Dodgers

PHOENIX — Andre Ethier said Tuesday he does not plan to impose a deadline on negotiations on the contract extension that could keep him out of free agency. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has said he would like to re-sign Ethier and has discussed the idea with Dodgers President Stan Kasten , who took office three weeks ago. Ethier said Tuesday he and his agent have not received a formal contract proposal from the Dodgers. Ethier also said he did not anticipate a point where free agency could be so close that he would put any contract talks on hold before he could test the market.

Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis returned home from the hospital Thursday, five days after undergoing emergency surgery on his left leg. Ellis was injured last Friday when Tyler Greene of the St. Louis Cardinals slid into him at second base. The next day, Ellis had fluid and blood drained from his leg. The procedure was required because the pressure on Ellis' muscles and joints was building. Team physician Neal ElAttrache told Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly that Ellis was several hours away from losing the lower part of his leg. Ellis is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.

Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday that the team doctor told him second baseman Mark Ellis was within several hours of possibly having his left leg amputated if Ellis hadn't had emergency surgery. "That was scary," Mattingly said of the injury, which is expected to keep Ellis out of action for six weeks. "I didn't realize how bad that was. " Ellis, 34, suffered the injury Friday when he was upended by the St. Louis Cardinals' Tyler Greene to break up a double play.

WASHINGTON -- One week after proposing a law that would punish Americans who avoid paying large tax bills by renouncing their citizenship, Sen. Charles E. Schumer scolded anti-tax activist Grover Norquist for comparing the legislation to efforts taken in Germany in the 1930s . Schumer, a New York Democrat, took to the Senate floor Thursday with a fiery speech to defend legislation he had introduced with Sen. Robert Casey (D-Penn.),...

Staples Center is home to four professional sports franchises, the Lakers, Clippers, Kings and Sparks. Each team has a different set-up on the arena floor. It is up to the crew overseen by the Staples Center operations department to reconfigure the floor for each game. Several times a year they must make the changeover twice or more over one weekend in between games. Last Saturday afternoon, while fans were still heading for the exits after the Clippers' 103-100 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, 65 workers began transforming the arena for the Kings' game against the Calgary Flames that night.

When a Lakers icon buys the Dodgers, you can bet current Lakers take notice. Lakers stars Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol had a lot to say after the news broke Tuesday night that the group headed by Magic Johnson will be the Dodgers' new owners. "I'm upset he didn't cut me in," Bryant said jokingly. "I'm going to have to talk to him about that. " But Bryant has a hard time seeing himself ever owning a sports team. "No. Well, I mean, if it's in a big market like Los Angeles or something like that, then yeah.

Ivan DeJesus strained his left oblique abdominal muscle, harming the infielder's chances of being on the Dodgers' opening-day roster as a key bench player. "It's hard to compete [for a job] when you can't be out there," Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday before the Dodgers were to play the Angels at Camelback Ranch, weather permitting. DeJesus, 24, inured himself while swinging during an at-bat Saturday night in the Dodgers' game against the San Francisco Giants. He's scheduled to have an MRI exam on Monday to evaluate the damage.

Stan Kasten, the veteran baseball executive leading one of three groups considered as front-runners in the Dodgers bidding, toured Camelback Ranch on Tuesday. Kasten and Mark Walter, the money man behind Guggenheim Baseball Partners, met in Phoenix with major league owners on Monday. The third primary partner, Magic Johnson, was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict. The other two leading contenders among the bidders: hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen, who toured Camelback Ranch on Saturday and returned as a fan on Sunday, and St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

PHOENIX -- There was a noticeable buzz in the Dodgers' clubhouse Wednesday morning. The previous night, traveling secretary Scott Akasaki had sent the players a text message informing them that a group led by Magic Johnson had agreed to buy the team. "I think that's tight, man," Matt Kemp said. "For Magic to be one of our owners. He knows what the Dodgers mean to L.A. Of course, Magic is real important to L.A. and the fans love him, so to get him to be a part of the Dodgers organization is a very good thing for us, and I think this is a pretty good day for the Dodgers.

Phoenix - There isn't a newcomer comparable to Albert Pujols or C.J. Wilson at the Dodgers' spring-training complex. As a result, there's noticeably less buzz coming out of the Dodgers' camp than the Angels'. But Los Angeles will always belong the Dodgers, Manager Don Mattingly said Tuesday before his team's first full-squad workout of the spring. “You know, honestly, if you really want what I think about it, it's kind of like the Mets and the Yankees,” Mattingly said of the two New York teams.

