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?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
APSecond baseman Akinori Iwamura made two errors that led to unearned runs, and a frustrated Longoria — again taunted by chants of “E-va! E-va!” in reference to the actress of the same last name — struck out three times and swiped a hand through the air when a call went against him at third base.
“We know what’s going on, we’re just not reacting very well yet, but there is time,” Maddon said. “We have to not give them four outs in an inning. We have to have better at-bats.”
Had the Phillies come up with more timely hits — a familiar story — Philadelphia could have blown open the game earlier. The Phillies were 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and are 6-for-47 in the Series.
Sonnanstine struggled with his offspeed stuff and needed 89 pitches to get through four innings. He allowed five runs — three earned — six hits and three walks.
After Rollins escaped the rundown in the first — umpire Tim Welke signaled safe, although Longoria appeared to swipe him on the backside — Pat Burrell walked on five pitches, forcing home the first run. Before that, Sonnanstine had never walked a batter in 18 career situations with bases loaded. Chase Utley reached leading off the second when Iwamura allowed his leadoff grounder to bounce off him for an error and scored with two outs on a single by Feliz, just the third hit for the Phillies in 40 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the Series.
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Crawford’s homer cut it to 2-1 in the fourth, but Rollins reached on another error by Iwamura starting the bottom half, when his grounder rolled under the second baseman’s glove in the hole near first base. Werth walked and, one out later, Howard drove a 72 mph pitch into the lower deck in left for a 5-1 lead. Howard had been 0-for-6 with five strikeouts in the much-focused on runners in scoring position stat.
Tampa Bay never recovered.
“It’s win or go home. It’s simple, and no one in here wants to go home and wonder what if,” Cliff Floyd said.
Notes: If the Phillies win Monday, it would mark the first time the Series has gone five straight years without reaching a Game 6. The only other four-year stretch without a Game 6 was 1913-16. ... Lenny Dykstra (1993) is the only other Phillies player with a multihomer Series game. ... With 25 postseason homers, the Rays trail only San Francisco (27 in 2002) for most in one postseason.
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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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.
