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 ›

This is finally it... maybe. The Dodger's weekend showdown against the Arizona Diamondbacks could determine who gets into the post-season and who is left out. more ›

While the rains yesterday helped alleviate some of the dryness under which southern California has been hampered, it did little to lessen the worries of those in fire-stricken areas. Streaming rivers of rain created mudslides and prompted officials to call for mass evacuations. Flash flood warnings remain in effect. But, hey, it's LA, and today was clear and beautiful. A woman who poisoned her Marine husband to buy a boob job with the insurance... more ›

Photo by Christine Kelly via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr more ›

The Dodgers squandered a good chance to gain some ground in the division and wild card races last night in a 6-4 loss against the Padres. Here the Dodgers faced starting pitcher Jack Cassell making his first major league start, and they did nothing to make him work in the first several innings. The first batter to get a three-ball count was Russell Martin in the fourth when he hit an RBI single that... more ›

Dodgers 5, Rockies 4 - Los Angeles must feel like they dodged a bullet after Thursday night -- not because of Colorado's attempted comeback, but because of all the pitching injuries. Brad Penny earned his 13th win, but was pulled out of the game in the seventh after an all-out sprint to earn a single. Turns out he only had a bad cramp. Takashi Saito returned after missing seven games with shoulder trouble, taking the... more ›

Angels 7, A's 6 - Francisco Rodriguez blew a save opportunity despite a three run lead. Fortunately, he was saved by Maicer Izturis' RBI single with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Vladimir Guerrero took the day off and while the Halos generated plenty of offense without him, none of the 15 hits left the park. The team's recent home run slump coincides with Vlad's, who hasn't gone yard in 24 games despite... more ›

Angels 3, Devil Rays 0 - LAnaheim avoided the sweep in Tampa and ended a three game losing streak. Kelvim Escobar's fifth straight win came on 7.2 innings of scoreless work. The Halos had three doubles in the game, but haven't gone yard in 114 innings. Mets 13, Dodgers 9 - The Dodgers slipped into a first place tie with San Diego, but it wasn't due to a lack of offense. The team had 19... more ›

The Dodgers must really not like Derek Lowe. more ›

Which team has the best record in the National League? Two teams share this distinction: the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. more ›

Angels 9, Cardinals 3 - Ervin Santana needed 115 pitches to get through just 6 innings, and his 3 earned runs over six innings was actually a major improvement over his season ERA. The Halo's offense ensured that none of that mattered, piling up the runs early and often with 18 total hits. They had seven hits and four RBI from just the 1-2 hitters (Chone Figgins and Orlando Cabrera). Blue Jays 1, Dodgers 0... more ›

Ducks 1, Senators 0 - Anaheim needed another last-second goal to beat Ottawa, but in the NHL finals they'll take any victory they can get. Jean-Sebastien Giguere was clutch in the net again, guiding the Ducks to a 2-0 series lead. The teams head to Canada for the next two games. If necessary, five and seven would be in Anaheim. But does anybody care? Dodgers 5, Nationals 0 - It's going to be a good... more ›

Ducks 2, Red Wings 1, OT - Down 1-0 with a few ticks left on the clock, Scott Niedermayer hit the back of the net to forced OT. Tweve minutes later Teemu Selanne scored and gave the Ducks a 3-2 series lead over Detroit. Anaheim could win the Western Conference Finals at home on Tuesday night. Angels 4, Dodgers 1 - LAnaheim swept the Freeway Series by a combined score of 19-4. On Sunday Kelvim... more ›

B-Dizzle Up-Dizzle - LA's last hope is out of the NBA playoffs. The Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors 100-87 and took the series in five games. It was a battle until the end, and we mean battle.  There were 50 personal fouls, 31 against the Warriors. Several were flagrants and technicals. Ducks 5, Red Wings 0 - After stealing home ice advantage with a split in Hockeytown, USA, the Ducks were cooked when they... more ›

Angels 8, Indians 0 - Anaheim's anemic offense finally looked hungry with a run total matching their previous three games combined. They scored eight against Cleveland, five coming in just one inning. Gary Matthews Jr. smacked a three-run homer in the third inning outburst and Jose Molina stole home in the next frame. Kelvim Escobar pitched a complete game shutout, notching seven strikeouts and giving up no walks. The Angels are now off to Texas... more ›

Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and over 16,000 others watched Floyd Mayweather land 207 punches on East LA's own Oscar De La Hoya, earning a controversial split decision from the judges at the MGM in Las Vegas. more ›

My Boyfriend was at it again. He hit is first career grand slam Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not only was it merely a grand slam, he hit it in the bottom of the tenth tied 3-3. This only adds fuel to my argument that he is the MVP of this team. As for this team, I’m plenty happy with them right now. After watching a preseason game against the Angels of Anaheim... more ›

Hornets 86, Clippers 83 - Sports fans talk about "meaningless games" towards the end of the regular season. Those are contests held after a team is already in or out of the playoffs and seeding isn't a major issue. It's a common indicator of an exciting team in baseball. In this year's NBA playoff chase, the Clippers didn't play a single meaningless game. They did play roughly one meaningless quarter. Despite taking a solid lead... more ›

