever major league call-up for infielder Miguel Rojas. "Dream come true," said Rojas, who spent parts of nine seasons in the minor leagues. The defensive specialist said his first phone call was to his grandparents in his native Venezuela. Rojas made his debut on this night as a eighth-inning defensive replacement for Hanley Ramirez. Rojas made an error on the first ball hit to him.

ON THE MEND: Doctors have detected circulation and growth in the surgically reattached portion of Alex Guerrero's left ear, increasing the chances that the ear can be saved, according to agent Scott Boras. "It's looking like the surgery will be successful," said Boras, who represents Guerrero. Catcher Miguel Olivo, a teammate of Guerrero on the Dodgers' triple-A Albuquerque affiliate, bit off the top off the ear during an in-game argument on May 20. The Dodgers suspended Olivo the next day and released him the day after that.

UP NEXT: Zack Greinke (8-2, 2.50) will face the Rockies and Jhoulys Chacin (0-4, 5.51) at Coors Field at 1 p.m. On the air: TV: SportsNet LA; Radio: 570, 1020.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Kings make a meal of a Big Apple turnover

Staples Center was so quiet, you could have heard a tooth drop. The Kings looked so exhausted, it was if they were skating through a natural nightmare.

"Sometimes … it's quicksand," said Trevor Lewis.

That was Wednesday's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final for the heavily favored hometown guys. It was quicksand. They were churning, then they were sinking, and their fans were mostly staring.

Early in the game, Bailey, the team's 6-foot-4 lion mascot, felt compelled to hold up a sign that read "Stand up, it's the Cup," as if to remind everyone suffering from an apparent Blackhawks hangover that this new series was, like, way more important. Late in the game, the Kings required the services of videotaped cheerleader Will Ferrell to remind the crowd of their favorite three-word chant.

But the entire evening felt like Go-Kings-Stop. This didn't seem like two years ago. This didn't even seem like two weeks ago. This Kings team that trailed the New York Rangers and royal goalie Henrik Lundqvist by two goals before eventually forcing an overtime looked as if it had finally run out of breath.

Then suddenly the chant, as it has done throughout the past six weeks, changed again with a play that defined not only a team, but could eventually define a series.

Go-Kings-Boom!

Barely four minutes into overtime, the Rangers' Dan Girardi tried to clear the puck out of the Rangers' zone. He whiffed. Mike Richards controlled the loose puck and passed to Justin Williams, who swatted it past Lundqvist and into a building-shaking roar that could echo into next week.

It is not enough to say the Kings simply won Game 1 in overtime, 3-2. This was no mere win. This was theft. This was escape. This is one the Rangers could remember long into the summer. This might have been their best chance to control this series, and it floated away from them like that puck off Girardi's stick, and today the Kings are fighting to keep from smiling.

"We keep playing like that, it's going to bite you in the you know what," said Lewis.

Oh, but this game didn't even leave a mark, and did you know that 77% of the teams that have won Game 1 of the Final have eventually won the Cup?

"We didn't do a lot of things right, that's not the way we want to play," said Drew Doughty.

Yeah, well, they did at least three things right, and did you know the last two teams to win Game 1 of the Final in overtime have won the Cup, including the Kings two years ago against the New Jersey Devils?

"We certainly don't want to make a habit out of this," said Williams.

"A lot of things were going awry during the game. We certainly have to clean that up."

Yet afterward, the only thing that required cleaning up was the Rangers smoldering dressing room, filled with guys with the vacant eyes of someone who had just been sucker punched.

"It's disappointing," said Lundqvist, pulling his Rangers baseball cap low over his wet hair. "We were that close."

How must the greatest goalie in the world feel after stopping 20 Kings shots in the third period alone, after stopping 40 of 43 shots overall, and still skating away with fans jeering his slumped form? Lundqvist unblinkingly acknowledged that on the final duel with Williams, he blinked first.

"I felt like I was patient, but I still made the first move, I probably could play that a little better," he said.

"It always easy to look back and have the right answer."

