Atlanta Braves defeat LA Dodgers 4-3. It looks like the two closers Joe Torre had in mind to replace Jonathan Broxton temporarily didn’t quite work out. After Chad Billingsley’s seven-innings of one-run ball, Torre had Hong-Chih Kuo come in for a two-inning save. The eighth inning was no problem for Kuo in his usual spot as he retired the side in order, but the ninth inning was a disaster. Singles to Alex Gonzalez and Brian McCann and a walk to Brooks Conrad loaded the bases, and Torre put in Octavio Dotel. A bases loaded walk to David Ross to cut the Dodger lead to 3-2 and then the cherry on top: the milkman Melky Cabrera singled to left field for the walk-off win. For those keeping score, no decision for Billinglsey, loss to Kuo and a blown save to Dotel. The loss puts the Dodgers 11 games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West and seven games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants for the wild card with eight weeks left in the season. more ›

Boston Red Sox defeat LA Angels 6-3. Well the Angels debut of Dan Haren (L, 0-1) didn’t go as planned. First of all having been upstaged by Matt Garza’s no-hitter that concluded just minutes before first pitch, he would eventually leave after being struck in the arm by Kevin Youkilis’ line drive back up the middle with two outs in the fifth inning. David Ortiz hit two homers which the Angels couldn’t overcome despite scoring twice in the eighth inning to get to within a run. But J.D. Drew hit a two-run double in the ninth to put the exclamation point on it. Haren despite not completing five innings struck out eight hitters while walking none. Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (W, 11-5) wound up with the win going seven innings striking out seven while walking one. more ›

LA Dodgers defeat San Diego Padres 6-2. Andre Ethier keeps on feasting on those fastballs. In the eighth inning with the Dodgers down 2-1 and Russell Martin on second, Ethier drove a ball out to left field for a game-tying triple. Then with the bases loaded in the ninth inning and the Dodgers leading 3-2, he hit a bases-clearing double that was barely fair down the right field line to give the Dodgers a 6-2 lead. Dodger's starter Hiroki Kuroda was shaky in this outing but managed to give up only two runs on nine hits and two intentional walks. Ethier helped Kuroda's cause by throwing Adrian Gonzalez out at the plate on a Chase Headley RBI double in the third inning. What doesn't Ethier do? With the Diamondbacks losing the Dodger's magic number is down to 16. more ›

LA Lakers defeat Denver Nuggets 122-107. Kobe Bryant showed his MVP colors scoring 49 points to go along with 10 assists. Despite that, the Lakers are starting to play with fire. With a defense as porous as a sieve and complacency of taking bad perimeter shots against a weak zone, the Lakers got away with one. True the Lakers got the win, but it should have been a more dominant showing. It didn't help Lamar Odom scored only four points sitting out most of the second half due to foul trouble. While it might not affect them in this series, these mental lapses can cost them in the second round series against the Utah Jazz. The Lakers lead the series against the Nuggets 2-0. more ›

Yesterday I was out shopping all day. It was my friend Cathi’s way of staging an intervention for me. All of my friends are concerned that I’ve become so tied to sports, they are doing everything they can to get me out. Yesterday it worked. What can I say? I’m weak when it comes to shopping. Anyhow, I’d like to take this moment to say that I’m a fucking genius. I picked 13 of... more ›

LAist will miss Norm Chow, and his offensive wizardry, but this is not quite the end of the world. While Chow is probably the best offensive coordinator in all of college football, Pete Carroll has been planning for his departure for a while. Great teams lose their assistant coaches all the time, and USC is more than ready to carry on. We're stunned that Chow was able to stick around for 4 years after he turned down the Kentucky Head Coaching job, an assistant position with the Arizona Cardinals, and he was amazingly passed over for the Stanford Head Coaching job. more ›