NEWS » e last minute of the first quarter when

ST. LOUIS -- Even when youre tired, you know when youve hit it well.Matt Adams 444-foot game-winning homer in the bottom of the 16th inning early Saturday morning against the Los Angeles Dodgers that gave the St. Louis Cardinals their fifth straight win, tying a season high, fits neatly into that category.That might be my best bolt, Adams said.Adams and the Cardinals try to summon more electricity for Saturday nights rematch with Los Angeles, with both teams desperately in need of long starts after emptying their bullpens this week.St. Louis (52-44) employed seven pitchers in its longest game of the year, two days after sweeping a day-night doubleheader that took a bite from its bullpen. But its positively fresh compared to the Dodgers (54-44), who used eight pitchers Thursday in a 6-3 win at Washington and nine more on Friday night/Saturday morning.The ninth was Bud Norris, who started Wednesday night at Washington and absorbed an 8-1 defeat before tossing 23 pitches just over 48 hours later. His last offering was the one Adams clobbered over the Cardinals bullpen into the seats in right-center field to conclude the 5-hour, 10-minute marathon.We were stretched as thin as we could go, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. You cant say enough about what Bud did. Two days off and taking the ball and trying to give us a boost was huge. The guys fought all game.Kenta Maeda (8-7, 3.25) takes the ball for the Dodgers, who will need innings of some sort from him, even if he is as ineffective as he was in Sundays 6-5 loss at Arizona. Maeda gave up seven hits and five runs over 4 1/3 innings in one of his few clunkers this year.Maeda, who hasnt faced the Cardinals yet, will be opposed by Mike Leake (7-7, 4.00). Known more as a sinker/slider specialist, Leake has become a strikeout pitcher lately, punching out a season-high 11 Monday night in a 10-2 win over San Diego.In that game, Leake became just the 10th pitcher in major league history to fan at least 10 batters in consecutive starts while pitching at least six innings and giving up one run or less with no walks.With St. Louis bullpen logging 10 innings Friday night and the identity of Sunday nights starter still undetermined thanks to a makeup doubleheader Wednesday, Leake, like Maeda, will have to provide a lot of innings regardless of effectiveness.By winning the series opener, the Cardinals pulled even with Miami for the National Leagues second wild card and drew within a game of Los Angeles for the first wild card spot.I feel like were playing good baseball, St. Louis starter Michael Wacha, who worked six innings on Friday night, said. Guys are having a lot of fun.The Dodgers, who remained four games in back of San Francisco in the NL West, could get right fielder Yasiel Puig (right hamstring) back into the starting lineup, although Roberts hinted Sunday night is a more likely spot for Puigs return. Cheap Vapormax Canada . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. Vapormax Canada Outlet .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. http://www.wholesalevapormaxcanada.com/ . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Vapormax Cheap Sale . -- Lou Brocks shoulder-to-shoulder collision with Bill Freehan during the 1968 World Series and Pete Roses bruising hit on Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star game could become relics of baseball history, like the dead-ball era. Wholesale Nike Air Vapormax . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Rupinder Pal Singh struck twice as India beat Ireland 3-2 in their opening match of the mens hockey competition at the Rio Olympics on Saturday.Drag-flickers VR Raghunath (15th minute) and Rupinder (27th, 49th) converted three out of seven penalty corners as India secured their first win in an opening clash at the Olympics since Sydney Games 2000. Ireland were superior in the second half, finding the net twice through Jermyn John (45th) and Conor Harte (56th) at the Olympic Hockey Centre.Going by world rankings, India (5th) were the favourites in the Pool B encounter against Ireland (12th) and the eight-time gold medallists dominated the first two quarters.While India launched multiple raids, Ireland defended in numbers and relied mainly on counter attacks in the opening period.Indias domination was evident from the fact that they earned six penalty corners in the firrst two quarters as against Irelands two.ddddddddddddndias first real scoring chance came in the last minute of the first quarter when they earned their first penalty corner, but their variation didnt work and from the resultant build-up Ramandeep Singhs effort was saved by David Harte in front of the Irish goal.Seconds from the end of the first quarter, India earned three more back-to-back penalty corners, the last of which was ably converted by VR Raghunath with a powerful low flick to the right of the Irish goalkeeper.Seven minutes into the second quarter, Ireland had their first scoring chance when they secured a penalty corner and John Jermyn scored from the opportunity but the goal was disallowed as the push was not stopped properly. 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