FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CAUTION. Note to the players. Please be careful with Nomar so he doesn't break. AP/Chris Pizzello LA Dodgers defeats Philadelphia Phillies 7-6. The Dodgers do it again. They comeback from a 6-1 defecit after two innings to tie it 6-6 off of a Jeff Kent two-RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. While they could have shut the door closed, they would go into the ninth inning with a tie......

Manny-mania has hit Southern California. With Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers have injected themselves in the ass with a syringe filled with hopes of playing in October. Friday night the script was written perfectly. The first three Dodger hitters were retired by D-Backs starter Randy Johnson making the video montage of some of Manny’s home runs right before he led off the second inning the perfect elixir to get the crowd into a frenzy. MAN-NY!......

Kotchman Gets the Offense Rolling. AP Photo/Charles Krupa 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......

On Thursday with the enlightened press in tow, Frank McCourt broke ground at the LA Memorial Coliseum to prepare for the March 29 exhibition game against the Boston Red Sox. Although the game has been sold out, the Dodgers have added a standing room only section behind the right field fence for 25,000 more tickets. Those tickets will go on sale Saturday for $10 a piece. If that sells out that means 115,000 people......

For baseball fans under the age of 35, reading the Mitchell report should be like taking repeated shots to the groin without the Nutty Buddy. With 75 names and guys who get shipped all over the country, you know your idols didn't escape. Me? I grew up in NorCal. Matt Williams? He was our hero on the hot-corner. Glenallen Hill? The only pro player from the small town I was growing up in. That's a......

Monday Eliot Tiegel presents The Latinization of America 6:30pm @ Book Soup Judith Freeman discusses and signs The Long Embrace 7pm @ Vroman's Roz Chast discusses Theories of Everything 7pm @ Central Library Robert Kuttner in conversation with Arianna Huffington about The Squandering of America 8pm @ James Bridge Theater, UCLA Tuesday Cesar Millan presents Be the Pack Leader 7pm @ Borders, Pasadena Frank McCourt presents Angela and the Baby Jesus 7pm @ Borders,......

As winds died down Sunday, firefighters gained the upper hand on the Malibu blaze that burned at least 49 homes and sent thousands fleeing. It is now 70% contained and officials expect full containment by Tuesday. The damage could run close to $100 million. Firefighters rescued a father and his 4-year-old son in a Sun Valley home that burned down this morning. The father got his wife and daughter out of the house, but,......

Am I the only person not drinking from the Joe Torre Kool-Aid? I’m hearing almost everyone gushing how Torre will bring credibility and a winning attitude to the Dodger organization. Even in Monday morning’s press conference Dodger owner Frank McCourt said, “Ned Colletti and I agree there is no substitute for a strong character to lead our team to the top.” It’s funny he brings up the character issue since the way Grady Little......

I hesitantly went to the Dodger game against the Giants this past Friday. The only reason I went was because it was a fundraiser for my friend’s school. Thankfully the Dodgers won the game 8-3 which is a better result than the last several games I attended. But if you want me to remember anything about the game you’ve got me. Sadly the only memorable thing was seeing that High School Musical actorhomo being......

Ducks 4, Kings 1 - After Los Angeles shocked Anaheim 4-1 in Saturday's season opener in London (yes, London), the defending champs showed who really is king. Despite 10 goals in two days, British fans were reportedly most excited about a good ol' fashioned hockey fight. Welcome back, NHL. Welcome back. A's 3, Angels 2 - The AL West champion Halos hit a skid when they clinched the pennant, but they saved face in their......

Fuck Bill Plaschke. Fuck TJ Simers. Fuck the LA Times. Fuck Grady Little. Fuck Ned Colletti. Fuck Frank McCourt. Fuck Jeff Kent. Fuck the Dodgers. When I read Plaschke’s column Wednesday morning that basically put Matt Kemp in the hangman’s noose, my blood started to boil. How does he have the unmitigated gall to scapegoat Kemp and let the veterans have a free pass just because they have “experience”? This entire mess became public......

Back in 2004, Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt made the unpopular decision to get rid of radio play-by-play announcer Ross Porter. Porter had been on the job for 28 years, and considering he had to work with color commentator Rick Monday since 1993 he should’ve gotten hazard pay. Porter was by no means as eloquent and compelling as Vin Scully. With a few exceptions no one can enter the realm of Vin Scully. But Porter......

For once I'm not going to bitch about the Dodger's pitching or offense. Yesterday Dodger's Owner and Chairman Frank McCourt announced the launch of ThinkCure, a charitable fund in conjunction with City of Hope and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, as the official charity of the Dodgers organization. ThinkCure will raise funds to help both institutions to develop new approaches to the treatment and hopeful cure of cancer. Today it was announced that KCAL9, the......

Seattle 2, Angels 0 - After piling up the runs against the Detroit, the Halos couldn't connect in Seattle. Kelvim Escobar pitched all eight innings with seven strikeouts in the loss. Appropriately, Ichiro Suzuki had three hits, a run, and an RBI on Japanese Baseball Night. Rivalry Week - While LA develops a split personality disorder during that "other" rivalry week (Trojans-Bruins), the city unites in loathing of the San Francisco Giants whenever the ol'......

After a packed day of panels and Organic To Go food, we're looking forward to Sunday's LA Times Book Festival offerings. Here's why: Food Situation: Bountiful. If there weren't so many book booths and authors running about, we'd think this was a cooking festival. Your food choices are endless and several food courts are setup all over campus so you'll never have to utter the painful festival sentence:"Where is the food?" It's everywhere! Line Situation:......

