That throat has been through a lot. After Vitale's repeated sore throats "the last two years, it was a struggle," he says Zeitels told him he'd need surgery and might have cancerous lesions "I cried for three hours on the plane coming home." But after his Dec. 18 surgery and weeks of silence under Zeitels' orders Vitale returned onair Wednesday..Notes: Miami's Giancarlo Stanton is batting .191 with runners in scoring position. The Marlins haven't given up a homer in 11 consecutive games, a team record.

LAST GAME (49ers, Dec. 13): After a pair of stadium power outages that delayed the game for nearly 35 minutes, the 49ers rode their topranked defense to a 203 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night. For San Francisco, Frank Gore ran for 65 yards and a touchdown and QB Alex Smith threw for 187 yards and a TD as the 49ers improved to 113..Don't be surprised if Sanchez is given the keys to the offense out of the chute, though. Ryan watched rookie