Chicago Blackhawks defeat LA Kings 3-2 (OT). Kings right winger Brad Richardson made a horrendous turnover at center ice giving the puck over to Blackhawks center Dave Bolland who then passed it to a charging Patrick Sharp... more ›

The Dodgers first half was, as Project Runway 4 winner Christian Siriano puts it, “A hot tranny mess.” more ›

LA Lakers defeat Sacramento Kings 124-101. No tacos for the fans, but joy still rang out with the Lakers clinching the #1 seed in the Western Conference for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. If anyone predicted this 57-25 season after the chaos of last summer that simmered through training camp, they are liars. It's amazing what the emergence of Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, the bench and the Pau Gasol heist can do to a team. The Lakers now face either the Denver Nuggets or the Dallas Mavericks in the first round. more ›

• Remember when we told you that Los Angeles tap water was the best tasting in the world? Turns out that our delicious H20 might have been sprinkled with delicious drugs. The AP found that a multitude of pharmaceuticals, like antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans including water in Southern California. Little Johnny has taken such a liking to water these days, I wonder what's gotten into him.
• On Friday, Newport Beach police were baffled when they found a fully clothed woman dead and packed in dry ice in an upscale hotel room near John Wayne Airport. The room was rented from known Cocaine dealer and the woman, whose body was well preserved, was apparently wanted on drug charges in Colorado.
• Before she was ousted for saying Hillary Clinton was a "monster" for some of the "underhanded" tactics used to defeat Barack Obama in the Ohio Primary, foreign policy adviser Samantha Powers took a few questions at LA City Beat. Nowhere in the interview does she disparage Clinton, but she does offer some pretty enlightening opinions, such as this opus on how to have a dignified foreign policy: "...if we could just sort of remember that there are individuals at stake, that the “human” in human rights is not an abstraction." On second thought, I'm glad she resigned. We can't have those sorts of hippie, drugged out commie type of relations with the world. It would be un-American!
• In other political news, a Democrat won a special election to fill a congressional seat left vacant in Illinois by outgoing Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert. Bill Foster claimed the seat partly on the strength of Obama, who campaigned for him. Obama supporters claimed this was a signal of things to come in what many observers said was a national referendum as John McCain campaigned for the Republican.
• An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside. Guns don't kill people, crazy ass people with anger management problems do.
• A 21-year-old member of the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soapbox Federation died this morning when his adorable little vehicle collided with a light pole in Tarzana. Thing is, it may not have been so adorable. The motto of the local soapbox federation is, "Action, Mayhem, Destruction, Bodily Harm...All For Free". I'm sorry, it seems pretty tough to macho yourself out when riding in a little cart made for 6-year-olds.
• Andy LaRoche got some bad news this weekend. The Dodger third baseman who was expected to share time with Nomar Garciaparra at the hot corner this season is out 8-10 weeks with a ligament tear in his thumb after getting hit trying to catch an attempted pickoff at third during a pre-season game Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Learn this name kids: Blake Dewitt. He's been tearing up Spring Training pitching and flashing some great leather. He could get some time at third in LaRoche's absence.

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... more ›

I’m a huge Chicago Bears fan, and my friends saw the terrible pain I was in watching the Superbowl this year. After that loss it pained to me to make the prediction that the Bears would be in a lot of trouble this season. The fact that it has come true makes me feel like I’m passing a kidney stone. Just like Grady Little was obstinate in keeping Nomar Garciaparra at first base this... more ›

Dodgers 6, Giants 4 - Barry Bonds didn't make any headlines on Wednesday, which was good news for Dodger faithful. Los Angeles needed an eigth inning comeback featuring a home run by Nomar Garciaparra. Nom-ahh also was one of four Dodgers with a stolen base. Russell Martin nabbed one of those bags, matching the team record of 18 stolen bases by a catcher (first set by Con Daily in 1892). For the first time this... more ›

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... more ›

The Dodgers must really not like Derek Lowe. more ›

Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 1 - Off to the best record in baseball, Los Angeles scored in five different innings to earn their ninth win. Brad Penny allowed one run in seven innings to record his third win of the young season. Nomar Garciaparra had a home run and double to earn his two RBIs. Luis Gonzalez was 0-4 in his return to Arizona. more ›

