Free Republic

LOS ANGELES -- It's a real shame the Dodgers have no more games scheduled with the Padres this year, because after finding all sorts of ways to lose to San Diego while dropping 13 of the first 17 games between the two teams, it looks like they've finally found a way to win. The Dodgers hit seven home runs Monday night and needed every one, overcoming four-run deficits twice in a remarkable 11-10 victory in 10 innings that put them back into first place by one-half game and had to be seen to be believed. "This will be a game,"...

MEXICO CITY - Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra will play for Mexico at the World Baseball Classic in March. Garciaparra, a native of Whittier, California, qualifies because of his Mexican parents, Mexican baseball league president Alejandro Hute said in a newspaper interview Saturday. Garciaparra, 32, played for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs before signing with Los Angeles.

BOSTON (AP) - Nomar Garciaparra rescued two women who had fallen into Boston Harbor, his uncle and a witness told the Boston Herald. Garciaparra, the former Red Sox shortstop who played for the Chicago Cubs last season, was in his Charlestown condominium with his uncle Friday night when they heard a scream and a splash, said the uncle, Victor Garciaparra. As soon as the two-time American League batting champ ran out the door to help the woman, her friend also fell in, hitting her head on the pier, said Victor Garciaparra, who oversees his nephew's business and charitable ventures. Victor...

<p>Granted, there is upheaval in the world and there are battles where a great deal is at stake -- life itself. All the more precious, then, the minor skirmishes on the home front that mean a great deal in a small way and remind us of how lucky we are to feel innocent hatreds, from summer to summer, at the ballpark.</p>