The Bums getting ready for the NLCS. AP Photo/Julie Jacobson The National League Championship Series is finally here. Many people are spinning their heads trying to judge the head-to-head matchups. Whose infield is better? Who has the better pitching? Etc. Etc. If that’s how these playoff series were measured, then the Florida Marlins wouldn’t have won the World Series in 2003. Neither would the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005. The biggest obstacle the Dodgers......

The team rushes the field when the clinch the win | AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill The Dodgers brought their NL Division series to a close with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs last night here at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers swept the three-game series, keeping the Cubs a full 100 years since their last World Series win and another year away from the chance. For the Dodgers it's the first post-season series win......

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......

James Loney getting congratulated after hitting his grand slam in the fifth inning. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast As I said the other day, nothing about the Dodgers makes any sense. They faced Ryan Dempster in the first game who went 14-3 at the Friendly Confines this season. Meanwhile they sent out Derek Lowe who gets next to no run support from the team. And it’s widely known that the Dodgers have only won one......

Mr. Al Davis Teaching Class. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Notable Notes Uy vey. Everyone saw Lane Kiffin's firing coming a mile away. Al Davis had a press conference to discuss his firing and introduce offensive line coach Tom Cable as interim head coach. You can watch Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for yourself. While this is devolving into a he-said-he-said quagmire, it is quite embarassing for an owner of an NFL franchise to......

Blake "Marilyn Monroe" DeWitt celebrates the division playoffs. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2008 National League West Division Champions. Over and over this team has made me eat my words more often than a Steinbrenner. When Joe Torre was hired, I said he wouldn’t make a lick of difference going so far as superimposing his face over a Kool-Aid packet. The day before the season started I said the......

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.......

With the Milwaukee Brewers winning the NL Wild Card today, the Dodgers will face the Chicago Cubs in the NL Divisional Series. Although the Dodgers are 2-5 against the Cubs this season, all of their contests were before the trading deadline. So the Cubs will be facing a completely different monster. First game in the series is on Wednesday, and the first game the Dodgers will be hosting is on Saturday. LET'S GO DODGERS!!!......

With the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Dodgers have officially won the NL West! The Dodgers win! The Dodgers win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee DODGERS WIN! Excuse us while we prepare our crow pie.......

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......

Trojan QB Mark Sanchez celebrates with fans after their win over Ohio State. | AP Photo by Mark Avery The "Collision at the Coliseum" turned out to be the huge mismatch that most predicted, while the Bruins made some personal history that they would rather soon forget. Records broken in Anaheim and the Dodgers extend their lead. USC Trojans defeat Ohio State Buckeyes 35-3: Although built up as a showdown of two National Championship......

It’s very very tempting to bury the Dodgers right now. With their lack of run production, bad defense and shaky pitching, the Dodgers should be dead. But being in the Loser’s Division, they still have a shot to play October ball. Everyone knows anything can happen in October. The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals struggled to 83 wins which won them the NL Central. They swept the San Diego Padres in the NLDS, won game......

Joe Torre wondering what in high holy hell is going on Friday night. AP Photo/Tom Mihale This is a familiar road all Dodger fans have been down. The Dodgers need to play well in all facets of the game down the stretch in order to win the division. The offense, defense, starting pitching and the bullpen all need to be playing well at the same time. But in the start of this crucial ten-game......

According to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, the Dodgers have reacquired Greg Maddux from the San Diego Padres. No details have emerged of this waiver trade with the Padres, and no one with the Dodgers have confirmed the trade. Maddux, 42, was placed on waivers earlier this month, and no team has claimed him. He has 353 career victories. AP Photo by Larry Ignelzi......

Manny-mania has hit Southern California. With Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers have injected themselves in the ass with a syringe filled with hopes of playing in October. Friday night the script was written perfectly. The first three Dodger hitters were retired by D-Backs starter Randy Johnson making the video montage of some of Manny’s home runs right before he led off the second inning the perfect elixir to get the crowd into a frenzy. MAN-NY!......

The Hollywood Billiard's Club is ManRam Crazy. LAist/Jimmy Bramlett So by now everyone knows the big Dodger news today. Dodger Stadium will be hosting the semi-finals and finals of the World Baseball Classic in 2009!!! Oh, and the Manny Ramirez thing. The Dodgers were part of a three-way trade with the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates to acquire Manny Ramirez. In exchange, the Dodgers will send third baseman Andy LaRoche and former first-round......

Every fear I had going into Friday night’s Dodger game against the Washington Nationals came true. As I was making the trek down the parking lot, Dodger PA announcer Eric Smith was announcing the starting line ups. And that vomit stain in Lot 3 was my reaction to the words, “Batting leadoff for the Dodgers, Juan Pierre!” It’s tiring hearing people’s justification of Juan Pierre as a leadoff hitter. Let me reiterate: the job......

