YUP.. ITS REAL.

Pete Carroll has reached an agreement in principle with the Seahawks on a deal to be their next head coach, multiple NFL sources confirmed to ESPN’s Adam Schefter early Saturday morning.

Carroll was expected to be introduced by the Seahawks as early as Monday, after the team interviewed Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier on Saturday morning.

According to the sources, Frazier met with the Seahawks in Minneapolis, satisfying the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview a minority candidate for head coaching and senior football operations hires.

Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke told Frazier prior to the interview Carroll did not have Seattle’s job. Frazier had been unwilling to talk with the Seahawks about the vacancy if Carroll had been promised full control of the Seahawks. Multiple sources indicated to ESPN he had been.

Miller: Hurdles Assured For USC Search

Miller There’s a big issue in advance of USC’s pursuing candidates to replace Pete Carroll, writes ESPN.com’s Ted Miller. Who will be in charge of the search? Blog

• Blog network: College Football Nation

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, asked about the Seahawks coaching search on the field before the Jets-Bengals playoff game Saturday in Cincinnati, told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols he believed the Seahawks’ interview with Frazier was in earnest.

Goodell said Seattle had fulfilled not only the letter but the spirit of the Rooney Rule, saying there was “no done deal” between Carroll and Seattle as of Saturday morning.

On Friday, Jim Mora became the first Seahawks coach to be let go after one season when the team finished 5-11.

Seattle also contacted the agent for Chargers defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, but as of Saturday morning, nothing had been set up. An interview with Rivera also would satisfy the Rooney Rule.

But the bottom line is, Carroll’s agreement with Seattle is “100 percent done,” one NFL source close to the situation told Schefter.

On Saturday afternoon, The Associated Press reported a league official with direct knowledge of the coaching search had denied a deal was in place, saying the Seahawks and Carroll were only in “discussions.”

In a text message to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen on Friday, Carroll said, “You know I haven’t responded to a NFL question in two years.”

Sando: Why Pete Carroll? Here’s Why

ESPN.com’s Mike Sando answers five key questions as the Seahawks stand poised to introduce Pete Carroll as their next coach. Blog

• Blog network: NFL Nation

But a league source told Mortensen that Carroll was trying to persuade USC offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates to join him in Seattle — as opposed to Bates pursuing the same position with the Chicago Bears.

Carroll is no stranger to the NFL, having served as the head coach for the Patriots from 1997 to 1999 and for the Jets in 1994.

He was Jets defensive coordinator from 1990 to 1993 after stints as the defensive backs coach for the Vikings (1985-89) and Bills (1984).

Even before the deal had been agreed to in principle, the ripple effect from Carroll’s pending move was reaching beyond the NFL and college ranks.

When the news broke Friday that Carroll could be headed to Seattle, USC’s incoming freshman class at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio began frantically calling USC’s assistant coaches.

For the rest of the day, not a single USC assistant returned a phone call, according to sources at the game who spoke with ESPN’s Schefter.

By Saturday afternoon, some calls had been returned.

But witnesses said players such as All-American receiver Kyle Prater and running back Dillon Baxter could not figure out what was unfolding with Carroll.

Baxter had verbally committed to USC as a high school freshman and never looked at another school. But now that Carroll is expected to leave USC, other schools already have begun contacting players scheduled to enroll there in the fall.

NFL Insider Adam Schefter

Schefter Check out Schefter’s Insider blog Insider for more NFL coverage and analysis.

• Blog network: NFL Nation

Prater said on NBC’s broadcast Saturday of the All-American Bowl that he had spoken to Trojans passing game coordinator/receivers coach John Morton and he would discuss things further with his family and advisers before making a decision on enrolling at USC.

Prater said he was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles to sign with the team and enroll in classes starting Monday but would postpone the trip.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ search for a new general manager also is under way.

Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross will interview for the position Wednesday, according to John Wooten, chairman of the organization that oversees Rooney Rule compliance.

The panel, called the Fritz Pollard Alliance, agreed to allow the interview after being given assurances Carroll would not have full control of Seattle’s organization, but control over the 53-man roster.

In the opening game of the postseason, the Cincinnati Bengals fell behind early and couldn’t make up ground in a 24-14 defeat to the New York Jets. It was the second time in six days Cincinnati (10-7) lost to New York (10-7).

