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.
Getty ImagesAdded Girardi: "He was extremely impressive. He gave us an extremely strong seven innings. He got some swings and misses.''
And Burnett outpitched an impressive Martinez, who said he was under the weather but got through six innings allowing the two solo homers and two other hits, while striking out eight. He left with a smile to acknowledge Yankees fans in one of the game's best love-hate relationships.
"They love how I compete,'' Martinez said. "If I was on the Yankees, I'd probably be like a king here. But that's not the case now.''
Manuel talked with Martinez after the sixth inning, which ended one out after Matsui's homer, and decided to let Martinez start the seventh. But an opposite-field flare by Jerry Hairston and a line drive single by Melky Cabrera finally chased the 38-year-old right-hander — and the Phillies lost for only the second time in his 10 starts since being signed in July.
"Pedro did a tremendous job,'' Manuel said. "He just got hurt by the longball.''
Rivera gets hurt by next to nothing. This was World Series save No. 10 for him, and 38th overall in the postseason. In case you're wondering, those are MLB records. And continuing what could be a decisive trend as this series unfolds, this was his fourth two-inning save in World Series play, and third in a row dating back to the Yankees' last World Series appearance in 2003. Of his last nine World Series apperances, six of them have been two innings in length, and two more scoreless frames in Game 2 lowered his World Series ERA to 1.09.
"(Pitching two innings) is something he's accustomed to doing,'' Girardi said. "It's not something we like to do during the (regular) season because we think it's important to keep him healthy for the long run. But it can be real effective for us now.''
The Phillies did put two runners on against Rivera in the eighth, but that's when a 4-6-3 double play was turned behind him to end the inning — much to Manuel's dismay. After answering questions about why he didn't start the two base-runners during Utley's at-bat, Manuel said: "I'll tell you something else: Utley was safe. Go look. Yeah, he was safe.''
But that out call at first base evened the score on controversial calls in the game, as Posada was doubled off following a ruling that Ryan Howard caught a sinking liner off Johnny Damon's bat in the seventh. Replays appeared to show that Howard trapped the ball.
"I'm not saying nothing about the umpiring,'' Manuel said. "I'm just saying (Utley) was safe.''
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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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.