Here's todays sports stories...

Londonist got the big scoop of the week with what may be the first images of notorious street artist Banksy in action. They also got on a runaway train without an operator provoking a response from the transport authorities. Elsewhere, London's answer to Central Station is about to open for business, and Londonist got a sneak preview. Meanwhile, spooky goings-on beneath London Bridge, where a cache of skeletons provided an apt story for Hallowe'en.......

We totally missed this, but yesterday was the 10-year anniversary of probably the most famous home run in Giants history since "the Giants Win the Pennant! The Giants Win the Pennant" home run, the Brian Johnson home run. Sure, there's been more important one's and there's all those Barry home runs, but nothing brings a smile to a Giants fan more than that home run. How could it not? It was an extra innings game deep in an improbable pennant race against the hated Dodgers, hit by some random dude just acquired a few weeks before, and it came right after the late and great Rod Beck's derring-do in getting out of a bases loaded no-out jam. It was an epic ending to an epic game in an epic season. Well, except for the end of it. Since everybody else is reminiscing, we thought we would too....

Sorry to spread the bad news, Giants fans, but last night's 9-4 loss to the Diamondbacks mathematically eliminated them from the playoffs. We know, we know, wha? Well, statistically, the Giants could still have made the playoffs if they won every game up until the end of the season and the Padres, DBacks, Dodgers, and Rockies all came down with the Ebola Virus. Hey, it happens sometimes, sort of. In the Premiere League, Tottenham once got eliminated from qualifying for the Champions League when several key members of the team came down with a mysterious case of food poisoning....

Here's todays sports news...

We're about a week late to this, but our All Star panel of SFist judges (consisting of David Hasslehoff, Allan Colmes, and the Drama Prairie Dog from YouTube fame) have come up with a winner of our "Rename Dodger Stadium Contest"—Brooklyn, by arblatt. This was actually a hard decision because “guest” posted two of our favorite entries, “Chavez Latrine” and “Hell” and as we don't know whom "guest" is, we can't give them anything. So congrats, arblatt, for not just your spiffy answer, but for actually following the rules ...

Here's todays sports news...

Dodgers 6 Giants 4- Before we begin the fun, we'd like to draw your attention to a pretty interesting article by the LA Times' Bill Plaschke who writes how that two game series in '97, the Brian Johnson series, completely ruined the Dodgers for ten years. Long story short, the series devastated the team that season and knocked them out of the playoffs, making it easier for Fox to buy the Dodgers and promptly trash the franchise. Good stuff. Anyhoo, the Enchanter got Cained (our new verb for when a pitcher pitches a good game only to lose due to the Giants ineptitude) as the bullpen gave up four runs in the eighth to lose the game. The damage was done by Messer’s Kline and Messenger and is it us or does Randy Messenger look like a taller, skinner Turtle from "Entourage." As for Bonds, he did nothing of much importance but we couldn’t help but notice that when he hit what looked like a decent shot at hitting the homer, the fans stood up in excitement only to see it turn into just another fly out. When he was taken out, a huge portion of fans left the stadium and yes, it is fairly typical of Dodgers fans, but it was still a 3-2 game at the time. ...

Hey Giants fans, hate the Dodgers? Like, really, really, really hate the Dodgers? Wanna have some snarky yet juvenile fun at their expense? Hell, what else can you do considering they're in first place (or, well, were) and have won eleven straight at the Phonebooth. Do we have a contest for you! ...

Here's todays sports news...

It must be oddly freeing to have an ongoing, very public work-related crisis, because Officer Andrew Cohen seems to have a lot to say these days. And why the heck not? It's an interesting opportunity to take a look into the mind of what a veteran police officer -- one that no longer has to play politics -- really thinks. We got his opinion on the recent 'use of force' at AT&T Park. ...

It's not enough that the Dodgers seem to win at will in our house, but Dodger fans are starting to get a little cocky too. Memo to Dodger fans: this is our house-- if you want to beat the stuffing out of us in baseball go ahead, we don't care anymore. But just don't go messing with Lou Seal....

