Yankees playoff hero Raul Ibanez signs one-year pact with Seattle Mariners
The Yankees’ miracle man at the end of last season, and the man who famously pinch-hit for Alex Rodriguez, is taking his bat back to Seattle.
Raul Ibanez, 40, reportedly agreed with the Mariners on a one-year deal Saturday. It will be his third stint with Seattle, where he started his career in 1996.
Ibanez was one of the few players Yankee fans embraced at the end of last season, rescuing the Bombers with dramatic home runs against the A’s and Red Sox to help them win the AL East.
Then, in Game 3 of the ALDS against the Orioles, Joe Girardi famously sent Ibanez to the plate for the slumping Rodriguez. Ibanez responded with a game-tying home run.
“Sometimes you’ve got to do what your gut tells you, and my gut told me to make the move,” Girardi said then.
If that wasn’t enough to vault Ibanez into Yankee lore, he drilled another home run to win that game in the 12th inning. Then, in Game 1 of the ALCS against Detroit, Ibanez hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run ninth-inning rally that tied the game. The Yankees eventually lost that game in 12 and were swept in the series.
Ibanez became the only player in baseball history to hit three home runs in the ninth inning or later in a single postseason.
“I loved it, I really loved my experience here,” Ibanez said after the season.
But while the Yankees showed some interest in bringing back Ibanez, the Mariners landed the left-hand hitter who has played in 17 seasons in the majors.
Ibanez hit .240 with 19 home runs and 62 RBI in 384 at-bats for the Yankees, who are looking for a right-hand hitting outfielder.
That market got a lot thinner on Saturday when Cody Ross agreed to a three-year deal for a reported $26 million with the Diamondbacks.
“We weren’t in on Cody Ross,” Cashman told the Daily News after word of the deal emergted.
The outfielder-starved Mets also passed on Ross based on the money he was seeking.
Ross, who turns 32 on Sunday, hit .267 with 22 homers and 81 RBI in 130 games with the Red Sox last season, will join a crowded outfield in Arizona that includes Justin Upton, Jason Kubel and Gerardo Parra.
The Diamondbacks may try to move one of those outfielders, with the lefty-hitting Kubel perhaps the most likely to go. But Cashman wouldn’t have any interest in Kubel, who hit 30 homers last season.
“We have an entirely left-handed hitting outfield right now,” Cashman said, referring to Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and the recently re-signed Ichiro Suzuki. “We’re looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder. We’re not in the market for a left-handed hitting outfielder.”
Texas, which lost Josh Hamilton to the Angels, could be a potential trade target for Kubel. The Rangers have also shown interest in switch-hitting Nick Swisher, whom the Yankees have no plans to bring back.
With Ross’ bat now off the board, it leaves Scott Hairston as the last quality right-handed bat on the free agent market. Hairston hit .263 with the Mets last season, with 20 homers and 57 RBI in 134 games. Hairston is said to be looking for a multi-year deal, something the Yankees may not be willing to offer.
Cashman is prepared to wait until after the holidays to fill his needs. “All I’ll tell you is we’re looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder,” Cashman said. “It may take a while, who knows?”
As for the Mets, they have explored the idea of bringing back Hairston, who made $1.1 million last season. But it’s not a buyer’s market.
Journeyman Jonny Gomes signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Red Sox and the Yankees and the Braves have been linked to talks with Hairston, too.
“There is some payroll flexibility so the right outfielder at the right price is something that could work,” a baseball source said about the Mets.
Hillary Clinton recovers from concussion at home
(WTVR) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be spending the next couple of days at home after sustaining a concussion.
The State Department says Clinton became dehydrated while battling a stomach virus she caught during a trip to Europe. She hit her head when she fainted. According to the New York Times, she was alone at her home in Washington at the time. They say her concussion was not severe.
Her doctors advise that she should spend next week working from home.
As a result, Clinton will not testify on Thursday before the Senate and House Foreign Affairs Committee about September’s deadly attack in Benghazi.
Kelly Clarkson Gets Engaged, Shows Off Huge Diamond Ring
Kelly Clarkson is betrothed to her boyfriend of nearly one year, Brandon Blackstock. "I'M ENGAGED!!!!! I wanted y'all to know!! Happiest night of my life last night! I am so lucky and am with the greatest man ever :)," the singer tweeted on Saturday, December 15.
For those who are curious about her engagement ring, Kelly proudly showed it off online. "It's a yellow canary diamond with diamonds around it and Brandon designed it with Johnathon Arndt! They did an amazing job! I can't wait to make Brandon's ring with Johnathon as well!" she gushed.
