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.
AP
The Los Angeles Angels hope a rare postseason victory at Fenway Park will help provide a spark and get their AL division series back home.
The Angels look to win consecutive playoff road games against the Boston Red Sox for the first time while trying to again avoid elimination in Game 4 on Monday night.
After dropping the first two of the series in Anaheim, Los Angeles gutted out a 5-4, 12-inning victory over Boston on Sunday to avoid being swept in the best-of-five series. Not only did the win snap an 11-game playoff losing streak to the defending World Series champions, it put the Angels in position to move the series back to Anaheim for a decisive contest with another win Monday.
"We've got to come back out here and get after it again,'' said catcher Mike Napoli, who went 3-for-5 with two homers and three RBIs on Sunday. "We're not done yet.''
A possible Game 5 would be Wednesday at Angel Stadium where Los Angeles would need to snap a six-game postseason home losing streak to the Red Sox to reach the ALCS.
Napoli scored the winning run on Erick Aybar's single, giving Los Angeles its second victory in eight postseason games at Fenway. It was the Angels' first win there and overall against Boston in the playoffs since 1986.
The Red Sox came back from a 3-1 ALCS deficit to beat the Angels and reach the World Series in 1986, then swept them 3-0 in 2004 and last year en route to their two latest World Series titles.
"(The Red Sox are) not taking the field thinking they have a world championship behind them last year that's going to change anything," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "They're taking to the field trying to beat us and that's what he have to do to them.''
Chone Figgins had three hits, closer Francisco Rodriguez pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th and Jered Weaver earned the victory after he allowed a hit and struck out three in two innings of his first career relief appearance.
Vladimir Guerrero and Mark Teixeira each added two hits for the Angels, who avoided being swept after posting a major league-best 100 wins during the regular season. Guerrero and Teixeira are a combined 14-for-25 in the series.
Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits and recorded the first three-run single in postseason history on a shallow popup in the second that fell after the Angels' Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick miscommunicated on the play. Ellsbury is 6-for-14 with three doubles and five RBIs in the series.
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"We played a good game, just as good as they did,'' Boston starter Josh Beckett said. "They just happened to score one more run. They had opportunities, we had opportunities. I thought we played a good game for the most part.''
Boston All-Star Dustin Pedroia, a candidate for AL MVP honors, went 0-for-5 and is 0-for-13 in the series.
Monday's pitching matchup pits the same starters who opened the series with Los Angeles' John Lackey going against Jon Lester.
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Lackey, who won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series for the Angels, allowed two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings with three walks and five strikeouts to fall to 2-3 with a 3.52 ERA in eight postseason starts.
"John pitched a terrific ballgame and certainly gave us a chance to win,'' said Scioscia, of the right-hander, who is 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA against Boston in the playoffs.
Lester, meanwhile, will try for a third straight postseason victory after allowing no earned runs and six hits while striking out seven in seven innings for the win Wednesday.
"Lester was on his game," Scioscia said. "He's having a terrific year. He's got a great arm.''
The left-hander has not allowed an earned run in 12 2-3 innings of two postseason starts, including the Red Sox's World Series-clinching Game 4 last year.
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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Angels - Red Sox: Game 3 postgame Oct 6: Mike Scioscia thought the team played well and will be successful. Terry Francona comments on Mike Napoli's strong at bat. |
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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.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
