Los Angeles

Astros Comet About To Strike, Crater Seattle

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Tacoma Rain, taking his own cyber-life in his hands, speaks of He Who Must Not Be Named:

I know we are sooo much better than the Astros, BUT what IF.... Then what?
Do we lynch Z? Is it Wedgie's fault? Can we trade Morales already?
Life has this wonderful way of giving you unexpected scenarios...

......

Silentpadna and Dr. D have been pleasantly jousting with Benihana since about 2002; usually he's been about a 3 or a 4 on the 1-10 scale from |-- Cynic -- to -- Sunshine and Rainbows --| .

It's a treat to see him weighing in with his granite-steady point of view:

We're 3-4, and have only been outscored by 3 runs so far, despite some pretty abysmal performances from our 3, 4 and 5. Plus, now we get to come home and get healthy with a dose of the Stro's. The M's April schedule is a very difficult one, with series against the A's (94 wins), White Sox (85), Texas (93), Detroit, (88), LAA (89) and Baltimore (93). The two series against the 55 game winning Astros is where we need to make some hay. I'll take 5-1 against Houston and hope for a .500 month. Then the reinforcements will start to arrive.

I can't help but imagine a mid-July rotation of Felix, Iwakuma, Hultzen, Erasmo, Paxton dealing us down the stretch... just need to stay in contention. First away series: mission accomplished.

.......

Baker also, in his column, looks The Kids' OBP squarely in the eye but shrugs that it will be "at least a month" before any real assessments can be made.

More trouble in La La Land

When you are barely hanging on to the final spot in the West Playoffs picture, the last thing you need is a tough loss. On top of that, it only adds insult to injury when that loss also sees two of your best players leave the arena with possible ailments. Thursday night in Milwaukee was not a good evening for the Los Angeles Lakers.

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The longest winning streak in NBA history

In the 2012-2013 NBA season, there have been multiple hot-starting, streaky teams. With the Los Angeles Clippers pumping out a 17-game win streak, as well as the Denver Nuggets on a 14-game tear, things have been pretty intense all year. That doesn't even mention the most notable win streak of all, with the Miami Heat currently at 25 wins and counting.

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The Lakers get back their core

It would be an understatement to say the Lakers’ hope for this season was far from what played out. After scoring Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in free agency, most people believed that LA would be unstoppable. The front office believed this as well while scoring to two of the biggest names in the game in one offseason. Regardless, the Lakers have yet to look like a championship caliber team. In fact, they have barely looked like a playoff caliber team during their mercurial season. Their playoff hopes are still alive though.

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More than one streaky team

While the Miami Heat extended their winning streak to 21 with a strong victory over the Milwaukee Bucks this week, they aren't the only team that’s hot at the moment. The Denver Nuggets have quietly and efficiently been trumping teams left and right all throughout March.

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A superstar I wouldn't want to be friends with

As a fan of a western conference team who is not the Los Angeles Lakers, I have a general bias against Kobe Bryant. With the Lakers often knocking my team out of the playoffs, Kobe Bryant somehow getting even better as he ages, as well as my opinion (and most non-Laker fans as well) that he gets preferential treatment from the guys in black and white, my distaste for Kobe and the boys in LA is at an all-time high.

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Corpses in drinking water: Not a public health concern

There have been two stories recently about dead bodies in a water supply. And in both cases, it turns out that - according to the experts - it's not actually a health risk. (It's just really really gross.)

Top of the news charts right now is the story of thousands of dead pigs which were found floating in the river that supplies water to Shanghai, which is the largest city in the world. The pigs were dumped by a farmer upstream when his herd contracted a pig virus.

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D12 embarrasses former team

In lieu of Dwight Howard coming off as a prick last week when speaking of his former team, D12 decided to let his game do the talking in his first visit back to Orlando. With a Lakers’ franchise high 39 free throw attempts, as well as hitting a double double before the halfway mark of the second quarter, Howard was not going to let critics affect his play. Howard was a complete animal.

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Are the Rolling Stones touring soon?

Is it just me, or does it seem like forever since the Rolling Stones' big 50th anniversary shows late last year? Ever since, I've been impatiently waiting for some sort of announcement about a full tour in the U.S. What have I heard? Crickets. I've heard nothing but crickets. Even still, I've socked away some extra cash in the hope that the Stones would tour near me. Now, I'm thinking that was an excellent plan.

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The Western wheels on the bus go round and round

Big fan of public transportation here, and I was just introduced to the budget bus company, Megabus. Ran into one almost literally at the LA Times Travel show and it was huge! The double decker bus features comfortable seating upstairs – the better to observe the world rolling by. Downstairs there are tables with electrical outlets and WiFi throughout (although some riders claim the service is spotty on certain routes).

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