The playoffs are all about making the most of opportunities, and the Bengals failed at that miserably Saturday. They blew two timeouts with poor coaching challenges, allowed big passing plays to a rookie quarterback, and kicker Shayne Graham missed two key field goals in the second half.

These openings were all the Jets needed to advance to the divisional round. New York proved last week was no fluke by scoring 21 unanswered points to take control of the game.

Cincinnati has not won a playoff game since the 1990 season. This was the first postseason berth in four years for the Bengals, who finished 1-4 in their last five games.

The 2009 season for the Bengals included several landmarks, such as sweeping the AFC North division. But an early playoff exit was not what this team had in mind.

As Johnson announces his retirement from major league baseball, it’s instructive to look back at the genetic circumstances that helped shape his persona. Let’s begin with an insight he shared as a rookie pitcher with the Montreal Expos in 1989, when he reflected on the high school growth spurt that brought him to a gangly 6 feet 10 inches tall.

“I felt like part of a freak show,” Johnson said 21 years ago. “I was the object of everybody’s jokes and teases. And it hurt. But it wasn’t within my personality to lash out. So instead, I went into a shell and became very defensive. I felt like I grew up in the center ring of a three-ring circus.”

Through more than two decades in big league clubhouses, Johnson came to grips with stardom while never entirely embracing it. He fed off the energy of crowds while reveling in his solitude. And he carved out a place in history — alongside Warren Spahn, Steve Carlton and the game’s other great lefty pitchers — while steadfastly refusing to look more than five days ahead.

Given his natural aversion to the spotlight, it’s only fitting that Johnson went out the way he did. Under cover of darkness.

Think about it: After striking out San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez with his final career pitch on Oct. 4, Johnson had the entire winter to contemplate his future. He had four long months to decide whether he wanted to spend another year squeezing into airplane seats and sleeping in hotel rooms, away from his family, and lots of idle time to determine whether his body could tolerate another season of baseball at age 46 going on 47.

So what happens? When Johnson finally calls it quits, it’s on a conference call, rather than squirming in a chair behind a microphone on a podium. Even the irascible Jeff Kent managed to emote and shed a few tears last winter at Dodger Stadium.

And the timing was certainly appropriate. Johnson made his retirement official about an hour after Matt Holliday, the biggest catch of the entire free-agent market, agreed to a seven-year, $120 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, and eight hours after Jason Bay, the second biggest catch of the winter, donned a Mets jersey in his introductory news conference at Citi Field.

Throw in the announcement of the 2010 Baseball Hall of Fame class on Wednesday, and it’s as inconspicuous a farewell as a 10-time All-Star, five-time Cy Young Award winner and 303-game winner can possibly have.

Coincidental? Perhaps. But of all Johnson’s observations Tuesday, perhaps the most telling came when he delved into a little psychoanalysis. He built himself an emotional bunker, it seems, because that was the best way for him to survive for those 22 glorious years.

“I don’t regret being that way,” Johnson said. “I got the most out of myself being that way because when I took it out to the mound, it was an intangible I had and I made it work for me.

“I didn’t realize it early in my career. But it really started to click in around 1993, and I was adamant about being as focused as I could be in this game. If it meant being a little ornery or animated or fierce or however someone may describe it, that was just me on the day I pitched.”

The postmortems, naturally, will focus on Johnson’s bushel basket of statistical achievements. He struck out 372, 364 and 349 batters in his best seasons, giving him three of the top 20 single-season outputs in history. He averaged 10.6 whiffs per nine innings for his career — compared with Nolan Ryan’s ratio of 9.5 K/9.

But when you reflect upon some of the most enduring moments of Johnson’s career, a larger-than-life, almost cartoonish thread runs through them.

Teammate Tim Raines gave Johnson his famous nickname in Montreal, colliding with him in batting practice, looking up and exclaiming, “You’re a Big Unit!”

When Johnson threw his perfect game against the Braves in 2004 — at age 40 — his final pitch was clocked at 98 mph. He threw 104 pitches to beat the Yankees in Game 6 of the 2001 World Series, and came back the next night to throw 17 pitches in relief in the series clincher.

Let the record show that Johnson’s first career strikeout came against Pittsburgh’s Orestes Destrade and that he fanned Rickey Henderson 30 times (and walked him 26 times) in 85 encounters. He survived knee surgery and multiple back procedures, and he hit his only home run against Doug Davis.

