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 ImagesLast year, Randy Johnson had a similar complaint pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His ERA was 2.60, but he won just 16 games and absorbed 14 losses — all because the D-Backs scored runs as often as Terrell Owens confesses he’s overpaid and gets way too much credit for his modest achievements on the football field.
Clemens had a 2.98 ERA in 2004, pitched 31 fewer innings and struck out 112 fewer batters than Johnson, but Clemens took home the hardware because he also had 18 wins against just four defeats.
I agreed with the voters last year, and if I ever want to be accused of being consistent, the same rule has to apply this year. You win just 13 games, you don’t win the Cy Young; no starting pitcher, in fact, has ever won it for a full season with fewer than 16 wins.
So we’re back to Carpenter and Willis, who should finish one-two in the voting.
Although I think Carpenter was the man on the basis of start-to-finish consistency, I wouldn’t think it a horrible injustice if Willis were to win. Dontrelle did have one more win, 22 to 21 for Carpenter, and an ERA of 2.63, which was two-tenths of a run lower than Carpenter’s 2.83. Willis matched the Cardinal in complete games with seven, but had one more shutout. Innings pitched were nearly identical.
But the categories in which Willis beats Carpenter are offset by others, starting with strikeouts. If Willis were a finesse pitcher, I’d say that doesn’t matter, but he’s a young stud who throws hard, yet struck out just 170 on the year, fewer than the Rocket. Carpenter had 213.
Carpenter also had just five losses against 10 for Dontrelle. And Willis can’t argue that he didn’t get enough run support. The reason he shouldn’t win is because after an 11-2 start, he spent July building a 2-3 record and an ERA north of 7.00. Eight of his losses came in the second half of the season.
Carpenter, on the other hand, was steady from start to finish — although he struggled somewhat in September — and he anchored a staff for the National League’s winningest team. He’s a guy who spent six years in Toronto, never winning more than 12 games and putting up a winning record just twice. Last year, he started to find his way with the Cardinals, going 15-5. This year, he added six wins without adding any losses.
He, and not Roger Clemens, deserved to be the NL Cy Young winner on Thursday.
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.
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.
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.