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.
Reuters
WASHINGTON - Facing a fellow lefty that he admires, and pitching against a team that made him a first-round draft pick in 2000, Billy Traber was at his best.
Traber outdueled Tom Glavine on Friday night, pitching into the eighth inning and allowing only four hits to lead the Washington Nationals past New York 2-1, ending the Mets’ five-game winning streak.
Just back up from the minors, Traber (2-1) allowed Paul Lo Duca’s first homer since May 13 in the first inning and then settled down to earn his eighth career major league win — 279 fewer than Glavine owns.
The secret to Traber’s success?
“Let them hit the ball,” he said. “I can’t really be scared of contact. That’s the only way I’m going to go deep into a game. All I want to do is chew up innings.”
That’s exactly what Washington’s weary bullpen needed him to do. As it was, after Traber left, the Mets put runners at second and third in the eighth against Jon Rauch, but Lo Duca struck out. And in the ninth, closer Chad Cordero’s 21st save didn’t come until after he hit a batter and gave up a single.
Mets manager Willie Randolph called it a “weird kind of game where you feel like you’re going to win it. You get a lot of men on base, but you can’t that one real big hit.”
It was Washington’s second win in 35 games in which it scored fewer than three runs.
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Glavine (12-5) was almost as good as Traber. But the two-time Cy Young Award winner gave up a two-run double in the second to No. 8 hitter Brian Schneider — when Glavine said he was trying to pitch around him with Traber on deck.
The left-handed Schneider reached for an outside pitch and pushed it into right field.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Schneider said.
Glavine threw a season-high 123 pitches in six innings and has won only one of his last nine starts.
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.
