I can't believe I called in sick to work to watch this utterly terrible Dodger game. The Blue Crew lost 12 to 1 to the Mets at their monthly mid-week day game today. Maine was pitching a complete game shutout into the 9th until the Dodgers managed to squeak out one run to wipe that big fat 0 off the scoreboard. Not much to say about this one. It sucked balls. A bunch of......

A guest post from Stephen G. Ruiz, a freelance photographer. LA's own Angel City Derby Girls kicked off their WFTDA sanctioned season with a crushing defeat of the Bakersfield Rollergirls, at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo on a balmy Saturday night. While the tempature inside was cool, the action was red hot. Catch ACDG again, May 17th, when the Shore Shots take on the Block Steady Crew at the TSC or meet the......

This is going to be brief. I am lucky to be alive after 3 hours in scorching 90+ degree heat, and my very last ounce of energy will be used to get these photos up before I pass out. Literally. The Dodgers started Loaiza, which is usually a death sentence but today he only gave up two earned runs! This is a huge improvement! The Rockies started Jeff Francis (0-2), who didn't throw nearly......

It's that time of the year again, when Long Beach closes city streets for the Long Beach Grand Prix. LAist Featured Photos contributor Rink Rat submits this photo and we're jealous we can't be there right now alongside. The 31-year-old annual event runs today through Sunday and more info can be found at their website.......

It started as SB 1771, a bill that would implement a program teaching homeowners how to navigate through the current mortgage crisis. Then, all of the sudden, it was about the NFL in the City of Industry. It may seem tricky, but that's the game when it comes to "spot bills," or placeholders with text and intentions that may be the goal or not. Developer Ed Roski Jr., owns 600 acres of land in Industry......

Photo by LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg Wait, cancel that, reports The Smoking Gun in March: Major League Baseball has forced the closure of an online business run by a Barack Obama supporter who tweaked team logos to create t-shirts promoting the Illinois Democrat's presidential bid. The web site Obamaofdreams.com began selling the $19.99 shirts last month and had more than a dozen versions available when an MLB lawyer sent proprietor Morris Levin a......

Photo by delara-photos via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr DID U C OPRAH 2DAY? OMG SO GR8! OOPS G2G, PPL R B-TING SUM GUY UP TTYL! Pasadena ain't your ashtray. So tonight their city council meets to vote on a massive smoking ban that will prohibit puffers to indulge in their habit in almost any public place. Hey, what's the latest on the upcoming SAG/AFTRA contract talks? Deadline Hollywood Daily has an......

For the second time this year, Improv Everywhere releases a video of them pranking the Los Angeles area -- this time they go out to a random little league game in Hermosa Beach acting like it's the Major Leagues with a NBC sports broadcase, the Good Year blimp and hardcore fans who knew the players' names along with made up nicknames (TNT!). They even went as far as holding a press conference afterwards (video......

Photo by kristi.nicole via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr One week after being subdued in his cell with a taser gun and lapsing into a coma, 35-year-old Orange County inmate Jason Jesus Gomez has died, officials announced today. Gomez, who was in jail for a probation violation, stopped breathing after officers used the taser on him during a scuffle. Say cheese: LA City Council voted today to approve a contract that will put......

Tonight's game was a hell of a lot of fun, even though it was cold and windy and we were getting dive-bombed by hummingbird-sized moths. Both pitchers (Lowe and Cain) pitched five shutout innings before giving up a few runs. Lowe took a comebacker to the lower leg to make way for Joe Beimel to come in and allow two runners to score. Troncoso make his ML debut with the bases loaded and one......

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......

When the Dodgers host the Boston Red Sox on Saturday, the game could break baseball's all-time attendance record with almost 115,000 fans cramming into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A lot of people are excited about the exhibition, but it's not without detractors. Congestion and dimensions are two of the biggest fears. After going on a tour of the setup this morning, I don't think you could ask for more out of this historic location.......

This has nothing to do with LA, other than the fact that certain people on LAist have been Rick Rolling the begeezus out of each other the past few weeks. If you don't know what a Rick Roll is and you've never experienced a two-day long orgasm or won a free iPod, welcome back to the internet. We've missed you the past year. There's even a Rickroll database out there for your protection. Anyway,......

Lakers 102, ??? 100 - The Los Angeles Lakers went to Dallas and apparently won, beating some unknown team owned by a guy who doesn't support media progress. OK, it's not that bad. What was bad? The Laker's second half. After amassing a 25 point lead, they allowed the Mavericks to climb back to within 98-97 with 41 seconds to go. Then it was 101-100 with less than 5 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki, who had......

Rockets 104, Lakers 92 - Pau Gasol is out indefinitely with a sprained ankle, but losing your big man is no excuse if you ask Houston. The Rockets have won 22 in a row and 10 straight since Yao Ming went down. Los Angeles is now looking up at Houston, who owns the West's best record at 46-20 -- one game ahead of the Lakers. Kobe Bryant had 24 points, but most impressively held Tracy......

Besides crowning a champion for Pac-10 men's basketball, this weekend's Pacific Life Pac-10 Tournament also provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the talent on the baseline. In a surprising upset, UCLA has officially been crowned LAist's Pac-10 Cheerleader Champions for the 2007-2008 basketball season. Can we get an 8-clap? Or a phone number? While Oregon led in the hearts and (filthy) minds of most Pac-10 creepazoids observers this year, in person they just weren't......

