Mets bullpen not to be outdone by starting rotation in NLCS

NEW YORK -- To fully appreciate what the Mets bullpen is doing right now, raw stats are not enough.

Sure, four Mets relievers combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings Sunday night to preserve a 4-1 win and put the Mets up in the NLCS, 2-0.

But it is the consistency manager Terry Collins has coaxed from this unit—an amagalmation of starters-turned-relievers, starters getting between-starts work in, and relievers forced to embrace new roles—that is truly astounding.

Everyone is in unfamiliar territory. Tyler Clippard was in Oakland until July. Addison Reed was in Arizona until August. Jeurys Familia, the closer, began the year as a setup man. Lefty specialist Jon Niese had been starter for his entire career until the final week of the regular season. Bartolo Colon made a total of six relief appearances in his 18-year career before this season. Noah Syndergaard, Sunday night's starter, was Thursday night's seventh inning guy.

Only one thing is certain from game to game: it's all been working.

“I wasn't a pitcher, so I was never one that thought to have a particular role outside of the guy pitching the 9th inning was that big,” Collins said Sunday night at his postgame presser. “But at this level, it is big. Guys want to know when they're going to be used. Our guys have done a great job. But they're all caught up in it right now. They're all caught up in the success of what's going on.”

The pathway from starter to 27th out was a bit more conventional Sunday night, with Reed pitching the seventh, Clippard the eighth and Familia the ninth inning. Even that was fraught with some level of concern, since the bullpen appearances from guys like Syndergaard and Colon throughout the NLDS meant that Clippard and Reed simply hadn't worked that much.

“You make it work because it's October,” Clippard said, standing in front of his locker following the game. “I think that's what it comes down to. You realize that all hands on deck every single day. And each situation that each guy is given, they want to be out there, you're excited, you want to contribute.”

Steelers rally around Jones; Cardinals sloppy in loss

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Le'Veon Bell wondered.Martavis Bryant wondered. Heck, even Landry Joneskind of wondered how he'd do after spending the entirety of his two-plus seasons in the NFL either holding a clipboard or dressed in sweats on gameday.

Then all that time spent in meetings trying to absorb everything he could from Ben Roethlisberger started to pay off. Replacing injured Michael Vick in the third quarter against Arizona on Sunday, Jones did his best to mimic his mentor. He relaxed. He called out the signals. And he played.

The first touchdown pass of Jones' NFL career gave the Steelers confidence. The second provided the clincher in a 25-13 victory.

"He was like Ben's little brother out there," Bell said. "He was out there making checks and everything and it brought us back like 'Dang, Landry really got this."

Did he ever.

Jones completed 8 of 12 passes for 168 yards and the two scores — both to Martavis Bryant — as Pittsburgh (4-2) scored rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit. The Steelers improved to 2-1 without Roethlisberger, who missed his third straight game with a sprained left knee. Roethlisberger will practice this week before Pittsburgh heads to Kansas City, though Jones' surprisingly steady play showed the Steelers can be dynamic even with their captain on the sideline.

"I just still can't believe I got in the game and to play," Jones said. "I'm still reeling from it."

Hard to blame he. He was a star in college at Oklahoma, where he didn't miss a game in four years. The Steelers took him in the fourth round of the 2013 draft but he did little with the opportunity, scuffling during training camp and the preseason and unable to supplant Bruce Gradkowski or Vick as the primary backup to Roethlisberger.

Kaepernick, 49ers snap four-game skid with win vs. Ravens

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin took it to the team they helped win the Super Bowl nearly three years ago. Shareece Wright’s embarrassing outing sure helped out his former San Francisco 49ers on a day Baltimore missed chances in every phase.

Colin Kaepernick completed a 76-yard touchdown pass to Smith, Joe Flacco threw two interceptions and the Niners beat Baltimore 25-20 on Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak.

Phil Dawson kicked four field goals, including a 53-yarder, in the first win since Week 1 for San Francisco (2-4). Boldin — a Super Bowl star for the Ravens against San Francisco — had a late 51-yard catch that set up Quinton Patton’s 21-yard reception for the first touchdown of his career.

Flacco’s desperation pass to the end zone on the final play went incomplete to Steve Smith, and the quarterback wound up 33 of 53 for 343 yards. Smith dropped two balls in the end zone before catching one.

Kaepernick went 16 of 27 for 340 yards, and Boldin made five catches for 102 yards.

The rematch of the Super Bowl three seasons ago featured a pair of last-place teams trying to turn around their seasons, and it showed in some sloppy play.

