Big Numbers

"We've broken this slide. " - President Obama, on Friday's report that businesses added 162,000 jobs in March, though unemployment remained at 9.7 percent "They're not big numbers, but they're welcome numbers. " - Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group., on the jobs report "According to the indictment, this defendant helped himself to others' fortunes, living a life of luxury, with little or no regard for the damage to our financial markets, our economy, and the reputation of the investment advisers who follow the rules.

Passing yards: Charlie Frye, Raiders, 333 Passing TDs: Tom Brady, Patriots, 4 Rushing yards: Jonathan Stewart, Panthers, 206 Rushing TDs: Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson, Packers, 2 each Receiving yards: Roddy White, Falcons, 139 Receptions: Wes Welker, Patriots, 13 Receiving TDs: Randy Moss, Patriots, 3 Sacks: Aaron Schobel, Bills, 3 Long field goal: Sebastian Janikowski, Raiders, 61

Big numbers for CC Tom Verducci of SI.com has pointed out just how strong a season CC Sabathia is having for the New York Yankees. The 6-foot-7, 290-pound lefthander is 15-7 with 158 strikeouts in 28 starts, an average of 5.6 Ks per game. With three more starts, he should get up to about 175, a rarity for a pinstriper at the age of 29. In the wild-card era, which began in 1995, the Yankees have used 57 starting pitchers who were younger than 30. None struck out as many as 175 batters in a season.

Ahmad Nivins had to wait nearly 4 1/2 hours to hear his name called in last night's NBA draft. And he actually did not get to hear it called, as ESPN was in a commercial break when Dallas took the Saint Joseph's senior with the 56th pick, 5 minutes before midnight. "They came back on and they were talking about something else, maybe a trade, and I saw my name at the bottom," Nivins said from his home in Jersey City, N.J. "I was actually on the phone with someone. I said, 'They picked me.' I dropped my phone.

On their way to the NCAA tournament and a meeting in the Final Four tomorrow in Detroit, Villanova and North Carolina faced four common opponents this season in Penn, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Duke. None of those teams came out on top against the national semifinalists as the Wildcats and Tar Heels combined to go 9-0 against them. "These are two teams that have a lot of weapons, but Carolina may have more," said Rutgers coach Fred Hill, a former assistant to Jay Wright at Villanova.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was always optimistic. Even with much of the baseball world predicting that the club and slugger Ryan Howard would head back to the arbitrator's table for another salary showdown this winter, Amaro believed the two sides could reach a negotiated settlement and come away sporting big smiles. It didn't matter that the parties, after painstaking negotiations, could not agree on a deal in the previous two years. Amaro just had a good feeling, and it kept growing until a few days ago when "we got to the point where I was confident we had an atmosphere to get it done," he said.

Watts-Schreiber household grows Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber now are parents of two boys. Their second son joined Mom, Dad and big brother Alexander Pete Schreiber, 1 1/2, Saturday, the 40-year-old actress' rep told People.com. Watts and Schreiber, 41, have been a couple since 2005. Sheen girls in crash A spokesman for Charlie Sheen says the actor's two young daughters were involved in a collision on a highway in Malibu, Calif., but were not injured. Authorities say 4-year-old Sam and 3-year-old Lola were in a car driven by their nanny Friday.

Lincoln University football coach O.J. Abanishe laughs at the notion that this season he'll inherit a team that hasn't won a game in 49 years. Lincoln last won in 1959, when the Lions beat Howard, 12-8, on Thanksgiving Day - quite a bit before Abanishe was even born. Abanishe laughs because the Lions haven't even played a game since 1960. This is a new beginning for football and a team in a position to make its own history at a school where history is important, since Lincoln is the oldest historically black college in the country.

Mention a platoon situation to most baseball players and they stop the conversation in its tracks. Hey, buddy, let's not talk about a platoon until we know it's a platoon. But the manager said - Hey, let's just see what happens first. It's understandable. Players want to play every day. They don't like to share. Geoff Jenkins and Jayson Werth are no different. They both would love to have 650 plate appearances. Who wouldn't? But they also see their situation with the Phillies, and they seem like perfect candidates to platoon in right field - although nobody knows how it will play out until the season starts.

Of all the things that Alpha Company has had to struggle with since it came home from Iraq, the most pervasive may be post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Of the 126 veterans interviewed or surveyed by The Inquirer, almost half - 46 percent - said they had been treated for PTSD, most at VA hospitals and clinics in the region. Alpha's rate of PTSD is higher than that of most U.S. troops who served in Iraq or Afghanistan - partly, no doubt, as a result of its being a frontline combat unit that lost six men. Shelley M. MacDermid, a Purdue University professor who served on a Defense Department mental-health task force last year, said typical PTSD rates among returning veterans were about 14 percent.