Easy for some, harder for others, like Girardi, who continually took deep breaths in apparent shock as he sat gamely in front of his locker afterward, rubbing his red blotched nose while trying to explain his one whiff that became strike three.

"I'm not going to dwell on it," he said. "The play happened so quick, I see guys breaking to the middle, try to pass it, it bounces over my stick."

Good luck with that not-dwelling thing. Good luck with the Rangers getting past the fact that 15 minutes into the game, they have given Lundqvist a 2-0 lead against a Kings team that looked lost.

"It was one of those nights when we just didn't have it," said Lewis. "I don't think we were energized as a hockey club, we were a lot slower when we usually are…. We have more than that."

They gave up their first goal on a turnover by Doughty that turned into a breakaway for Benoit Pouliot, and their second goal when Slava Voynov was beaten to a loose puck by Carl Hagelin and eventually kicked in the rebound of Hagelin's breakaway shot.

"We have to look ourselves in the mirror and be better prepared next game," said Doughty.

The Kings feel like this even though they tied the score on goals by Kyle Clifford and Doughty, and even though they eventually outshot the Rangers 43-27. They feel like this because they lost some physical battles with the Rangers, and were sometimes slower than the Rangers, and would have lost if Jonathan Quick didn't make a splendid stop on a Hagelin breakaway late in the game.

"Quickie made a great save, or we wouldn't be sitting here right now," he said.

But Quick did stand on his head, and the Kings are indeed sitting here with a one-game-to-none lead that feels like four times that much.

"We feel like we got away with one, and we did," said Lewis.

The Kings know it. More important, so do the Rangers.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

Twitter: @billplaschke

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Kings make a meal of a Big Apple turnover

Staples Center was so quiet, you could have heard a tooth drop. The Kings looked so exhausted, it was if they were skating through a natural nightmare.

"Sometimes … it's quicksand," said Trevor Lewis.

That was Wednesday's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final for the heavily favored hometown guys. It was quicksand. They were churning, then they were sinking, and their fans were mostly staring.

Early in the game, Bailey, the team's 6-foot-4 lion mascot, felt compelled to hold up a sign that read "Stand up, it's the Cup," as if to remind everyone suffering from an apparent Blackhawks hangover that this new series was, like, way more important. Late in the game, the Kings required the services of videotaped cheerleader Will Ferrell to remind the crowd of their favorite three-word chant.

But the entire evening felt like Go-Kings-Stop. This didn't seem like two years ago. This didn't even seem like two weeks ago. This Kings team that trailed the New York Rangers and royal goalie Henrik Lundqvist by two goals before eventually forcing an overtime looked as if it had finally run out of breath.

Then suddenly the chant, as it has done throughout the past six weeks, changed again with a play that defined not only a team, but could eventually define a series.

Go-Kings-Boom!

Barely four minutes into overtime, the Rangers' Dan Girardi tried to clear the puck out of the Rangers' zone. He whiffed. Mike Richards controlled the loose puck and passed to Justin Williams, who swatted it past Lundqvist and into a building-shaking roar that could echo into next week.

It is not enough to say the Kings simply won Game 1 in overtime, 3-2. This was no mere win. This was theft. This was escape. This is one the Rangers could remember long into the summer. This might have been their best chance to control this series, and it floated away from them like that puck off Girardi's stick, and today the Kings are fighting to keep from smiling.

"We keep playing like that, it's going to bite you in the you know what," said Lewis.

Oh, but this game didn't even leave a mark, and did you know that 77% of the teams that have won Game 1 of the Final have eventually won the Cup?

"We didn't do a lot of things right, that's not the way we want to play," said Drew Doughty.

Yeah, well, they did at least three things right, and did you know the last two teams to win Game 1 of the Final in overtime have won the Cup, including the Kings two years ago against the New Jersey Devils?

"We certainly don't want to make a habit out of this," said Williams.

"A lot of things were going awry during the game. We certainly have to clean that up."

Yet afterward, the only thing that required cleaning up was the Rangers smoldering dressing room, filled with guys with the vacant eyes of someone who had just been sucker punched.

