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.
APSan Diego’s previous record for consecutive strikeouts in a game was six, shared by four pitchers.
Black decided seven innings and 117 pitches were enough for Peavy, whose career high for pitches is 128. Black called on Scott Linebrink, who gave up a leadoff homer in the eighth to pinch-hitter Miguel Montero.
Hoffman (1-1) relieved to start the ninth, walked Tracy with one out, then allowed Drew’s homer on a 3-1 changeup.
With one swing, Drew had spoiled Peavy’s night and snapped Arizona’s five-game losing streak. Tony Pena (2-1) earned the victory with a scoreless ninth inning.
“I put a good swing on it,” Drew said. “It’s a good feeling to lift the team when we’re kind of struggling like this. Gosh, we keep battling.”
Hoffman, baseball’s all-time saves leader, blew a save for the first time in five chances. Hoffman said he wasn’t surprised to see the fat pitch sail over the fence.
“That usually happens when you give good hitters pitches like that,” Hoffman said. “Unfortunately, that’s going to be talked about and not the great pitching performances by both Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb.”
Webb, the Cy Young winner, allowed two runs on six hits in eight innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Kevin Kouzmanoff hit an RBI double in the second and Terrmel Sledge homered in the fourth. Sledge, who came in 1-for-10 against Webb, finished 3-for-4.
Webb said he felt he needed to be almost perfect to give his team a chance.
“Whenever they’ve got somebody out there throwing like that, you’ve got to really bear down,” Webb said. “I kept us in the game as much as possible.”
Notes: Hoffman pitched in his 801st career game, all with the Padres. Only Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators and Elroy Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates made more appearances with one team, both with 802 games. ... Peavy became the Padres’ career leader in double-digit strikeout games with 16, passing Andy Benes (1989-1995). ... Linebrink struck out two men, which gave the Padres 18 for the game, tying a club record set against Atlanta on May 22, 2006. Peavy also started that game. ... The Padres had not blown a lead all season.
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.
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.
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