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
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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.
PHILADELPHIA - Prince Fielder had the perfect chance to help Milwaukee break out at the plate. Instead, his bat shattered everywhere and the ball never left the infield.
After a September full of clutch hits, Fielder, Ryan Braun and the Milwaukee Brewers are suddenly coming up short at the plate.
“Right now I’m just kind of garbage, but hopefully I can pick it up at home,” Fielder said. “We just can’t get that big hit when we need it.”
The Brewers managed just three runs and seven hits in the first two games of their NL division series against the Philadelphia Phillies, and their first postseason trip since 1982 will be a brief one if they can’t find some offense before Game 3 on Saturday night at Miller Park.
Braun went 2-for-4 but Fielder was hitless again and grounded out in a key spot as Philadelphia won 5-2 to move within one win of the NLCS.
“I’m not taking anything away from them,” Braun said. “But we have to find a way to swing the bats better, to walk, to get hit, to bunt, to do whatever we can do to try to manufacture some runs and get some guys on base.”
Fielder came up in a big spot in the eighth, batting with two on and two out. He broke his bat on the first pitch from J.C. Romero, hitting a dribbler to second baseman Chase Utley to end the inning.
Braun and Fielder, who combined for 71 homers in the regular season, have not produced for the Brewers. Braun has managed three hits in the series, but Fielder and leadoff hitter Mike Cameron are 0-for-7.
Braun and Fielder each had game-ending home runs in the final week of the season as the Brewers won six of their last seven to secure the wild card, but Milwaukee had trouble scoring without the longball in late September. That troubling trend has continued against the Phillies.
Struggling to get runners on base in the first two games, the potent Brewers have gone flat.
“I don’t remember the last time we’ve really been ahead or had a big lead in early in a game,” Braun said. “It seems like every day we kind of hang out for the first six or seven innings and get a big hit in the eighth or ninth.”
The Brewers managed just four hits in Game 1 — only two off Cole Hamels in the first eight innings — and managed two more off Brett Myers in Thursday’s loss. The Phillies pitcher provided most of Milwaukee’s offense in the first inning, walking three batters, including J.J. Hardy with the bases loaded to force in a run.
The Brewers had a chance to do more damage in the first but Corey Hart tapped back to the mound for an inning-ending double play.
“On a whole, we’re not getting enough men on base to do any damage,” manager Dale Sveum said. “We have to go home and figure it out. To single anybody out is ridiculous.”
Braun and Fielder were confident the offense would get back on track with the series shifting to Milwaukee. Fielder even said there was no reason to head to the batting cage for extra work.
“If I don’t know how to hit by now, it’s too late,” he said.
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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