Steve Smith caught a 34-yard TD pass from Flacco in the third, but the Ravens (1-5) are reeling through the worst start in franchise history. Tough weekend for the Harbaugh brothers after Baltimore coach John Harbaugh’s little brother Jim’s Michigan team lost Saturday to Michigan State on a botched punt.

The 49ers won for the first time since Sept. 14 against Minnesota.

Now San Francisco must prepare in a hurry for a short week with rival Seattle coming to town Thursday night. The Seahawks have won five of the last six meetings, including the playoffs.

Baltimore’s previous four losses featured second-half collapses. This time, the collapse all but began from the opening kickoff.

Mets' Daniel Murphy continues postseason HR barrage

NEW YORK — The remarkable postseason journey of Daniel Murphy continued before many Mets fans could even get settled under their blankets Sunday night at Citi Field, yanking another home run into the right field stands to give the Mets an early 3-0 lead.

Murphy's set team records—his five postseason home runs are the most my any Met—while repeatedly blasting middle-in pitches into the seats. That the pitches have come from some of baseball's best—Clayton Kershaw, Zach Greinke, Jon Lester Saturday night and now, Jake Arrieta—doesn't seem to matter.

“Well, I think Dan Murphy is an All-Star,” his manager, Terry Collins, said after Game 1. “So I don't think it's something that's strange. I think Dan gets in the batter's box. We all know when he gets hot, he can hit anybody and he can do a lot of damage, and he's hot.”

The same could not be said of Citi Field, 45 degrees at gametime with swirling winds. But when Murphy, after narrowly missing a home run on a long fould ball two pitches earlier, connected on Arrieta's 80-mile-per-hour curveball, no Mets fan had any complaint about the cold.

Bell Tolls: Johnny Football not fooling anybody following latest incident

“It was embarrassing but not serious.”

Johnny Manziel went on Twitter Friday night in an attempt at damage control, as news spread that the high-profile Cleveland Browns quarterback has another off-the-field incident on his record.

Chalk up that effort as another incomplete pass for Johnny Football.

Not serious?

Who is Manziel trying to fool? Maybe he’s fooled himself into believing that his episode in Avon, Ohio, on Monday — stemming from an argument with his girlfriend — wasn’t a big deal.

But we know better.

Fortunately, no one was hurt after Manziel, according to a witness, dangerously passed on the shoulder at high speed on a stretch of I-80. And his girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, is seemingly willing to forgive and protect after engaging in some form of a physical contact with Manziel, according to the police report.

They weren’t arrested, either, after police, according to their report, determined that Manizel — who spent 10 weeks in rehab during the offseason — had consumed alcohol earlier on Monday but wasn’t intoxicated while driving erratically and arguing with his girlfriend in public.

Shoot, the police made that determination without even administering a breathalyzer, which makes me wonder whether Manziel caught a break from the cops because he was a celebrity or had stumbled upon a real-life version of Barney Fife.

No breath test? Some people would be met with excessive force by merely encountering police.

And just think, police were called twice, by two witnesses from different vantage —  one from the highway and another from a neighborhood.

Yet the former Heisman Trophy winner tweets that it was not serious.

It’s very serious.

And it’s a case to test the legitimacy of the NFL’s new personal conduct policy, with the components including investigations that are run independent of the course that, say, bumbling or biased police may or may not pursue. Add the possibility of domestic violence to this case — which lacks a Ray Rice video, and may seem less of a threat without a woman wearing bruises — and the credibility of the experts the NFL enlisted since last year to deal with this hot-button issue may swing in the balance.

If Manziel, given his history, doesn’t view it as a serious matter, then it’s further proof that he needs a reality check in addition to whatever clinical support may be in order to help him deal with his issues.

Another passage from Manziel’s Twitter feed: “I know I would stop and check if I saw a couple arguing on the road.”

Gennady Golovkin stops David Lemieux in 8th round to unify middleweight titles

NEW YORK — It was supposed to be Gennady Golovkin’s toughest opponent to date, the experts said, a French-Canadian power puncher who had knocked out most of his opponents and insisted he was going to leave with Golovkin’s title belts in tow.

But with the sold-out Madison Square Garden crowd of 20,548, that included Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, shouting “Tri-ple G! Tri-ple G!” to spur him on,  Golovkin became the complete fighter, jabbing, boxing and punching his way to an easy victory in the HBO pay-per-view show, Golovkin’s first PPV.

He took IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux apart patiently — though less so than usual — and methodically from the opening bell.

Golovkin, with Lemieux an unwilling dance partner early, brought him to his knees in the fifth round and continued his onslaught until referee Steve Willis finally and mercifully stopped at 1:32 of the 8th round. By then Lemieux was bloodied and beaten soundly.