People talk shit about our local paper. Sometimes we're the ones talking shit. But every day there's gotta be ten things that you can learn from the Times. Right? 1. Houston's in Century City doesn't do reservations but accepts "call ins". 2. Rancho Cucamonga's mayor was once a heroin addict. 3. The Times uses Wikipedia as one of its sources. 4. Two people arguing at a Laguna Beach resort were shot and killed by......

Dodger Stadium opened for business last night, with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim taking advantage of Randy Wolf's eight-million dollar arm and chalking up an easy 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opening game of the annual pre-season Freeway Series. And while the on-field stories (Orlando Cabrera goes 3-for-3! Russell Martin can't throw anyone out!! Brady Clark makes his Dodger Stadium debut in right field and hits into a 4-3 triple......

One Hollywood star. One latenight talk show host. A sold-out audience full of rapt fans. And what was it all for? A book. Craig Ferguson's book, a novel called Between the Bridge and the River. The Tuesday night event was part of the excellent interview series Writers Bloc. Last night they presented Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes) with Ann Taylor Fleming. You might know Craig Ferguson as the host of the Late Late Show on......

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has sparked a fire of discussion with his secret plan -- codenamed Five Ton Gorilla -- to turn Chavez Ravine into a baseball/football/mall complex. Memos about the plan were mailed anonymously to the Boston Herald and printed in an article yesterday; maybe someone in McCourt's hometown thought the idea was as crummy as we do. Don't get us wrong; we think LA is seriously ready for an NFL franchise. What's......

Theo Epstein spoiled baseball. Not every sabremetric-oriented general manager who assumes control over a legendary franchise can propel his team to the World Series within two years, but I’m sure Dodgers owner Frank McCourt knew that. Or not. McCourt fired GM Paul DePodesta after two years of service littered with solid moves, bad luck and often undeserved criticism. In his first year McCourt delivered a division title, more than most Dodger fans were hoping......

After a 3-1 loss to the Padres, the Dodgers disastrous 2005 season has mercifully come to an end. To sum up this season in a few words, LAist can basically say that almost nothing went right. The team both failed to play up to its potential, and suffered numerous injuries in the process. So, what's next for the Dodgers? LAist will move forward with what we hope is a reasoned analysis. The first issue......

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, on clinching the AL West. While we at LAist admit to a strong Dodger bias, and changing the team name didn't make us think the Angels were an LA team, we acknowledge them as a SoCal team. And we can't help but admire the work that Arte Moreno has done. In less than three years, Moreno has helped turn the Angels into media darlings in LA,......

The Los Angeles Times reports today, that Frank McCourt and company are planning more changes to Dodger Stadium. Before everyone gets in a tizzy about what's next, LAist would like to make two points perfectly clear about Dodger Stadium changes. 1.) We can accept changes to Dodger Stadium, given the need for MLB teams to generate revenue in order to remain competitive. 2.) Any change that is made to Dodger Stadium must respect the......

Following in the steps of Tom Goodwin, Shawn Green became the latest player on the Dodger payroll to beat them back. Receiving $10 million from Frank McCourt this season, Green hit a 2-run homer last night for the Diamondbacks in Arizona's 3-2 win over LA. "I'd lie if I said it didn't feel better to hit home runs and make plays against these guys," Green said. Yes, Shawn, but you didn't mind hiding your......

This is a relatively good time to be a fan of LA's secondary teams. While Los Angeles has always been a Laker and Dodger city, some feel it may fast becoming a Clipper and Angel city. The Lakers continue to flounder, after losing 110-101 to the Clippers, dangerously falling out of the 8th playoff position. While the Dodgers may wind up winning the West, Arte Moreno's Los Angeles of Anaheim caught the attention of......

LAist wasn't here for all 2004, but the memories were. Here are the first annual LAist Sports Awards. Sportsman of the Year: Derek Fisher He may no longer be a Laker, but Derek Fisher's shot with 0.4 seconds left against San Antonio was the best thing to happen to LA sports fans all year. With every Laker annoying the hell out of the city of LA, from Shaq to Kobe to Malone to the......

Today, the Los Angeles Times practically gives a legal briefing on the Angels fight with the city of Anaheim over a proposed name change. Apparently, the language in the Angels' lease agreement with the city of Anaheim is ambiguous enough that the team could come up with a compromise name of sorts. The contract states that "Anaheim" must be in the team name, but it doesn't explicitly force the team to be called the......

Today is a dark day for Dodger fans. According to ESPN's Peter Gammons and The Sporting News' Ken Rosenthal, Adrian Beltre has signed a five-year contract with the Seattle for somewhere between $60 and $65 million. Come on, Frank McCourt. You can't compete with that? Paul DePodesta is an excellent general manager, who will maximize his resources as well as anyone in baseball. But if Frank McCourt wasn't going to raise payroll enough to......

You can forget all of that silly Plaschke hubbub about the Dodgers disrespecting Jim Tracy. The LA Manager was never going anywhere. Today he signed a 2-year contract extension to remain with the Dodgers. Tracy is a good fit for the DePodesta Moneyball philosophy, not because he necessarily believes in it, but because Tracy has always been a "yes man" of sorts. Kevin Malone hired him because, unlike Davey Johnson, he wouldn't diss Dodger......

The season just ended, but the hot stove is already getting warm. Today, the Los Angeles Times reported the Dodgers and Cubs are in discussions about a possible Shawn Green for Sammy Sosa trade. While on the surface of things, it might seem like Dodgers fans should be thrilled to possibly acquire Sammy Sosa, LAist is not so sure. Sosa has become a headcase, who is now in the twilight of his career. Trading......