Three Dodger pitchers combined on a 2-hit shutout, and Nomar Garciaparra hit a 2-run single to lead Los Angeles to a 3-0 victory last night over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium. Left-handed set-up relief pitcher Joe Beimel was not one of the pitchers involved in the shutout. Nevertheless, Mr. Beimel does have the good fortune of being the subject in Part 2 of our 436-Part series, "Better Know a Dodger". more ›

The Dodger’s 2-1 victory over the Rockies Tuesday night was a marked improvement over Monday’s game. I missed the first inning and didn’t get to see Hammster (Nomar Garciaparra) hit a single to drive in My Boyfriend, but Brett Tomko pitched one hell of a game for his first outing of the season. He toyed with the Rockies’ hitters to strike out nine, allowing one hit and no runs. He should have had the victory right? more ›

It’s only the preseason, but goddamn that was a snoozer. You would think that winning a game 13-4 would set off absolute pandemonium, but the sound of boredom set through the crowd during most of the game. more ›

In Britney news... Britney got caught up in a real life gun drama today - Metro And she reportedly checked back into the Century City hospital this evening - X17 In other news... Joel Madden defends his break up skills - People Rose McGowan tries to color coordinate her cast at the Grindhouse premiere - Page Six How can anyone go from dating Matthew McConaughey (dreamy sigh) to Josh Hartnett, I mean seriously - Star... more ›

The baseball off-season creates a brewing anticipation that crescendos to the molto-fortissimo of Opening Day. more ›

Every night around midnight LAist will tell you what went down the day before in the world of LA sports Since both the Lakers and Clippers are off today, as they prepare to square off against each other tomorrow night, let's turn our attention on the Blue Crew. Today the Dodgers signed Nomar to $18.5 million for two years of fun. They are also close to signing Juan Pierre to $45 million for four years... more ›

The Dodgers captured sole possession of the National League Wild Card lead by defeating the Colorado Rockies, 11-4. The Philadelphia Phillies, led by homerun sensation Ryan Howard, lost to the Washington Nationals, 4-3. Ryan Howard had a chance to win the game for Philadelphia, but he flied out to deep centerfield with the tying run on base for the last out of the game. Currently, we are one game up on Philadelphia in the wild card race and just 2 games back of the Padres in the National League West Division. more ›

There's a rumor going around A's circles that Milton Bradley has super powers, chief among them the ability to cause otherwise sensible general managers to trade him for valuable prospects, in this case, Andre Ethier. Ethier's had some very good moments in a Dodger uniform lately, including his 4-5 night in Monday's 10-4 pounding of the Snakes, and a solo homer in yesterday's 5-4 victory. Brad Penny notched a career-best 10-2 start with yesterday's win.

The series' oddest moment no doubt came in Tuesday's 11-3 blowout, a game in which Nomar Garciaparra got hit by pitches three different times by three different pitchers. As is required by custom, retaliation came against ex-Dodger Shawn Green, but Danys Baez hit Luis Gonzalez the next day; in all, seven batters got plunked in three games, an unusually high total.
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Dodger first baseman Nomar Garciaparra was not voted into the MLB All-Star game's starting lineup or chosen as a reserve despite a spectacular comeback and .360+ batting average. But the converted shortstop has, many of us here at LAist think, a good chance of earning the National League's selection as the Final Vote. more ›

Nomar Garciaparra made his Dodger debut this past weekend against the Diamondbacks of Arizona. He did well... not getting hurt for one thing, but also proceeding to show the bat we all knew he had. Going 2-4 with a double and nearly hitting one out. Well Nomar took it a step further last night hitting a pivotal grand slam against Houston Astros closer Brad Lidge to help give the Dodgers the 6-2 victory. The victory was made especially sweet in that they were able to overcome a ridiculous performance by Astros starter Andy Pettite. 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 ›

Ned Colletti and the Los Angeles Dodgers have been busy trying to clean the mess left by former GM Paul DePodesta. In spite of the injuries that decimated the roster, there was no doubt that the pennant was winnable down the stretch.. Instead of banding together to try and salvage the season, infighting and poor play killed any chance the team had. Eventually killing not only their post-season hopes but costing the DePodesta his job and forcing manager Jim Tracy to find happiness elsewhere. more ›