Midseason ouster no surprise
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Unless there&#39;s an extenuating circumstance - see the University of Arizona last September - it&#39;s generally considered poor form to change football coaches in midseason.
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In recent weeks, the question of Art Howe&#39;s firing by the Mets has always been more about when the ax would fall, not if, and even the manager seemed resigned to his fate before last night&#39;s doubleheader against the Braves at Shea Stadium.
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ANAHEIM - Reaction from the Red Sox winter meetings war room over the news of Pedro Martinez&#39;s defection to the Mets was one of icy resignation.
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The Diamondbacks were outhit again, but these days that's hardly surprising. That they won anyway is even less of a shock.
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ne bad breaking ball did in the Yankees yesterday. Usually, one mistake does not cost them so dearly, but the Yankees are not usually scrounging for hits either.
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The Philadelphia Eagles aren&#39;t losing games. They&#39;re losing players and, in the process, they&#39;re doing what seemed improbable two weeks ago.
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Adjusting to a new coach turned out to be among the least of LSU's problems last season.
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The Michael Vick scandal likely won't overshadow the prospect of evenly matched franchises going head to head.
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Of all the questions swirling around the Red Sox this offseason, from the future address of outfielder Manny Ram&#xED;rez, to the role of pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, to the keep-him-or-not debate over shortstop Alex Gonzalez, there is one that evidently has been put to rest, perhaps with no more than a handshake. No signature required. No furtive departures on the agenda.
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There's no way to describe what's happening with the Baltimore Orioles, except to say they are a bona fide mess.
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The Baltimore Orioles haven't done many things right over the past several years, but their string of misfortune took a turn for the better last week when owner Peter Angelos hired Andy MacPhail to be CEO and president.
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Curt Schilling doesn't need a matching set of healthy ankles to be right about one thing: In this town, with this team, it always does come back to the manager. He's either a candidate for bronzing or for the hanging tree.
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Derek Lowe came through where Dave Ferriss failed. And Jim Lonborg. And Roger Clemens and Bruce Hurst, too.
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The Washington Redskins have virtually their entire coaching staff in place for next season Â except for the head coach.
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It was hard to find anything amiss or out of place. That's the way things generally go on media day. There are smiles all around. Optimism oozes. It's that way from Atlanta to Seattle and everywhere in between.
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Leave it to the San Diego Chargers to stretch the limits of incredulity again. This time the firing of coach Marty Schottenheimer after an NFL-best 14-2 season is so mind-boggling that the team president himself called the relationship between Schottenheimer and general manager A.J. Smith a "dysfunctional situation."
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Red Sox manager Terry Francona wouldnât give away too many of the teamâs postseason roster plans, but he did indicate what seemed