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.

Whoa! Was that a new Adele song?

Hello, it’s Adele!

Suddenly, it seems a heck of a lot more likely that the British singer’s new album will be out this fall. What appears to be a 30-second preview of Adele’s latest tune aired during a commercial break on The X Factor Sunday night in the U.K.

“I was wondering if after all these years, you’d like to meet to go over everything,” the vocals go, as lyrics roll over a black background. “They say that time’s supposed to heal ya, but I ain’t done much healing.” The snippet ends with ellipses.

Last month, rumor had it that Sony would release Adele’s next album Nov. 20, a release date that conveniently opened up. (One Direction’s Made In the A.M. album hastily moved off that date to Nov. 13.) Adele’s most recent album, 2011’s 21, sold more than 11 million copies in the U.S. alone.

The singer’s representative declined comment, but Adele, for her part, is saying nothing: She hasn’t tweeted since August.

News & Views: For some, TV gets better with age

Old may not be in, but it least it's no longer completely out.

For years, as advertisers have shifted their focus to young audiences, advertiser-supported media have followed suit — pushing older audiences aside in the process. Nor is it just older viewers who have suffered: TV's perhaps misplaced certainty that young people only want to watch other young people has relegated most actors over 60 to supporting roles, pretty much ensuring that any future network version of The Golden Girls would be tin at most.

But along with its other benefits, the explosive growth in TV choices is giving new hope to aging viewers, as TV services — some ad-supported, but most not — begin to see some profit possibility in serving a neglected audience. It's a small movement at the moment, and it doesn't encompass the big broadcast networks. But if you're past a certain age, any movement at all is welcome.

PBS, of course, has long served as an old folks home, but it's not the only place to turn. Older viewers searching for some sign of change could find one at Starz withBlunt Talk, a comedy built around 75-year-old Patrick Stewart. An even clearer sign was Netflix's pickup of a new season for Longmire, a series dumped by A&E because its audience was deemed too old. Not it's star, though: Robert Taylor is a relative child at 52.

Sunday, the scene shifts to Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise, starring 70-year-old Tom Selleck — whose starring role in CBS's Blue Bloods makes him a broadcast rarity. But you won't find Jesse on CBS, which did eight Jesse movies and then bailed because, well, you know. Instead, Selleck has moved the franchise to Hallmark — which through its various networks has made a cottage industry out of churning out films starring former TV stars.