ST. LOUIS – Yasiel Puig hit three home runs and combined with Cody Bellinger to drive in 13 runs as the Dodgers pounded the St. Louis Cardinals 17-4 on Saturday afternoon.

Puig hit two home runs in Friday’s win. The Dodgers hit five Saturday – Puig’s three and one each from Manny Machado and Bellinger.

The Dodgers have now won series against fellow playoff contenders Arizona, Colorado and St. Louis over the past 2 ½ weeks. Even with slips against the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds in between, the Dodgers have won 10 of their past 15 games.

The surge has moved them into a tie for first place in the National League West – pending the outcome of the Rockies game Saturday night – and, potentially, a game up on the Cardinals for the second wild-card spot.

The Dodgers’ offense has come to life on this 10-game road trip. Starting with Sunday’s win in Colorado, they have scored 53 runs in seven games, including 29 in taking the first three games in St. Louis.

Puig has been a big part of that. He is 11 for 23 with six home runs – five in a nine-at-bat burst this weekend – 11 RBI and eight runs scored on the trip.

“Focus,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked before the game the reason for Puig’s awakening.

“Yasiel’s a very talented player. I think the challenge for him is to understand the importance of every game, every pitch. Where we are right now in September, essentially playoff games, his focus is heightened. When he does that, he’s as good as any player out there.”

Puig’s first homer Saturday came off Cardinals starter John Gant in the fourth inning. An inning later, Gant had been chased from the game and Puig came up with one out and two on, Bellinger having already driven in two runs with a single off lefty reliever Tyler Webb.

Puig’s difficulty with left-handed pitching the past two years has led Roberts to platoon him. But Cardinals manager Mike Shildt opted to pull Webb – who gave up Puig’s second home run Friday – and bring in right-hander Mike Mayers.

Puig promptly hit a bullet into the left-field stands for a three-run home run. The exit velocity of 114.3 mph was the highest on a Dodgers home run since Statcast began tracking exit velocity in 2015.

His third homer was another three-run shot, this one off Luke Weaver in the eighth inning.

Justin Turner was on base five times, briefly giving the Dodgers a scare when he was hit on the left hand with a pitch. He stayed in the game and went 3 for 3 with two walks.

Like an old friend from high school, Dodgers starter Rich Hill briefly lost touch with the strike zone. In a 13-pitch span of the fourth inning, he threw 11 balls, loading the bases with three consecutive walks. He went ahead 0-and-2 on the next batter, Patrick Wisdom, before hanging a curveball that Wisdom hit for a grand slam.

That was the Cardinals’ only scoring against Hill and four relievers, including left-hander Julio Urias, who retired the side in order in the ninth inning in his first major-league action since May 20, 2017. Urias underwent major shoulder surgery in June 2017.

Orange County Sheriff’s deputies this week arrested a 24-year-old man on suspicion of murder in connection with a March 2017 crash in Mission Viejo that killed a 33-year-old woman, sheriff’s officials announced.

Afiff Kevin Doaifi was arrested Sept. 13 and was being held at the Orange County Jail on $1 million bail, officials said.

About noon March 25, 2017, Doaifi was driving a Chevrolet Camaro eastbound on Alicia Parkway when he struck a 2005 Hyundai Elantra making a left turn to travel southbound on Althea Avenue, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

The intersection does not have street lights.

The Elantra driver, Judith Noval of Mission Viejo, was unconscious at the scene and was taken to a local hospital. Noval never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead a month later, April 25, 2017.

The Sheriff’s Department’s Traffic Division investigated the case and found the Doaifi was traveling at an excessive rate of speed, which caused the collision, authorities said.

In December 2014, Doaifi had been convicted of speeding greater than 100 miles per hour and was ordered to pay a $500 fine, court records show.

“(A) deputy went to court and obtained audio recordings from the courtroom where the suspect … admitted he knew the dangers of his actions and driving at excessive speed,” said Carrie Braun, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department.

Court records show five other driving-related infractions against Doaifi since April 2013, including unsafe speed and exceeding a 65 mile-per-hour speed limit. He completed traffic school twice and paid a pair of fines, according to records. One of the cases was dismissed.

Doaifi is scheduled to appear in court in connection with the Mission Viejo crash on Monday, Sept. 17, officials said.

Danny Trejo knows the woes of drugs and alcohol.

The craggy-faced character actor and restaurateur  – think “Machete,” “From Dusk ‘Till Dawn,” “Spy Kids” and “Heat” – has built a franchise out of snarling with a twinkle in his eye.

But he was once a child drug addict and lawbreaker, Trejo says, and was in and out of jail for more than a decade.

He showed up in Wilmington on Saturday to try to prevent other kids from taking that path. These days, the iconic L.A. figure embraces the arts, sports (he’s a lifelong Rams fan) and recovery programs.

“Seeing all these people celebrating their sobriety really just makes me cry,” Trejo said. “I thank God.”

Along with Candy Finnigan from A&E’s “Intervention,” and Los Angeles County’s Director of Public Health Dr. Barbara Ferrer, he hosted a day of sports competition and self-esteem boosting at L.A. Harbor College.

