Ryan Braun

at Milwaukee 4, Chicago 3: Ryan Braun's grounder to shortstop scored Rickie Weeks as the Brewers rallied for two runs in the ninth against Cubs closer Kevin Gregg (0-1). at St. Louis 5, Houston 3: Ryan Ludwick homered and drove in two runs for the Cardinals. at Colorado 10, Philadelphia 3: The Phillies' Cole Hamels was roughed up in his slightly delayed 2009 debut. at Atlanta 6, Washington 5: Kelly Johnson singled in Jordan Schafer for the winning run in the 10th inning.

Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers collected his 1,000th career hit Friday and several others are set to reach that mark in the near future. To put Braun's achievement in context, more than 250 active and former players have more than 2,000 career hits, capped by Pete Rose's 4,256 hits. Here are some other players within reach of hitting milestones (figures through Friday): Player Hits Behind Milestone 3,000 Hits Alex Rodriguez 2,866 -134 Omar Vizquel 2,856 -144 2,500 Hits Bobby Abreu 2,432 - 68 Todd Helton 2,415 -85 Miguel Tejada 2,362 -138 2,000 Hits Jason Giambi 1,967 -33 Jimmy Rollins 1,963 - 37 Andruw Jones 1,920 - 80 Torii Hunter 1,891 - 109 Aramis Ramirez 1,878 -122 David Ortiz 1,861 - 139 1,500 Hits Adam Kennedy 1,476 - 24 Matt Holliday 1,457 - 43 Jose Reyes 1,400 -100 Alex Gonzalez 1,393 - 107 Brian Roberts 1,386 - 114 Robinson Cano 1,379 - 121 Adam Dunn 1,378 - 122 1,000 Hits Shane Victorino 999 - 1 Jose Lopez 992 - 8 Geoff Blum 990 - 10 Kevin Youkilis 984 - 16 Dan Uggla 981 - 19 Source: baseball-reference.com

Game 1: Sunday, 1 p.m. St. Louis (LHP Jaime Garcia, 13-7, 3.56) at Milwaukee (RHP Zack Greinke, 16-6, 3.83) Game 2: Monday, 5 p.m. St. Louis (RHP Edwin Jackson, 12-9, 3.79)) at Milwaukee (RHP Shaun Marcum, 13-7, 3.54, or LHP Randy Wolf, 13-10, 3.69) Game 3: Wednesday, 5 p.m. Milwaukee (RHP Yovani Gallardo, 17-10, 3.52) at St. Louis (Chris Carpenter, 11-9, 3.45) Game 4: Thursday, 5 p.m. Milwaukee (Marcum or Wolf) at St. Louis (RHP Kyle Lohse, 14-8, 3.39) Game 5: Friday, 5 p.m.* Milwaukee (Greinke)

I need some dirt to kick. I need a base to throw. I need a big blue chest to bump. I need an explanation How did the Dodgers' Matt Kemp not win the National League most-valuable-player award? Somebody tell me. Somebody show me. Use sabermetrics. Go to the video. I don't care. If there is one piece of concrete evidence that says Kemp should not have been voted MVP over Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, I want to see it. This is a robbery greater than a Kemp leaping catch. This is a steal more blatant than a Kemp sprint.

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.

At one point during the Dodgers' 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday, a fan at Petco Park shouted at Matt Kemp . "Braun got two hits!" the fan alerted him. "Braun got two hits!" The fan was referring to Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, whom Kemp is pursuing in the race for the National League batting title. "I just started laughing," Kemp said. "Shoot, he's actually one of my favorite players. " Kemp's triple-crown ambitions took a significant hit on this day, as Braun raised his average to .333 while Kemp was one for five, dropping his to .325.

MILWAUKEE — The game seemed ready to unravel for Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley . After spotting the Milwaukee Brewers a 2-0 lead in the second inning Tuesday night, including a solo home run by Mat Gamel , Billingsley hit Milwaukee slugger Ryan Braun in the left arm with a pitch in the third inning. But then Braun was thrown out trying to steal second base and Billingsley retired the next 11 Brewers, keeping the Dodgers in the game. Milwaukee ultimately won, 5-4, in the ninth inning.

At a time of teacher layoffs, budget cuts and constant uncertainty in the Los Angeles Unified School District, four members of the National League Central Division champion Milwaukee Brewers are creating excitement and pride at their old City Section high schools. And maybe providing something resembling a local rooting interest in the Major League Baseball playoffs. Outfielder Ryan Braun and pitcher Kameron Loe played for Granada Hills High. Pitchers Randy Wolf and Marco Estrada played for Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Sylmar.

After the Dodgers' Andre Ethier took a called third strike in the sixth inning Thursday against Milwaukee Brewers starter Yovani Gallardo , his frustration didn't subside after he returned to the dugout. While James Loney was at bat, Ethier continued to complain to home plate umpire Adrian Johnson , who then tossed Ethier from the game — Ethier's first ejection of the season. "I thought it was a bad call," said Ethier, who then trotted back out on the field at Miller Park to further complain to Johnson until Manager Joe Torre intercepted him. "The pitch was repeated with the next batter — same exact pitch, I thought an even better pitch — and he called it a ball that time," Ethier said.

Ben Olson, a 6-foot-5 left-handed quarterback from Thousand Oaks High who's considered by several recruiting services as the No. 1 prospect for his position in the nation, announced Sunday he has committed to Brigham Young. Olson had narrowed his list of schools to the Cougars, Stanford and UCLA. In baseball, two-time All-City infielder Ryan Braun from Granada Hills announced he has committed to Miami.