New York Knicks defeat LA Clippers 99-93. If the Clippers won this final game of the season, they would have clinched the four-seed and home court advantage in the playoffs. Instead they will have to hope that Memphis loses at home to the Dwight Howard-less Orlando Magic on Thursday. Chris Paul dressed for the Clippers, but suffering a strained left groin no matter how mild it was he did not enter the game. more ›

The Dodgers might have dodged the incoming storm, but they couldn't escape the clouds of discontent from up high in their 4-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the rubber game of the series. more ›

Atlanta Hawks defeat LA Clippers 109-102. It's a good day in Laker Land. First they learned they will be without Ron Artest for only seven games for his elbow to James Harden on Sunday afternoon. Then the Clippers decided to choke losing in Atlanta allowing the Lakers to clinch the third seed in the Western Conference. The Clippers head to Madison Square Garden for a Wednesday night matchup which if they win will clinch the fourth seed. more ›

One of Vin Scully's favorite aphorisms to quote during games originally comes from a Robert Burns' poem "To a Mouse" written in 1785: "The best laid plans of mice and men..." The Dodgers 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves Tuesday night best illustrated this. more ›

So the Dodgers lost in Houston 12-0 Sunday afternoon. Big whoop. They dusted off their shoulders, hopped on a plane to Los Angeles and came back to beat the Atlanta Braves 7-2 on the backs of their 6-7-8 hitters. more ›

When people find out I write about sports the question invariably comes up: what sport do you like the most? I always answer baseball which elicits strange looks. It’s as though they feel I’m strange because baseball is an old-timey sport that drags and is boring. After what happened on this final day of the baseball season, I hope people finally understand. more ›

One of the causes of hemorrhoids is increased intra-abdominal pressure - in other words, too much straining. With all the clenched assholes around USC and UCLA during their first games of the season, I certainly hope both programs have a healthy stock of Preparation-H. more ›

It was a good Friday in sports. Hope that appeared dead suddenly sprang back to life. Let’s start with the local kids the Dodgers. Against a playoff-bound Atlanta Braves team, the Dodgers trail 5-0 by the third inning. It really made me rethink what I wrote on Wednesday about the Dodgers offense. Perhaps they did really well since they played the likes of San Diego, Colorado and a down St. Louis team. Perhaps all of this offense had been an illusion. more ›

Frankly there has been a storm of diarrhea raining down upon Dodger Stadium recently. With Giants’ fan Brain Stow remaining in a coma, an awful bullpen and Major League Baseball yoinking the team away from owner Frank McCourt, they needed this. more ›

The Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 4-2, but that’s not the story of the game. No, the Dodgers might have finally found something to fill the void left by Mannywood: the Sand Box. Making his Major League debut, left fielder Jerry Sands dazzled not only the announced crowd of 28,292 that didn’t pass over Dodger Stadium but a worldwide audience on Twitter. more ›

Detroit Red Wings defeat Anaheim Ducks 4-0. To be honest the Ducks didn’t look horrible the entire game, but early scoring by the Wings took the Ducks out of it. Johan Franzen got things started 5:11 in the game with Mike Modano, freshly signed after a nice send-off by the Dallas Stars, following up just 24 seconds later to give Detroit the quick 2-0 lead. Their overall deficiencies were further exposed as Pavel Datsyuk (5:29) and Dan Cleary (16:55) added two goals in the second period. Two positive notes for the Ducks: their penalty-kill group did not allow a goal in six Detroit power-play opportunities for 9:09 minutes, and top draft pick Cam Fowler played well in his debut playing 20:48 with five blocked shots and a hit. The Ducks will have to quickly regroup as they have a game Saturday night in Nashville. Jonas Hiller made 39 saves for the Ducks while Jimmy Howard saved all 21 shots for the Red Wings. more ›

Atlanta Braves defeat LA Dodgers 4-3. It looks like the two closers Joe Torre had in mind to replace Jonathan Broxton temporarily didn’t quite work out. After Chad Billingsley’s seven-innings of one-run ball, Torre had Hong-Chih Kuo come in for a two-inning save. The eighth inning was no problem for Kuo in his usual spot as he retired the side in order, but the ninth inning was a disaster. Singles to Alex Gonzalez and Brian McCann and a walk to Brooks Conrad loaded the bases, and Torre put in Octavio Dotel. A bases loaded walk to David Ross to cut the Dodger lead to 3-2 and then the cherry on top: the milkman Melky Cabrera singled to left field for the walk-off win. For those keeping score, no decision for Billinglsey, loss to Kuo and a blown save to Dotel. The loss puts the Dodgers 11 games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West and seven games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants for the wild card with eight weeks left in the season. more ›

