NEWS » that Prize Exhibit likes Del Mar. She won the 2015

NEW YORK -- For a team thats historically been known for pitching, speed and defense, these St. Louis Cardinals sure are hitting a lot of home runs lately.Especially Jedd Gyorko.Gyorko connected in both games of a doubleheader Tuesday and the Cardinals wound up with a split against the New York Mets. St. Louis won the opener 3-2, then lost 3-1.Anytime you can win the first one, you hope to win the second one, Gyorko said. I think the way we pitched today, we probably shouldve won two. But obviously any day that you win a game, its a good day.Gyorko has homered seven times in nine games, giving him 14 this season. Last Wednesday, he homered in both ends of a doubleheader sweep over San Diego.Hes amazing. Hes doing a great job, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said between games at Citi Field. Hes an interesting player. I dont think people realize how good he is.The Cardinals lead the NL with 138 home runs, already one more than they hit all of last year. The last time they topped the league was 1998, the Elias Sports Bureau said, when Mark McGwire hit 70 of their 223.St. Louis has homered in 17 straight games, its best streak since a team-record 19-game string in 2006.No one on the Cardinals is among the league leaders in home runs, but eight players have reached double digits.Up and down the lineup, youve got guys who can on any given night go out and hit the ball over the fence. Thats a luxury to have, that any guy in the lineup can change a game, Gyorko said.Gyorkos homer in the second inning accounted for the Cardinals only run against Bartolo Colon (9-5).The 43-year-old Colon struck out eight and walked none. He retired 14 of his last 15 batters, featuring a fastball that barely reaches 90 mph.Anytime hes got that command, hes going to be pretty good, Gyorko said.Addison Reed worked the eighth and Jeurys Familia closed for his 36th save and 52nd in a row during the regular season.Asdrubal Cabrera ended his 0-for-32 rut with runners in scoring position with an RBI double and added a sacrifice fly off Jaime Garcia (7-7). Wilmer Flores doubled and singled twice, and Mets manager Terry Collins helped, too, winning his third replay challenge of the day.In the opener, Gyorko homered off hard-throwing Noah Syndergaard (9-5) for a 3-0 lead in the third.A couple hours later, Gyorko faced the crafty Colon.Its definitely a difference, but youve just got to get a game plan for each certain guy and then just try to execute, he said.Carlos Martinez (10-6) gave up a two-run homer to Rene Rivera and left the opener after the fifth inning. Three relievers finished, with Seung Hwan Oh getting his fifth save.A rainout Monday forced the first doubleheader between the Mets and Cardinals since 1999.26TH MANThe Cardinals recalled RHP Sam Tuivailala as the 26th player for the second game. He pitched a scoreless inning.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (9-5, 4.09) is 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA in four July starts.Mets: RHP Logan Verrett (3-6, 4.14) starts Wednesday night vs. St. Louis. No one on the Cardinals active roster has batted against him. Nike Free Ireland . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Nike Free Ireland Sale . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. http://www.cheapnikefreeireland.com/ . The 28-year-old from Calgary matched his career best after missing just one shot in his two rounds of shooting in the mens 10-kilometre sprint competition. Smith finished in 23 minutes 15. Discount Nike Free Ireland . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Cheap Nike Free Ireland Free Shipping . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. A case can be made for taking a day off after the ordeal of Del Mars opening program. Those who survive Fat Tuesday get a whole year to recover. The Oklahoma Land Rush was one and done.But at Del Mar, the show goes on. Saturday will come up quickly, even with its 2 p.m. Pacific post time, and for true racing fans, that is when the real Del Mar meet begins.Unlike opening day, beautiful men and women will be appreciated for their handicapping skills instead of their superficial good looks. There is room to breathe, and even turn around, in the Turf Club. And there is no jeopardy of being injured by someone wearing a hat depicting the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.Saturdays program also will feature the first noticeable tweak to the stakes schedule under the leadership of racing secretary David Jerkens, who came to the job in 2014. That summer, Jerkens was faced with a brand-new turf course not quite ready for prime time. Last year, he was similarly presented with the maiden voyage of a new dirt main track replacing the degraded Polytrack. When asked what major renovation he dealt with this time around, Jerkens paused to think.They painted the racing office, he replied.Yes, they did, going from some dull industrial shade to a calm, creamy white that certainly will guarantee full fields and happy horsemen all summer long.Del Mar long ago dropped any pretense of working with or around Arlington Parks Beverly D. Stakes for the female grass bunch. This year, to give the division a sensible, two-step series, the schedule shifted the 1-1/16-mile Yellow Ribbon Handicap from the rump of the meet to the first Saturday and pushed the 1-1/8-mile John C. Mabee Stakes to the final Sunday of the season, Sept. 4.Both are worth $200,000, which is about all you get for a Grade 2 race in California these days, and pretty much guarantees Jerkens and his crew will need to hustle if they are to avoid demotion to Grade 3.Still, no matter how hard they try, the trend does not seem to favor Del Mar. During the 39-day meet, there will be 21 graded races, six of which are Grade 1, led by the Del Mar Futurity, which has produced the last three winners of the Kentucky Derby.In contrast, during the 40-day Saratoga meet that begins next week, there will be 35 graded races, 16 of them rated Grade 1 by the American Graded Stakes Committee, a wholly owned function of the Kentucky-based Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Conclusions may now be drawn.The Mabee sailed along as a Grade 1 racce for 26 years from 1984 to 2009.dddddddddddd As for the Yellow Ribbon, it was the premier distance grass race in California for fillies and mares for 33 seasons while run at Santa Anita during the Oak Tree Racing Association meet.When the group was booted from Santa Anita, the race name was retained by Oak Tree, along with some office furniture and stationery, and was offered to Del Mar in place of the Palomar Handicap. Since no one could recall why it was named the Palomar Handicap in the first place, the change was a no-brainer. It helped that Oak Tree funded most of the purse.Oak Tree does business in Northern California now and left the Yellow Ribbon behind for Del Mar to enjoy, and fund, as its own. On Saturday, the race will feature the graded stakes winners Queen of The Sand, Finest City, Her Emmynency, Nancy From Nairobi, and Keri Belle, plus the 1-2 finishers from the 2015 Yellow Ribbon, Shes Not Here and Prize Exhibit.Theres little doubt that Prize Exhibit likes Del Mar. She won the 2015 San Clemente over the course, finished third in the Del Mar Oaks, and was not embarrassed last fall against her elders in the Matriarch. She was off to the races this year with a win in the Monrovia at Santa Anita, but then her running style caught up with her, and she has had little joy since.Thats the price you pay with a stretch runner like her in big fields on the grass, said trainer Jim Cassidy at his Del Mar barn this week.In her last five turf starts, Prize Exhibit has been part of fields numbering 13, 14, 11, 11, and 14. Most recently, she was fifth behind the record-setting Celestine in the Just a Game at Belmont Park, beaten less than two lengths for second.And she would have been second with any luck at all, Cassidy insisted.Two stalls down, Prize Exhibit was eavesdropping in a shadowy corner, but her long, white blaze gave her away. The English-bred daughter of Showcasing has been knocking heads with some of the best in the division not named Tepin over the past year. If she has taken it to heart, it did not show in the glow of her dark brown coat. Cassidy leaked an admiring smile, then quickly recovered his game face.Shes at her best at a mile, he said, so well see if she can get the mile and a sixteenth. Even then, shell need luck.Then again, theres only nine in the field. Prize Exhibit might feel like shes all alone out there. ' ' '