"It's disappointing," said Lundqvist, pulling his Rangers baseball cap low over his wet hair. "We were that close."

How must the greatest goalie in the world feel after stopping 20 Kings shots in the third period alone, after stopping 40 of 43 shots overall, and still skating away with fans jeering his slumped form? Lundqvist unblinkingly acknowledged that on the final duel with Williams, he blinked first.

"I felt like I was patient, but I still made the first move, I probably could play that a little better," he said.

"It always easy to look back and have the right answer."

Easy for some, harder for others, like Girardi, who continually took deep breaths in apparent shock as he sat gamely in front of his locker afterward, rubbing his red blotched nose while trying to explain his one whiff that became strike three.

"I'm not going to dwell on it," he said. "The play happened so quick, I see guys breaking to the middle, try to pass it, it bounces over my stick."

Good luck with that not-dwelling thing. Good luck with the Rangers getting past the fact that 15 minutes into the game, they have given Lundqvist a 2-0 lead against a Kings team that looked lost.

"It was one of those nights when we just didn't have it," said Lewis. "I don't think we were energized as a hockey club, we were a lot slower when we usually are…. We have more than that."

They gave up their first goal on a turnover by Doughty that turned into a breakaway for Benoit Pouliot, and their second goal when Slava Voynov was beaten to a loose puck by Carl Hagelin and eventually kicked in the rebound of Hagelin's breakaway shot.

"We have to look ourselves in the mirror and be better prepared next game," said Doughty.

The Kings feel like this even though they tied the score on goals by Kyle Clifford and Doughty, and even though they eventually outshot the Rangers 43-27. They feel like this because they lost some physical battles with the Rangers, and were sometimes slower than the Rangers, and would have lost if Jonathan Quick didn't make a splendid stop on a Hagelin breakaway late in the game.

"Quickie made a great save, or we wouldn't be sitting here right now," he said.

But Quick did stand on his head, and the Kings are indeed sitting here with a one-game-to-none lead that feels like four times that much.

"We feel like we got away with one, and we did," said Lewis.

The Kings know it. More important, so do the Rangers.

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

Twitter: @billplaschke

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Gov. Jerry Brown takes easy lead, will face Neel Kashkari in November

Dashing toward an unprecedented fourth term, Gov. Jerry Brown romped to victory in Tuesday's state primary and in November will face Republican Neel Kashkari, who emerged from a fractious intra-party battle to win a chance to take on the incumbent.

Kashkari and Tim Donnelly fought late into the night for the opportunity to challenge Brown, but Donnelly conceded the race nearly four hours after the polls closed.

Brown's commanding lead was a reflection both of Democratic dominance in California and widespread approval of his tenure. Emerging from the historic governor's mansion in Sacramento after the polls closed, the incumbent proclaimed victory.

"What won this election tonight is curing a $27-billion deficit, keeping my promise not to raise taxes unless the people themselves voted for it and bringing government close to the people," said Brown, 76, who was first elected governor in 1974.

Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury official and first-time candidate, said the incumbent has failed the state, pointing to high levels of unemployment, failing schools and poverty.

"Jerry Brown is not going to be able to ignore me. And I'm going to make him answer for his failure to help middle-class families," Kashkari, 40, said in an interview at a Corona del Mar theater. "And when I force him to answer, the whole country is going to see that he has no answer."

The Laguna Beach resident acknowledged that Brown would prove a challenging rival.

"It's going to be hard. Don't get me wrong," said Kashkari, 40. "Jerry Brown is going to have more resources than we are."

Donnelly, a 48-year-old assemblyman from San Bernardino, told his supporters shortly before midnight that he had called Kashkari to concede.

He said he was disappointed to see the numbers turning against his favor, but was heartened by what a "rag-tag band of patriots" was able to pull off.

"We're happy warriors, we are not going to cry in our milk or our beer or anything else."

Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom — Democrats widely expected to seek higher office in coming years — easily outpolled their competitors Tuesday. Newsom will face former state GOP Chairman Ron Nehring in the fall, with Harris' competitor undetermined in early returns.