The three ringside judges all had Golovkin sweeping every round, including the 10-8 fifth when Lemieux took a knee to stop the punishment, if only temporarily.

Golovkin connected on an amazing 58% of his power punches, 110 to Lemieux’s 54.

With his victory, the baby-faced assassin from Kazakhstan with the killer smile and the vicious mean streak inside the ring had his 21st knockout in a row and an even brighter future ahead.

“I told you this was a very important fight,” said Golovkin who was guaranteed $2 million for his night’s work. “I give my fans and friends a big show. Thank you my fans. Thank you my people.

“Dave is a very good fighter. A strong fighter. I can box him, too. I’m a boxer, too.”

He certainly proved that. The 26-year-old Lemieux had seven years on his opponent, but Golovkin was the aggressor from the start, throwing several hard rights to the body that connected time and time again. Golovkin’s constant pressure would not allow Lemieux an opening, using his stiff left jab to set up his notoriously powerful right hand.

“I see his jab in sparring all the time,” trainer Abel Sanchez said after the fight. “But this is the best I’ve seen it in a real fight.”

USC players, at 3-3, say they are playing for interim coach Clay Helton

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The only two constants during the past half-decade of Southern California football are chaos and Clay Helton, with the whims of the former again responsible for thrusting the latter into duties far above his pay grade.

Helton was brought to USC by one ex-coach, Lane Kiffin, and then retained by another, Steve Sarkisian; he has been the interim coach — this fall marking his second turn in the temporary position after leading the Trojans through a bowl win in 2013 — and himself served under another interim coach, Ed Orgeron.

He is Zelig in cardinal and gold: Helton was there when the NCAA levied sanctions, when the Trojans opened atop the Associated Press poll but finished unranked, when Kiffin was fired in a parking lot, when Orgeron was carried off the field in victory, whenJosh Shaw jumped two stories, when Sarkisian was placed on leave and when Sarkisian was fired — amid turmoil and made-for-TV drama, Helton has been a source of relative stability.

And he’s been there for the Trojans, who are now returning the favor.

“We definitely want to keep him here,” senior running back Tre Madden said. “We’ve talked to the young guys, and they love him. We all love him. We want to keep him here. That’s what we’re playing for, the future.”

Said senior defensive tackle Antwuan Woods, “I’ve been with him for five years and he really cares about us as a team. He’s a great man. We’re just motivated to play for him.”

It wasn’t too long ago that USC played for national championships. Now the Trojans play for interim coaches.

For the second time in three years, the Trojans will dedicate themselves — and dedicate the remainder of this season — to making a favored assistant coach the full-time caretaker for one of college football’s elite programs. Such is recent existence at USC, where confidence remains in surplus despite a clear lack of results.

“We’re an excellent team,” junior safety Su’a Cravens said. “We can beat anybody in the country, hands down.”

LSU's winning recipe includes more than Leonard Fournette

BATON ROUGE — The English language does not have enough words to describe the breathtaking talent that is Leonard Fournette.

He's explosive, bursting through holes that swallow some of the sport's best running backs. He's relentless, as evidenced by his career-high 31 carries for 180 yards and two scores against Florida on Saturday night. And he's not afraid to get a little physical, throwing a punch or shove or whatever that was, instead of a stiff-arm, late in LSU's 35-28 win against the Gators.

Fournette is many things, which means the Tigers' offense is many things; but those many things all tend to involve Fournette. Their rushing attack is terrific, third best in the country. Their offensive line is hailed as one of the nation's best. And so their quarterback has been deemed a handoff specialist — at least, according to him. But that's no longer the case, if it ever even was.

Brandon Harris, the LSU sophomore, got worked up late Saturday night as he described the criticism levied against him and the LSU passing game. This narrative, Harris said, began with LSU's sloppy win against Eastern Michigan earlier this month. He completed just four of 14 passes for 80 yards in that one.

"I can't stand it," Harris said Saturday night, after he was 13-of-19 for 202 yards and two touchdowns. "I can't stand it. I play with a chip on my shoulder every single week. I say this over and over again, and I say this real humbly: This team knows how talented we are passing the ball; everybody knows what I can do throwing the football. …

"It really hurts when people say all we have is a running game, this and that. That's so much motivation. Keep saying that. Keep doubting me. I love it."

Harris said he knows opponents will try whatever they can to stop Fournette, theHeisman Trophy favorite, and that makes perfect sense to him. "They'll put nine in the box," Harris said. "I'll say, 'Thank you,' and take advantage of it."

LSU coach Les Miles chuckled when he heard Harris's comments. Particularly the idea that Harris has something to prove to anyone.