News & Neuigkeiten » in 2013. Lester is 8-6 with a 2.05

ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Moss decided the best way to work out of his slump was to go to the tape.A day off spent analyzing video did the trick for the veteran St. Louis infielder.Moss bounced out of a three-week skid with a tiebreaking home run and Aledmys Diaz connected in his return to the starting lineup, leading the Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night.St. Louis ensured that the runaway Cubs wont clinch the NL Central at Busch Stadium. Chicagos magic number is three, and the series wraps up Wednesday.The Cardinals remained a half-game behind the New York Mets for the second wild-card spot.Moss entered the game mired in a 1-for-41 skid. When given Monday off by manager Mike Matheny, Moss chose to pour over video of his better at-bats rather than swing in the batting cages.I went in the cage and worked and worked and nothing seemed to come from it, Moss said. Yesterday was much more video than anything.It helped.Matheny was glad to see that the day off did the trick.He responded well, Matheny said. It was a bad rut, but he worked himself through.Moss slammed a two-run homer in the sixth off Jason Hammel (14-9).The Cubs Dexter Fowler led off the game with a home run against Jaime Garcia.Alex Reyes (2-1) won with 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Kevin Siegrist got his second save.Reyes entered the game with the bases loaded and two out in the second. He immediately fanned Kris Bryant with a 98 mile-per-hour fastball to get out of the jam.He came in in a tough spot and saved the day, Matheny said.Moss singled in the second and scored on Diazs 15th homer of the season. Diaz started for the first time since July 31, when the All-Star shortstop broke his thumb.Garcia lasted just 1 2/3 innings, the shortest outing in his 146-start career. He gave up two runs and three hits, including Fowlers seventh leadoff homer of the season.I let my team down, Garcia said. Ive been through tough times before. All I can say is Im going to continue to do whats in my control to continue to fight.Garcia is 0-3 with a 9.94 ERA in his last four home starts.The Cardinals, who scored all four runs with two outs, are 8-7 against the Cubs, who are 40 games over .500.St. Louis is 5-2 in Wrigley Field.Hammel allowed four runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out nine and walked two.It seems every time I give up a run, it leaves the yard, Hammel said. Pretty frustrating. But, I felt like I pitched pretty well.The Cubs have won 33 of 45 games since July 27.Fowler realizes that nailing down the division crown is just a formality.Its going to happen, its a matter of when, Fowler said. So we have to keep winning games.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: INF Matt Carpenter was in the starting lineup after leaving Mondays game with back tightness. ... RHP Trevor Rosenthal threw batting practice. He has missed 46 games with shoulder inflammation. ... RHP Michael Wacha is expected to be activated off the disabled list tomorrow and could be headed to the bullpen. He has been out since Aug. 9 with shoulder inflammation.UP NEXTCubs LHP Jon Lester (16-4, 2.51) takes on RHP Carlos Martinez (14-7, 3.05) in the final game of the three-game set. Lester has allowed fewer than two runs in each of his last five starts. He is 6-0 with a 1.17 ERA in his previous eight starts. Martinez is 6-3 in 11 day starts this season. He has induced an NL-leading 32 double plays.Cheap Air Max 97 Wholesale . Darren Helm scored on Detroits sixth attempt in the shootout and then Jonas Gustavsson stopped Andrew Shaws shot, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. Air Max 97 Valentines Day 2019 . PAUL, Minn. http://www.outletairmax97.com/mens-nike-air-max-97-plus-racer-pink-hyper-magenta-ah8144-600.html . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Air Max 97 Have a Nike Day Tropical Twist .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Air Max 97 Have a Nike Day Blue . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.CLEVELAND -- Who wrecks the hex?Who can reverse the curse?The Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians will send their postseason aces into Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday with an eye toward winning their first championship in three generations ... or much, much longer.You know the history by now.Cleveland has not won a World Series since 1948. The Indians came up short in their three most recent appearances, the last in 1997, when Edgar Renterias walk-off single in the 11th inning of Game 7 gave the Florida Marlins the title.The Cubs have not been in the Series since 1945 and have not won it since 1908. Numerologists suggest this might be the year. There are 108 stitches on a baseball. Wrigley Field sits on Chicagos planned development lot 108. The Cubs win the Series in the movie Back to the Future II, which has a running length of 108 minutes.And on and on.Not that the teams are focused on the history.After youve actually done it, thats when you really dwell on that particular thought, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. In the meantime, I promise you, our guys are going to be in the present tense. I think we all have a tremendous amount of respect for history and whats happened before us or not happened before us. But, you know, you go in that room right now, theyre very young. Really not impacted by a lot of the lore, I dont think.Cubs left-hander Jon Lester and Cleveland right-hander Corey Kluber have been the two best starting pitchers in the postseason while lifting the Great Lakes neighbors this far. Each will make his fourth start of the postseason, his third in a Game 1.Lester is 2-0 with three quality starts, an 0.86 ERA and an 0.76 WHIP in 21 innings in the playoffs this year. He threw eight shutout innings in a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants in the first game of the National League Division Series, gave up one run in six innings of a no-decision in the 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first game of the NL Championship Series and gave up one run in seven innings in an 8-4 victory in Game 5 of the NLCS.You know, there will be nerves and there will be adrenaline and all that stuff when I go out there to throw the first pitch and kind of get the ball rolling, Lester said, but once you get into the game, I feel like then youre able to go back to your game plan.Klubers postseason ERA, 0.98, trails only Lester among pitchers who have made more than one playoff start this month. He won both of his previous Game 1 starts, throwing seven shutout iinnings in a 6-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox in the American League Division Series and 6 1/3 shutout innings in a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game of the AL Championship Series.ddddddddddddIn Game 5 of the ALCS, he lost after allowing two runs in five innings.Obviously, youre in the World Series, and theres two teams left and all that kind of stuff, Kluber said. For me at least, its been all about getting prepared and being ready when it is time to throw that first pitch.The teams also have more than the usual familiarity.Cleveland manager Terry Francona led ghost-busting Boston to its first World Series title in 86 years in 2004, then to another crown in 2007, both times for general manager Theo Epstein, now the Cubs president.I know thats a really cool thing for fans to talk about and stuff, Francona said. It really doesnt enter into what were doing. I just think if you look too far back, you look too far forward, you miss whats right in front of you.Epstein interviewed Maddon for the Boston managerial job in 2004 before hiring Francona. Maddon said the other day the Red Sox made the right choice at the time.Our players are going to dictate who wins and loses on both sides, as it should be, but Theo had the guts to hire me up there when I didnt have a ton of resume and they were expected to win, and he believed in me, Francona said. We went eight years of a lot of good baseball.Lester won 65 games in his four full seasons as a starter under Francona, who was replaced after 2011 and hired by Cleveland in 2013. Lester is 8-6 with a 2.05 ERA in 19 playoff appearances, 17 starts, and he won four games in the Red Soxs run to the 2013 World Series title.I watch him pitch right now and when he takes the mound, extremely calm, Maddon said. Hes in the moment. There is something about that internal level of confidence and the ability to -- this is an overused term, but its true -- slow things down. I think some players have that ability better than others.The Cubs had 33 hits while winning the final three games of the NLCS against the Dodgers. Anthony Rizzo was 7-for-14 with two homers, Addison Russell 6-for-13 with two homers and Dexter Fowler 6-for-14 with two doubles.Clevelands staff, despite injuries to three start pitchers, has given only 15 runs in eight playoff games, sweeping Boston and taking out Toronto in five. ' ' '