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 three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
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.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
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
CHICAGO - Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers look ready to run the shaky Chicago Cubs out of the playoffs early and extend their championship drought to 100 years.
Ramirez hit a mammoth homer to increase his postseason record, Russell Martin had a three-run double and the Los Angeles Dodgers took advantage of four errors by the clumsy Cubs in a 10-3 victory Thursday night that gave them a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five NL division series.
“We’re going to L.A., we need one more win. We’re not there yet,” Ramirez said. “They’re the best team in the National League and anything could happen.”
But unless the Cubs can show some semblance of the team that won 97 games this season, they’re headed to another disappointing finish. Each infielder made an error during the game and the Dodgers scored four unearned runs in the second inning to jump ahead 5-0.
“It wasn’t good baseball. In fact, the last two days, that’s probably been the two worst games we’ve played all year,” frustrated manager Lou Piniella said. “It wasn’t fun to watch, I’ll tell you that.”
Chicago became the 23rd major league team to lose the first two games at home in a best-of-five playoff series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only one has come back to win — the 2001 New York Yankees against Oakland.
Of course, that Yankees team was managed by Joe Torre, now in the Dodgers’ dugout.
“When you give extra outs, chances are they’re going to be capitalized on, and that’s what we were able to do,” Torre said.
The series switches to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Saturday night. Rich Harden will face Hiroki Kuroda, who pitched a four-hit shutout against the Cubs in Los Angeles on June 6.
“We’re going to come out and try to jump on them again at home. That would be nice,” Billingsley said.
Just a few days ago, Cubs fans were excited about the team’s chances of winning its first World Series title since 1908. But suddenly, Chicago is on the brink of elimination. The Cubs must win two consecutive games in Los Angeles to get the series back to Wrigley.
Billingsley shut down Chicago’s slumping lineup and Ramirez’s 26th postseason home run landed on the roof of the batter’s eye club in center, at least 450 feet away. It was his second jaw-dropping shot in two nights.
Meanwhile, the four errors by Chicago tied a division series record.
“This is a tough field. You’re probably not going to see as many mistakes at Dodger Stadium because the playing surface is so good,” said Martin, who capped the second-inning rally with three-run double. “The playing surface is the same for both teams. We just didn’t make as many mistakes as them.”
Billingsley allowed five hits and a run in 6 2-3 innings against the Cubs, who haven’t played like the team with the NL’s best record or one that went 55-26 this season in its home park.
After losing 7-2 in Wednesday night’s opener when starter Ryan Dempster walked seven, they played tight — even with ace Carlos Zambrano on the mound. Chicago dropped its eighth straight playoff game overall.
Billingsley said it “kind of” looks as though the Cubs are pressing.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m in shock,” Zambrano said about his teammates’ wobbly defense. “We have a good fielding team.”
Consecutive errors by normally reliable Mark DeRosa and three-time Gold Glove winner Derrek Lee led to the Dodgers’ five-run second.
Andre Ethier hit a leadoff single and when he took off for second on a hit-and-run, Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot, who was headed to the bag, couldn’t reach James Loney’s bouncer. The single went off Theriot’s bare hand and into left field, putting runners at the corners.
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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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Doron Lamb hit a 3-pointer with 3:18 left to put No. 1 Kentucky ahead to stay, and the Wildcats took a big step toward a Southeastern Conference regular-season title by beating Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night for their 17th straight win.
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.