The event – “Danny Trejo and the 2018 Al-Impics” – billed itself as an Olympics-style competition with an emphasis on feeling good with fun and focus vs. feeling good in a self-destructive way, ala drugs and alcohol.

Teams representing several treatment centers from around Los Angeles County were scattered around the campus, squaring off in such sports as table tennis, track, weightlifting, basketball and volleyball (and also less-muscle-taxing activities such as chess, dominoes, pinochle, backgammon, spades and bid-whist).

The event’s goal: Ally treatment providers, recovering people, community leaders and just-plain folks to demonstrate “the benefits of community health through substance-abuse prevention and athletic participation.”

During the opening ceremonies, more than 3,000 participants marched around L.A. Harbor’s track to celebrate their sobriety, truly a walk of life.

Trejo himself was honored for reaching 50 years of drug- and alcohol-free life.

“This is really the best day,”  said John Connolly, County Department of Public Health interim division director for substance abuse prevention and control.

“Not only is this the first vacation in awhile for some of these people,” he added, “but it’s also the first time some are getting to see their families.”

The recent vandalism of a veteran’s wall and the desecration of Buddhist temple statutes are a stain on our community and the perpetrators must face justice — but not just 90 days before an election.

The record on hate crime prosecutions in Orange County is deplorable and dangerous. It threatens some of our most vulnerable people by giving impunity to violent bigots. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has only filed charges in 57 percent of these cases during the past 13 years because he is more concerned with trying to boost his conviction rate statistics rather than seeking justice. In the remaining 43 percent of the cases, Rackauckas has dropped hate crime enhancements referred by police so that he is able to obtain an 80 percent conviction rate.

San Diego County achieves a similar conviction rate for hate crimes but takes on the tough cases and sends a message that no one is beyond the law.

The role of the district attorney is to seek justice for victims, not to run a public relations campaign.

Meanwhile, hate crimes have surged by 70 percent according to the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Interestingly, Rackauckas’ counterparts in Los Angeles County file 70 percent of their hate crime cases, and San Diego and San Bernardino counties file more than 80 percent of hate crimes referred by police.

Rackauckas is cherry-picking cases while our neighboring counties are pursuing violent criminals with the full force of the law.

Notably, Iranian American college student Shayan Mazroei, 22, was stabbed to death by a known white supremacist gang member on Sept. 6, 2015 in Laguna Niguel. Suspect Craig Tanber had recently been released from prison where he served time for another murder as an accomplice to a fellow gang member.

Tanber had a light sentence on his first murder because the district attorney offered a plea bargain of manslaughter following a mistrial in lieu of opting for a second trial and pursuing justice.

Not surprisingly, Tanber killed again because of the Rackauckas plea bargain when he should have still been in prison. This time, his accomplice was girlfriend Elizabeth Thornburg. She was heard by witnesses yelling racial slurs at Mazroei and spitting on him outside a bar. When Mazroei spit back all bets were off. Tanber, after being filled in by Thornburg about the incident, stabbed Mazroei in the neck. All of this was captured on video.

For three years, Mazroei’s parents and supporters protested the lack of justice — no hate crime against Tanber and no criminal charges against Thornburg. Eventually, the negative press caught Rackauckas’ attention and he decided to file charges against Thornburg only for being the get-away driver and not for an aider and abettor of murder — two days before the three-year statute of limitations expired. For years the family suffered from the unknowing.

Tanber will stand trial later next year, but Rackauckas has refused to add a hate crime enhancement. Instead, the family was told to do so would simply “complicate” a straight-forward murder charge that was recorded on video.

Make no mistake, Shayan Mazroei was stabbed to death because he was Iranian American — a fact known to Tanber and Thornburg because of Mazroei’s Persian-inspired tattoo on his forearm that read “eshgh,” which translates to ‘love’ and his outward appearance. The hateful slurs lodged by Thornburg were the clear motive for the slaying.

Disturbingly, in the past decade, there have been 52 reported hate crimes located at schools and colleges in Orange County and another 10 at parks and playgrounds — many of them violent and targeting innocent children.

The district attorney should be aggressive about prosecuting hate crime to send a strong message that this has no place in Orange County. But Rackauckas cares more about showcasing a high conviction rate than he does in seeking justice for hate crime victims.

Orange County residents deserve protection against hate and need to know that such violence will be vigorously and speedily prosecuted always. Not just around election time.

Todd Spitzer is an Orange County supervisor, representing the Third District. He is a candidate for Orange County District Attorney.

Rich in color, texture — and cockerel feathers — the collection was inspired by the world’s great balls, but there was nothing fussy about it. “I wanted to do easy versions of formal looks for everyday,” said Osman Yousefzada, who showed his collection in a lush sculpture-filled garden in Covent Garden.
Models walked in the sunshine dressed in tailored suits made from recycled brocade in metallic zebra patterns, or a black one, its cropped jacket edged in pleated tulle. Some dresses were sheer and came with a darkly romantic flower print, while others were made from sweeps of cream tulle, recalling sari wraps.
Osman’s signature ruffled tiers rolled across the skirt of a tailored trench and a sparkly evening dress, while Indian brocades were shaped into a sari style or cut into a short patchwork dress. Embellishment came as a sprinkle of ostrich fringe on tiered dresses or as dyed green cockerel feathers on a chubby. Who knew those barnyard birds could offer something so glam?