Last month, Kelly told Ellen DeGeneres that she could see herself being Mrs. Blackstock. She said, "We love each other. We are totally going to get married one day. No, he has two children and I'm new ... I mean, he's got to put it a ring on it at some point. But I'll wait it out."
Her confident was not without a reason. Since their relationship started almost a year ago, everything went so well that the "American Idol" alum thought it was almost too good to be true. She told Redbook last summer, "I told my assistant that today, I said, 'I'm just waiting for something to blow up.' "
Things continue to get even better for the couple. Although the "Miss Independent" hitmaker is supporting President Barack Obama and the talent manager is rooting for Mitt Romney, the twosome manages to respect each other's political views.
"We watched one [together]; it was pretty funny," the 30-year-old singer recalled when they watched a presidential debate together. "We'd go back and forth. It's just funny, because usually couples like us would vote for the same person, but we're totally canceling each other out."
Clarkson's sweet sweet romance with Brandon, who is the son of her own manager Narvel Blackstock and the stepson of country star Reba McEntire, has also affected her songwriting as she once told PEOPLE, "I'm trying to write a tough song and it is coming out like butterflies and rainbows."
Patriots rout Texans 42-14 in key AFC matchup
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- Tom Brady can't stop smiling these days. Or winning.
Five days after becoming a father for a third time - something that brings the biggest grin of all to his face - Brady threw four touchdown passes, leading the Patriots to a 42-14 rout of the Houston Texans.
If the game was a measuring stick in the AFC, New England and its star quarterback aced the test with a seventh consecutive victory. Houston failed it.
''It's a Monday night game,'' Brady said. ''We have played in a lot of big games in December.''
A matchup of the top two scoring teams in the league was a mismatch from the outset. It took New England (10-3) only one possession to start its scoring barrage as the Patriots surpassed their average of 35.8 points per game.
''It needs to come together now, this is the perfect time for it,'' said Brady, whose his wife, Gisele, gave birth to Vivian Lake last Wednesday.
''She is doing very well,'' Brady said. ''It's been a great week, a great way to end it.''
So look out. That familiar sight is the Patriots, who already own the AFC East title, romping through December, looking like a Super Bowl team.
''We can't predict the score but we know we can dominate games,'' said Devin McCourty, who had a first-quarter interception.
They often dominate late in the season; this was their 21st straight victory in the second half of the schedule.
''It is always good to play in Foxborough in December,'' linebacker Jerod Mayo said. ''When you go out and perform the way you do, I think Foxborough is going to be a tough place for anyone to come and play.''
The Texans (11-2) discovered that quickly, and now they need to look back at the Patriots gaining on them in the conference standings.
''We got our tails kicked,'' Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. ''When you've got an opportunity to make a big play, you can't miss it against a team of this magnitude. We turned around and it was 21-0 pretty quick.''
Wes Welker's 31-yard punt return and 25-yard reception - the 107th straight game he's had a catch - led to Aaron Hernandez's 7-yard score to start the onslaught. That gave Brady 45 consecutive games with a TD pass, third longest in NFL history.
It also set the tone.
Houston, which had won six straight, threatened on its next series, only to have Matt Schaub force a ball into double coverage in the Patriots' end zone. McCourty picked it off and returned it 19 yards, setting up more pinpoint throws by Brady, who finished 21 of 35.
He couldn't miss if he tried in the first quarter, his receivers were so uncovered: Brandon Lloyd for 14 yards, Danny Woodhead for 18, Hernandez for 13, then Lloyd for the 37-yard TD to make it 14-0. Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips could only shake his head in disgust at his players' inability to challenge the Patriots.
It got worse.
At the end of a 70-yard drive helped by a 26-yard interference call on Danieal Manning, no Texans were lined up to Brady's left in front of Hernandez. A quick snap, a quicker pass and the tight end waltzed into the end zone.
''We've got to look in the mirror at what we did tonight,'' Kubiak said.
New England was headed for its 20th successive home win in December.
''These guys feel really good about the way they played tonight and they should,'' coach Bill Belichick said.
Houston was headed back home wondering not only how it could measure up to a perennial championship contender in the future, but if it could hold off surging Indianapolis in the AFC South. The Texans have a two-game lead but face the Colts (9-4) on Sunday in Houston, then in the season finale at Indianapolis.
Although the Texans have clinched at least a wild-card berth, they haven't had a truly convincing win since October. This was a convincing defeat, however - although they got on the scoreboard in the third quarter with an 88-yard drive capped by Arian Foster's 1-yard run.
