ANGEL OUTFIELDER Jo Adell climbs the wall in stealing a home run from the Mariners (Angels photo).

The Jo Show Dept: That’s what the Angels are calling the near-magical performance of the Angels outfielder Jo Adell on Sunday, as he robbed the Seattle Mariners of three “sure-thing” home runs.
In the last instance, his leap carried him into the stands, but he hung on to the ball, bounced back on the field of play, waving the horsehide (it’s not really horsehide, but we respect tradition here at the Oh Cee Tee) like a trophy.

Quite frankly, what Jo did was the single most outstanding defensive performance in baseball that I’ve seen in decades. And I’ve got more than a few decades on my personal odometer

A lot is made of offensive stats such as batting average, runs batted in, on-base percentage, etc. More should be made of the “off-base” percentage of a gloved virtuoso like Jo, who keeps runs from being batted in.

Close And a Cigar Dept: No, Cori Close, head coach of the UCLA women’s basketball team did not light up a cigar after the Bruins won the NCAA Division 1 championship on Sunday.

But she might have been forgiven a Red Auerbach moment for the accomplishment. In crushing favorite South Carolina 79-51 in Phoenix, her team turned in a virtually flawless performance.

The Bruins put on a clinic of smart hoops that would have made even John Wooden smile … which he seldom did. Five passes. Hit the open … person. Block out. Hands up. Anticipate where the ball is going.

Despite losing center Lauren Betts for part of the game with throat trouble, the blue-and-gold jumped out to an early lead and played like champs the rest of the way.

No trash-talking. No attempts at physical intimidation. No imitation of the worst habits of NBA (and some WNBA) players.

It was more than a trophy. It was as Close to perfect as a sporting performance can be.