touchdown mark.The two were division rivals for six seasons when Gonzalez was with the Kansas City Chiefs.He pushed me to the limit to be the best tight end I could be, said Gonzalez, a studio a

ST. LOUIS -- Stephen Piscotty savored the moment of his second career grand slam. Then he got some chow.The St. Louis Cardinals budding star remembered an empty stomach caused by all that time at the ballpark after a rain-soaked, twice-delayed 9-8 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that completed a three-game sweep on Sunday. He hadnt eaten since breakfast and the game lasted just over six hours counting stoppages.I hadnt eaten before the homer, so maybe theres something to staying hungry, Piscotty joked.Brandon Moss had a go-ahead double in a two-run fifth, and rookie Aledmys Diaz hit his 11th homer. The Cardinals lead the season series 7-2.But it was a long slog to get there.I think guys feel like they played two, manager Mike Matheny said. Coming out with a win, it doesnt matter.Besides falling short, the Brewers had no complaints.They did the best they could to make the field playable, manager Craig Counsell said. There was nothing you could really do. Just miserable weather.The start was delayed by rain 1 hour, 20 minutes, there was a 14-minute stoppage in the middle of the sixth and a third delay of 55 minutes in the top of the Brewers two-run seventh. Perhaps a few thousand of a crowd of 41,148 stuck it out for a game that officially lasted 3:48.Pitchers on both sides had trouble gripping the ball.It seemed like it was always coming down hard when our guys were trying to make pitches, Matheny said. It ended up really saturating the field. I mean right there at the end you still saw puddles all over the place, but the guys stayed the course.Piscotty is 5 for 9 with 13 RBI with the bases loaded this season, including his first career slam on May 27 at Washington, and for his career hes 8 for 15 with 18 RBI. He connected on a full count against Blaine Boyer with two outs in the sixth for an 8-2 lead, and got the full effect.Around first base you really hear the crowd start to roar and the fireworks go off, Piscotty said. Its a fun trip around the bases.Michael Wacha (5-7) allowed two runs and nine hits and escaped his fifth and final inning when Aaron Hill grounded into a double play on a 3-1 count with the bases loaded. Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a two-run double in a four-run ninth and the go-ahead run was at first when Seung Hwan Oh struck out pinch-hitter Martin Maldonado for his second save.Chase Anderson (4-9) has lost three straight starts, allowing 15 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings and was pulled after his fifth walk, with one out in the fifth. Jacob Barnes gave up Moss RBI double for the lead and Jhonny Peraltas sacrifice fly.He was not his normal self, Counsell said of Anderson.Ramon Flores two-run double put the Brewers ahead in the fourth and Ryan Braun had four singles. Milwaukee is 13-26 on the road with one series win and four splits in 13 attempts, and finished the first half 35-46.BREWERS MOVEAfter the game the Brewers optioned OF Keon Broxton to Triple-A Colorado Springs and purchased the contract of IF Will Middlebrooks from Colorado Springs. LHP Chris Capuano was transferred to the 60-day disabled list from the 15-day DL.SURPRISE STICKAnderson, who entered a career .077 hitter, singled in the second.ROSENTHALS WOESTrevor Rosenthal, who lost his closer job about a week ago, faced four hitters in the seventh, retired none of them and was charged with two runs.UP NEXTCardinals: Carlos Martinez (7-5) is to start against Pittsburgh. He is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA in his last six starts, allowing no runs in three of them. He is 3-4 with a 4.02 ERA against the Pirates.Brewers: Milwaukee is 9-2 in starts by Junior Guerra (5-1) entering an 11:05 a.m. game at Washington. The right-hander will be facing the Nationals for the first time. 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Luis Cessa Jersey . Anthony Calvillo, through 20 CFL seasons, was frequently invincible and largely stoic in the heat of competition. But underneath the professional exterior he was, and is, compellingly human. SAN DIEGO -- Antonio Gates recalls Nick Saban telling him hed one day be an NFL first-round draft pick and that he could play both football and his beloved basketball at Michigan State.Neither happened.Yet heres Gates, the former basketball star from Kent State, needing three touchdown catches to break Tony Gonzalezs NFL record of 111 for a tight end.Being 6-foot-4 and weighing 250 pounds, Gates knows he made the right choice in going to the NFL rather than trying to pursue an NBA career.Still, for every pass hes caught from Drew Brees, Doug Flutie, Philip Rivers and even LaDainian Tomlinson, Gates always has basketball in the back of his mind.Thats the part thats kind of like the chip on my shoulder when I play, Gates said. In my mind, Id be thinking, `I wish I would have given it a chance, to see what would have happened. But