As we mentioned earlier today, Los Angeles native Baron Davis is headed home and he's bringing his beard and 21 points per game with him. The former Crossroads School and UCLA standout came to a verbal agreement with the LA's other team, making the Clippers suddenly relevant and a playoff contender. Baron credits the community for his decision telling ESPN, "I'm happy with where I'm going. A big reason is because of the impact and......

Even Andy LaRoche and Blake DeWitt wonders where the bats have gone. AP Photo/Duane Burleson The Dodgers are quite the lucky team. The Lakers’ attention in the media have deflected most of the focus away from how putrid the Dodgers are. 6-1, 3-0, 2-1, 5-4, 3-1, 4-1, 9-0, 5-0. These are all the scores of the Dodgers’ losses at the hands of the Mets, Rockies, Cubs, Padres and Tigers. Not exactly a murderers row......

In 1989 I was chewing on the strings of my glove while patrolling the infield for the North End Little League Tee-Ball Padres in my hometown of Bridgeport, CT. We didn't lose a game. We didn't win either - they don't keep score in tee-ball. That same year, ESPN's Buster Olney began his career as a baseball writer, covering the Nashville Sounds for the Nashville Banner. Rather than get analysis and insight on the 2008......

After this weekend's exposition games against the Boston Red Sox (the highlight being Saturday's Coliseum game), today was the first season game of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Playing against the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers took it home at 5-0. Today was Joe Torre's debut game as manager. Says the Associated Press: "Torre, who grew up a Giants' fan in Brooklyn, managed the Yankees to 12 straight postseason appearances, including four World Series championships before......

Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left.......

Lakers 106, Bobcats 97 - The Lakers are 4-1 since acquiring Pau Gasol, playing a little cat-and-mouse last night in Charlotte. After allowing the Bobcats to cut a 13 point lead to 3, Kobe put it away in the closing minutes. He had 31 points, his third game in a row over the 30 mark. Gasol contributed 26 despite a cold ... The Lakers wrap up an impressive road trip tomorrow in Minnesota. Pre-Gasol and......

The always dapper Greg Proops is at the Hollywood Improv 8:00pm on Friday; Saturday at 8:00 & 10:00pm. Whose Line Is It Anyway? was the mass media vehicle to inform all of us that Greg Proops is a gentleman and a scholar but that show and his innumerable appearances on shows like Ugly Betty, Last Comic Standing, Just Shoot Me, and all the late night talk shows require that Proops corral his wit and personality......

Lakers 112, Pacers 96 - The purple and gold have won six of seven and 12 of their last 15 games. Against Indiana, several players had big nights. All five starters hit double-digits in scoring, including 26 from Kobe Bryant, 23 from Andrew Bynum, and 22 from Derek Fisher. The Pacers are 0-9 against the Lakers in Staples Center. Spurs 88, Clippers 82 - Manu Ginobili returned from an injury to his left hand and......

LATimes.com is well aware of the conflicts that come with contextual advertising -- no ad box appears alongside search results for terms such as "porn" or "sex," for example. But, for now at least, "freaky big, cartoon like muscles" are only a click away....

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......

But first - Kobe vetoed a trade! Baseball in the Coliseum - Just after it was announced that the Red Sox will open the exhibition season against Oakland in Japan, the Dodgers confirmed that the defending World Champs would play three games against the Blue Crew. The cool part? One of the games will be in the Coliseum as part of the Dodger's 50th anniversary in Los Angeles. Yes, it can be configured that way......

The other shoe has dropped in the Barry Bonds steroid scandal as today federal prosecutors formerly accused the former Giant of obstructing justice and lying under oath. "I'm surprised," John Burris, one of Bonds' attorneys, told the AP, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time. "I'm curious what evidence they have now they didn't have before." Even the president of the United States chimed in - thru a proxy.......

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......

The Dan Patrick radio show recently debuted in Southern California (check 570 KLAC in the mornings), but this isn't what he meant by "En Fuego." While often immune to the real world, local sports have been impacted by the disaster in several ways. Of course, let's keep this all in perspective ... the real losses are to the families and the real heroes are the firefighters. - The San Diego Chargers are practicing in Arizona......

Get learned-up with PBS tonight. Sarah's also on (thump-thumpa :-)), and late night TV is strong tonight. 8:00pm Wired Science PBS/KCET - This is a cool show. While I'm not enamored of the bizarre enormous set that the hosts saunter through, each of the pieces are very well done. In particular, tonight check out the "ball busters" segment which is about the testing and certification of baseballs for MLB. TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick 8:00pm Pushing......

