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.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had 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.
ReutersWith the Red Sox leading just 2-0, Maicer Izturis doubled to start the Los Angeles seventh, but Howie Kendrick grounded to second, Juan Rivera popped to first and Mike Napoli struck out to end the inning.
The Angels broke the shutout in the ninth against Eric Gagne. Izturis doubled and later scored on Kendrick’s sacrifice fly.
Los Angeles had a big league-best 54-27 record at home this season, hitting .305 at Angel Stadium, but it did them no good against Schilling.
“We swung the bats, hit balls at people and their pitching did a great job of keeping us off-balance,” Kendrick said. “When you’re down in the count, it’s always tougher to hit.”
The Angels lost cleanup hitter Garret Anderson early in Sunday’s game because of continued problems with conjunctivitis in his right eye. They were already without center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., left off the division series roster after missing 14 games in September with a sprained left ankle and an irritated right knee.
“This series wasn’t lost on injuries, it’s part of any season, guys are going to get hurt,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “We got hit by some of ours at the wrong time. That’s baseball. You’re not going to look back and make excuses. Those guys went out there and beat us, and that’s the bottom line.”
Ortiz and Ramirez put the Red Sox ahead to stay by hitting consecutive home runs against Jered Weaver to begin the fourth.
Ortiz hit Weaver’s second pitch of the inning over the right-field fence for his franchise-record 10th postseason homer. Ramirez followed by driving a full-count pitch over the center field for his 22nd in the postseason, tying former Yankees star Bernie Williams for the all-time record.
Just as he did Friday night in Boston, when his game-ending homer gave the Red Sox a 6-3 victory, Ramirez thrust both fists into the air and posed near the plate as his hit sailed out of the ballpark. This time, the display was abbreviated.
The back-to-back homers were the first of the season for the Red Sox stars.
The AL East champs broke open the game in the eighth by scoring seven runs against relievers Scot Shields, Justin Speier and Darren Oliver.
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Weaver, a 25-year-old right-hander who grew up in Southern California and was making his postseason debut, pitched out of a second-and-third, no-out jam in the second, retiring Drew on a dribbler to the mound and striking out Varitek and Crisp.
Anderson, who had 65 RBIs after the All-Star break, was removed the following inning and replaced by Reggie Willits. The move came after Anderson reacted slowly to Lowell’s double in the second.
“Garret did not see the ball in the outfield today,” Scioscia said. “You can’t take a chance like that if you’re not seeing the ball as clearly as you need to. Up until now, he had been fine with that.”
The Angels felt the absence of Anderson immediately, because Willits batted with the bases loaded and two outs in the third and popped out to the catcher.
Notes: The Red Sox took a 2-0 lead in five previous postseason series, and won Game 3 each time. They won the first two games of the 1986 World Series over the New York Mets, but wound up losing in seven games. ... Angels 1B Casey Kotchman didn’t play because of what Scioscia called a non-baseball-related medical condition. “That’s all we can say,” team spokesman Larry Babcock said. ... Ortiz drew two walks Sunday, giving him seven in the series.
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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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.
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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