The sporting week in numbers

Sticking with the round ball, the mercurial Mario Balotelli finally missed his first penalty as a professional footballer in AC Milan's 2-1 loss to Napoli. Photo / Getty Images.

The sporting week in numbers, compiled by Daniel Richardson and Kris Shannon of APNZ

19 - Auckland and Canterbury will field teenage first-fives in their ITM Cup match at Eden Park tomorrow night. Auckland's Simon Hickey has enjoyed a solid campaign, while fellow 19-year-old Richie Mo'unga is playing for Canterbury due to injuries and international call-ups.

305,000,000 - In baseball, no demands are out of the question when it comes to contracting quality players. New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano will be a free agent after the season and he reportedly wants a 10-year US$305 million (NZ$368m) deal on the open market. Good luck with that.

11 - Cano's teammate, the great Mariano Rivera, will retire this week after 18 seasons as the Yankees' closer. Rivera holds the all-time MLB record for saves with 652, and more men have walked on the moon (12) than have scored a run against Rivera in 141 postseason innings in his career (11).

23 - Rivera is not alone in retiring, with MLB commissioner Bud Selig announcing he will stand down next January. Selig will have held the top job in the sport for more than 23 years and will have been baseball's second-longest tenured commissioner after the superbly-named Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

21 - For the vast majority of his tenure, Selig has seen the Pittsburgh Pirates try and fail to make the playoffs. But the once-diabolical franchise have reversed their fortunes after 21 years, qualifying for next week's postseason for the first since a young Barry Bonds led them to the 1992 NL East title.

6 - The last thing new Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick needed was to inherit the club's ongoing problem at right back. But, after converted-winger Louis Fenton was ruled out for six weeks with a shoulder injury, the Phoenix will begin the season with more questions than answers.

4 - The number of goals conceded by Manchester United when they played Manchester City last weekend. It was the first derby for the new managers of both clubs, but City's Chilean mastermind Manuel Pellegrini emerged much happier than counterpart David Moyes from the experience.

26 - Sticking with the round ball, the mercurial Mario Balotelli finally missed his first penalty as a professional footballer in AC Milan's 2-1 loss to Napoli. The forward had scored 26 straight penalties to open his career, and his day got worse when he was sent off after the final whistle.

117 - Otago Volts batsman Neil Broom has played Twenty20 cricket for more than seven years and this week he managed to score his first century in game's shortest format. The former Black Cap smoked an unbeaten 117 from 56 balls as Otago beat the Perth Scorchers at the T20 Champions League.

5 - We could hardly leave without a mention of the America's Cup and the man who has become the most successful competitor in the competition's history. Sir Russell Coutts has now won five America's Cups with three teams - 1995, 2000 with Team NZ; 2003 with Alinghi; 2010, 2013 with Oracle.