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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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
NEW YORK - In the New York Yankees’ modern-day Murderers’ Row, one player always stands out: Derek Jeter.
The Yankees captain tied the postseason record for hits, going 5-for-5 with two doubles and a home run to spark New York in its postseason opener, an 8-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.
“He was great,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said. “It was good because it was a tough game.”
Bobby Abreu had a two-run double and Jason Giambi hit a two-run homer in the third as New York’s big boppers staked Chien-Ming Wang to a 5-0 lead. The five-run burst started, however, with something small — Johnny Damon’s slow roller for a single. Jeter followed with a double that put Nate Robertson in big trouble six outs into his postseason debut.
“When the team has a night like this, you’re able to relax a little bit,” Jeter said. “But it’s a short series. You can’t relax.”
After the Tigers crawled within two runs, Abreu added a two-run single in the sixth and Jeter hit his 17th postseason home run, an eight-inning drive off Jamie Walker that upped his postseason career average to .315.
Six of New York’s RBIs came from Abreu and Giambi, surprising given that Nate Robertson held lefties to a .181 average during the regular season, the best among AL pitchers. Giambi was on base four times, also getting hit by pitches twice and walking.
“We can throw up runs as fast as anyone,” said Damon, who had two of New York’s 14 hits.
New York’s lineup, now that everyone’s healthy, poses a mighty challenge for opposing pitchers. All nine starters are current or former All-Stars. Robinson Cano became the first player to ever start a postseason game batting ninth after finishing among the top three in his league in batting, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“We just don’t have that kind of firepower,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.
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Alex Rodriguez, the reigning AL MVP, was dropped to sixth in the order, his lowest slot since Seattle batted him eighth on May 7, 1996, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He was a quiet 1-for-4 with two lineouts and a strikeout, extending his streak of postseason games without an RBI to nine and his playoff slump to 5-for-36 (.139) over his last 10 postseason games.
“That’s not a big deal. The important thing is we won the game,” Rodriguez said.
Once again, he’ll be compared with Jeter.
“I’m not disappointed,” Steinbrenner said. “A-Rod is doing his part.”
Wang didn’t have his best sinker but got the win by allowing three runs in 6 2-3 innings, wiggling out of trouble in the second and third. Of the eight hits off him, five were doubles and one was a home run, a drive by Craig Monroe that started Detroit’s three-run fifth.
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“He was a little Jeykll and Hyde and from what we’ve seen in the past,” Leyland said.
Curtis Granderson added a solo homer in the seventh off Mike Myers, who faced just one batter. Scott Proctor got Magglio Ordonez to pop out with runners at the corners, Kyle Farnsworth threw six straight balls starting the eighth but got out of it without a hit, and Mariano Rivera finished.
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.
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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.