Magic 110, Clippers 88 - Chris Kaman missed his second straight game with a sore back as Los Angeles got mangled in Miami. Without their big man, the Clips allowed Dwight Howard 22 points and 13 rebounds. Ducks 4, Canucks 1 - Anaheim is getting hot when it counts, putting away their franchise record eighth straight win at home. Backup goalie Jonas Hiller made 30 saves for the Ducks and even picked up an assist.......

Clippers 99, Heat 98 - With Shaq in Phoenix and Dwayne Wade injured for the season, the Clippers had an opportunity to beat somebody -- and actually took it. Cuttino Mobley hit a pair of free throws in the final three seconds to seal the deal. He led the way with 29 points. Since the Clippers won't be lucky enough to face many more horrible teams like Miami, Andrew Kamenetzky atSportsHubLA has some ideas on......

Clippers 116, Kings 109, 2OT - Down by 17 points, it looked like Los Angeles was about to give Sacramento their first win this year against a Pacific rival. Anybody seen Sam Cassell. Two overtimes later, the Clips pulled off a wild victory and send the Kings to 0-9 in the division. LA led the entire second overtime. Al Thornton led the game with 27, Chris Kaman had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Dan......

Photo by Brad Westphal for Shanghaiist. The Los Angeles Galaxy wrapped a 3-0 win in Shanghai on Wednesday night (yup -- big time difference, folks!) thanks to a hat trick by Carlos Ruiz. Shanghaiist, our sister site, has been covering Beckhamania and has great analysis of the match against Shanghai East Asia Hong Kong United (it's unclear at this time if that fits on a jersey). In fact, they've got a lot more insight than,......

Photo by ve®onica via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Thanks to our shutterbug readers, our LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr was gifted with some shots from yesterday's 23rd Annual LA Marathon. Pictured above is Tatiana Aryasova in the middle of the group, who won the "Banco Popular Challenge" (and $100k!) and the ladies' division. After the jump, more great pictures from the run, including men's elite winner Laba Moiben of Kenya.......

Lakers 108, Mavs 104, OT - The Laker's season just keeps getting sweeter. This time, it was all Kobe Bryant -- who managed to score even when triple-teamed. End result? 52 points, including 22 in the 4th quarter and 8 in OT. It was the first game between the refurbished Laker's (Pau Gasol had 17 points and 14 rebounds) and the refurbished Mavs (Jason Kidd had 15 points and 11 assists). The win keeps Los......

Russian Tatiana Aryasova won the LA Marathon, and the $100,000 "Banco Popular Challenge" with an unofficial time of 2:09:32*, beating out the top "elite" male runner, Laban Moiben of Kenya, who clocked in with an unofficial time of 2:13:50. The petite Aryasova is in peak shape; she recently gave birth and resumed her training rapidly. Both runners received the keys to their new Honda Accords thanks to the race's sponsor, Honda of America, whose headquarters......

A clear, crisp early spring morning greeted the participants in this year's LA Marathon, and the runners are filling our city's streets. Local NBC affiliate KNBC has full coverage of today's big event, which is comprised of two wheelchair divisions, a bike race, a 5k run, and the full 26 mile marathon. With an 8:15 start, the "elite" groups of men and women lead the way in small sets, and they are hoping to finish......

Photo by woolennium via flickr It's March 1 and in addition to it being the first official day of spring (in Southern California at least -- cuz we said so): -- Exhibition season is on in Florida and Arizona -- Opening day is less than one month away -- Countdown begins for Malingering's photoessays on the best and worst of the '08 Dodgers (and their fans) Individual Dodgers game tickets are on sale to......

Fallout from the massive Westland/Hallmark meat recall scandal continues to affect Southland restaurants, stretching from San Diego to Ventura County. The California Department of Public Health has released a document listing every food purveyor which has purchased the recalled beef -- and at 59+ pages, it's a doozy. Chances are very good you have purchased or ingested some of Westland/Hallmark's product at some point, since markets and restaurants across the city are represented. My......

Dear Tony Kornheiser, Your recent comments were clueless and hypocritical -- and some of the most ironic in all of sports media this year. That's quite an accomplishment considering the profession is full of overweight men criticizing the performance of professional athletes. The comments I'm referring to, of course, are your proclamations about bloggers. They have no sources. They make stuff up. They're toads. They're little toads. Actually, they're pimples on the behind of the......

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.......

Santee Village Apartments | Photo by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr It's not the same thrill as being singled out as a draft pick when it's the police who want you: "An arrest warrant has been issued by the Irvine Police Department for St. Louis Cardinals utilityman Scott Spiezio on six charges stemming from a Dec. 30 incident." Police in Burbank are investigating the mysterious death of 47-year-old Glen Giles,......

We have no idea what inspired the 1986 Dodgers to make "The Baseball Boogie", which we bring to you via our sexy friends at WithLeather. Maybe it was the previous year's "Super Bowl Shuffle" phenomena. Maybe Pedro Guerrero was so bursting with creativity that the rest of the team got caught up in his enthusiasm. Maybe they knew that they would finish second-to-last that year, so they figured they it'd be more constructive to......