Wir suchen Dich! » storm trooper of the Spurs army, has bee

PITTSBURGH -- A strike away from ending his teams longest losing streak in two years, Pittsburgh Pirates closer Tony Watson tried to get St. Louis pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter to chase a fastball up and away.Instead, Watsons fastball went right down the middle. Whatever chance the Pirates might have of reviving their playoff hopes may have gone along with it.Carpenter drilled a solo shot to tie the game with two outs in the ninth and Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta followed with homers of their own as the Cardinals rallied for a 9-7 win.The Pirates have dropped eight straight and fell 5 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the race for the second wild card in the National League.To serve up four late, its hard to swallow, Watson said after blowing his third save since inheriting the closers role when Mark Melancon was sent to Washington at the trade deadline.Pittsburgh had scrambled back from an early 5-0 hole to move in front with a four-run fifth inning that included Jordy Mercers two-run double to left. The bullpen kept the Cardinals in check and Watson quickly retired the first two hitters in the ninth and had Carpenter -- who came in 2 for 17 against Watson -- down 0-2 before everything changed.Matt Carpenter is a really good hitter, faced him a number of times, Watson said. Thought I could get it. Couldnt locate the pitch ... middle up is a pretty high zone for every major league hitter.Things quickly unraveled from there. Yadier Molina doubled, Grichuk sent a long drive to the seats in left to put St. Louis in front and Peralta completed Watsons implosion by depositing a 2-0 offering into the right-field seats.Behind in the count 2-0, youre not getting ahead of hitters, Watson said. When hitters see that, balls start flying out of the park, in the gaps.Carpenters homer was the 15th by a St. Louis pinch-hitter this season, a major league record. Molina finished 4 for 5, including a first-inning grand slam. Mike Mayers (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth for the win, and Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a solo homer to Jung Ho Kang in the ninth for his 16th save.Kang had two homers for Pittsburgh in his second game back from a stay on the disabled list but Watsons stumble extended the teams longest funk since a 10-game losing streak in 2011. An All-Star as a setup man in 2014, Watson has given up a career-high nine homers this season. The three he surrendered in the ninth matched his season total in 2015.Its all about location, No. 1, manager Clint Hurdle said. He was much more efficient location wise last year than he is right now. Weve got some guys that are not quite having the seasons theyve had in the past. Its part of the maturation process of being in the game.St. Louis raced to a quick 5-0 lead behind Molinas first grand slam since 2012 and Matt Adams 436-foot homer in the second that reached the Allegheny River on the bounce. Pittsburgh, however, scrapped back.John Jaso atoned for an earlier defensive miscue with an RBI single in the second and Kang homered in the fourth to make it 5-2. Matt Bowman entered for rookie Luke Weaver, pulled after four innings and 83 pitches, and quickly frittered the lead away. His wild throw to second on an attempted double play gave Pittsburgh life. Gregory Polanco followed with an RBI single, Andrew McCutchen scored when Brandon Moss couldnt handle Matt Joyces line drive and Mercer doubled to the left-field corner to give the Pirates just their second lead in a week.It didnt last.TRAINING ROOMCardinals: RF Stephen Piscotty was initially held out of the lineup to give his aching left wrist a breather. Piscotty took a pitch off the wrist on Monday. Postgame X-rays were negative and Piscotty doubled as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.Pirates: Pittsburgh held C Francisco Cervelli out of the lineup a day after he experienced discomfort in his left hand trying to block a pitch.UP NEXTCardinals: Mike Leake returns to the rotation after a stay on the disabled list while battling a case of the shingles. Leake is 9-5 with a 3.28 ERA in his career against Pittsburgh but is 1-2 with a 5.71 ERA this season.Pirates: Rookie Jameson Taillon will face the Cardinals for the first time in the series finale. The 24-year-old has a 2.80 ERA over his last 10 starts and pitched six innings of one-run ball last week against Milwaukee.Air Max 2019 Goedkoop . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Nike Air Max 720 Korting . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. http://www.airmaxkopennederland.com/ . -- Devin Hester is done returning kicks in Chicago. Nike Air Max 98 Heren Sale . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Nike Air Max 95 Nederland . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL.MINNEAPOLIS -- For so many years, the San Antonio Spurs have been defined by their consistency, an unprecedented level of stability that has brought five championships and established the organization as a model franchise in professional sports.The colors dont change. The coach doesnt change. The core never changed.After 20 years and those five titles, change has finally come to San Antonio.Tim Duncan, the tone setter from the moment he was drafted in 1997, retired last summer. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have taken reduced roles this season, and the Spurs brought in seven new faces as part of a rare roster shuffle as they try to retool around Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge.Its been at the same time a challenge and a refreshing sort of situation, coach Gregg Popovich said. The team is changing personnel-wise and where the ball goes and a few different players so we have to do things a little bit differently. Theres a give and take, strategy wise, to fit the group. Its been a lot of fun. Watching some of the young guys get minutes and develop has been fun.Fun because while the faces have changed, the results have not. The Spurs (18-4) have navigated the bumps in the road that come with unfamiliarity and have the second-best record in the league, tied the star-studded Golden State Warriors (18-3) in the win column. They have started the season 13-0 on the road and can match last years Warriors for the best road start in league history with a win in Chicago on Thursday night.It hasnt always been pretty for these Spurs. Theyre not the same ruthless, precise machine that steamrolled the league during championship runs. They have had to muddle through things, overcome mistakes and struggle while they get acclimated to one another.Newcomers like six-time All-Star Pau Gasol, steady veteran David Lee, Argentinian point guard Nico Laprovittola and shot-blocking center Dewayne Dedmon have had to work hard to integrate into a culture that is as enduring as any.You could see it in our games. Sometimes our offense is stagnant, our defense isnt moving well or in our help positions, Leonard said. We have a big playbook on the offensive end. Its just hard to learn iit.dddddddddddd It was hard for me to learn it. I didnt get it down until probably my second or third year. Weve just got to keep giving a consistent effort and being into the game and into our playbook and just keep moving from there.The result has been a team that tends to start slow, fall behind and then gradually digs its heels in. They are 5-4 at home, where they only lost once all of last season. Theyve lost to the Magic at home, were thumped by the Clippers and have not recaptured the breathtaking form they showed in a 29-point win at Golden State on opening night. But the wins keep coming.I think the first eight to 10 games was the coaching staff trying to figure out what lineups were going to play and there were a lot of changes, a lot of trying what works best, said Gasol, who signed as a free agent this summer. But now I think theres more consistency, theres more defined lineups. Guys know when to come in, when theyre going to play and whats expected of them.The Spurs have won 13 of their last 14 games, and Popovich has leaned on his core more than he has in years to get them off to a good start. Leonard and Aldridge both average more than 33 minutes per game, the first time San Antonio has had two players averaging that much playing time since 2008-09.Its been interesting to see how the team develops and comes together and who the leaders will be without Timmy being that overriding factor for so long, Popovich said.Leonard, for years the ultra-quiet storm trooper of the Spurs army, has been much more vocal this season. Gasols personality and approach have been a perfect fit as most expected and Ginobili and Parker are still there to help filled the void left by Duncans retirement.And little by little, the new guys are getting up to speed.Theyve done a great job of making it easy for us and for Pop to throw them into the fire and trust them to know the system, Green said. Well continue to help them and they will continue to be sponges and absorb it.---Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski ' ' '