And it was Jeff Huson who once watched Johnson digging from first to third base on a teammate’s single and compared the sight to a “baby giraffe taking his first steps.”

Even Johnson — Mr. Intensity — can feel free to laugh at that one now. He’s free to play golf to his heart’s content in Arizona as part of his favorite foursome with Alice Cooper, Charles Barkley and Glen Campbell. And maybe, he observed Tuesday, he’ll wake up one morning and decide the time is right to go “parachuting or zip-lining or swimming with the great whites in Australia.”

A lot of retiring ballplayers say the clubhouse camaraderie is the aspect of the game they’ll miss the most. Not Johnson.

“I’ll miss having an outlet to be that competitive,” he said. “Every fifth day, it was a process, and I enjoyed and I relished that process.”

The feeling was mutual, Big Unit. Best of luck in your next chapter.

Sports broadcasting will enter a new dimension in 2010 … the third dimension, as ESPN will unveil the industry’s first 3-D network.

ESPN 3D will showcase a minimum of 85 live sporting events during its first year, beginning June 11 with the first 2010 FIFA World Cup match, featuring South Africa versus Mexico, ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer announced.

Other events to be produced in 3-D include the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, college basketball and football contests, up to 25 World Cup matches and the Summer X Games. Additional events will be announced at a later date.

“ESPN’s commitment to 3-D is a win for fans and our business partners,” Bodenheimer said in a statement. “ESPN 3D marries great content with new technology to enhance the fan’s viewing experience and puts ESPN at the forefront of the next big advance for TV viewing.”

ESPN has been testing ESPN 3D for more than two years, even showing a USC-Ohio State college football game in select theaters and to 6,000 fans at the Galen Center on USC’s campus.

“This is a turning point for 3-D,” Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro told USA Today.

How do I say this nicely? Boise’s 17-10 victory against TCU was as exciting as watching someone watch paint dry. The game didn’t lay an egg; it laid an omelet.

Here I was hoping, even wishing that undefeated TCU, ranked No. 3 in the coaches’ and Associated Press polls, would purple faze undefeated Boise Monday night at University of Phoenix Stadium. Not because I have anything against No. 6 Boise, but because TCU had the best chance of flipping the national title debate on its helmet crown.

If TCU won big, and Texas won little — and sloppily against No. 1 Bama — then maybe, just maybe, enough AP voters would go all Horned Froggy on their ballots. Two national titles to two teams in the state of Texas. Perfect.

Except that TCU left its game at poolside. The Horned Frogs forgot that before they could make a statement, they first had to make some plays. They wasted an opportunity of a lifetime. At the very least, they suffered from BCS bowl stage fright.

“I’ll be honest with you — and let me say one thing to you — I’m very appreciative of the people who are sitting in this room,” said TCU coach Gary Patterson to the media after the game. “Because at some point in time you decided to change your mind and give us a chance as a program. Give Boise a chance as a program. And … what we tried to do tonight was to try to prove you right.”

I wanted to believe. I really did. But it’s hard to become a believer when you’re nodding off. TCU and Boise didn’t prove us right or wrong. Instead, they sort of flopped around like a fish on land.

“We didn’t come out as intense as we normally do,” said TCU defensive tackle Cory Grant.

“I thought we were a little bit nervous,” said Patterson. “Not nervous, but tight.”

Tight … nervous … lacking intensity. Whatever it was, it showed. TCU and Boise had the whole football nation to themselves Monday evening and they whiffed. OK, maybe not whiff, but they kept fouling off pitches down the middle.

At times, the game had a high school spring jamboree quality to it. The first 18 plays of the game featured a pick 6, four penalties, six incompletions, three punts, one rush for no gain, two rushes for positive yards and two pass completions.

“Early on we didn’t know exactly what they were doing,” said TCU quarterback Andy Dalton.

What he meant to say is that TCU didn’t know what it was doing. Boise used a funky defense (constantly switching out of a 4-3 to a 3-4, moving a corner to safety) and TCU froze in the headlights.

Two of the most prolific offenses in the country combined for four turnovers, a missed field goal, 14 penalties and just 27 points. TCU had exactly 36 rushing yards, threw three interceptions and was 1-of-12 on third-down conversions.

