As it gets closer to Halloween for LAist, a contributer recollects her tale of staring down the serial killer, Richard Ramirez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker. Must think happy thoughts -- okay, free organic chocolate chip cookies for Los Angeles -- now that's a happy thought. Other happy Los Angeles thoughts include an interview with Jack Kehler of The Big Lebowski (he was the Dude's landlord), a beautiful and magical photographic moment in Venice......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

73-89. Anyone who would have predicted that record at the start of the season would have been seen as either an optimist, an idiot, or both. After starting the season 9-25, the prognosticators who saw 100 losses seemed generous, but somehow the Nationals managed to play .500 ball (64-64) for the rest of the season, finish out of last place in the NL East for the first time since 2003, and win 2 more games......

Well, we are reaching the end of the season. The Nationals stand two games away from their stated, and admittedly pathetic, goal of 72 wins -- one better than last year. They have 5 games remaining, two against the Mets and three against the Phillies, all on the road. Given that the Nats are 30-46 on the road this year, these last two wins should be tough. That said, the Mets seem desperate to see......

It's hardly the nicest stadium, but RFK Stadium holds a venerable place in Washington sports history. Open since 1962, when it was called District of Columbia Stadium, the venue has hosted two MLB franchises, the Washington Redskins during their glory years, the most successful MLS club ever, international soccer tournaments, concerts, and on and on. It even hosted Team America! Sunday's final Nats home game, a 5-3 win over the Phillies, isn't the last......

Good morning, Washington. Have you recovered from yesterday's local sports emotional rollercoaster yet? The Nationals bid farewell to RFK, and managed to close out their time there with a 5-3 victory over the Phillies. The Redskins, on the other hand, well ... we might still not be ready to talk about that last drive. Yet despite the despondent football fans across the region this morning, we get the sense that no one is sadder than......

These are exciting times in Nationals land. The Nats are currently in control of the NL East! We realize that someone without any imagination, or joy in their life, might say that the team has been eliminated from the postseason, and is currently 15 games under .500. To them we would point out that all of the remaining games for the Nationals are against either the Mets or the Phillies, two teams separated by 1.5......

Since we last left the Nationals, the team has gone 4-3 and pulled itself out of last place in the NL East. They are one win away from 63, and thus avoiding the humiliation of triple digit loses this year. They are also nine wins from tying last year's total. These are the metrics we have to use to judge a team that wasn't really competing for the post-season anyway (during the pre-season, Vegas......

UPDATE (4:10pm): Nuthin! Per Barry Svrluga, the Nats passed the trade deadline without making a move, despite a flurry of late rumors. While they might make minor moves in August (like last year with Livan), they decided against moving Rauch or Cordero. Let's hope Chief's feelings aren't hurt and he strikes out Dunn for the save tonight! UPDATE (2:35pm): The Red Sox, rumored to have sought after Cordero since last winter, have reportedly filled their......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

Seattlest has a talk with the photographer from last week's "Segway Mom" and then experiences some dissension in the ranks over the question of wine vs. beer. It's not West Side Story, but about as close as they'll get. They're also still waiting on some inbox relief after a spammer is arrested. As Chicagoist counts down the days to its third anniversary party, they found all-organic pizza to be underwhelming amidst the hoopla, tried......

The talk about the Nationals being the worst team in major league history seems to have been slightly exaggerated. That being said, they've been pretty awful in losing 5 in a row, including being swept by the Cubs this weekend. The Nats are 9-22, 10.5 games out of first place in the National League East and 5.5 behind the fourth place Phillies. And they face the surprising Brewers, who have the best record in baseball,......

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment The action was thick......

So it's fortunate for us that WETA Radio's local news call-in show The Intersection keeps inviting our esteemed Sports Editor, Matthew Bourque, back on the air to drop his mad knowledge of all things sporting like it's gonna cause 3rd degree burns. And that's hot, yo. So tune into WETA at 90.9FM (or listen live on the interwebs) at 11:50 a.m. to hear Matt discuss everything from new Nationals manager Manny Acta's managerial style, Soriano's......

The Nationals had an exciting game last night, tying the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth and again in the tenth, then falling just short in the 14th. However, you wouldn't know it from the Nats fans. We wrote about fairweather fans before, but this game was just sad - for one, a lot of people hit the exits as the 9th inning ended. So the Nats aren't in the playoff hunt and the......

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery. Phillyist rejoices in the Phillies' wild card chances, mourns the injuries sustained by Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse, and goes pirate on our asses. SFist notes that Guns and Roses were in town, that San Franciscans are taking over reality TV, and that the San Francisco Chronicle's skills of original nomenclature could use some......

