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ST. LOUIS -- Monday night turned into another missed opportunity for the St. Louis Cardinals, and it could have been so much worse.St. Louis entered the ninth inning on the verge of being the first no-hit victims in Busch Stadium IIIs 11-year history, but Jeremy Hazelbakers leadoff homer on an 0-2 pitch from Chicago Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks saved it from that distinction, if not the indignity of a 4-1 loss.Whats more, the New York Mets 8-1 loss in Washington kept the Cardinals (75-68) a half-game out of the National Leagues second wild-card spot. Theyll hope for similar help Tuesday night as well as a better result in game two of their series with the Cubs.Manager Mike Matheny, perhaps looking for any positive from an offense thats scored in just four of their last 34 innings, pointed to the last three outs of Monday nights defeat as a good sign.Its always good to score and then get another guy on base, he said. You try to make something happen and put a little pressure on them. We didnt care how it happened; we wanted to get something going.Time is running out to get something going for St. Louis, especially at home, where it fell to 32-40 and must win its last nine games to avoid its first sub-.500 season since Busch III opened in 2006.It wont help that itll have to face Jason Hammel (14-8, 3.50), who already owns two wins against it this year, a 2-1 decision on April 19 and a 12-3 verdict on May 24 in which he worked six shutout innings despite not having his best stuff.But the recent version of Hammel is one they might be able to hit. Hes coming off a dreary 12-5 defeat Sept. 6 in Milwaukee, where he allowed 13 hits and nine runs, eight earned, in 5 2/3 innings.However, Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia hasnt been much better. Garcia (10-12, 4.58) has been pummeled in four of his last five starts, including a 12-6 loss Thursday night to the Brewers at home.Garcia was lit up for eight hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings, walking one and whiffing three, as he suffered his fourth straight loss.Whats more, St. Louis might have another injury concern to deal with as first baseman Matt Carpenter departed Monday nights game after seven innings with back tightness. His status for Tuesday night isnt known.What is known is that Chicago would love to clinch on its archrivals turf. The proof of that might have come in the sixth inning Monday night, when right fielder Jason Heyward enraged the fans who cheered for him last year by falling into the seats to snatch Hazelbakers foul fly.It also highlighted one of the big differences in the teams. While the Cardinals have been one of the games shakiest teams defensively, the Cubs sport plus defenders and good athletes at almost every spot on the field.Heyward jumping into the seats, Addy (shortstop Addison Russell) in the hole, JB (second baseman Javier Baez) all over the place, manager Joe Maddon said. All of that. Custom Cardinals Jersey China . - Levi Browns tenure at left tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers is over before it even began. Wholesale Custom Cardinals Shirts . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/custom-chris-carpenter-jersey-large-271q.html . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Stan Musial . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Dominic Leone . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. PHILADELPHIA -- The defending national champion Villanova Wildcats opened the 2016-17 season with six games in 13 days.It was a grueling stretch for the No. 2-ranked team.But they came away with six victories, including their most recent 63-47 win over the College of Charleston last Wednesday. After the win, the victorious Wildcats looked a bit weary.A much-needed break was waiting and theyll now be rested and ready when they open the Big Five portion of their schedule Tuesday night versus city rival Penn (7 p.m. ET) at the Palestra.This break comes at a good time for us, Villanova head coach Jay Wright said. It was good for us to experience this. We got a lot of our offense and defense in knowing that we would face this stretch where we wouldnt get a lot of practice in. I think it paid off for us. We were prepared but, on the other hand, I dont know if we were mentally prepared for this many games back-to-back. We had a couple of them -- Western Michigan, maybe this one -- where we didnt have great energy.Preseason player-of-the-year candidate Josh Hart led the way against the Cougars with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Hart has been a team leader and a budding star thus far this season.We need to learn to bring it every night, Wright said. That was the key to Ryan (Arcidiacono) and Daniel (Ochefu) last year. They had a mature approach to every game. Their approach was like that of a 15-year NBA veteran -- they came to work every day.dddddddddddd Josh is really getting good at that. But our teams got to get good at that.The Quakers (2-2) opened their season with four consecutive road games -- wins at Robert Morris and Central Connecticut State and a loss at Miami and, most recently, a two-point loss at Navy last Wednesday.Junior Caleb Wood led Penn in scoring for the second game in a row with 15 points at Navy.Sophomore Jackson Donahue knocked down four treys, which are as many as he hit in the Quakers first three games combined. Donahue added six assists for a career high.But Penn made just four -- and attempted six -- free throws with none coming in the second half.Now the Quakers get a chance to come back home with a difficult matchup in Villanova. Its a daunting task for sure.It isnt easy to play on the road in college basketball, and weve started the season with four straight away from home, Penn head coach Steve Donahue told the Daily Pennsylvanian after the loss at Navy. Winning this game wouldve been a great step for us, but I think regardless of the result we showed some of the growth this team has had in the past couple weeks. Its just about overcoming some of the things we didnt do well today and getting ready for a tough game against Villanova. ' ' '