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Michael Halpern flexed his versatility for spring 2019, showing that there’s more to his schtick than just sparkles – though, gratefully, there were still plenty of those.
Now in his fifth season on the London schedule, Halpern’s high-octane collections have been heartily embraced by retailers, like Browns and Bergdorf Goodman.
Hitherto, he has mined the Seventies and the hedonism of the disco era. For next season, he looked to the Sixties in a tribute to his grandmother and the pioneering women of her generation.
“I never met my maternal grandmother so the stories I heard about her came second-hand through my mom,” Halpern told WWD. “Hearing about the women in the Sixties who set up my mom’s generation with the pill, minis and women’s rights that enabled them to be able to rebel so hard in the Seventies.”
There were parallels to the avant-garde stylings of Courrèges in the provocative circular cutouts that offered glimpses of hip bones, in one look doubling as pockets out of which flowed a garland of black organza that morphed into a train. Pierre Cardin’s influence could be seen in the skintight hoods sported under tunic dresses and the bold stripes and checks throughout.
Throwing the focus from sequins to

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Jonathan Anderson has taken a break from unisex — at least for spring — and traveled back into traditional feminine territory with lace, doily fabrics and frilly edges, his signature elongated silhouettes and outsized proportions channeled into peasant skirts and languid silhouettes, all with a bohemian, tossed-together feel.
Beware — this can be tricky terrain. Who wants to look like an extra from “Fiddler on the Roof” or “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”? In Anderson’s hands the scarf hemlines, bib tops, macramé overlays and headscarves may have been folksy — but they were also breezy, playful and done with a light touch.
“I wanted something a little bit more bohemian, a bit of a celebration of fashion through texture, something that had a kind if fluidity to it, a patchwork somehow,” said Anderson, who chose to forgo a coed outing and will show his spring 2019 men’s wear as part of a collaboration with artists later this year.
“It was this idea of the empowerment of women. How do you empower the look of the wearer? With fluidity and everything moving off the body. It’s this idea that the clothing comes to life through walking in a domestic space — or in the landscape of

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Alexa Chung wants her brand to be taken seriously and grab the attention of the industry. It’s why she chose to join the London Fashion Week calendar and present her collection through an immersive show.
Inspired by travel, she dreamed up her own travel company “A.C. World Travel Inc.” and transformed her show venue into an airport lounge. Models walked around the tricky-to-navigate arrivals and departure halls, sporting outfits that referenced “an array of incongruous destinations.”
There were businesswomen in smart ivory suits; girls ready to party post-flight in their crystal-embellished minidresses and others who put comfort first in logo tracksuits and printed pajamas. There was also a whiff of the Mediterranean with a series of crocheted looks, accessorized with baskets and sparkly jelly shoes, as well as some safari references in the form of bandanas, large cargo pockets and suede trenches.
Chung said she wanted to reflect “the dystopian present we find ourselves in today” and brought it all together by staying true to her quintessentially British spirit.
“Even though it was an airport, we thought of these girls as going between a lot of British places like Bristol to Margate, or leaving Dublin to go on a Roman university expedition,” Chung said

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“They’re just like rope curtains swaying in the breeze,” Ports 1961 creative director Natasa Cagalj mused about her summer collection, which included a brown fringe dress festooned with large wooden beads, a recurring accent.
There were also bright blue and yellow dresses with drawstring fastenings and macramé dresses that tailed off in long fringes to give the illusion of it “disintegrating into nothing,” she said.
Everything was designed to look weightless, and Cagalj also introduced little backless tops and stretch jersey shirtdresses ruched together with ropey elements.
The collection also nodded to masculinity with check pieces — such as a reversible taffeta shirt — tailored linen suits and oversize blazers.
“I’m just trying to create layers and capture the luxury of time, while designing a modern wardrobe,” Cagalj mused.

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Last night at the St. Pancras under the iconic wrought-iron and glass ceiling of the Victorian train station, eco design duo Vim and Omi staged the brand’s largest collection with 70 looks and launched the Bin 2 Body project in collaboration with London College of Fashion. Passengers coming off of the Eurostar train looked on with curiosity as models, both street cast and professionals, strutted around the Grand Terrace of St. Pancras International wearing a collection inspired by a mixture of underground movements including punk, Nineties Club Kids, Mexican and Harlem subcultures.
“We wanted really bright clothes, really bold silhouettes and it’s really in your face to provoke thought,” Vin told WWD after the show.
Emblazoned on rubber pinafores, elongated tank tops, one-piece swimming costumes, oversized tack bottoms and deconstructed dresses were poodle and pentagram motifs, as well as the slogan Fake News. Vin and Omi have deftly made a stance for a new approach to fashion since the brand started. And this season, the pair has made perhaps their strongest statement yet, championing a new kind of religion — an eco one — where intelligence (poodles are among the smartest animals), respect for the earth (the pentagram is a pagan symbol

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