All eight statewide constitutional offices were on Tuesday's ballot. In the closely watched secretary of state's contest, Democrat Alex Padilla, a state senator, and Republican Pete Peterson, executive director of a civic institute at Pepperdine University, emerged as the two finalists.

In the insurance commissioner contest, Democratic incumbent Dave Jones will face Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines, and in the treasurer's race termed-out Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, will compete against GOP accountant Greg Conlon. Races for superintendent of public instruction and controller remained too close to call late Tuesday.

Voters approved two statewide ballot measures: a $600-million affordable housing program for veterans and a proposal that would require local governments to pick up the tab for public access to agency meetings and records.

At stake in Sacramento was one-party domination — voters on Tuesday determined whether Democrats were able to retain a two-thirds super-majority in the state Assembly, and were able to regain that status in the state Senate.

Voters also cast ballots in 53 congressional races, notably the Westside battle to replace retiring liberal stalwart Henry Waxman. Los Angeles County voters saw rare opportunities to elect a new sheriff and two new members of the county Board of Supervisors.

Statewide, legislative and congressional races were closely watched in part to see the effects of recent changes — the independent drawing of district boundaries and the so-called jungle primary, in which the top two vote-getters in a June primary advance to a November runoff, regardless of political party.

Yet the turnout appeared to be pitifully low, partly because the gubernatorial race was far less competitive or visible than any in recent memory.

Brown has had little incentive to engage his challengers throughout the spring. With a huge financial edge and strong support from Democratic and independent voters — and more Republicans than is typical for an opposite-party governor, polls show — Brown has long been the favorite for reelection in November.

Politically, his strength has been extended by the absence of well-known or well-financed competition. Unlike elections past, there was on the ballot no Republican movie star, like 2003 and 2006 candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, or free-spending billionaire, like Meg Whitman in 2010.

Donnelly and Kashkari represented two vastly different alternatives for Republicans battling for relevance at a time when the state party finds itself at a historic low among registered voters.

Donnelly first drew attention years ago as a leader of the volunteer Minuteman border-patrol group. Until this election, he was most famous for trying to bring a loaded gun onto a plane at LA/Ontario International Airport. (Donnelly, who remains on probation for the 2012 incident, has said he forgot that the weapon was in his carry-on bag).

Donnelly had not aired a single television ad, and spent much of his campaign barnstorming the state in a borrowed RV decorated. In California, where television is considered critical to reaching the state's 38 million residents, such by-the-bootstraps efforts have not traditionally been successful in statewide contests. But Donnelly made a series of missteps that prompted big-name Republicans to denounce him. He compared President Obama's gun policies to those of Adolf Hitler and tried to link Kashkari, a Hindu of Indian descent, to fundamentalist Islamic law. .

Kashkari has the backing of every mainstream Republican who has weighed in on the race, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Kashkari, whose liberal views on abortion and same-sex marriage are in line with the state's electorate but not with California Republicans, has focused his campaign on the economy and education.

But he has faced a number of hurdles — he is a multimillionaire, which invited comparisons to billionaire Meg Whitman, who spent $144 million of her own money to lose to Brown in 2010.

Kashkari lacked Whitman's wealth, but put $2 million — or 40% of his stated net worth — into his gubernatorial bid by late May. Kashkari's resume as a former investment banker who ran the Wall Street bank bailout known as TARP was a hard sell for many Republican voters, as was his 2008 vote for President Obama.

Kashkari raised $4.1 million, including his contribution.

Although it was a negligible amount for a statewide contest, it allowed him to target likely Republican voters with a flurry of mailers over the last four weeks.

He also repeatedly aired a television ad in which he chopped logs and obliterated a toy train that symbolized Brown's high-speed rail project, dubbed by Kashkari the "crazy train."

He also reveled in his non-politician status — while trotting out his endorsement from veteran political figures — and promised to move welfare recipients into jobs.

A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found Kashkari gaining momentum as election day neared — and at the same time found Brown enjoying enormous advantages going into the fall contest. Still, on Tuesday, the incumbent said he took nothing for granted.

