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.
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.
AP
ARLINGTON, Texas - Ivan Rodriguez was 19 when the Texas Rangers promoted the fresh-faced catcher with a cannon for an arm to the major leagues midway through the 1991 season.
He already had an AL MVP award, 10 Gold Gloves and 10 All-Star appearances when the Rangers let him go 12 seasons later. But there were more Gold Gloves and All-Star games to come, plus a World Series title with Florida in 2003, the year after he left Texas.
Now he’s caught more games than anybody else — and fittingly, he set the record in Texas.
Rodriguez, now with the Houston Astros, caught his 2,227th game Wednesday night against the Rangers, a night after matching Carlton Fisk — a Hall of Fame catcher also nicknamed “Pudge.” The Rangers won the game on a David Murphy RBI single in the 10th.
“To be able to play so many games behind the plate, it’s unbelievable,” Rodriguez said. “It’s been a long time. But I’m still feeling the same way (as) when I was 19. I love this game. I love what I do.”
That is a lot of squatting, hot summer games behind the mask and foul tips off the body.
“It’s an incredible accomplishment,” said Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who caught 1,395 games for the Dodgers from 1980-92. “The erosion rate of catchers has really accelerated because of the demands of the position. Those catchers who have caught a long time and maintained their skills is extraordinary.”
When Pudge was introduced before his first at-bat Wednesday, he got a standing ovation, like he did Tuesday after homering for the Astros’ only run. He stepped out of the batter’s box to acknowledge the Rangers fans.
A throwing error by Rodriguez in the bottom of the first led to a run. He committed another in the fifth, only the sixth time in his career with two errors. The last two-error game was in 2004, nine years after the previous one.
Rodriguez was promoted from Double-A to make his debut with the Rangers on June 20, 1991, at the Chicago White Sox when Fisk was the opposing catcher. One of Rodriguez’s teammates was Nolan Ryan, though the Hall of Famer who pitched a record 27 seasons wasn’t on the mound that day.
“I had no expectations of him being the caliber of player he turned out to be. ... It didn’t take long to see how quick a feet he had and how good an arm he had,” said Ryan, now the Rangers president. “He was younger at that time than my oldest son Reid. It was pretty bizarre when you start thinking about it.”
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Rodriguez caught 1,426 games in Texas, second in club history to Jim Sundberg’s 1,495, and was part of the Rangers’ three AL West championship teams in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He was the AL MVP in 1999, when he hit .332 with career highs of 35 home runs and 113 RBIs.
Rodriguez stayed until the Rangers refused to offer salary arbitration after the 2002 season. He won the championship in Florida before spending the past five seasons in Detroit and then signing a $1.5 million, one-year deal with the Astros during spring training.
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.
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.
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