Here's todays sports news...

And you thought Charmed was just a TV show! You could be forgiven for thinking you'd stepped into an alternate universe where sexy-witchies Piper, Phoebe, and Paige actually still lived in San Francisco with all the Alyssa Milano sightings around town this week. (We all still mourn the untimely death of sister Prue (Shannen Doherty), of course.) As we mentioned, Alyssa was all over this town for All-Star week: promoting her Touch 'Em All fashion......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......

Here's todays sports news...

Here's todays sports news...

To get you psyched for tonight's game, here's some news on the Warriors front: -Here are Ten Reasons why you should jump on the Warriors bandwagon. -Baron Davis is the happiest guy alive. -The Betting Fool tells everyone to calm the f---- down. -Is this series a grudge match between Nellie and Cuban? Or are they one, but not the same? -Will the Mavs continue to go small or give it to Nowitzky? -Nellie, with......

Here's todays sports news...

Here's todays wrap up of the news...

Here's todays rounup of sports news....

Bonds signing, Day 2... While the players are psyched and according to the Chron, Giant's fans are too, Bruce Jenkins is not. He, in fact, drops in to rip the deal, calling the front office "gutless," says the season is already over, wishes the team were more like the Dodgers, and thinks the Giants are basically nothing but a freak show right now. Jenkins must have powered the energy haterade as he cranks out two columns and makes Eve's day by posting on the blog too. The Betting Fool, however, gets all misty when comparing Bonds to the late Jose Uribe and let's his readers rip the deal. Meanwhile, Tim Liotta of the Ex sees gray people. ...

-So everyone is talking about what's up with the Barry. Not only has he not been signed yet, but he rolled into the winter meetings with an entourage in tow looking for a job. We get a kick out of the idea of seeing Barry standing outside some hotel handing out resumes to any GM who walks by. The Giants, as you can well imagine, were not happy but they continued to talk to his agent nevertheless. ...

Yesterday it was announced that this year's big free agent catch, Alfonso Soriano, signed a whopping long deal with the Chicago Cubs, for eight years. It was also announced that Nomah is staying with the Dodgers where he'll be joined by the highly sought after Juan Pierre. Which begs the question what the hell are the Giants going to do? ...

-Homeless people are rousted from Golden Gate Park. We have them coming back to the park in three weeks in the SFist office pool. ...

As this disheartening, dispiriting, and disillusioning Giants' baseball season comes to a close, it is quite possible that there is still a chance that this season could be saved, redeemed even. For all could be forgiven, all forgotten, with just one act, one thing, one simple, simple thing-- knocking the Dodgers out of the playoffs....

Before the series with the Indians started up, Ken Macha was talking about how worried he was about the upcoming series. Didn't like the matchups. We weren't sure whether or not he meant it or whether or not he was pulling a Lou Holtz and trying to keep his team on their toes by playing up a totally inferior opponent. Regardless, the A's took the second game of a three game series as Bobby Kielty hit a grand slam home run in the sixth inning. Kirk Saarloos struck out eleven and added another vowel to his name for the effort. The Angels won but with the A's winning, the magic number is 6. ...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... A's 4 White Sox 2- Esteban Loaiza held the White Sox to just enough runs to allow a pretty week A's O to win the game. The A's were 0 for 16 with runners in scoring position but still scraped together four runs. How'd they do it-- aggressive base running, defense, situational hitting-- small ball. Now how about that? The game so pissed off Sox manager Ozzie Guillen that after the game he launched into a profanity filled tirade about the lack of booze in the visiting locker room. Anyways, the Angels won so the A's remain five up but the magic number is now 11....

Baseball is a long season and there are a lot of games during the season and it is always problematic to overemphasize the importance of just one game, but all things considering, yesterday was the most recent Most Important Game of the Year for the Giants. They were 2 1/2 back against the Padres, four in back of the Dodgers and another loss just might have set them back too much. So in steps Matt Cain, your new Giants ace, to throw an eight-inning shut out of the Rockies. ...