Dodgers 4, Giants 1 - The Dodger's success against archrival San Francisco continued on Saturday. Derek Lowe allowed one run over seven innings and Takashi Saito notched his third save. Russ Ortiz earned his 12th consecutive loss and Barry Bonds did not take the field. Former Giant Jeff Kent provided all the necessary RBIs with a two-run double in the fifth. Angels 2, Athletics 1 - The Angeles continued their hot start, matching their 5-1... more ›

The Dodgers really know how create drama. more ›

Well after two games, there's sure a lot to wallow in. New acquisitions Luis Gonzalez and Juan Pierre are 0-for-15. Starting pitchers Derek Lowe and Randy Wolf have combined for a not-so-stellar 9.00 ERA in 10 innings. And Rafael Furcal remains mired on the disabled list with a sprained ankle (not necessarily the best of injuries for a speedy lead-off hitter). more ›

Brewers 7, Dodgers 1 - Ben Sheets hurled a complete game two hitter, facing about as many batters in 9 innings as Dodger starter Derek Lowe did in 4. Read the highly optimistic LAist take here. Angels 4, Rangers 1 - It's not that Texas didn't have any opportunitites, it's just that Anaheim didn't let them capitalize. The Angels allowed eight men to reach scoring position, four on third base, but none of them made... more ›

Can someone please tell Dodger’s head athletic trainer Stan Conte to make sure Prozac takes his meds before he pitches? more ›

The major league baseball season begins tonight, with the St. Louis Cardinals beginning their title defense against the New York Mets. And, as always, with Opening Day comes optimism. Fans across the country have convinced themselves that this year the (insert local team here) will challenge for the pennant and make a strong push in October. Next year is now. more ›

Orlando - When the Chicago Cubs decided (foolishly) to pay $40 million for southpaw Ted Lilly, they no longer could afford the much better Jason Schmidt who was scooped up today by the Dodgers. more ›

Matt Kemp, one of the Dodgers' most talked-about rookies this year, stepped back into the line-up. While with the AAA Dodgers affiliate Las Vegas 51’s, Matt hit a robust .337 with a .963 OPS. However, since being called up to the big club on September 1st he had only gone 1 for 8. Matt needed to fall back on the instruction and experience earned while in Las Vegas. Fortunately, he did just that. more ›

The Cincinnati Reds, in town the past 3 days, were in 2nd place in the Central Division and 1st place in the Wild Card standings when the series started. They have a formidable line-up that includes future Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr., slugger Adam Dunn, former Dodger David Ross, gruff and hard-nosed player Ryan Freel, and rookie phenom Edwin Encarnacion. Fortunately, these Reds were no match for the mighty men in Blue this week. Cincinnati was swept and they now find themselves a game and a half behind the Padres in the Wild Card race. The Blue Crew earned a 5 game winning streak. more ›

The fear was that Dontrelle Willis was done losing ball games. The high-flying cocked-capped southpaw came to life last night at Chavez Ravine, striking out nine Dodger batters and even helping himself at the plate with a long ball that hit the wall for a triple. But the thrilling and dazzling pitcher couldn't do it on his own, and the home team's victory was led by Nomar Garciapara, one of the team's many shortstops.... more ›

You can certainly forgive the Dodgers for losing this series;
flying to Minneapolis with no scheduled travel day, they collided
head-on with the href="http://www.bat-girl.com/archives/001564.php">hot, hot, hot Joe
Mauer and two of the Twins' best starters, rookie Sandy Koufax
impressionist Francisco Liriano, and Cy Young candidate Johan Santana.
The discombobulated Dodgers couldn't hit their stride offensively
or pitch well at any time.
Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers' promising rookie who was brought up to
stabilize the fifth rotation spot, fell apart instead. He gave up six
runs over five and two thirds innings in href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=260626109&date=20060626">Monday's
8-2 loss while registering only a pair of
strikeouts and walking seven. Derek Lowe detonated in href="http://losangeles.dodgers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20060627&content_id=1526398&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=la">Tuesday's
9-2 failure
to the tune of nine earned runs, the
worst outing of his season to date, and one of the worst of his
career. Lowe, a sinkerballer who has had trouble with artificial turf
throughout his career (6-13 with a 6.34 ERA lifetime), said afterwards that
"I really don't think I could have pitched that bad if I told them
what was coming."
more ›

It has been a very busy week and although the weather has been pretty crappy, the play of the local teams have not. First and foremost with the MLB season opening, the Dodgers were picked anywhere from first to third in the division by various sports writers. LAist has always maintained that if the team, how ever hodge-podged it may seem, remains healthy they will contend. Well, we know how that went dont we? Nomar Garciaparra ended up on the 15 day DL from opening day... NOT a good sign. Eric Gagne's elbow is putting his career in SERIOUS jeopardy. Kenny Lofton (at about 100 years old) who was to lead off and patrol center has not played a game yet. The pitching has been spotty at best (can someone PLEASE remind Derek Lowe that he is a GROUNDBALL pitcher?) and the offense has shown flashes. Standing at .500 (5-5) after splitting four games from former Dodger manager Jim Tracy and the Pirates, the Boys in Blue get set to start the rivalry with the hated Giants. We wonder what type of reception Barry is gonna get... PLEASE OH PLEASE do NOT let him get his first homer of the season against us! more ›