Howard Cole

Remember all of two years ago when for every Mike Trout mention there was an equal and opposite reaction including the words “Bryce Harper?” Ah, those were quaint times. Today, Angels’ center fielder Trout is almost universally considered the best player in baseball. And Nationals’ outfielder Harper, well, isn’t. As......

Twenty-six years is a long time between pennants. Unacceptably long; the longest period without a World Series appearance in Dodgers franchise history. That’s L.A. and Brooklyn. Of course, 1988 was glorious, but there is a large and growing continent of L.A. fans who just cannot look at the brake lights......

Yes, the Dodgers are 2-4 coming out of the All-Star break, and yes, the back of their rotation makes for viewing scarier than The Purge, but don’t buy into whatever “they can’t beat the good teams” chatter you may be hearing. Elementary as this may sound, the Dodgers can beat the good......

It has been stunning to see the number of Adam Wainwright apologists who’ve chimed in since the St. Louis pitcher’s All-Star Game “pipe-shot” controversy Tuesday. Absolutely stunning. We’ve been treated to the trotting out of phrases like “there is a difference between throwing a batting practice pitch and throwing a major league......

While we can debate Brian Wilson’s suggestion that a beard is “basically the epitome of man" without reaching consensus, L.A.'s eighth-inning reliever is unquestionably right about one thing: There is an “epidemic of beards” in big league baseball. Being something of a hairy man myself (as well as an aficionado of the Smith......

While the what-goes-up-must-come-down cliché doesn't always apply to baseball, what do you say we use it in reference to the spinning-their-wheels San Francisco Giants anyway, shall we? The Giants, Reds-faced after losing four straight to Cincinnati and being no-hitted for seven innings Sunday, just lost six of seven games on......

Clayton Kershaw is a god, let's face it. The man walks on dirt. And one final take about last week's no-hitter before we segue from the inevitable Sandy Koufax comparisons to Johnny Vander Meer (fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes and maybe even testicles crossed), as Kershaw goes for even greater immortality tonight at......

To baseball's best and brightest, the world's most precious resource isn't the gooey black stuff that oozes up from below. It's pitching, the good old-fashioned rare-back-and-fire of the cowhide, which can be found above ground and on several continents. While there may be no limit to the planet's ability to......

When two of the three major publications covering the team employ the headlines "Dodgers' options have been limited by injuries" and "Dodgers missing too many pieces to roll" less than two hours apart, it's either a complete coincidence or because the two writers are both in sync and spot-on. Or perhaps the team......

Today's Dodgers don't make headlines with trades as early in the season as June 11. Yesterday's Dodgers did, and General Manager Buzzie Bavasi pulled off one such deal 45 years ago today, correcting the baseball injustice that had Maury Wills wearing something other than Dodger Blue for parts of three......