Touchdown passes were dropped. Wide-open receivers were missed. Snaps flew through the hands of quarterbacks. All you really need to know about the game is that Boise punter/place-kicker Kyle Brotzman might have been the best player on the field.
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Weeks earlier, as the TCU-Boise Fiesta Bowl matchup was formalized, Horned Frogs linebacker Daryl Washington grumbled about facing the Broncos for a second consecutive postseason. What Washington really wanted, he said, was to play someone like Florida — you know, one of the biggies.

But first you’ve got to beat the near-biggies.

“We heard that,” said Broncos linebacker Derrell Acrey. “We took that as a chip on a shoulder. Not insulted, but we were challenged.”

“We wanted to be here,” said Boise safety Jeron Johnson. “We didn’t care if they wanted to be here or not.”

Boise State finished 14-0, a record matched only by Ohio State in 2002. Impressive. Bama or Texas will have the same record after the BCS Championship Game.

But Bama or Texas will also claim sole possession of both national titles. It probably would have ended like that anyway, but TCU and Boise sucked all the mystery out of the final voting. TCU played as if it was still thinking about the Crimson Tide, not the orange-and-blue Broncos. And Boise did enough to win, but little else.

“I don’t think it’s a setback at all,” said Patterson. “We played the No. 6 team in the nation. We got beat 17-10. The difference in yards was 300-and-something to 300-and-something. Somebody was going to have to lose tonight. … For me, I don’t think we backed down the mountain at all.”

He’s right. And dead wrong.

The reality is that the TCUs and Boise States still have to do more than the Bamas and Texases of the football world. They aren’t novelty acts, but they also don’t have the pedigree of the Tide and Longhorns. They don’t get the benefit of the doubt.

Boise and TCU had a chance Monday night to dig their feet deeper into the BCS concrete mix. Instead, they delivered a forgettable game and by doing so, gave the anti-WAC and anti-Mountain West faction another reason to freeze them out of the BCS.

Too bad. It would have been nice to see the BCS sweat.

From the first practice in training camp until the last game, Brian Cushing was a tackling machine for the Houston Texans.

That’s exactly what the team sought when it chose the linebacker from USC 15th overall in the draft last April. What the Texans also got is The Associated Press 2009 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Cushing was a runaway winner in balloting by a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league. Cushing received 39 votes Tuesday, easily beating Buffalo safety Jairus Byrd, who had six, and became the second Texans linebacker in four seasons to win the award. DeMeco Ryans took it in 2006.

“I’m just a much smarter football player,” Cushing said. “I’m much more advanced than I was this time last year and it was just a good way to start out a career. I’m happy about how everything turned out this year. Of course the playoffs would have been nice, but now we know what we have to do for next season.”

This season, Cushing had 133 tackles, 86 of them primary, according to the Texans, who went 9-7, their first winning record. Cushing’s best game might have been his nine solo tackles, one sack and an interception in a victory over Miami on Dec. 27.

Or maybe it was his nine tackles, interception and two forced fumbles in a win over Cincinnati on Oct. 18.

Overall, he had five sacks, four interceptions and the two forced fumbles, numbers that normally belong to a seasoned veteran.

Which is exactly how the 22-year-old Cushing played.

“He brought another element to our football team: his love for the game, his passion, his play, playing beat up, all these things,” coach Gary Kubiak said. “He played like a 10-year vet from the day he stepped on the field. Our players respect what he does with the game and how he goes about his business. We’re very fortunate to have him and we’re going to have him here for a long, long time. What a year. He was exceptional.”

Nobody can understand or appreciate what Cushing accomplished better than Ryans, who made a similar impact in ‘06.

“Brian is a special player,” Ryans said. “I saw when he first stepped on the field that he could be a special player for us. Just to watch him grow week in and week out, I’m just so proud of him. He’s like my little brother out there. I’m always out there talking to him about how we can be great as a unit. I say it to him every week, ‘Let’s go out and be great and be the best linebackers in the league’ and that’s our motto and that’s our goal.”

They’re closing in on it.

Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews, who also went to USC and was a first-round draft pick, earned three votes. Washington linebacker Brian Orakpo got the other two.

Cushing is the seventh straight linebacker voted top defensive rookie and the ninth in 10 years. Last year’s winner was New England’s Jerod Mayo.

