for helping turn Roy into one of the best goalies in ho

NEW YORK -- Daniel Murphy is proud he put fatherhood ahead of baseball, and New York Mets manager Terry Collins thinks criticism his second baseman received for taking paternity leave this week was unfair. Murphy made his season debut Thursday, three days after the birth of son Noah. He called staying in Florida an extra day "the right decision to make" following wife Victorias cesarean section and said "we felt the best thing for our family was for me to stay." He learned Sunday that his wifes water broke, then travelled to Florida and missed Mondays 9-7 opening loss to Washington and Wednesday nights 5-1 defeat. He said his son was born at 12:02 p.m. Monday. Major league rules allow up to three days of paternity leave, and WFAN broadcaster Mike Francesa said on the air Wednesday that Murphy should not have skipped the second game. "One day I understand. And in the old days they didnt do that," Francesa said. "But one day, go see the baby be born and come back. Youre a Major League Baseball player. You can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help." A day later, Collins bristled after learning of the comments. "If youre accusing Dan Murphy of not wanting to play -- this guy played 161 games last year, wore himself out, played through all sorts of discomfort," he said. "You know, the man had his first child. Hes allowed to be there. The rules state that he can be there, so he went. Theres nothing against it. Theres nothing wrong with it. You know, he missed two games. Its not like hes missed 10. You know, when you start attacking Dan Murphys credibility, you need to look in the mirror a little bit." Murphy said he received text messages about the criticism. He was applauded before his first at-bat, singled and scored the Mets first run against the Nationals. He said his son was named after the Biblical character Noah, not for Mets teammate Noah Syndergaard. "People are going to say you named him after the monstrosity that throws like 1,000 miles an hour," Murphy said. "We didnt. Noah came from Noahs Ark. Peace and rest is what it means." Baby Noah kept his parents awake at 3 a.m. Wednesday. "We had our first panic session. It was dark. She tried to change a diaper, couldnt do it. I came in," he said. "It was just the three of us, 3 oclock in the morning, all freaking out. He was the only one screaming. I wanted to." NOTES: Murphy took the roster spot of OF Chris Young, who was put on the 15-day disabled list because of tightness in his right quadriceps. Vince Carter Jersey . With Van Osch out with a flu bug that has been rampaging through the tournament, Knezevic stepped in to lead B.C. (4-3) to a pair of victories on Tuesday before 1,131 at the Maurice Richard Arena. Timofey Mozgov Jersey .I shared with him how much I appreciated all he had done for us, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of that Thursday night farewell. http://www.magicauthentic.com/ . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., fired 11 aces and did not have a double-fault as he comfortably advanced to the third round at the Masters Series event. Jerian Grant Jersey .com) - The Utah Jazz look to put an end to their five-game losing streak when the Denver Nuggets visit Salt Lake City Monday night. Tracy Mcgrady Jersey .A. Happ? Happs seven wins are second on the staff to Mark Buehrles 10. Win-loss record is an antiquated stat, sure, but win total is generally an indication of a pitchers ability to work deep into games, enough to be personally affected by the result.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Patrick Roys fiery personality was on full display in the opening game when the Colorado coach got into a heated exchange with Anaheim, banging his hands again and again on the glass partition until it tilted. That eruption set a tone for the season: The Avalanche werent going to be pushovers. Not with the combustible Hall of Fame goaltender taking over behind the bench. Roy guided this franchise -- the one he led to two Stanley Cup titles as a player -- back into the playoffs by tying a team record with 52 wins. They play Minnesota in a first-round series that begins Thursday. "Patrick is the ultimate winner. He doesnt accept anything less than winning," backup goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "He did that as a player and hes doing that as a coach. "He does that when he plays golf, he does that when he plays cards, he does everything to win. And that has really translated to our team. He changed the whole mentality in this room, and it shows every time we go out on the ice. We play to win, so its fun to see that." As for that volatile temper, the players insist they rarely see it inside the locker room -- not after a bad period or a tough loss. This is their team, Roy said from the day he was brought on board, and he was there more for support than to scold. He was partnering with them, not ruling them with an iron fist. The breathing room allowed the youthful Avalanche to make some mistakes and learn from them. "They need to have someone who they can come up to and talk," said Roy, whos the fifth coach in NHL history to win 50 or more games in his first season. "Its their system." Roys only previous experience on the bench was serving as coach and general manager of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. So he leaned on his assistants, as well as former teammate turned executive Joe Sakic. Roy has been a little unorthodox in running the team: From pulling his goalie with two, three, sometimes four minutes remaining if theyre down a goal to assembling them at centre ice after a practice and having them all yell "team" at the same time. "If we want to be different than weve been in past years, then we have to do things differently," captain Gabriel Landeskkog said.dddddddddddd "Its been great to see his point of view on things. You see the team that we are. You see the team that weve become. "At first, you might wonder, Whats going on here? But its certainly working for us." No arguing that. They were 35-0-3 this season when taking a lead into the third period and had the best winning percentage in one-goal games simply because they played loose and with confidence. "Patrick empowers us," Matt Duchene said two weeks ago, before suffering a knee injury that will keep him out for the start of the playoffs. "Sure, he gives us a kick when we need it. But when he knows we need to be treated with a little bit softer (touch) and brought up instead of put down, thats what he does. "Hes very good at sensing the feeling in the room. Hes helped us all achieve what were capable of achieving." Perhaps no one more than Semyon Varlamov, who turned in a career season under the watchful eyes of Roy and goalie coach Francois Allaire, the man responsible for helping turn Roy into one of the best goalies in hockey history. Varlamov won a league-high 41 games this season, breaking the team record held by Roy. "Of course its a big deal to beat Patricks records," Varlamov said. "Hes one of the best goalies in the world." All this from a team that won just 16 games in a lockout-shortened season. "What a season theyve had," Wild forward Jason Pominville said. "Theyve completely turned it around." Really, the only big additions are rookie Nathan MacKinnon and the presence of Roy. "They must have done something right and Patrick must do something right to make that happen," said Pominville, the teams leading scorer. Indeed. The foundation for that transformation was built in Roys very first game in charge when he lost his cool and yelled at Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, pounding on the glass. That was after a 6-1 win, too. Roy was fined $10,000 and reprimanded by the league. Wild coach Mike Yeo jokingly said he plans to "check the partition" between the benches before the playoff series. "This is a team that we have to have a lot of respect for," Yeo said. "Theyre an in-your-face team." Just like their coach. ' ' '