Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP
ATLANTA - Jeff Francoeur thrust his right arm toward the sky, sprinted around the bases much faster than he needed to and leaped into the arms of his teammates, who turned home plate into a mosh pit.
What a way to celebrate his first career grand slam.
Francoeur homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, finishing off a five-run rally that gave the Atlanta Braves a stunning 8-5 victory over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.
“I love those situations,” said Francoeur, who brings a football mentality to the baseball field. “If you don’t love ’em, you’re in the wrong sport. It’s games like this that keep bringing you back.”
Francoeur doesn’t even mind failing.
Last month, he came up in the ninth against San Diego with two outs, two runners on and the Braves trailing 4-3. Trevor Hoffman struck out Francoeur to end the game, but the 22-year-old outfielder savored his chance and looked forward to the next one.
When Chad Cordero hung a slider on a 1-0 pitch, Francoeur drove it deep into the left-field seats.
“It’s just you against him, you against the closer,” he said. “It’s a chance to be on the greatest stage. Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don’t. But it’s the greatest feeling.”
Trailing 5-3 heading to their final at-bat, the Braves quickly rallied against Cordero (1-1). He gave up three hits on his first three pitches: a leadoff homer by Brian McCann, followed by sharp singles from Ryan Langerhans and Marcus Giles.
Edgar Renteria, Atlanta’s leading hitter, attempted to bunt the runners over but got it a little too close to the mound, allowing Cordero to get a force on Langerhans at third. After Chipper Jones loaded the bases with an infield single, Cordero still had a chance to escape the mess when Andruw Jones took a called third streak.
Then came the biggest mistake of all to Francoeur, who had already extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a run-scoring double in the first.
“Pitching is getting three outs,” Cordero said. “I thought if I got Andruw, I could get the last out.”
Francoeur celebrated wildly after crossing home, actually butting heads with Chipper Jones but feeling no pain.
Not so for Jones.
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“Chipper is mad at me,” Francoeur said with a smile. “He said next time he’ll keep his helmet on.”
Chris Reitsma (1-1) earned the win with a scoreless ninth. The Braves won for the fifth time in six games and remained six games behind the New York Mets in the NL East.
Alfonso Soriano hit two-run homer and Matt LeCroy added a solo shot for the Nationals, who were on verge of handing Jorge Sosa his sixth straight loss. Cordero let the Atlanta starter off the hook.
“It was pretty obvious what happened,” Cordero said. “I gave up a couple of hits and a few home runs. I stunk.”
Sosa was pretty bad, too. He gave up nine hits and five runs in 5 2-3 innings, his ERA climbing to 6.52 and his record staying at 0-5. A year ago, he was one of baseball’s biggest surprises, going 13-3 with a 6.52 ERA.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
