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.
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.
APQ: What should the Red Sox do about David Ortiz?
— D. A. V., Salem, Mass.
A: This has turned into a troubling situation for the Sox, hasn’t it? And it’s sad to see, as Ortiz has been one of the game’s most-likable stars over the past handful of seasons.
Ortiz did break the home run drought on Wednesday, but also struck out two more times and barely is hitting above .200. That followed an 0-for-3 with two strikeouts game on Tuesday in the wake of three days off in Seattle to clear his head. Clearly, his wrist remains an issue, and nobody really knows how much better it can get in time.
In fact, The Boston Globe used the occasion to post a three-question poll on Wednesday: Are Ortiz’s days as a power hitter over? How many homers will Ortiz hit this season? And when should Ortiz be taken out of the No. 3 spot?
The leading answers as of mid-day Wednesday were: yes, (70.4 percent); between 10-20, (52.2 percent); and immediately (52.6 percent). I’d have to say I would vote with the majority on all three.
In the short-term, I would drop Ortiz to fifth or sixth to remove some of the pressure until he gets things straightened out. Sox manager Terry Francona seems more inclined to ride this out a bit longer, and the return of Kevin Youkilis to the cleanup spot actually could help Ortiz stay in the three hole, where he will be better protected.
But if Ortiz’s struggles continue for another week or so, something will have to be done. As for later this season, the Sox may have to part with some of their excellent young pitching to get a middle-of-the-lineup threat, as they did in 2008 with the mid-season Jason Bay acquisition.
Q: How long will the Oakland A’s wait before they start shopping Matt Holliday?
— Terry Krajacic, Pasa Robles, Calif.
A: Let me first say this about Holliday: As a hitter entering his free-agent year, there couldn’t have been a worse set of circumstances than to be traded from Colorado to Oakland.
First of all, I disagreed with the Rockies’ decision to trade him over the winter (for Huston Street, Greg Smith and key-to-the-deal outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez).
The Rockies parting with their best player because of salary considerations sent the wrong message, and has set the tone for another year of not challenging to win a weak NL West.
The Dodgers have emerged as an obvious favorite to win the division — and I believe they will do so by double digits. But when the Holliday trade was made in November, the Dodgers didn’t have Manny Ramirez or Orlando Hudson, and didn’t seem nearly as formidable.
But the Rockies only want to win within the restrictions of their small-to-mid-market payroll, and used the excuse that they didn’t want the ‘distraction’ of Holliday’s impending free agency (and possible mid-season trade) looming around the team all season.
That’s a conservative, loser mentality in my mind. What they should have done is exactly what A’s GM Billy Beane has in mind:
If you stay in the race, you keep Holliday for the entire season, and take the two draft picks for him when he departs through free agency. And if you’re out of the race by late-July, then part with him for the best package you can get.
Apparently, the A’s are falling into the latter category quicker than expected. Basically, there isn’t anywhere near enough offense to support a very young and inexperienced rotation.
Through Wednesday, the A’s were dead-last in the AL in batting average, slugging percentage and stolen bases, and very near the bottom in virtually every other significant offensive category.
As for Holliday, he has raised his average to .270 and begun to display some home-run power (he has five) after going until April 30th without one.
There always have been questions about Holliday’s ability to hit (especially for power) away from Coors Field, as his home-road splits were considerable.
The first quarter of this season has done nothing to dispel those questions, and that’s too bad for him. But it’s looking more and more likely that his stay in Oakland will be brief, and that he’ll be moving on to a contender sometime between early-June and late-July.
Q: How does MLB calculate slugging percentage? Also, how does a sacrifice fly and a fielder’s choice affect batting average?
— Eric Martin, Owensboro, Ky.
A: Slugging percentage is total bases divided by at-bats — as opposed to batting average, which is hits divided by at-bats. That’s why slugging percentages are so much higher than batting averages.
Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth each have two .800-plus single season slugging percentages, with Bonds’ .863 in 2001 the all-time record. Bonds also just missed another .800 single season with a .799 mark in 2002, and Ruth has four of the top eight marks, and six of the top 15.
Different eras produce dramatically different slugging percentage league leaders — some even below the .500 mark in the Dead Ball era pre-Ruth. In 2008, the league leaders were Albert Pujols (.653) and Alex Rodriguez (.573).
Sacrifice flies do not count as a time at-bat, but fielder’s choices do.
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.