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.
APMauch, a native of Salina, Kan., began his major league career in 1944 with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for nine seasons on six teams — the Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, the Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox.
A utility infielder who was a mediocre player, he had a career average of .239 with five home runs.
His first major league managing job was with the Phillies in 1960. They went 58-94, but within two years Mauch would be named NL manager of the year after leading them to an 81-80 record in 1962.
He won the award again in 1964, the year of the Phillies’ great disappointment. Mauch guided Philadelphia to a record of 92-70, his best as a manager until the 1983 Angels went 93-69.
He left Philadelphia 54 games into the 1968 season.
In 1969 he was hired to manage the expansion Montreal Expos. Mauch stayed in Montreal for seven seasons and won his third and final manager of the year award in 1973 as he helped lift the lowly Expos to a 79-83 record and a fourth-place finish in the NL East.
Mauch joined the Minnesota Twins in 1976 and spent the rest of his career in the AL. He was with the Twins until 1980, followed by two stints with the Angels, the first in 1981 and 1982 and the second from 1985-87.
One of Mauch’s greatest disappointments came at the end of his career, with the Angels’ so-called “Donnie Moore” game.
With a 3-1 lead in games over the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-seven AL Championship series in 1986, the Angels held a 5-2 advantage going into the ninth inning of Game 5. After Mike Witt retired the first two batters, the Red Sox got a runner on before Don Baylor homered to make it 5-4.
Mauch pulled Witt and brought in left-hander Gary Lucas to face the left-handed hitting Rich Gedman, who was 4-for-4 against Witt in the game. Lucas hit Gedman with a pitch — his first hit batter in four years — and Mauch summoned Moore, his closer.
Henderson hit a two-run homer to put the Red Sox ahead 6-5.
|
Moore, who said he had a sore arm when Mauch sent him out in the ninth, never recovered from the loss. He soon was out of baseball, and committed suicide in 1989.
Asked in recent years how often he thought about that 1986 game, Mauch replied: “Only when guys have the temerity to ask about it.”
Mauch was still following baseball closely when the Angels won the World Series in 2002, softening many of the team’s ugly memories.
“I get so keyed up during these games,” Mauch said during the Angels’ playoff series against the Minnesota Twins in 2002. “All I did for 50 years was study the game day and night. And I will forever, for however long ’forever’ is.”
Mauch is survived by his wife, Jodie, and a daughter, Leeanne. Funeral services were pending.
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.
HardballTalk headlines |
 | Interactive |
 |
 | Slideshow |
 | Unbreakable records in baseball A look at the most unbreakable records in baseball including Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters. |
| Slideshow |
 | The top tools of baseball You hear a lot about the tools of baseball, but who are the best hitters, fielders and pitchers? We break it down. more photos |
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.
NBC Sports TV and livestream listings
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.
