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 swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
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.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
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
PHOENIX - Arizona’s offense has been awful, and no one has struggled more than Chris Snyder and Eric Byrnes.
Both players had shown signs of breaking out lately, and they led the Diamondbacks to a breakthrough performance Sunday.
Snyder and Byrnes each drove in three runs and Arizona piled up a season-best 17 hits to beat the Washington Nationals 10-8 and give new manager A.J. Hinch his first victory.
Ryan Zimmerman pushed his hitting streak to 28 games with a double and two singles, and Adam Dunn and Josh Willingham both homered twice. But that wasn’t enough to extend the Nationals’ season-best three-game winning streak.
Snyder, the Diamondbacks’ catcher, gave Hinch the game ball.
“Granted, it’s been great to get a first win as a manager,” Hinch said, “but honestly, this team needed it and I’m happy for everybody in there.”
Arizona’s Justin Upton had three hits, including a double, to run his hitting streak to 17 games, second only to Zimmerman’s in the majors this season. Ryan Roberts also had three hits, knocking in two runs, as Arizona snapped a three-game slide, the last two under Hinch after Bob Melvin was fired.
“It felt great, being able to push runs across the plate,” said Upton, who has raised his average to .309 after a difficult start. “Just continuing to hit, not giving up when we fell behind a couple of times.”
The Diamondbacks, who entered with a major league-worst .226 batting average, had six players with at least two hits.
Despite a flicker of success recently, Byrnes was hitting .177 and Snyder .207 entering Sunday’s game.
“The guys that are struggling, we’re still south of 100 at-bats, most of us,” Snyder said. “You sink in, get a little feel, if something goes right, feel good about it, find something that you’ve been tinkering with, and there you go.”
Washington’s offense kept churning, but the pitching let the Nationals down.
“Anytime you score over six runs, you should be able to win the ballgame,” manager Manny Acta said.
The lead changed hands six times in the first six innings, with Arizona going up for good 8-6 on Snyder’s two-out, two-run double in a four-run sixth. Roberts followed with an RBI single to make it 9-6.
Arizona’s Max Scherzer failed to get his first victory in 13 major league starts. He left leading 5-4 after Byrnes’ two-run homer in the fifth but the Nationals regained the lead in the sixth 6-5 on Zimmerman’s’ RBI single off reliever Esmerling Vasquez.
Vasquez (1-1) got the win despite giving up two runs in one inning. Chad Qualls gave up a leadoff homer to Willingham in the ninth, then a single to Willie Harris before retiring three in a row for his eighth save in nine chances.
Logan Kensing (0-2), whose ERA skyrocketed to 12.00, allowed four runs in two-thirds of an inning. He just pitched from behind too often, Acta said.
“It doesn’t matter how hard you throw up here in the big leagues,” Acta said. “If they know a fastball is coming, they’re going to hit it.”
Dunn, who bats cleanup just behind Zimmerman, had four home runs in the series to increase his season total to 11.
“Zimmerman is more than locked in right now,” Snyder said, “and Dunn is a big old donkey.”
Notes: Zimmerman’s hitting streak is the longest by a 3B since Boston’s Wade Boggs hit in 28 straight in 1985. ... Arizona will call up 22-year-old Bryan Augenstein from Double-A Mobile to start in place of injured Yusmeiro Petit against Cincinnati on Wednesday. Augenstein was 5-0 in six starts with a 0.78 ERA at Mobile. ... Washington C Jesus Flores sat out after taking a foul ball off his right shoulder in Saturday night’s 2-1 victory. ... Arizona’s 10 runs matched a season high.
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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.