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......

Steve Lopez randomly challenges Dodgers Pitcher Derek Lowe to a golfing home run derby at the stadium for charity. Steve loses and donates $500 to the Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA. A journal of sorts following Kristina Ripatti, the LAPD Officer who was shot and paralyzed while on duty in June of 2006. There are only two places in the states where you can be a police officer whose job is to board cruise......

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......

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......

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......

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......

The Dodgers must really not like Derek Lowe. Yet another decent outing for him giving up one earned and on unearned run, and the Dodgers scored nothing. No runs on nine hits. No runs on bases loaded with one out in the eighth inning. No hits in 12 chances with runners in scoring position. Nothing in a 2-0 loss to the D-Backs. I’m not saying Prozac was perfect, but neither was D-Back’s pitcher Brandon......

Which team has the best record in the National League? Two teams share this distinction: the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yes, the same Los Angeles Dodgers team I ripped in my last post has the best record in the National League. Actually I take that back. This is not the same team I ripped the other day. In Friday’s 6-3 win against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Grady Little posted this......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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......

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. De La Hoya and a lot of the crowd thought he wuz robbed, "I felt I won the fight," De La Hoya was quoted in the Times. "I landed the harder, crisper punches. I......

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......

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......

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......

The Dodgers really know how create drama. After taking a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning, relief pitcher Rudy Seanez* loaded the bases giving up consecutive singles to Johnny Estrada, Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench with one out. Closer Takashi Saito came into the game at that point and managed to get out of the inning with a 5-3 lead after giving up a two-run double to Craig Counsell. As if that wasn’t enough......

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). However, as Rocky Balboa mentioned to Clubber Lang repeatedly in the third round......

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......

Can someone please tell Dodger’s head athletic trainer Stan Conte to make sure Prozac takes his meds before he pitches? Pitcher Derek Lowe in his third Opening Day start for the Dodgers gave up six earned runs and five walks in four innings earning a 7-1 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers. Even worse, the only offense the Dodgers could muster was a homerun by Jeff Kent in the second inning and a double by......

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. In no area of the country is this Opening Day optimism felt more strongly......

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. Schmidt who has racked up an impressive 78-37 record in his five-and-a-half years with the SF Giants, has been disappointing of late only able to earn 11 wins last year and lost 9 times. Still he will probably become the ace......

Last night's festivities brought out the best in two players. The veteran Derek Lowe pitched a phenomenal 8 innings. He gave up only 1 run on 3 hits. An even more remarkable stat is that Derek needed only 79 pitches to win his 14th game of the year. Derek Lowe has a record of 7-1 with a 2.27 ERA over the last 9 games he has pitched. This streak includes a 3-inning stint as......

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......

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.......

You can certainly forgive the Dodgers for losing this series; flying to Minneapolis with no scheduled travel day, they collided head-on with the 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......

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?......

The Dodgers finished their disappointing season with a loss to eventual division champs San Diego Padres and closed the books on what was their worst season in over 10 years. We don’t know what was more frustrating, the fact that the Dodgers, just before the post season was to start last year, watched their first place team melt away under the misguided general management of the since fired Paul DePodesta. Or that the team......

After a near no-hitter from Derek Lowe last night, the Dodgers suddenly find themselves just five games back of the Padres. Last week, we said the Dodgers should be sellers before the trade deadline. But we might have to take a mulligan. With five days before the trade deadline, giving up with just a five-game deficit would probably wreck the psyche of a franchise already walking a public relations tightrope. The public and the......