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(Sports Network) - The Cardinals made some moves before Sundays non-waiver trade deadline that shows they have no intentions of ceding the National League Central title to the Brewers. Falcons Jersey . While looking to gel together some fresh faces, St. Louis turns to a veteran in Chris Carpenter tonight and hell try to help his team make up some ground on Milwaukee and deny the first-place club a seventh consecutive victory in the opener of a key three-game series at Miller Park. The Cardinals have been doing their best to keep pace with the streaking Brewers, winning seven of their last 11 games. Still, they dropped to 2 1/2 games behind the Brewers on Sunday with a 6-3 setback to the Cubs that denied them a three-game sweep. Jake Westbrook was perfect through five innings, but ended up yielding four runs in the sixth inning to suffer his first defeat since June 12. Lance Berkman, playing for the first time since last Tuesday because of a right shoulder injury, tried to keep his club in it with a three-run homer, but it wasnt enough. St. Louis made some news off the field earlier Sunday, getting shortstop Rafael Furcal from the Dodgers. He made his debut as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, but is likely to start and bat leadoff tonight. His acquisition comes after the Cardinals got starter Edwin Jackson, outfielder Corey Patterson and relievers Marc Rzepczynski and Octavio Dotel from the Blue Jays earlier in the week. St. Louis will look for each player to contribute in this series -- Jackson is scheduled to start Wednesdays finale -- one that Ryan Theriot didnt sugarcoat after Sundays loss. "Its the biggest series of the year," Theriot told St. Louis website. "Its a big series, we can gain some ground and put ourselves in a good position." Carpenter will look to get his club off to a good start as he aims to extend a seven-start unbeaten streak. The right-hander is 5-0 with a 2.21 earned run average in that span and hasnt lost since June 17. St. Louis won the first six outings of Carpenters run before a 4-2 loss to the Astros on Wednesday. Carpenter allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk over seven innings of a no-decision, giving him a 6-7 mark and 3.68 earned run average in 22 starts this season. The 36-year-old Carpenter is 4-5 with a 5.09 ERA in 12 career starts versus the Brewers, including a loss on June 11. Carpenter was charged with five runs on five hits, yielding homers to Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks. Carpenter opposed another former Cy Young Award winner on that day in Milwaukees Zack Greinke and the two go head-to-head again tonight. Greinke allowed three runs over seven innings with nine strikeouts in that June 11 victory, improving to 4-2 with a 4.10 ERA in his career versus the Cards. The 27-year-old righty halted a personal five-start winless drought (0-2) on Wednesday with a victory over the Cubs. He threw 6 2/3 innings of two-hit ball, also walking three and striking out nine in a 2-0 win, his first since June 21. Greinke upped his record to 8-4 with a 4.50 ERA this year and is a perfect 6-0 with a 3.55 ERA over that time in eight starts at Miller Park. Weeks suffered an ankle injury in that win and landed on the disabled list. Milwaukee has since acquired a pair of infielders to help fill the void in Felipe Lopez and Jerry Hairston Jr. The loss of an All-Star hasnt slowed down Milwaukee as it has swept consecutive three-game sets from the Cubs and Astros. The Brewers wrapped their series with Houston on Sunday, claiming a 5-4 victory thanks to a pair of RBI from both Yuniesky Betancourt and Jonathan Lucroy. Fielder and Corey Hart both had three hits and Fielder drove in his 76th run of the season for the Brewers, who also won a season-best six straight from May 20-25. "Were playing really good ball and were pitching real good," said Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke. "Its not like were bashing the ball, but we put together good at-bats." The Brewers have won four of six versus the Cardinals this year, including a three-game sweep at home from June 10-12. That ran their series home winning streak to five straight games. Paul Worrilow Jersey . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. Jake Matthews Jersey . So on Friday, they went to work. The two-time Eastern Conference runner-ups announced they had signed three free agents -- backup big man Lavoy Allen, swingman C.PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have made their choice at outside linebacker, and it isnt LaMarr Woodley. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press the Steelers will part ways with the former Pro Bowler, a move that hardly serves as a surprise after fifth-year linebacker Jason Worilds agreed to accept a "transition player" tag last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move is not yet official. The 29-year-old Woodley will likely be designated a post-June 1 salary cap cut, but is free to sign with another team when the new league year begins Tuesday afternoon. By postponing the move until after June 1, the Steelers would free up about $8 million in salary cap space in 2014. The money saved will likely go toward signing the teams selections in the NFL Draft in May. Woodley will, however, count $8.5 million against the teams cap number in 2015. Woodley signed a six-year, $61.5 million contract in 2011, but has struggled to remain healthy. He missed at least three games in each of the last three seasons as hamstring and other lower body issues kept him sidelined for long stretches. The turning point came in a 25-17 win over New England on Oct. 30, 2011. Woodley sacked Tom Brady twice in that game but also left with a strained hamstring. He had nine sacks at the time of the injury, played in two games the rest of the way and could never seem to rediscover the productivity that made Woodley and James Harrison one of the most feared outside linebacker combinations in the league.Osi Umenyiora Jersey. The Steelers released Harrison last March and selected Jarvis Jones in the first round of the 2013 draft, making him the heir apparent to Harrison. Jones finished with just one sack but appeared to get better as the season progressed. Woodley did not. He failed to get a sack after Oct. 20 and ended the season on injured reserve. While Woodley sat with calf problems, Worilds thrived. He led Pittsburgh with eight sacks despite playing across from a rookie still adjusting to the league. The decision to release Woodley is the latest in a busy week for the Steelers, who have been forced to become aggressive to get under the salary cap by Tuesday. Safety Troy Polamalu and tight end Heath Miller signed more cap-friendly contracts last week, while Pittsburgh also released offensive tackle Levi Brown, cornerback Curtis Brown and linebacker Larry Foote. The Steelers agreed to terms with safety Will Allen. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported wide receiver Antonio Brown restructured his contract. The Steelers also restructured CB Ike Taylors contract to save cap room. All the movement, however, is unlikely to make the typically conservative Steelers major players when free agency begins. wholesale nfl jerseys ' ' ' |