But Foster was held to 46 yards on 15 carries.
By then the Patriots had scored their fourth TD, a gorgeous 63-yard throw to Donte' Stallworth, who was re-signed last week to replace injured Julian Edelman. It gave Brady his 18th game with at least four TD passes, moving ahead of Hall of Famer John Unitas for fourth all time.
Brady nearly had a fifth as Woodhead broke free on a screen pass early in the fourth period. Texans standout defensive end J.J. Watt, who was pretty much invisible otherwise, forced a fumble, but the ball soared 11 yards into the end zone, where Lloyd fell on it for a 35-7 lead.
Stevan Ridley made it 42-7 with a 14-yard run. The Texans have allowed 42 points in both losses, the other coming against Green Bay on Oct. 14.
Texans backup quarterback T.J. Yates scored on a 1-yard run with 2:00 remaining to close the scoring.
McDowell Takes His Second World Challenge Title
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — After winning at Sherwood Country Club for the second time in his past two visits, Graeme McDowell joked that maybe he should invest in a membership and a lot.
With $3 million in earnings in three appearances at the World Challenge, Tiger Woods’s end-of-the-season event, including $1 million for his three-stroke victory against Keegan Bradley on Sunday, McDowell surely could afford it.
“It’s definitely a good hunting ground for me,” McDowell said.
On Friday, when McDowell took control of the tournament with a six-under 66, the low round of the week, he said Woods, who would finish tied for fourth, eight strokes back, walked by him and said, “Good playing,” then added a profane ending.
McDowell, who closed with consecutive 68s to finish at 17-under 271, laughed. “So you know, joke with a jab, I’m sure.” He added, “My dollar average, my world-ranking average, around this country club is fairly high.”
McDowell, who also won here in 2010 and finished second in his only other start here, in 2009, said the California air agrees with him. The conditions this year made McDowell, a Northern Irishman, feel right at home.
For the first time in the event’s 14-year history, there was precipitation all four days of the competition, proving a liar of the British-born singer-songwriter Albert Hammond, who 40 years ago released “It Never Rains in Southern California.”
The weather conditions posed a challenge for all the players, even McDowell, who said his ball did not fly well in the rain because he puts so little spin on it. Playing Sherwood’s front side when the weather was at its worst, McDowell made a few clutch swings to take a three-stroke lead at the turn over his playing partner, Bradley.
At the Ryder Cup in September, Bradley and his United States partner, Phil Mickelson, got the best of McDowell and his countryman, Rory McIlroy, the world No. 1, in a four-ball match on the opening afternoon. McDowell said he was burned out at the Ryder Cup. “I was running on fumes,” he said.
A much-fresher McDowell on Sunday was able to counter every Bradley charge. The highlights: a great 70-foot lag putt to help save par at No. 14 after McDowell ended a 41-hole bogey-free streak at No. 13 and a chip from the wet, thick rough on the par 3-17th that landed on the fringe and rolled to within a whisker of the hole.
Bradley closed with a 69 to finish four strokes ahead of the third-place finisher, Bo Van Pelt (70), who was 10 under. Unlike on Saturday, when Bradley said he was heckled by fans who called him a “cheater” because he uses a long putter and an anchored stroke that golf’s governing bodies last week proposed to ban, his only battles Sunday were with McDowell and the 7,023-yard course.
“I don’t want to make yesterday into too big of a deal,” Bradley said. “The people here in Sherwood were awesome.”
Officials from the United States Golf Association thought the negativity directed at Bradley warranted a response. The organization released a statement that read, in part: “We are sorry that Keegan had to experience this unfounded criticism from an obviously uneducated spectator. Instead, Keegan and other PGA Tour professionals should be commended for their maturity and grace in managing through a proposed change to the Rules of Golf.”
McDowell praised Bradley’s grit. “Keegan really pushed me today,” he said. “He played great and we really separated ourselves from the field and kind of made it a match-play-type vibe.”
The way McDowell closed the deal made him feel “over the moon,” he said. It was the first tour victory that his fiancée, Kristin Stape, had been present for. “Hopefully this is the first of many,” McDowell said.
A scheduling conflict precluded McDowell from defending his 2010 World Challenge title last year. In his absence, Woods secured his first victory in two years. McDowell’s win Sunday was his first title since he beat Woods here in a playoff in 2010, nearly six months after winning the United States Open in Pebble Beach (McDowell was second at the United States Open this year in San Francisco, giving his I love California campaign more heft).