Emily Post be damned. The Dodgers focused more on getting a split of the four-game series with the Atlanta Braves rather than playing nice in Braves’ manager Bobby Cox’s final regular season game at Dodger Stadium walked off with a 5-4 victory in the 11th inning. The honor went to back-up catcher AJ Ellis who was starting in only his eighth game fo the season to give Russell Martin a day off. Ellis knocked a single off of Jesse Chavez that scored Martin who led off the inning with a pinch-hit walk from second base for the winning run. more ›

The Dodgers offense had been in a funk scoring only five runs in their last 33 innings since Tuesday. But the Dodgers found their offense mustering just enough to give them a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers had five extra-base hits and got a knock from every starter in the lineup punctuated by James Loney’s game-winning RBI single in the seventh inning off of reliever Eric O’Flaherty. more ›

Coming into tonight’s matchup, the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves had more in common than their 31-22 records. Both teams had an awful April where they hung out in the bottom of their respective divisions before turning it around in May with identical Major League-best 18-5 records since May 9. In fact both teams swept their last series coming into these four games: the Dodgers sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Braves giving the broom to the Philadelphia Phillies. more ›

Dodgers manager Joe Torre called a meeting after today’s 8-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves (58-54). “I just wanted to give them my perspective on where we are,” said Torre, “how we haven’t really been playing well for a period of time and how we’re still controlling our own destiny.” The Dodgers (67-45) haven’t been playing well falling to 2-5 on the homestand. more ›

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of the Dodgers pitching rotation. As reported last night, the Dodgers brought up starter Eric Stults from AAA Albuquerque Isotopes. In order to make room on the 25-man roster, they sent infielder Tony Abreu back to Albuquerque before the game. Stults last pitched on Thursday giving up one earned run on two hits in three innings pitched against the Portland Beavers. more ›

Kelly Johnson’s two-run homerun off of Guillermo Mota (3 - 3) in the tenth inning was the difference in the Atlanta Braves’ (57 - 54) second straight extra-inning victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers (67 - 44.) The last two nights saw 22 frames played at Dodgers Stadium with no wins to show for the additional effort. more ›

Last night’s 9-5 loss in 12 innings against the Atlanta Braves has thrown a monkey wrench in the Dodgers pitching rotation. After Jason Schmidt was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder injury, Scott Elbert was supposed to take his spot to start in Sunday’s game. However Elbert was sent to pitch in the 12th inning after Ramon Troncoso allowed runners to get on first and second and gave up the winning RBI single and three-run homer by Ryan Church. more ›

Randy Wolf had trouble getting his curve ball over for a strike and the Dodgers kept leaving baserunners stranded. But they kept at it until Andre Ethier hit his third walk-off homer and fifth walk-off hit for the season to give the Dodgers the 5-4 improbable win over the Atlanta Braves. “That boy cold,” Matt Kemp yelled out in the clubhouse after the game while the media were gathered around Ethier. more ›

The Dodgers will hope some kind of wonderful happens tonight as they face former Dodger ace and current Atlanta Braves starter Derek Lowe. "He was a horse," manager Torre said of Lowe. "I really enjoyed the time he was here because he was a good teammate for these guys." Lowe comes into the game by plane (not train or automobile) with a 4.21 ERA and 11 wins. He got a win against the Dodgers on Saturday in Atlanta when he gave up three runs on five hits in six innings pitched. In his last five games, Lowe has been sitting pretty in pink with a 3.00 ERA and a 4-0 record. Batters are hitting .265 against him in that span. more ›

LA Lakers defeat New York Knicks 116-114. The Lakers are a very infuriating team. They had moments of great defensive stops which led me to believe they play defense only when they want to. They also missed a lot of shots right under their basket by being tentative and trying to lay it in rather than dunking authoritatively. This against a team that has no big man! Even though the Lakers are now 21-3, why does it seem so unfulfilling? more ›

