Mark Loretta News

Breaking down each team in the NL West heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish.

Infielders Juan Castro and Mark Loretta and reliever Will Ohman filed for free agency Monday, leaving Jason Schmidt as the only Dodgers player eligible for free agency yet to file.

Backstage before his Tuesday night concert at the Spectrum, Bruce Springsteen was telling Joe Torre how his "Working on a Dream" tour won't end until after Thanksgiving, so he'll miss the World Series.

Power-hitting and relief pitching separated the Dodgers and the Phillies. Surprisingly, the Phillies beat the Dodgers in both categories.

L.A. takes advantage of another playoff opportunity and makes runs happen. Destiny is not always about a fireworks show.

More baseball photography: www.latimes.com/news/local/photography/sports/ MLB Divisional series: Los Angeles Times photographers document the Dodgers and Angels playoff run.

A MORE PHOTOS From the batter's box, the view must have looked like a black-and-white movie with the volume turned all the way up.

These are sad days. No baseball 'til Thursday. Which leaves me with nothing to do but nitpick.

The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after Mark Loretta #5 hit a walk-off RBI to defeat the St.

They were drenched in champagne, soaked in contentment and dripping with anticipation.

Tony La Russa has seen this before. It soured his stomach in 1988, and it likely has had him reaching for the antacids the last of couple days.

Look Ma - a goat with hands In future years, Matt Holiday will have at least two things to remember when asked about the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers on Wednesday morning submitted a 25-man roster for the first round of the playoffs that included all five in-season acquisitions and no surprises.

Kevin Kouzmanoff socks a three-run homer to give the Padres a 4-0 advantage. - San Diego's Everth Cabrera bowls over Mark Loretta, who was called for interference.

Los Angeles -- The Dodgers' magic number for clinching the NL West is down to zero -- finally.

Not that the Dodgers aren't starting to get a wee bit desperate, but confronted with another clinch situation Wednesday night, they changed sports.

A September trip through Washington, Pittsburgh and San Diego, to play the last-place Nationals, last-place Pirates and next-to-last place Padres.

I mean, really, you couldna TMt split a series with the Pittsburgh Pirates and just clinch the NL West? It was supposed to be a weekend of celebration; heck, the champagne was on ice in the Dodgersa TM locker room on Sunday afternoon following a three-run ninth inning rally to surge ahead of the Pirates 5-2. Then, Jonathon Broxton went all Brad ...

Jim Thome capped the Dodgers' four-run eighth inning with a pinch-hit, two-run single, helping Los Angeles clinch a postseason berth with an 8-4 victory over the Pirates.

I'm getting a serious dose of east coast bias here in Arkansas, which is set in the central time zone; the Dodgers managed to tie this one up after trailing most of the way in regulation following a Steve Pearce homer and Zach Duke's RBI single, both in the second inning.