closer Page 3 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Duke Beats Michigan, Coaches Take On Cancer
Coach K and the Blues Devils took home the title in the 2K Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. Duke was able to easily defeat Michigan 71-56, despite a 25 point performance by the Wolvernines' Manny Harris. The Blue Devils won all four of their games in the 2K Sports Classic by an average of 28...

Vince Carter's Your Daddy
Vince Carter bitch slapped his former team, scoring 39 points, hitting a game-tying three at the buzzer, and reverse dunking in the Nets 129-127 OT win over Toronto. The loss was bittersweet for the Raptors' Chris Bosh who finished the game with 42 points. New Jersey's Devon Harris contributed his o...

Second Verse, Same As The First
Just like Friday's slate of game, Saturday's left a lot to be desired in the way of "compelling storylines" or "competitiveness". (At least last night featured scrub teams with somewhat recognizable names.) In fact, of the six games to include top 25 teams, the closest contest was a 15-point win for...

Anthony Morrow Needs His Minutes
Golden State 121, LA Clippers 103. Get ready to hear the name Anthony Morrow a lot this winter. The undrafted rookie out of Georgia Tech scored 37 points in his first career start. Typically playing as a reserve this season, Morrow shot 15-of-20 in his 42 minutes on the floor last night. "Sometimes ...

Scrubs Die First!
There's nothing more hilarious than these first few weekends of college basketball, when the proven stalwarts of the league get their toes wet and warm up those endorphins by taking on schools that no one outside of a 5-mile radius of the campus have ever heard of before. Stetson? Check. Farleigh D...

Where Brotherly Love Happens
Philadelphia 94, Indiana 92 - Sixers guard Kareem Rush briefly matched up with his younger brother Brandon Rush last night (pictured) in Indiana. It was the first time two brothers played each other in an NBA game since the infamous 1965 game in which Wilt Chamberlain played his younger brother, Arc...

NBA Closer: James Posey Puts the Clamps on LeBron
• Good thing Boston didn't keep that Posey guy; he's useless: The Hornets' big free-agent acquisition from this past summer shut down LeBron James at crunch time, and hit an enormous three to seal the victory for New Orleans. Posey's teammate, Chris Paul, had a typically brilliant game - 24 points,...

MLB Closer: Brett Myers Is Your New Bicycle, Dice-K Baffles
• Phillies 8, Dodgers 5 Taking the advice of his marriage counseler, Brett Myers decided to get rid of his aggression on the field by making the Doyers his bitch. Myers pitched well enough to win, but did the real damage with his bat, to the tune of a 3-for-3 night with 3 RBIs. The wife can rest ea...

Game 162: Win or Go Home (or Play Again Tomorrow)
• Mets 2, Marlins 0 Johan Santana pitched the gem that the New York faithful needed from him. It was an absolutely impressive complete game, three hit shutout. But man, was it bizarre to hear Mets Manager Jerry Manuel talk about the game afterward, "Wow, wow, wow, wow. I think if I had to describe t...

Tampa Bay Rays Win AL East in Fitting Fashion
• Tigers 6, Rays 4 The Rays lost to the Tigers last night but that didn't prevent fans on Main Street in Tampa from celebrating. With the Yankees putting up 19 runs to beat the Red Sox at Fenway, Tampa Bay clinched their first ever American League East crown. One more time: The Tampa Bay Rays are th...

October in Tampa
• For the first time in franchise history, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are Playoff-bound. Back in Spring Training, everyone laughed when starter Scott Kazmir said his Rays were going to the dance. After all, the team had finished in last place the previous season. Well, who's laughing now? ...

Zambrano's Occupied Mind, the Mets Un-Collapse, and We Go Brawlin'
• Carlos's previous outing ended in spectacular glory; this one not so much. Zambrano, having flown back from Venezuela after the passing of his grandmother earlier in the week, was shellacked by the Cards to the tune of eight runs and six hits. He didn't make it past the second inning, and the Cub...

Ike Wreaks Havoc With Baseball Playoff Races, Scheduling
The NFL isn’t the only league effected by that bastard Ike as the Astros and Major League Baseball have agreed to move two of Houston’s canceled home games that were scheduled against the Cubs this weekend to a “neutral” site in Milwaukee. Eddie Wade’s Astros have been on fire over the past three we...

MLB Closer: Okay, Lord... Me and You, Right?
Six games didn't get off the ground without the assistance of rising tides today, thanks to enough moisture across these United States to make you think Tammy Faye Bakker herself had been disinterred by her own post-mortem weeping. Division races from the AL Central to the NL Central (oh, and the ...

Rearranging the World Order
Michael Bertin writes about soccer for Deadspin World Cup qualifying in Europe is too easy. I know that sounds ridiculous given some of the results over the weekend—France losing to Austria, Italy needing stoppage time to nip Cyrpus, and England being rescued against Andorra (again) by five inspire...

MLB Closer: Grand Slams, Extra Innings and Joe Torre
Toronto catcher Gregg Zaun hit a game winning Grand Slam in extra innings to shut down Tampa and cut the Rays' lead in the division to two games. The Blue Jays' Lyle Overbay had a pair of solo home-runs during regular play, but the Rays tied the game up in the ninth with a three-run inning. Zaun's g...

MLB Closer: Mike Schmidt Knows How To Motivate a Team
Before last night's match-up between the Mets and the Phllies, Mike Schmidt had some words for his former team. ...

Arms Race Gets Second and Larger Arm
Michael Bertin writes regularly about soccer for Deadspin Meet the new world power in soccer, the United Arab Emirates. Actually as people, they suck at the game. The national side is currently 104th (out of 208) in FIFA's World Rankings. But the Emirates have something more important than athletic ...

A Tale of Two Bullpens
•Back Away From the Ledge, Mets Fans: In all fairness, you can't expect a major league bullpen to hold a one-run lead for almost three whole innings. The Mets relievers wasted another strong performance by starter Mike Pelfrey, as Aaron Heilman walked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the nin...

Mets Solidify Position for Upcoming September Collapse
Forgive New York fans for celebrating just a bit harder than usual last night. After all, they are coming off a big win on the last Friday before the month-that-shall-not-be-named. Carlos Beltran's dramatic grand slam put his team up by three on the Marlins heading into the bottom of the ninth. The ...