Free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre has reached tentative agreement on a one-year, guaranteed $10 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, multiple sources have told ESPN.com and ESPNBoston.com.

The deal will pay Beltre a base salary of $9 million in 2010. It includes a $5 million player option for 2011 and a $1 million buyout, and is contingent upon Beltre passing a physical exam, the sources said.

Beltre, a 12-year veteran, batted .265 with eight home runs and 44 RBIs for the Mariners last season, in which he was limited to 111 games due to injuries. From 2006-08, his average numbers were .270, 25 homers, 88 RBIs and 149 games played.

Beltre’s best offensive season came in 2004 for the Dodgers when he batted .334, had a league-leading 48 homers and added 121 RBIs to finish second in the MVP voting. That season led to a big free-agent contract with the Mariners, but he never again came close to matching that offensive output. Beltre was paid $12 million in 2009, the last year of the five-year, $64 million deal he’d signed as a free agent with the Mariners. Beltre was offered salary arbitration by the Mariners, but declined.

His best season with the Mariners came in 2007 when he hit .276 with 26 homers and 99 RBIs.

Beltre’s career average hitting in Fenway Park is .179 and isn’t that much better in other AL East parks — .185 in Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field and .219 in the old Yankee Stadium. Boston will play 99 of 162 games at these parks.

Many teams looked at Beltre, however, for his defense. He won Gold Gloves in 2007 and 2008. The Red Sox have had Mike Lowell at third base, but he has been limited by injuries.

A source told ESPNBoston.com’s Gordon Edes last week that even after the Lowell trade with Texas was nullified by the Rangers, the Red Sox had quietly continued their pursuit of Beltre through agent Scott Boras.

The abortive Lowell deal complicated matters, since the Red Sox are obligated to pay Lowell $12 million in 2010. The proposed deal with Texas had called for them to pay $9 million of his salary to the Rangers in exchange for minor league catcher Max Ramirez.

A baseball source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick that the Red Sox have talked to the New York Mets about a possible Lowell-for-Luis Castillo trade. But there are several obstacles to the deal, and it’s uncertain how motivated either team would be to make it happen.

Lowell would have to move to first base in New York, because David Wright is already entrenched at third.

By moving Castillo, the Mets would be free to make a play for free-agent second baseman Orlando Hudson. But Castillo has played all 1,609 of his career games at second base, and Boston already has an All-Star second baseman in Dustin Pedroia. The trade probably wouldn’t work for the Red Sox unless they were able to flip Castillo to a third club.

But the Red Sox now have quite a bit of money committed to third base.

The Orioles and Angels were also thought to be interested in Beltre.

The Orioles did sign infielder Garrett Atkins, but that did not seem to preclude them from moving on either Beltre or free-agent first baseman Adam LaRoche. The Angels lost their third baseman, Chone Figgins, to Seattle, Beltre’s former team, and while they have indicated they plan to give in-house candidate Brandon Wood a crack at the job, they might have turned to Beltre if his asking price had dropped.

The Athletics were thought to be interested but dropped out of the bidding, an industry source told Edes. Oakland could use a third baseman given the ongoing health problems of incumbent Eric Chavez.

Mets Land Jason Bay
Jason Bay and the New York Mets have reached an agreement on a four-year, $66 million dealTags: MLB, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox
Mets Land Jason Bay
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* Mets Land Jason Bay
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Jason Bay and the New York Mets have reached an agreement on a four-year, $66 million dealTags: MLBNew York MetsBoston Red Sox
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Free-agent outfielder Jason Bay has reached agreement on a four-year, guaranteed $66 million contract with the New York Mets, a baseball source confirmed to ESPN.com Tuesday.

The agreement will become official once Bay passes a physical exam sometime next week, the source said. The deal includes a vesting option year that could increase Bay’s overall payout to slightly more than $80 million over five years.

WFAN was the first to report the agreement had been reached.

Bay, a three-time All-Star, hit .267 with 36 home runs and 119 RBIs for the Boston Red Sox in 2009.

Bay and outfielder Matt Holliday were the most hotly pursued position players on the free-agent market this winter.

