Four years ago, Kyle Kendrick was helping Mt. Vernon High advance in the Northwest 4A district playoffs. Today, having just turned 23 in August, Kendrick is the key to the Phillies' playoff fate--and, by extension, the happiness of the entire, championship-starved city of Philadelphia. He's the Phils' starter in a must-win game two against the Rockies today at noon PST. Kendrick hasn't had as smooth a road to the majors as you might think, according......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Monday SHERMAN FREAKING ALEXIE: The best-selling author returns with his first novel in ten years. Flight tells the story of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a violent search for his true identity. Real Change-published poets (that would actually include Alexie, too) read as part of the program. 7:30pm // Town Hall // $5 LOCAL AUTHOR: Maya Sonenberg, the Creative Writing Program Director at the UW, presents a......

Mariners with Felix Hernandez Record: 2-0 Payroll: $106,516,833 Mariners without Felix Hernandez Record: 3-9 Payroll: $106,096,833 Sometimes, words can't tell the story as well as numbers. Look at that--the $106 million of player that Mariners GM Bill Bavasi recruited to surround Felix Hernandez can't manage to win more than 25% of its games. To put it another way--0.39% of the Mariners' payroll is responsible for 40% of its wins. The blueprint for the season was......

Last night the Mariners announced they'd signed nine guys to minor league contracts, including Cuban defector and flashy shortstop Rey Ordonez. Ordonez came up with the Mets in 1996, and we all thought he was the next great defensive shortstop. Managers got overexcited and said things like, "sure, he doesn't hit, but he saves a run a game with his glove," which is totally insane. No one saves a run a game with their glove.......

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for? Austinist was in an entertainment state of mind as they covered the dickens out of the Austin Film Festival, depicted all the Big 12 football coaches as South Park characters, and interviewed Jose Gonzalez. Chicagoist talked about the passion as they bid adieu to Bell......

In yesterday's NL Division Series game vs. the Mets, the Dodgers' Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew got tagged out at home on the same play (video available here). Your loveably loseable Seattle Mariners also once "accomplished" this, in a 1985 game against the Blue Jays, but theirs was even weirder. After a run-down of the players involved, we give you the report from the original Retrosheet box score: Dramatis Personae: Phil Bradley: Mariners leftfielder......

With the playoffs underway we thought it would be fun to look at all of the former Mariners you may come accross DODGERS Derek Lowe—Last year he went through a very public divorce after it was revealed that he was having an affair with Carolyn Hughes, a reporter for the Dodger’s pre-game show. The name of the program: ‘Dodger Insider.’ Giovanni Carrara -- “I’m-a gonna strike-a you out Delgado.” Aaron Sele—Quick note to the Dodgers......

1) Why did Brandon Morrow, the M's first pick (#5 overall) in yesterday's draft, mysteriously gain five MPH on his fastball last summer, just before the season when he could be drafted? Over at USS Mariner, they are ranting about some guy named Andrew Miller that the Mariners apparently should've drafted, flinging charges of collusion and conspiracy. But, since that ship has sailed, we're concerned about this nugget of information, buried deep in the......

Londonist prepares a Happy Birthday bath for Buddah this week and then things get all cliched. A madman goes on a rampage while axe-wiedling and London's mayor warns an American diplomat to avoid the kitchen if the heat bothers him so much. LAist has finally come around to purchasing tickets for Clipper Train. Hyper local dating sites are spamming L.A. neighborhoods and the fascinating Dame Darcy talks with LAist about art, the city and earthquakes.......

LAist tracks an award-winning TV writer who worked on Good Times to a homeless shelter and sees a Little Old Lady get a jaywalking ticket because she can't get across fast enough (in the same post!). Poets invade Metro and an LAist contributor's new book asks WWJB. Gothamist gets down with the immigration rally and their readers want to be heard. The anniversary of the Mets' 1986 World Series is celebrated via a RBI Baseball......

Guy's name is Barry, camel's name not recorded. Location is across from San Juan Vineyards. One theory of how camel got there explained by Culinary Fool in a blog entry over the summer. --Remember the UW professor who died tragically? No, not the one who was eaten by a crocodile. That was Richard Root. This one got wiped out by logs falling off a truck on Hwy. 101. His name was Anthony Qumar, and......

Three 2005 Mariners--tossed overboard like so much extra ballast--will dock elsewhere in 2006 after floating flotsam and jetsam-like in the waters of free agency. Three ex-M's found new ports in the past couple of days. We intend to persist with these annoying nautical references, so get used to it. Bret Boone ran aground in both Seattle and Minnesota last season, and put himself in drydock for September. But the New York Mets, seeking a potential......

-More ex-Mariners in the news, but this guy's still playing ball. Sort of. The Mets signed Brett Boone to a minor league contract today which could net him up to $1.5 million for next season. Oh, how the O-ver-Ra-ted have fallen. Boone earned almost $10 million while getting cut from the Mariners and Twins last year and batting .221. Seattlest earned -$300 to get cut from our summer softball league last year with the same......

Former Mariner and fan favorite Mike Cameron, now the rightfielder for the New York Mets, collided violently with Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran today. Cameron lay inert, though conscious, for several minutes after the collision before being immobilized and driven off the field in a stretcher, says the AP. Beltran also left the game, but under his own power. The latest updates will be available here.......

The Mariners' weekend series against the Mets has all the makings of an excellent Western. To wit: The return of the favorite son, Mike Cameron, making his first visit to Safeco Field since the Mariners stupidly didn't resign him after the 2003 season. We will be part of the standing ovation that Cameron, one of the most popular Mariners ever, will get tonight. The arrival of an old, forgotten, indefatigable foe, Pedro Martinez. Martinez......

Seattlest once had a choice between Saturday and Sunday Mets games, and we chose Saturday because the schedule read "Free Mets Jersey Day." We thought to ourselves, "Score!" It will likely surprise no reader that the "jersey" in question was a thin t-shirt with jersey styling (v-neck, buttons down the front) printed on it. We laughed and laughed. And we still wear the shirt. It never hurts to check the promotions calendar before heading......