1.   The team, suiting up just eight players, started January by dropping five games.

2.   And after his team had dropped back-to-back games to the lowly Mighty Ducks, it might have been his biggest.

3.   As Saberhagen pointed out, all that happened Sunday was that the Red Sox dropped another game behind the Yankees and lost a series.

4.   Boston squandered a chance to gain ground on Indiana with both teams dropping home games.

5.   But when the puck drops in the gold-medal game, it will be midnight on the East Coast.

6.   Capriati dropped two games in her straight-sets victory over Evie Dominikovic.

7.   Dropping successive games to the creaky San Antonio Spurs, good as they are, made most of the Clippers, well, cranky.

8.   Equally surprised were the Americans, who had dropped three games to Norway this year and who have a losing record all-time against their Norwegian rivals.

9.   Even tonight, against the slumping Rockets, who have dropped consecutive games to Dallas, the Clippers and the Suns.

10.   If they drop two games back in the series, they may have no choice but to keep feeding Neely to the fire.