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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.
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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.
REUTERS
MIAMI - Danny Almonte strolls into the batter’s box, taps the plate and waves the bat above his head under the searing South Florida sun. He lines pitch after pitch into the outfield with a relaxed, easy cut.
He then takes the mound, firing fastballs to his new catcher, under the eye of his new coach and his new teammates.
Four years after his name was etched in baseball infamy with an age-limit scandal during the Little League World Series, Almonte, now 18, is still taking swings at his past.
Almonte says he has made friends pretty quickly in Miami, and no one has asked him about the World Series fiasco.
“I don’t want to talk about that anymore,” Almonte said during an interview Thursday between final exams. “I’ve shown I can perform since then.”
Almonte moved to Miami from New York in February, eager to abandon his reputation and the punch lines. He’s still the kid known for a stunning perfect game in the 2001 Little League World Series that was erased because he was 14 — two years older than the tournament’s age limit.
“It’s something that he’s never going to outlive. It’s something he had no control over,” said Eddie Diaz, Almonte’s mentor and adviser in Miami. “I try not to even bring it up. I think we talked about it once, but now it’s a moot point.”
Sunday may mark his first pitching appearance since he led James Monroe High School to the New York City Championship last June. He’s playing for the Florida Bombers, an 18-and-under Connie Mack League team known for sending players to college and the major league draft. Scouts looking to analyze Almonte’s talent likely will be there, and it could be the best-attended summer league game in these parts in a long while.
“He’s going to have to live up to some high expectations,” said Bombers coach Emilio Fernandez.
The game is a rebirth of sorts for Almonte, a native of the Dominican Republic who moved to New York shortly before the World Series mess. Representing the Rolando Paulino All-Stars, he was stripped of the first perfect game in the 44-year history of the World Series after it was learned that he was too old, and his team’s third-place finish was taken away.
Almonte’s father, Felipe de Jesus, was banned for life from Little League activities and was accused of falsifying Danny’s birth certificate.
Almonte later dominated New York high school baseball, going 8-0 with 77 strikeouts and an ERA below 1.40 in 2004, while also hitting near .500 with five home runs. He missed the 2005 season after his late arrival in Miami.
Almonte now lives with his father and brother in the suburb of Opa-locka, but his baseball activities are being monitored by Diaz, a student adviser and former coach at American High School.
The teen is far from the streets of the Bronx, where everyone recognized him. In Miami, he is not known as a cheater. In the nondescript halls of American High, he’s just another face.
“The kids have kind of accepted him ... for the nice, humble kid that he is. It’s not like they throw rose petals at his feet or roll out the red carpet,” Diaz said.
Diaz says that Almonte is no villain, that adults were behind the age-limit dispute. But Diaz also pauses in thought when asked if Almonte bears any responsibility for the scandal.
“It’s a situation where he was told, ‘You’re 12,”’ Diaz said. “It’s coming from an adult that you think is a reasonable individual. What can (Almonte) say?”
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.
NEW YORK (AP) - As the glow fades from the Giants' Super Bowl triumph, some New York sports fans are tuning in to basketball and hockey, with the Rangers in first place and the Knicks' overnight sensation, Jeremy Lin, sparking "Lin-sanity.''
Robins: This year, six new breeds will be making their debut on the green carpet for the Westminster Dog Show, which begins Monday.
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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.