Left-handed complements A look at some of baseball's best left-handed trios of starters: 2003 Oakland Athletics Mark Mulder; 15-9; 3.13 Barry Zito; 14-12; 3.30 Ted Lilly; 12-10; 4.34 1997 Seattle Mariners Randy Johnson; 20-4; 2.28 Jeff Fassero; 16-9; 3.61 Jamie Moyer; 17-5; 3.86 1993 Atlanta Braves Tom Glavine; 22-6; 3.20 Steve Avery; 18-6; 2.94...

The world is stacked against them, an unspoken prejudice against the poor left-hander. It's not a good thing to have two left feet, to receive a left-handed compliment. Go down the left-hand path and you're into black magic, or maybe just reality shows. Power tools, guitars, cameras, rifles — all designed for a right-handed world. Then there's baseball. In baseball, good left-handed pitchers are prized possessions. They can turn strong hitters into weak-kneed corkscrews.

Meanwhile, back on the third rock from the sun the rest of us live on, the Dodgers lost. Lost big, lost like regular mortals and everything. The Dodgers fell 11-4 Wednesday to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix to snap their six-game winning streak. There was no pixie dust on this night, no wide-eyed comeback, just a good old-fashioned derriere kicking.

  Your browser does not support iframes. It was 10 years ago today, Shawn Green taught the band to play -- no, wait, may I reintroduce to you possibly the single greatest offensive day by a player in major league history? Green was a struggling disappointment 10 years ago, that sweet swing suddenly vanished without explanation. He had been booed in his last home game. But then came May 23, 2002 in Milwaukee. And by the end of the day, Green was rewriting the record books.

PHOENIX — The hitting wasn't there. You could see that coming. The Dodgers had not thrown out a lineup without Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp all season. The pitching, well, that was a little off. The Arizona Diamondbacks scored early and often Wednesday, pounding Ted Lilly and Jamey Wright for 11 runs in the first five innings of an 11-4 victory over the Dodgers. The Dodgers' six-game winning streak came to an abrupt end. Nonetheless, the Dodgers (30-14) flew home with the best record in the major leagues, and a seven-game lead in the National League West.

PHOENIX — As hockey fever grips Los Angeles, Dodgers President Stan Kasten said he plans to explore whether the Kings could play in an NHL Winter Classic game at Dodger Stadium. "Facility-wise, we could certainly handle it," Kasten said. The NHL has yet to award its New Year's Day showcase to a warm-weather city. The Dodgers could offer baseball's largest stadium and the iconic backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains. Kasten, former president of the NHL Atlanta Thrashers, said technology would allow ice to remain playable for an outdoor hockey game at Dodger Stadium but said he was unsure if the league would be interested.

It's a baseball truism that managers are hired to be fired. (Sort of like newspaper columnists.) You can be everyone's absolute darling one season and on the curb handing out résumés the next that read, "Won two historic World Series" (see: Terry Francona). Which brings us to Don Mattingly, entering his second season at the helm as Dodgers manager. All things  - and expectations  - considered, Mattingly had a strong debut. For someone who had never managed at any level, who was operating under a circus ownership and with a less-than-overpowering roster, he silenced critics with an even hand.

He first appears in the movie as he first appeared with the Dodgers, a wallflower pulled reluctantly into the spotlight, a nerd suddenly tapped on the shoulder by the cool kids. The character that is supposed to be Paul DePodesta is a rumpled and bespectacled figure leaning against a wall whispering trade vetoes to a Cleveland Indians colleague. The character that is supposed to be Billy Beane openly wonders who he is, and why everyone thinks he's so smart, and so begins a journey that Dodgers fans will instantly and painfully recognize.

The Dodgers are living in slop and there’s no end in sight. Nothing seems to faze them. Injuries, ownership change, a modest lineup, youngish bullpen, rebuilt rotation, solar eclipses. Doesn’t matter. They just keep winning. Keep finding the bizarro way of the day to win. Ways that don’t always make sense. Yet, as it continues to happen with regularity, you have to seriously consider that something special is going on. Individually, they have maybe three outstanding players.

A man was recovering Monday after a fight in a Dodger Stadium parking lot following Sunday's game, renewing questions about how quickly and effectively security responds once a game ends. The fight began about 9 p.m. after a minor traffic accident. According to Los Angeles police, Arthur Morales, 30, knocked the victim to the ground while his pregnant girlfriend watched, stunned. At that point, Morales' friends got out of the vehicle and joined in. "They held the victim down on the ground and ... the fourth one kicked and punched him in the head," LAPD Cmdr.