As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in Venice......

LAst Night's Action - There was no local sports action on Monday, so LNA is basically taking the day off. Instead, here's a "PSA" which shows you why racing down a mountain on a bike at over 100mph is stupid. At least wear a full helmet, OK? [Video NOT for the squeamish.] Today's Action - Uh-oh! Two days in a row without any major local sports! What ever will we do? Actually, we're really......

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......

Photo by Jory'z Shotz via Flickr. Ex-Padre David Wells sent his ex-teammates on a loooooooong trip home to San Diego last night. Just when you thought the season was over, the Dodgers win two-in-a-row against the insanely awesome Padres. It was Maddux vs Wells (old vs old?). Wells allowed only 4 hits, Maddux allowed 11 including 2 from Wells himself (his first multi-hit game ever). Dodgers win 6-3. Saito made his impressive 38th save......

It's a national holiday, so we got this one posted a little late. For those of you wondering why we're not inundating you with USC coverage, that's because I'm posting All Things Trojan over at latimes.com. If you'd like to help us do some Trojan coverage here, drop me a line at adam@laist.com. Also, "LAst Night's Action" is only posting about three times a week but will return to a regular M-F schedule starting September......

Angels 18, Yankees 9 - Garret Anderson had such a good night that he hit a grand slam -- and it wasn't even his biggest accomplishment. That honor would belong to his 10 RBIs, a new Angel record and only the 12th time anybody has been that productive in MLB history. The Angles are 6-2 against New York this year, and remain the only team with a winning record in the Joe Torre era (since......

Coming into Tuesday night’s game the Dodgers were 58-53 and the Cincinnati Reds were 47-64. The Dodgers were still in striking distance for the division title, and the Reds had the third worst record in all of baseball. It was this horrible Reds team that shut out the Dodgers. This would be the third game in the last four games the Dodgers have put up a goose egg. Count it: in the last 19......

David Wells, the overweight, hard drinking, everyman pitcher from Torrance (who has journeyed around the big leagues from Toronto to New York, and now, to San Diego) has always been a big fan of Babe Ruth. So it's no surprise to learn that Wells had purchased a baseball for $7,000 with the Bambino's signature on it. But who would have thought that the big lug would have the smarts to get Hank Aaron to......

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched an inquiry into allegations of racism and discrimination within the LAFD. Two men have filed suit against the L.A. Zoo and the city to stop construction of a $40 million elephant exhibit and to prevent it from having elephants on the grounds, alleging instances of abuse and neglect. Bring on the air pollution: the South Coast Air Quality Management District board voted to approve, 8-3, rule changes......

ESPN calls itself the "Worldwide Leader in Sports". Unfortunately, however, now that the boys from Bristol are sitting very comfortably on top, they seem to be cutting back on what made them the juggernaut they've become - SPORTS. Similar to the way MTV stopped playing music, ESPN has cut down on the sports coverage replacing it with movies, mini-series, branded entertainment, sick kids, award shows, gimmicks and game shows, all while shoving their "talent"......

Los Angeles is a hoops hotbed. Three professional basketball teams play at Staples and three local colleges made it to last year's Big Dance. But just because some of the players come from around the country and overseas, don't think LA needs to poach outside talent. The city boasts an amazing legacy of high school basketball. Local courts are responsible for current pro stars like Baron Davis, Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce and Jordan Farmar. Many......

What in the world is going on? On Tuesday night the Dodgers give up 15 runs to the Phillies, and now on Thursday night the Mets get 13. I was going to write off Tuesday’s game as a fluke. It happens, and the Dodgers just had to forget it and move on. Now I sense some bells starting to ring. Prozac gave up eight earned runs in only three innings pitched. Actually the only......

Dodgers 10, Phillies 3 - Imagine how good the Dodgers would be if Jason Schmidt were healthy. On Monday it was another All Star, Brad Penny, who notched his 11th win of the season and gave the Blue Crew their 5th in a row. Jeff Kent and Matt Kemp each contributed a three-run shot. The Phillies trailed by as many as nine en-route to their MLB leading 10,001st franchise loss. Beckham Watch - There's drama......

This may be the first time anyone has ever heard me say this, but last night the Dodgers lost and I still feel like a winner. My sheer joy was a gift from a generous benefactor who will be referred to as JC, not only because those are his initials but also because he is now holier than Christ himself. JC hooked us up with seats in the Dugout Club, which is where I......