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.
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.
AP
PHILADELPHIA - The New York Mets missed the playoffs, but they’re taking the Philadelphia Phillies down with them.
Jose Reyes was 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits, leading the Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Phillies on Tuesday night.
Philadelphia’s loss clinched the NL East title for Atlanta, its unprecedented 14th straight division crown.
Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to a team-record 32 games with a single in the seventh for the Phillies, who fell 2½ games behind Houston in the NL wild-card race.
The Mets were eliminated with the Astros’ 3-1 victory over St. Louis.
“We’re down three games (in the loss column) with four left. That’s a hard battle,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “At the same time, we don’t quit.”
Juan Padilla (3-1) pitched two scoreless innings in relief to get the win. Aaron Heilman finished with two scoreless innings for his fourth save, striking out Bobby Abreu with a runner on second to end it.
Reyes singled, doubled twice, tripled and scored two runs. Carlos Beltran drove in two runs as the Mets snapped Jon Lieber’s four-game winning streak.
“The satisfaction is I challenged these guys two weeks ago to keep playing hard and they have,” Mets manager Willie Randolph said.
Lieber (16-13) gave up three runs and nine hits in seven innings. He hadn’t lost a regular-season start in September or October since 2001, going 12-0 in that span and 4-0 this season.
Victor Zambrano allowed two unearned runs and two hits in 4 2-3 innings in his first start since Sept. 2. Zambrano replaced Pedro Martinez in the rotation after the three-time Cy Young Award winner was shut down for the season.
Helped by New York’s shoddy defense, the Phillies finally broke through against Zambrano with two runs in the fifth after getting just one hit through the first four.
Lieber, who was 6-for-70 at the plate, started the inning with a double to left-center. After Rollins struck out, Kenny Lofton reached on first baseman Mike Jacobs’ second error of the game.
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Zambrano left after walking Pat Burrell, but Kazuhisa Ishii came in and retired Ryan Howard on a grounder to third to leave runners at the corners.
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The Phillies had two runners on, but Padilla fanned Burrell to end the inning. Burrell also struck out with runners on first and second to end the first. Abreu struck out, leaving a runner on third in the third.
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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