"Fortune is fickle," Brown declared.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

Times staff writers Jack Leonard, Maeve Reston and Paige St. John contributed to this report. Leonard reported from Corona del Mar, Reston from Hollywood and St. John from Sacramento.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Gov. Jerry Brown takes easy lead, will face Neel Kashkari in November

Dashing toward an unprecedented fourth term, Gov. Jerry Brown romped to victory in Tuesday's state primary and in November will face Republican Neel Kashkari, who emerged from a fractious intra-party battle to win a chance to take on the incumbent.

Kashkari and Tim Donnelly fought late into the night for the opportunity to challenge Brown, but Donnelly conceded the race nearly four hours after the polls closed.

Brown's commanding lead was a reflection both of Democratic dominance in California and widespread approval of his tenure. Emerging from the historic governor's mansion in Sacramento after the polls closed, the incumbent proclaimed victory.

"What won this election tonight is curing a $27-billion deficit, keeping my promise not to raise taxes unless the people themselves voted for it and bringing government close to the people," said Brown, 76, who was first elected governor in 1974.

Kashkari, a former U.S. Treasury official and first-time candidate, said the incumbent has failed the state, pointing to high levels of unemployment, failing schools and poverty.

"Jerry Brown is not going to be able to ignore me. And I'm going to make him answer for his failure to help middle-class families," Kashkari, 40, said in an interview at a Corona del Mar theater. "And when I force him to answer, the whole country is going to see that he has no answer."

The Laguna Beach resident acknowledged that Brown would prove a challenging rival.

"It's going to be hard. Don't get me wrong," said Kashkari, 40. "Jerry Brown is going to have more resources than we are."

Donnelly, a 48-year-old assemblyman from San Bernardino, told his supporters shortly before midnight that he had called Kashkari to concede.

He said he was disappointed to see the numbers turning against his favor, but was heartened by what a "rag-tag band of patriots" was able to pull off.

"We're happy warriors, we are not going to cry in our milk or our beer or anything else."

Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom — Democrats widely expected to seek higher office in coming years — easily outpolled their competitors Tuesday. Newsom will face former state GOP Chairman Ron Nehring in the fall, with Harris' competitor undetermined in early returns.

All eight statewide constitutional offices were on Tuesday's ballot. In the closely watched secretary of state's contest, Democrat Alex Padilla, a state senator, and Republican Pete Peterson, executive director of a civic institute at Pepperdine University, emerged as the two finalists.

In the insurance commissioner contest, Democratic incumbent Dave Jones will face Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines, and in the treasurer's race termed-out Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, will compete against GOP accountant Greg Conlon. Races for superintendent of public instruction and controller remained too close to call late Tuesday.

Voters approved two statewide ballot measures: a $600-million affordable housing program for veterans and a proposal that would require local governments to pick up the tab for public access to agency meetings and records.

At stake in Sacramento was one-party domination — voters on Tuesday determined whether Democrats were able to retain a two-thirds super-majority in the state Assembly, and were able to regain that status in the state Senate.

Voters also cast ballots in 53 congressional races, notably the Westside battle to replace retiring liberal stalwart Henry Waxman. Los Angeles County voters saw rare opportunities to elect a new sheriff and two new members of the county Board of Supervisors.

Statewide, legislative and congressional races were closely watched in part to see the effects of recent changes — the independent drawing of district boundaries and the so-called jungle primary, in which the top two vote-getters in a June primary advance to a November runoff, regardless of political party.

Yet the turnout appeared to be pitifully low, partly because the gubernatorial race was far less competitive or visible than any in recent memory.

Brown has had little incentive to engage his challengers throughout the spring. With a huge financial edge and strong support from Democratic and independent voters — and more Republicans than is typical for an opposite-party governor, polls show — Brown has long been the favorite for reelection in November.

Politically, his strength has been extended by the absence of well-known or well-financed competition. Unlike elections past, there was on the ballot no Republican movie star, like 2003 and 2006 candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, or free-spending billionaire, like Meg Whitman in 2010.

