Los Angeles

The torrential downpours in the Bronx won't likely affect the New York Yankees starting pitching plans, but it could benefit the Angels. For if the series goes to a seventh game, expect John Lackey to become available.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said veteran lefty Andy Pettitte will still be on the mound on Sunday for a game six, while some are clamoring for CC Sabathia. Pettitte owns four series-clinching wins among his 15 career postseason victories: both tied for the most in baseball history.

Joe Torre is a Hall of Fame manager.

Take that to the bank. Play the Lottery with it. Bet the mortgage. Use your wife and kids as collateral, if you like. It’s as sure a thing as the Earth being a spheroid (a trifle flat at the poles), our Sun being ridiculously hot, divorce rates being on the rise, and our President’s approval ratings being on the decrease.

10. The Yankees know the Angels can beat them.

Yes, this is the same issue that just got blown to bits by the Angels in regards to Boston. Until the Yankees do to the Angels what the Angels did to the Red Sox, the Angels have the mental edge.

9. Speed.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in pursuit of the franchise’s first pennant since 1988.

That season, they went on to win the World Series behind the heroic effort of Kirk Gibson and the steady arm of Orel Hershiser.

In 2009, the Dodgers will turn to a young core, including 21-year-old Clayton Kershaw to start the series, in an attempt to break the World Series drought.

Six walk-off hits—four of which have been long balls.

That’s what Andre Ethier has done this season for the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.

The six walk-off winners are an all-time high for a single player in the divisional era. In fact, he has the most walk-off hits in a single season since 1974, and his four walk-off homers are also the most since ’74.

Justin Morneau was the last player to hit three walk-off homers in a season, doing so in ’07.

September baseball can often feel like October playoffs. Monday night, Mike Scioscia managed his squad like it was the last game of the World Series.

On the cusp of what could be the most important week of the season for his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Scioscia took over the one-game make-up contest against the New York Yankees as if his whole season was riding on it.

He pinch ran, pinch hit, and defensively substituted players all over the field. In every way, Scioscia outfoxed and out-managed his counterpart in the Yankee dugout.

For years, the pitching staff of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was an embarrassment of riches.

The starting rotation and bullpen rosters over the last decade have read more like the baseball equivalent of a Forbes Fortune 500 list, with names like Bartolo Colon, Francisco Rodriguez, and a healthy Kelvim Escobar throwing hostile takeovers from the mound each night.

That was then.

Three members of the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers have been selected to join the National League All-Stars for July 14th contest in St. Louis at Busch Stadium.

Closer Jonathan Broxton, starting pitcher Chad Billingsley, and second baseman Orlando Hudson are on the NL roster, with outfielder Matt Kemp still under consideration as one of the five finalists for the last spot on the roster.

After taking the last two games in Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers headed out to Chicago to face the White Sox. Hiroki Kuroda dominated the South Siders in the first game, to give LA their third straight win.

Then the Sox bounced back to take the last two, giving the Dodgers their first series loss since they hosted the Angels in late May.