its hard to see it because of the success over time playing football. Its kind of hard to say now.But I think thats what drives me still to this day is because I know I didnt give my heart a chance to do what I wanted to do. So Im like, `OK, well, somebodys going to pay for it. If Ive got to play 15, 18 years, to get all the records, thats what drives you, when people cant see you for what you were.Gates, 36, joined the Chargers as a rookie free agent in 2003, a year after leading Kent State to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. He caught his first touchdown pass on Nov. 9, 2003.It was against Minnesota. From Doug Flutie, Gates said. Drew Brees was here and I guess he kind of didnt get off to a good start and Flutie got in the game and I scored a touchdown.Brees regained his starting job but left after 2005, and Rivers became the starter.Rivers and Gates have connected on 82 touchdown passes, the most between a quarterback and tight end. Gates 109 TD catches rank him seventh all-time.Rivers first start was opening night in 2006 at Oakland. In the fourth quarter, he hit Gates on a 4-yard corner route. Rivers threw only 11 passes that night, two to Gates.I was fired up, obviously, to throw a touchdown in my first start, Rivers said. I remember going up to him and saying, `Hey, thats the first of many. And he was kind of like, `Get out of here. I havent got a ball all day. I dont want to hear that.Now you look back and however many its been between he and I, and hes right there at 109. It is special. I want it for him more than anything, and I think he wants it as well. Certainly when given the opportunity Im going to try my hardest to get him into the end zone three more times, at least.When Gates joined the Chargers he hadnt played a down of football since his senior season at Detroits Central High. Saban recruited Gates to Michigan State. Gates left after a year because Saban wouldnt let him play basketball.We didnt see eye to eye. I felt he sat in front of my momma and my father and said I could do both, said Gates, who had grown up idolizing Michigans Fab Five. I told him, `I came here to do both. He said, `No, football. `After playing at two junior colleges, Gates ended up starring in hoopps at Kent State.dddddddddddd Along the way he was noticing that people he knew were getting drafted high by NFL teams.Among them was Dwight Smith -- my homeboy from high school -- who went to Akron and was a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in 2001. Smith had two interceptions of Oaklands Rich Gannon, the league MVP, in the Bucs Super Bowl win at San Diegos Qualcomm Stadium in January 2003.Thats how it started, Gates said.He mentioned former Michigan State players T.J. Duckett, Charles Rogers, Julius Peterson, Dimitrius Underwood and Plaxico Burress. All first-rounders.Wait a minute, something aint adding up, Gates said. This is my circle and everybodys getting drafted.So now Nick Saban, what he had told me, started to make sense at that point, Gates said. Because he told me I was a first-rounder. He swore up and down Id go first round if I just played football. I was like, `Uh, I dont want to hear that. You just want me out there. I dont want to hear that, Nick Saban. You just dont want me on the basketball court.But I loved basketball. That was my heart. Its like going to the prom, man. Youve got two girls and you love one and she dont show you no attention and you have to go out of your way. Youre trying to get her attention. And then heres a girl whos just wanting to go to prom with you: `Love you, like your height. You smell good, ` Gates said with a laugh. Thats how football was. Everything was great. `You tall, you fast. You big. And basketball was like, `Uh, can you do it at this level? It was always the ifs ands and buts when it came to basketball. Golly, no matter what I do, I average 20 points a game and they were like, `Do it against Kentucky. I had 27 on that. I had 33 on Boston College. `But can you do it consistently on this level?Football was like, nothing I did was bad. Ultimately it wears on you. It wears on your confidence.Gates had a daughter at the time and made what he felt was the safest choice: the NFL. All these years later, hes certainly erased the doubters.I think its great. Im not surprised, either, said Gonzalez, who plans to congratulate Gates via Twitter when he breaks the touchdown mark.The two were division rivals for six seasons when Gonzalez was with the Kansas City Chiefs.He pushed me to the limit to be the best tight end I could be, said Gonzalez, a studio analyst for CBS NFL Today.Id like to think I did the same. There was always that competition of who could outperform who in the game.Gonzalez also played college hoops, at California, and like Gates picked the NFL over a possible NBA career.I love that he made the right decision, Gonzalez said. With the legacy hes set, hes right there with the other guy from that franchise, Kellen Winslow, two of best to ever put on cleats and play the tight end position.---Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '