Results tagged “playoffs”

Galaxy midfielder David Beckham put in a strong performance to help the blue-and-gold capture the Western Conference title for a sixth time in club history and the first since 2002. Veteran defender Gregg Berhalter and team captain Landon Donovan provided all the scoring on the night, literally at the eleventh hour, to take a 2 - 0 victory over the visiting Houston Dynamo.

Galaxy forward Landon Donovan converted a penalty kick at the 73rd minute to give the blue-and-gold the edge over in-stadium rivals Chivas USA last night and advance to the Western Conference Finals.

Come Monday morning, only one L.A. side will remain in the hunt for MLS Cup 2009. The fortunate team that will continue its trek will be determined later this afternoon at the Home Depot Center when the Galaxy and Chivas USA close out the first-ever SuperClásico playoff series.

What a memorable year it has been for L.A. area soccer fans. It all started back in February with the will he/won't he? (stay in Italy) saga of David Beckham. Attention would once again be drawn to him upon his return to MLS in July, but in between, Chivas USA and the Galaxy were busy making their own headlines.

Diamond Leung still loves baseball and journalism. But you'd understand if he didn't. After five years at the Riverside-Press Enterprise, two of those as the Dodgers beat writer, Leung, 27, was laid off from his post after the paper eliminated most of its baseball coverage. The San Francisco native and UCLA grad, at right, moved back to his hometown and did what any young, self respecting unemployed baseball lover would do: start a blog. The aptly named Diamond Notes is a baseball news source that aggregates some of the more interesting finds others may miss. We caught up with him yesterday, touching on the Dodgers diminishing World Series hopes, life after journalism and why he doesn't watch baseball on T.V.

The Dodgers lost yesterday, giving the Phillies a 3-1 lead in the series, but if our boys in blue win tomorrow, the playoff series comes back to Los Angeles for games on Friday and if need be, on Saturday. That said, Dodgers officials today are releasing 6,000 tickets for the two potential games. The cheapest tickets go for $51. Go, go Dodgers!

It's hard work watching baseball games on Fox. On the one hand, each contest always seems lasts an hour too long and, on the other, the Fox announcers over-the-top Yankee gushing (though mostly Derek Jeter) makes you feel less like you're watching a baseball game and more like an episode of the Dating Game. Plus, last night's classic not withstanding, game one of the ALCS was a slow, matter of fact contest between the dominant Yankees and the suddenly hapless Angels.

Down 5-1 after five innings, the Angels scored twice in the eighth and three times in the ninth to pull out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox for the three-game sweep of the American League Divisional Series. Down 6-5 Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon intentionally walked Torii Hunter to load the bases. Vladimir Guerrero responded by lining a single to center field to score Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu. This marks the first time the Angels have swept a series, and the first time they have beaten the Red Sox in the postseason exorcising 1986, 2004, 2007 and 2008. The Angels will face either the Minnesota Twins or the New York Yankees.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre made sure that his team would not suffer a letdown after their miraculous 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in game two of the National League Divisional Series.

MLS action is reaching a boiling point and both L.A. teams are right in the thick of it.

Now that the real NBA season has started, those Laker flowers have started to bloom. At the Dodger game Friday night the evidence of the germination was seen as several cars were seen with the Laker flags flying.

With the Dodgers postseason run, the Lakers undefeated start to their season and the election and subsequent hangover getting in the way, let’s talk some football!

It has been an exciting weekend of Major League Soccer action. Various teams throughout the league battled it out last night for a spot in the playoffs. Only one spot remains contested and the team that will fill it will be determined later today.

Major League Soccer ends its 13th regular season this weekend with both of L.A.'s teams at opposing ends of the success spectrum.

Could it actually happen? A spokesman for BetOnline.com e-mailed over saying he has calculated the odds: "With the Dodgers two wins away from a trip to the NLCS, and the Angels in a 1-0 hole... [the] odds on a possible Dodgers-Angels 'Freeway' World Series," are 7-to-1, he explained. "Not to be left out, a Cubs-White Sox 'Red Line' World Series is currently at 9-to-1." If that happens, can Mayor V and the Anaheim Mayor make a bet? If the Dodgers win, Anaheim can't use "Los Angeles" in their team name anymore. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. pfffft.

MLB announced game times for some of the Best-of-5 AL and NL Division Series games tonight. The Angels host the Red Sox on Wednesday and Friday at 7 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. local time. Game 1 of the Dodgers/Cubs series begins at Wednesday at 3:30 PDT (happy hour!), with Game 2 Thursday night at 6:30 PDT. Game 3 is Saturday at 7 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. All Division Series games televised on TBS. Via MLB.com.

The idea of October baseball in Chavez Ravine seemed nearly impossible after the Dodgers deflated just weeks ago, but they're rollin' now and if you act fast, you can snag tickets for potential playoff games at Dodgers Stadium. The Dodgers magic number is 5, meaning any combination of 5 Dodgers wins and/or Diamondbacks losses and the NL West will be won. Get 'em here or at 1-800-DODGERS. Tickets start at $26 for the Division Series and $51 for the LCS. Your credit card will be refunded for any games that don't take place (including facility charge but not service charge), according to Ticketmaster.

It’s been said for a long time, but it bears repeating. The NBA Western Conference is really tough.

NFL playoffs are here! Which means that Superbowl XLII is right around the corner. This year's Superbowl is going to be played in Arizona on February 3, 2007 and it was recently announced that Tom Petty will be playing the halftime show.

With the regular season of the NFL coming to an end, what have we truly learned?

The beauty of baseball is constantly marred by the voice of Joe Buck on Fox. I say this because I love the game: Through his monotonous, steely voice, his lack of originality, and general smugness, Joe Buck is ruining the playoffs.

Last night's playoff game to see who would go to the playoffs was really great.

The San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies each played 162 games and needed one more game to decide who would clinch the wild card. And both teams played like they wanted to win it. I decided early on that I would cheer for the Rockies. I mean since the Dodgers decided to tank in the last two weeks of the season and give the Rockies seven of their 13 wins, the Rockies better...