Donnelly and Kashkari represented two vastly different alternatives for Republicans battling for relevance at a time when the state party finds itself at a historic low among registered voters.

Donnelly first drew attention years ago as a leader of the volunteer Minuteman border-patrol group. Until this election, he was most famous for trying to bring a loaded gun onto a plane at LA/Ontario International Airport. (Donnelly, who remains on probation for the 2012 incident, has said he forgot that the weapon was in his carry-on bag).

Donnelly had not aired a single television ad, and spent much of his campaign barnstorming the state in a borrowed RV decorated. In California, where television is considered critical to reaching the state's 38 million residents, such by-the-bootstraps efforts have not traditionally been successful in statewide contests. But Donnelly made a series of missteps that prompted big-name Republicans to denounce him. He compared President Obama's gun policies to those of Adolf Hitler and tried to link Kashkari, a Hindu of Indian descent, to fundamentalist Islamic law. .

Kashkari has the backing of every mainstream Republican who has weighed in on the race, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Kashkari, whose liberal views on abortion and same-sex marriage are in line with the state's electorate but not with California Republicans, has focused his campaign on the economy and education.

But he has faced a number of hurdles — he is a multimillionaire, which invited comparisons to billionaire Meg Whitman, who spent $144 million of her own money to lose to Brown in 2010.

Kashkari lacked Whitman's wealth, but put $2 million — or 40% of his stated net worth — into his gubernatorial bid by late May. Kashkari's resume as a former investment banker who ran the Wall Street bank bailout known as TARP was a hard sell for many Republican voters, as was his 2008 vote for President Obama.

Kashkari raised $4.1 million, including his contribution.

Although it was a negligible amount for a statewide contest, it allowed him to target likely Republican voters with a flurry of mailers over the last four weeks.

He also repeatedly aired a television ad in which he chopped logs and obliterated a toy train that symbolized Brown's high-speed rail project, dubbed by Kashkari the "crazy train."

He also reveled in his non-politician status — while trotting out his endorsement from veteran political figures — and promised to move welfare recipients into jobs.

A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll found Kashkari gaining momentum as election day neared — and at the same time found Brown enjoying enormous advantages going into the fall contest. Still, on Tuesday, the incumbent said he took nothing for granted.

"Fortune is fickle," Brown declared.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

Times staff writers Jack Leonard, Maeve Reston and Paige St. John contributed to this report. Leonard reported from Corona del Mar, Reston from Hollywood and St. John from Sacramento.

Copyright © 2014, Los Angeles Times

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Taliban video shows handover of Army Sgt. Bergdahl to U.S. forces

The Taliban have released a video showing the handover of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan.

The video, emailed to media on Wednesday, shows Bergdahl in traditional Afghan clothing sitting in a pickup truck parked on a hillside. More than a dozen Taliban fighters with machineguns stand around the truck and on the hillside.

Bergdahl is seen blinking frequently as he looks at and listens to his captors.

A Black Hawk helicopter then lands and two Taliban fighters, one carrying a white flag, lead Bergdahl half way. He is greeted and taken by three Western-looking men in civilian clothing to the helicopter, where soldiers in Army uniforms are waiting.

After five years in captivity, Bergdahl was released Saturday in a swap for five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo.

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Long Beach State is eliminated with 4-2 loss to College of Charleston

Morgan Phillips' sacrifice fly drove in Ryan Welke with the tiebreaking run in the fourth inning and College of Charleston beat Long Beach State, 4-2, on Monday to win a regional in Gainesville, Fla.

The Cougars (44-17) advanced to the super regionals and will next face Texas Tech for a berth in the College World Series.

Welke walked to open the fourth, and moved to second when Ben Boykin was hit by a pitch from Nick Sabo. The runners advanced on Sabo's wild pitch and Nick Rosetta relieved and gave up Phillips' fly ball.

Boykin then scored on Rosetta's wild pitch to make it 4-2.

Long Beach State (34-26) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Richard Prigatano's RBI double and Johnny Bekakis' run-scoring infield single.

