ate in the game.NEW FACELewerke had attempted only four passes this s

DENVER -- Bud Black is taking his pitching expertise to hitter-friendly Coors Field.The highly regarded mound guru has been hired as manager of the Colorado Rockies, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday night because the move had not yet been announced.The Rockies scheduled a Monday news conference to introduce their new manager, but the release did not reveal the teams choice.Black takes over for Walt Weiss, who stepped down last month when his contract expired after four years in charge of the Rockies. They finished 75-87 last season, their best record since 2010.The 59-year-old Black managed the San Diego Padres for nearly nine seasons before he was fired in June 2015. He compiled a 649-713 record and was voted NL Manager of the Year in 2010 after the Padres went 90-72, their most wins since a franchise-record 98 in 1998.Washington nearly hired Black last year before contract talks broke down and the Nationals gave the job to Dusty Baker.After a major league career that spanned 15 seasons on the mound, Black became a respected pitching coach for the Angels. He brings a wealth of experience to a team thats long struggled to get outs in Denvers thin air a mile above sea level.Colorado had a 4.91 ERA this past season, tied with Cincinnati for 13th out of 15 National League teams. Arizona (5.09) was the only club that was worse.Yet the Rockies boast young talent in a starting rotation led by Jon Gray, the third overall pick in 2013 draft. Tyler Chatwood had the best road ERA (1.69) in the majors last season, while Chad Bettis and Tyler Anderson made big strides. The team will more than likely lose Jorge De La Rosa, the franchises all-time winningest pitcher, in free agency.One of the biggest challenges will be shoring up a shaky bullpen that blew 28 save chances in 2016. Colorado finished 24-36 in games decided by no more than two runs.Black was lauded for the way he ran bullpens with the Angels and Padres.On offense, Black inherits an NL batting champion in second baseman DJ LeMahieu, an all-around star in third baseman Nolan Arenado, an up-and-coming shortstop in Trevor Story and a feared hitter in outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.I like the group that we have, Arenado said after the final game of the season. I think we are close. But basically when I say that its for the fans. I want fans to know that so they dont lose hope. I feel bad. They come out every day, to see us lose the way we do sometimes.Arenado led the NL in RBI (133) and tied for the home run title with 41. He played stellar defense at third base again and could be in line for his fourth straight Gold Glove.Black spent a large portion of his career with Kansas City and was part of a Royals rotation that helped the team win the 1985 World Series. He won 121 games with Kansas City, Seattle, Cleveland, San Francisco and Toronto.After his playing days, he became the pitching coach for the Angels and spent seven seasons under manager Mike Scioscia. Black helped the team to the 2002 World Series title before taking over the Padres heading into the 2007 season.Black rejoined the Angels as a special assistant to the general manager last November.Dalvin Cook Womens Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens embark on their first road trip of the season as they head out west to battle the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night. Mike Hughes Womens Jersey . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. http://www.authenticvikingspro.com/Chuck-foreman-vikings-jersey/ . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. Fran Tarkenton Vikings Jersey . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Adrian Peterson Youth Jersey .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition.EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Just over a month after being held to single digits by an FCS team, Northwestern has solved a lot of problems offensively.Justin Jackson rushed for 188 yards and two touchdowns, and the Wildcats moved the ball almost at will after a slow start, beating Michigan State 54-40 on Saturday night to hand the Spartans their fourth straight defeat.Clayton Thorson threw for 281 yards and three TDs for the Wildcats, who rallied from an early 14-0 deficit. Michigan State (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) is now mired in its longest losing streak in coach Mark Dantonios 10 seasons at the helm.Northwestern has won three of four since starting the season with losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State. The Wildcats managed only seven points against Illinois State, but that seems like a long time ago now that theyve scored 38 against Iowa and 54 on the defending Big Ten champions.Our guys have really been grinding, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. Earlier in the year we werent a very good team. ... We could either pout and feel sorry for ourselves and start to point fingers, or we could just stay on the grind and keep the pedal down.The Spartans hadnt lost four in a row since 2006, and this was the most points theyd allowed since a 56-21 loss to Wisconsin in 2003.Northwestern held Michigan State to 3 yards of offense in the second quarter.Theres no easy fix, Dantonio said.The Spartans made a change at quarterback for this game, starting redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke instead of Tyler OConnor, but Michigan States problems extend well beyond one position.The Spartans went back to OConnor in the third quarter, and he threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns, but Michigan State couldnt stop Northwestern (3-3, 2-1) with any consistency.Solomon Vault returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter to put the Wildcats up 40-31, and the Spartans never made it closer after that.Michigan State is off to its worst start after six games since 1994, when the Spartans were 2-4 and later forfeited away the wins.TAKEAWAYSNorthwestern: The Wildcats have to be encouraged by the ease with which they shrugged off an early deficit Saturday, and although the secondary was beaten for a couple long touchdowns in the second half, Northwestern will win itts share of games if it can keep creating big holes for Jackson.ddddddddddddIt was a good one today, but I think were just showing what we can do, Thorson said. Passing the ball, running the ball, everything.Michigan State: Dantonio shook things up by starting Lewerke at quarterback, then watched his defense give up so many yards and points it didnt really matter who was throwing passes for Michigan State. The Spartans were a mess on defense and still dont block well enough on offense to put together many sustained drives.Its almost like everybodys at a loss for words, OConnor said. We feel like weve been saying everything that we think we need to fix and working as hard as we can to fix it, and everybody understands that we need to get better.OConnor did do his best to reclaim the quarterback spot with his work late in the game.NEW FACELewerke had attempted only four passes this season before becoming the first Michigan State freshman to start at quarterback since Stephen Reaves in 2004. Lewerke opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Price in the first quarter, but the offense bogged down again in the second.Dantonio was noncommittal about his quarterback situation afterward.I thought both guys obviously did some good things, and both guys obviously did some things theyd like to have back, Dantonio said. So well look at it and evaluate it.TOUGH STARTMichigan State took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when Justin Layne scored on a 43-yard interception return. That was the last touchdown the Spartans scored for a while.We knew that they were going to try and knock us out early. Their backs are against the wall, Fitzgerald said. We basically got what we expected, and it was disappointing with our start, but I really loved the way our guys responded. We didnt flinch.UP NEXTNorthwestern: The Wildcats host Indiana next weekend.Michigan State: The Spartans play at Maryland on Saturday night. If you dont count games forfeited from 1994, the last time Michigan State lost five games in a row within one season was when the Spartans dropped their first five in 1991.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtrister ' ' '