“It’s been a hell of a two years since I sat here as a winner,” McDowell said. He added: “We like to say that it’s all about the processes and going through the motions and trying to get better. But let’s be honest, we all measure ourselves by the wins. I can say that now. For two years, I’ve been saying things like it’s all about the process and trying to get better and be patient and hopefully the wins will come. So I’m just relieved, really, to get across the line.”
McDowell’s victory comes at the end of a season in which his younger compatriot and friend, McIlroy, lapped the field. He won four times on the PGA Tour, including his second major at the P.G.A. Championship. It has been weird for McDowell to go, in short order, from mentoring McIlroy to measuring himself against him.
“I’ve been envious of what he’s achieved the last four or five months,” McDowell said. “I’m sure every player on the planet is. But it’s just like motivated me, showed me what’s possible.”
He added: “You know, I can never really be too envious because like I say, he’s got a game with which I’m not really familiar and I’ve got to go about things a different way from him. But that’s cool. I’m cool with that.”
Lions' Jahvid Best still wants to return to football
Detroit — The door to Lions running back Jahvid Best's NFL return is still open.
Best hasn't played since Week 6 of 2011 due to lingering symptoms from concussions, but said he plans to keep fighting.
"They told me I can't play this season, but they didn't shut the door, and so me, as a person, I'm a glass-half-full kind of guy, and if you don't shut the door, then there's still a way," Best said. "I'm still working. I'm still doing everything I can, and as long as they don't shut the door, you'll see me back out there doing what I do best.
Best spoke to a crowd of about 500 people at Ford Field for the Lions' annual Courage House Dinner. He received the Ed Block Courage Award, given to a player on each NFL team for overcoming some off-field adversity.
In addition to Best, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell delivered a keynote address and told the crowd about the league's decision to not suspend Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for kicking Houston quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin during their Thanksgiving game.
"They've been very thoughtful about (the review)," he said before the dinner. "They're still going through the process of whether it should be a fine."
Goodell also spoke about the rule that upheld a Justin Forsett rushing touchdown that helped the Texans beat the Lions on Thursday and said the league plans to look at the rule before the postseason. He said the initial ruling was an "obvious error."
"When we make any rule changes, it's important to look at the unintended consequences of those rules, and that's why the competition committee spends weeks evaluating these (rules) and trying to evaluate will it have an impact on the game that we're not anticipating," he said.
Lions president Tom Lewand made a light-hearted joke about the rules before the dinner.
"All I know is we changed out all the cloth napkins from red to blue tonight," he said.
In regards to Best, Goodell said the league will continue researching head injuries, but the problem is there are still a lot of unknowns.
"We all have to do our part to do whatever we can to avoid these injuries," Goodell said. "Also, when they do occur to identify them and make sure proper medical care and the protocols are followed, and then that we manage them conservatively."
After starting the season on the physically unable to perform list, Best failed neurological exams in October, and the team decided to shut him down.
"We'll see where it goes," Lewand said of Best's future. "Tonight's a night to celebrate."
Lions coach Jim Schwartz said Best is deserving of the award and has been an inspiration to the team with how he's handled the difficult situation.
"He's fighting an invisible opponent in a lot of ways. You can't always rehab, and you can't do anything other than try to be patient and try to be positive."
The East Side Athletic Club of Baltimore annually awards The Ed Block Courage Award to a player from each team and all 32 convene at a post-season event.
Also at the dinner, former Lion Doug English (1975-79, 81-85) was given the Ricky Sandoval Award, which honors someone who has made contributions in sports and in the community.
NCAA scoring record set: 138
After a poor shooting weekend, Grinnell (Iowa) College point guard Jack Taylor was given the green light to shoot his way out of a slump.
He did — and made a mockery of the college record books.
Taylor had 138 points Tuesday night to shatter the NCAA scoring record in Division III Grinnell's 179-104 victory over visiting Faith Baptist Bible.
Taylor, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound sophomore from Black River Falls, Wis., made 27 of 71 3-pointers, was 52-of-108 overall and added seven free throws in 36 minutes.
"It felt like anything I tossed up was going in," Taylor said.
Rio Grande's Bevo Francis held the NCAA record with 113 points against Hillsdale in 1954. Frank Selvy had 100 for Division I Furman against Newberry in 1954.
Under coach David Arseneault, the uptempo Pioneers have led the nation in scoring for 17 of the past 19 seasons and in 3-point shooting 15 of those 19 years.
Taylor recently transferred to Grinnell, about 50 miles east of Des Moines, after a season at Wisconsin-La Crosse. He started Tuesday slowly — at least according to his standards.
"Maybe my cold shooting from the weekend was affecting me," Taylor said. "But then they started to drop."