Charleston tied it in the third when Blake Butler scored on a throwing error by Michael Hill.

Earlier in the day, Ino Patron homered and drove in five runs to help the 49ers eliminate North Carolina, 12-5, in the completion of a suspended game.

Long Beach State started the game Monday against the Tar Heels ahead 5-4 in the top of the seventh with runners on first and second after six hours of weather delays Sunday forced a postponement.

After Richard Prigatano walked to load the bases, Michael Hill ripped a two-run single off of Spencer Trayner to give the 49ers a 7-4 lead.

North Carolina (35-27) scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Tyler Ramirez, but Long Beach State scored five runs in the top of ninth.

UC Irvine 4, Oregon State 2: The Anteaters (38-23) advanced to a super regional by knocking out the host Beavers (45-14), who were the No. 1 seed in the nation.

Irvine will play Oklahoma State in a best-of-three series for a berth in the College World Series.

Stanford 5, Indiana 4: Tommy Edman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Cardinal over the host Hoosiers in the championship game of the Bloomington Regional.

Stanford (34-24) play at Vanderbilt in a super regional.

Wayne Taylor started the ninth with a single through the middle and moved to second on Brett Michael Doran's bunt before Edman's blast.

Indiana's Nick Ramos broke a 3-3 tie with an infield single in the top of the eighth. Craig Dedelow had three hits, including an RBI single for the Hoosiers (44-15). Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer in the third.

Stanford answered with run-scoring singles by Alex Blandino and Zach Hoffpauir in the bottom of the third. Dominic Jose tied the score with a solo homer in the sixth.

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Long Beach State is eliminated with 4-2 loss to College of Charleston

Morgan Phillips' sacrifice fly drove in Ryan Welke with the tiebreaking run in the fourth inning and College of Charleston beat Long Beach State, 4-2, on Monday to win a regional in Gainesville, Fla.

The Cougars (44-17) advanced to the super regionals and will next face Texas Tech for a berth in the College World Series.

Welke walked to open the fourth, and moved to second when Ben Boykin was hit by a pitch from Nick Sabo. The runners advanced on Sabo's wild pitch and Nick Rosetta relieved and gave up Phillips' fly ball.

Boykin then scored on Rosetta's wild pitch to make it 4-2.

Long Beach State (34-26) took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Richard Prigatano's RBI double and Johnny Bekakis' run-scoring infield single.

Charleston tied it in the third when Blake Butler scored on a throwing error by Michael Hill.

Earlier in the day, Ino Patron homered and drove in five runs to help the 49ers eliminate North Carolina, 12-5, in the completion of a suspended game.

Long Beach State started the game Monday against the Tar Heels ahead 5-4 in the top of the seventh with runners on first and second after six hours of weather delays Sunday forced a postponement.

After Richard Prigatano walked to load the bases, Michael Hill ripped a two-run single off of Spencer Trayner to give the 49ers a 7-4 lead.

North Carolina (35-27) scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Tyler Ramirez, but Long Beach State scored five runs in the top of ninth.

UC Irvine 4, Oregon State 2: The Anteaters (38-23) advanced to a super regional by knocking out the host Beavers (45-14), who were the No. 1 seed in the nation.

Irvine will play Oklahoma State in a best-of-three series for a berth in the College World Series.

Stanford 5, Indiana 4: Tommy Edman hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Cardinal over the host Hoosiers in the championship game of the Bloomington Regional.

Stanford (34-24) play at Vanderbilt in a super regional.

Wayne Taylor started the ninth with a single through the middle and moved to second on Brett Michael Doran's bunt before Edman's blast.

Indiana's Nick Ramos broke a 3-3 tie with an infield single in the top of the eighth. Craig Dedelow had three hits, including an RBI single for the Hoosiers (44-15). Kyle Schwarber hit a two-run homer in the third.

Stanford answered with run-scoring singles by Alex Blandino and Zach Hoffpauir in the bottom of the third. Dominic Jose tied the score with a solo homer in the sixth.

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