LA Angels over Boston Red Sox 7-5. The Angels crushed Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka to the tune of six runs on seven hits in five plus innings. The small ball team went big ball as Casey Kotchman hit a two-run homer and Torii Hunter hit an Earl Weaver to account for five of the six runs in that fateful sixth inning. The Angels relievers did just enough to get the win for Jered Weaver who went 5 2/3 innings giving up three runs on six hits and three walks. Francisco Rodriguez despite giving up a solo homer to Manny Ramirez notched his 44th save of the season. The Angels have now defeated the Red Sox six consecutive times, the best record and best road record in baseball. more ›

LA Dodgers defeat Atlanta Braves 2-1. Dodger's starter Derek Lowe flirted with a perfect game for six innings. In the top of the seventh Gregor Blanco hit a single up the middle to break up the perfect game, and Jeff Francoeur emerged from his hitting slump to go yard in the eighth inning for the sole run. Matt Kemp, coming off his golden sombrero performance the night before, hit a homer in the sixth inning to get the scoring started for the Dodgers. The Dodgers would eventually add the winning run in the seventh inning and would win their fourth consecutive series. Yet again the Dodgers crawl to one game under .500 and tied for first with the Arizona Diamondbacks. more ›

Atlanta Braves defeat LA Dodgers 9-3. Yeah Chad Billingsley was pitching a no-no. For four innings. Then the wheels came off in the fifth inning with a three-run double by Gregor Blanco. Billingsley went 5 1/3 innings giving up six runs, five earned on six hits and four walks. For the Braves, Jair Jurrjens brought his record to 9-4 going six innings giving up one run on five hits. Perhaps the telling moment of the night was the very last at-bat for the Dodgers. Matt Kemp came up with two men on and struck out giving him the golden sombrero for the night (four strikeouts). more ›

LA Dodgers defeat Atlanta Braves 3-0. It was Mark Teixeira's double to lead off the eighth inning that broke up Hiroki Kuroda's perfect game. And it was that double that was the only blemish of Kuroda's game who pitched the entire game striking out six, walking none while throwing only 91 pitches in 2:03. Offensively, Blake DeWitt went 3-3 while Nomar Garciaparra smashed a hanging curve to the Dodger bullpen in the fifth inning to drive in James Loney. With the win, the Dodgers reach one game under .500 and are now tied with the Diamondbacks for first place in the NL West. more ›

Hey, did you hear something about gas prices being really high? There was something on the news and a little blurb on the inter-web the other day. So what can you do for dear ol' dad this Sunday that won't burn up your wallet and set your pants on fire like a liar, liar? Well, you can keep the car in the garage, jump on the Metrolink, and head down to Anaheim to see some hot interleague action as the Angels take on Chipper Jones (.414 BA, 15 HR) and the Atlanta Braves (32-35). more ›

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 128-114. Technicals and flagrants and ejections oh my! Nugget's JR Smith got a flagrant foul and four players received technicals: the Laker's Kobe Bryant and the Nugget's Kenyon Martin, Anthony Carter and a double-T for Allen Iverson who was summarily ejected. Pau Gasol in his first ever playoff victory led all scorers with 36 points and Jordan Farmar closed out a 39-22 third quarter with his now routine last second three. Maybe the Nuggets' bus catching fire on the way to Staples Center affected them somehow. Screw the defense, this is going to be a fun series to watch. more ›

LA Galaxy tie Houston Dynamo 2-2. This is the first professional soccer match I have attended, and it was a ton of fun. Landon Donavan made a spectacular diving header goal in the 67th minute off of a David Beckham pass that gave me the chills. But blah blah blah. The story of the night was meeting my new boyfriend Abel Xavier (pictured left). He is a defenseman born in Mozambique and has played for the Portugal national team. With a head of hair like that, how can I resist? more ›

According to Peter Abraham of The Journal News, Grady Little will be fired as the Dodger manager in favor of former Yankee manager Joe Torre. Don Mattingly is expected to follow Torre here to Los Angeles as bench coach. All of this can happen as soon as tomorrow. Let me just make it clear that this is still unconfirmed. Torre, 67, rejected a one-year $5 million contract from the Yankees last Monday. As most... more ›