What a difference four days make. On Monday, the Nationals were surging. They had just taken two out of three from the Phillies and were four games under .500 for the first time since April. But then the Rockies came to town. When the dust settled, bullpen coach John Wetteland may have been the only one to lose his job, but the damage had been done. For the first time since arriving in Washington,......

The Nats did a nice thing for 15,000 of their closest friends on Sunday afternoon. After soundly defeating the Phillies, 6-0, on a day perfectly suited to the game of baseball (75 degrees, cool breeze, sunshine), the team had a Picnic at the Park for season ticket holders. Now I have not purchased season tickets, but I was with a friend who did, and so I went along for the ride. This sort of mass......

A few weeks ago, the Nationals were down and out, battling to stay in front of the Florida Marlins. Now, after a weekend sweep of the Brewers in Milwaukee, the Nationals, led by Alfonso Soriano's hot bat, are on the rise. Winners of three in a row and 12 out of their last 17, the Nationals face off against their NL East rivals this week in a set of six games that could make or......

Not for the first time this year (remember that stretch back in April that got them within three of .500?) did the Nats make us think a competitive season was possible, when they ran off a 7-3 homestand to close the NL East gap to single digits. After taking bragging rights from the Orioles and a series each from the Astros and Dodgers, the Nationals headed back out on the road to face division rival......

The weeks starts out right when a sucker punch on the field lands Chicagoist in the middle of a Sox/Cubs throwdown and the fists continue to fly in the comments. Despite suburban resident Ms. Pinney's best little try no books will be banned anytime soon and the El is really really gross. Houstonist is there to start compiling the punditry when when the guilty, guilty Enron verdict comes down. This guy seems to be able......

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Benjamin Kabak. After taking two of three from the Philadelphia Phillies this week, the Nationals return to the confines of RFK Stadium to face the division-rival Atlanta Braves in a three-game series this weekend. If the weather holds up, that is. Thursday's 10-4 drubbing of the Phillies capped off a successful week for the Nats as Frank Robinson became just the 52nd manager to reach the 1000-win plateau.......

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jeff Beam. Just another day at the office for the 2006 Nationals. After Monday's much-needed day off, Tuesday was off to the races. By midday, the team had learned that Ryan Drese would be out four to six weeks, but would avoid season-ending surgery. By the late evening, when Gary Majewski was wrapping up a 10-3 victory in Philly, their GM was on the hot seat, and the......

This entry was written by new DCist contributor Jeff Beam Away from the three ring circus created by Major League Baseball, City Council, and Mayor Williams’ office, the 2006 edition of the Nationals prepares this week to close shop in Viera, Florida and head north for another season along the Anacostia. A number of roster moves via trade, promotion, and shoulder tears have changed the look of the team, so we’ve compiled a season preview......

The Nationals ended their final road trip of the season in fine fashion, lighting up the scoreboard on consecutive nights and earning a three game sweep against the fading Florida Marlins. Last night's 11-7 win was highlighted by a seven run, seven hit 4th inning that guaranteed an easy road to victory despite a not-so-good performance from Esteban Loaiza (6IP, 10H, 6R, 1BB, 1HR), and also guaranteed that the Nats can finish no worse......

On Sunday, the chips finally fell for the Washington Nationals, and the team that inspired throughout the summer found themselves able to make plans for the fall. Four New York homers and more key hits that didn't quite come helped the Metropolitans sweep the Nats at home, dropping them to last place and .500 and mathematically eliminating the team from post-season play. It was the culmination of a long, ugly second half for the......

Well, they just won't go away, will they now? In winning their last two straight against the Mets, your Washington Nationals have made up a little ground in the Wild Card standings. Hector Carrasco took the baton from an ailing John Patterson on Tuesday night, coming through with four solid innings and setting the tone for a 4-2 win (Rauch, Eischen, Majewski, and Cordero combined for five scoreless innings). Last night, Esteban Loaiza gave most......

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, before the Nationals took on the Phillies at the Bobby, the RFK crowd was treated to a performance of the National Anthem by a trio of pre-teen blonds in American flag dresses which had dubbed themselves, or had been dubbed, Clique. In true Sparklemotion style they sang the anthem (and since it was Sunday, God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch), while the scoreboard announced that their names were Ariel,......

The Nationals missed an opportunity to overtake the Astros in the wild card chase, dropping a tough 4-3 decision against the Phillies last night. Esteban Loaiza coughed up four earned runs on 10 hits and a walk in 5.2 innings. Bright spots for the Nats included Vinny Castilla's 3rd inning homerun, and Luis Ayala, Joey Eischen, and Gary Majewski combining for 2+ innings of scoreless, hitless relief. The Nats managed to cut the Phillies'......