Exclusive company

BayWith the new deal, Jason Bay has the sixth-highest average annual payout among free-agent left fielders. And at $66 million, he also has the Mets’ second-highest free-agent contract since 1990, surpassed only by Carlos Beltran ($119 million, in 2004-05). A look at the highest payouts (starting with the first year of the deal):
Yr. Player Team Length Avg.
‘09 Manny Ramirez LAD 2 yrs. $22.5M
‘01 Manny Ramirez BOS 8 yrs. $20M
‘02 Barry Bonds SFO 5 yrs. $18M
‘07 Alfonso Soriano CHC 8 yrs. $17M
‘07 Carlos Lee HOU 6 yrs. $16.67M
‘10 Jason Bay NYM 4 yrs. $16.5M

It’s believed that Bay’s vesting option provision includes readily attainable targets based on plate appearances. Bay has averaged 154 games a season since 2005 with Pittsburgh and the Red Sox, so he should have a good chance of making the option vest if he stays healthy.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya, chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon and several other principals in the deal are traveling or in the middle of holiday plans, so Bay’s physical exam isn’t expected to take place until early next week.

The Mets expect Bay to add thump to an offense that ranked last in the major leagues with 95 home runs in 2009. New York’s lineup was decimated by injuries to center fielder Carlos Beltran, shortstop Jose Reyes and first baseman Carlos Delgado, and manager Jerry Manuel’s team ranked 25th in the big leagues with 671 runs scored.

Bay has been maligned in some quarters for his subpar defense, but the Mets analyzed the metrics and found that he suffered in Boston from the “Fenway Park factor.” They think his perceived lack of range in left field was accentuated by the minimal area of ground he had to cover in Fenway.

The Mets also expect that Bay’s ability to pull the ball will help him in pitcher-friendly Citi Field, which is spacious in the gaps but plays fairer to hitters down the lines.

At the beginning of the free-agent process, many observers believed that Bay was destined to return to Boston. But after the Red Sox spent $82.5 million on free agent starter John Lackey and $15.5 million on outfielder Mike Cameron, it became clear that Bay’s tenure in Boston had reached an end.

Law: Help, but still holes

Law Jason Bay might perform well enough to justify his contract, but the bigger problem for the Mets is that Bay can’t pitch, as Keith Law explains. Blog Insider
• Fantasy: Bay’s value may fall

Bay underwent shoulder surgery in 2003 and arthroscopic knee surgery in 2006, and the Red Sox reportedly had enough concerns about his long-term health to hold firm at a four-year contract offer rather than the five-year deal that Bay was seeking.

Bay’s agent, Joe Urbon, recently spoke to the Red Sox about a possible reunion. But with Cameron, Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew in the outfield mix, a Red Sox official said it was a “long shot” for Bay to return to Boston.

Bay, 31, broke into professional ball as a 22nd round draft pick with the Montreal Expos in 2000. The Mets acquired him in a trade in March 2002, but sent him to San Diego four months later as part of a five-player deal with the Padres.

In his next stop, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bay made two All-Star teams and posted back-to-back, 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons in 2005 and 2006.

The Mets have had a relatively slow winter, but the Bay signing gives the team the impact bat Minaya had been seeking. New York is now expected to turn its attention to adding a catcher — with Bengie Molina a prime target — and acquiring an innings-eating starter for the back end of the rotation. Free agents Jon Garland and Doug Davis are among the possibilities.

Bay’s .676 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position last year ranked second in baseball behind Albert Pujols’ .697. Since 2005, Bay is tied for fourth among big league outfielders with 155 home runs, and ranks fifth with 514 RBIs.

Bay, a native of Trail, British Columbia, is the first native Canadian to play for the Mets since shortstop Brian Ostrosser, an Ontario product, went hitless in five at-bats in 1973.

via ESPN.com

The Indianapolis Colts kept saying 16-0 didn’t matter. Apparently it didn’t.

The previously unbeaten Colts (14-1) pulled Peyton Manning and a handful of other starters with a 15-10 lead and 5:36 left in the third quarter, and the Jets took advantage to rally for a 29-15 victory that ended the NFL’s longest regular-season winning streak at 23.

Brad Smith opened the second half with a 106-yard kickoff return to give New York (8-7) a 10-9 lead. The Colts regained the lead at 15-10 when Donald Brown scored on a 1-yard run.

But after Manning left, Marques Douglas returned a fumble from Manning’s replacement, Curtis Painter, 1 yard for a score. The Jets sealed it with a 43-yard field goal and Thomas Jones’ 1-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.