The Dodgers just acquired Cleveland Indians' third baseman Casey Blake for minor league pitcher Jon Meloan and catcher Carlos Santana. Blake, who turns 35 next month, is hitting .289 with an OPS of .830 and OPS+ of 119 (an OPS+ of 100 being average) and will be a free agent at the end of the season. He will be dressed in tonight's game against the Washington Nationals.......

Starting today, Dodger Stadium will offer free trolley rides to baseball fans from Union Station to the field on game days. The shuttle is presented by the City of Los Angeles in the hopes that event goers will take advantage of the many bus and rail lines that convene at Union Station. Trolley rides begin 90 minutes before game time and conclude one hour after the game ends. Passengers will be dropped off inside Dodger......

Starting tomorrow and throughout the baseball season, thanks to efforts by the LA City Council, a free "Dodgers Trolley" begins service between Union Station and Dodger stadium (behind Center Field). With two stops in between at Cesar Chavez Ave/Figueroa St. and Sunset Blvd./Marion Ave., the trip is estimated to take less than 20-minutes and a trolley can be caught every 8 or so minutes. A map of the route can be found here and more......

Dodgers hope for more scenes like this. AP Photo/Matt York The Dodgers first half was, as Project Runway 4 winner Christian Siriano puts it, “A hot tranny mess.” But what has been very haunting during this All Star Break was a piece in the LA Times by the incomparable Ross Newhan examining the demise of the Dodger organization. While most people will point to the sale of the team to Fox as the turning......

LA Angels defeat Boston Red Sox 11-3. The Angels came out of the All Star Break making a statement. To everyone who questioned their offense, myself included, they responded by scoring 11 runs on 14 hits. Now the question remains if they can be consistent with their hitting. Angel's starter John Lackey notched his 1000th strikeout and gave up only three runs on five hits in his seven innings. The Angels have now won......

Minnesota Twins' Justin Morneau defeats Texas Rangers' Josh Hamilton. This year's edition was supposed to be a snooze fest. No A-Rod. No Big Papi. No Vlad. No Junior. No Bonds. Just a bunch of youngsters named Braun, Morneau, Utley, Berkman, Uggla, Sizemore, Longoria and Hamilton. But boy was this a doozy. Josh Hamilton stunned everyone in attendance at Yankee Stadium by hitting a record 28 homers in the first round of the Derby, the......

Atlanta Braves defeat LA Dodgers 9-3. Yeah Chad Billingsley was pitching a no-no. For four innings. Then the wheels came off in the fifth inning with a three-run double by Gregor Blanco. Billingsley went 5 1/3 innings giving up six runs, five earned on six hits and four walks. For the Braves, Jair Jurrjens brought his record to 9-4 going six innings giving up one run on five hits. Perhaps the telling moment of......

The Dodgers are in a lot of trouble right now, and all the trouble is coming from the front office. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports is reporting that Ned Colletti is going after Cleveland Indians’ starter CC Sabathia and Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. Upon first reading it sounds completely absurd. Why would the Dodgers want to rent a starter for the remainder of the season when they have the best ERA in the......

A follow up on last week's proposal going to committee and City Council: "The Los Angeles City Council decided unanimously today [Friday] to spend $70,000 to offer DASH bus service to Dodger games beginning July 25 and going through the end of the season. The council meeting was pretty much a replay of Wednesday's transportation committee meeting -- with the Dodgers saying they wouldn't pay and Councilman Bill Rosendahl complaining that they should," Steve Hymon......

The pitching duo of Jered Weaver and Jose Arrendano combined to keep the Dodgers hitless in Saturday night's game at Dodger Stadium. However because of an unearned run in the fifth inning, the duo went only eight innings which according to the rules disqualifies them from an official no-hitter. And, most importantly, the Angels lost 1-0. In that fifth inning, Matt Kemp hit a ball softly in the infield which Weaver mishandled. Although originally......

The proposed route from Union Station to Dodger Stadium | View Larger Map Come end of July, expect to see public transit hit Dodger stadium again after a 14-year hiatus (save for a small Friday night 2004 experiment that failed). A proposal is making it's way through city council this week and is expected to pass out of committee and the full council. The plan, for the last 32 home games starting July 25, is......

LAistory is a series that takes us on a journey to what came before to help us understand where we are today. So far we've been to Val Verde, Thelma Todd's Roadside Cafe, a house in Beverly Hills, Echo Park's Bonnie Brae House, Marineland of the Pacific, and Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale. Now we're going to take you out to the ballgame, some decades back... The arrival of the Dodgers in Los......

The city of Anaheim's challenge to have the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim remove their northern neighbors local from their name will have to wait until the pennant race heats up even more. The hearing has been postponed until September 11. No reason was given for the delay except that they had "good cause" to sit on it for the summer. At this rate, the Angels may not find out if they must change......