e possession of the NL

DENVER -- Matt Holliday almost felt bad robbing his good friend of an extra-base hit with a leaping catch at the wall. Cheap Jerseys . After all, Todd Helton is retiring at the end of the season. Not exactly the going away present Holliday wanted to give his former teammate. "Todd wasnt thrilled about that," said Holliday, who played five seasons in Colorado. "Hes like, I dont mind you getting hits ..." Holliday did his share of hitting Tuesday night, collecting four, including a two-run homer, to help the St. Louis Cardinals take over sole possession of the NL Central with an 11-4 victory over the Rockies. The Cardinals entered the night tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost 5-2 at home to San Diego. St. Louis reduced its magic number for clinching a playoff spot to five with 11 games remaining. "You like gaining a game on them," Holliday said. "But there are still a lot of games left. We have to keep winning games, make it hard on them." Joe Kelly (9-4) baffled the Rockies as he allowed three hits over five sharp innings before turning a 10-0 lead over to the bullpen. The hard-throwing right-hander couldve possibly stayed in longer, but he was dealing with tightness in his upper right calf. No sense taking a risk, Kelly explained, especially this late in the season. Kelly has been one of the teams most consistent pitchers since becoming a permanent member of the rotation in July. "Its not bad," Kelly said. "I still had my stuff tonight, still throwing pretty decently hard. Just covering first base, felt a little more tight than usual. I thought it was a good idea to get me some rest, get me out of there." Juan Nicasio (8-8) struggled with his command, lasting just 2 2-3 innings and allowing eight runs, which tied a career high. He constantly fell behind in counts, leading to more fastballs. "You see what happens when you get behind in the count," Nicasio said. Indeed. Holliday led an 18-hit night by the Cardinals, who had seven players with at least two hits. Holliday finished 4 for 4 with a walk, double and two-run homer. He also drove in three runs and scored twice. "When we get it going like that, its hard to stop us," Holliday said. The Cardinals ran away with the game in the third when they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six times. Daniel Descalso had a two-run triple in the decisive inning, while Holliday added a double and an RBI single. Colorados Michael Cuddyer finished 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI to raise his average to.331, which is tops in the NL. Kelly hardly seemed intimidated in his first start at Coors Field. He didnt allow a base runner to reach as far as third base until the fourth inning. He wiggled out of that jam when first baseman Matt Adams corralled Josh Rutledges liner. Once Kelly was out of the game, the Rockies went to work as they scored four runs off reliever Carlos Martinez in the seventh. But the bullpen shut down the Rockies from there, with Kevin Siegrist striking out pinch-hitter Jordan Pacheco to end the game. Leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter was frequently on base for the Cardinals, with three singles and a hit by pitch. He leads the league hits (187), doubles (51) and multi-hit games (60). Yadier Molina gave the Cardinals a lead in the first inning with a two-out single to centre. Molina is one of the top hitters in the league with runners in scoring position. Helton nearly tied the game in the bottom half of the first, but Holliday made a leaping catch against the fence in left field. The 40-year-old Helton announced last weekend his decision to retire after his 17th season with the Rockies. He leaves as the franchises leader in virtually every offensive category. Since announcing his decision, Helton has received warm receptions each time hes stepped up to the plate. "He deserves it," Holliday said. NOTES: Kelly is 9-2 with a 2.14 ERA in 14 starts this season. ... The only Cardinals starter without a hit was OF Carlos Beltran. ... Carpenter has 17 three-hit games this season. ... Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado missed the game after aggravating his right thumb on Monday. "His thumb is real tender," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ... Rockies C Yorvit Torrealba replaced Wilin Rosario (right calf soreness) in the third inning. "I see him being down for a couple of days," Weiss said. Wholesale Jerseys . Louis Cardinals had a major need at shortstop and signed a veteran free agent who, while having PED issues, has been a potent hitter throughout his career. Cheap NFL Jerseys . The 22-year-old from Notre Dame started 29 games and had five goals and six assists this season. The league announced Monday that Powers received 93 per cent of team, media and player votes. TORONTO -- Its been a bad three-game stretch for the Blue Jays and the numbers tell a bleak story: three straight home losses, 29 runs given up on 42 hits and 13 walks. Toronto (11-12) gave up leads in 10-8 and 11-4 losses to the Baltimore Orioles this week. It was never close Friday as the Boston Red Sox got to Mark Buehrle early en route to an 8-1 win. "Tomorrow comes quickly and early," Jays manager John Gibbons said hopefully, "So we need to get back out and play some good baseball." Its sorely needed. Torontos pitching staff has a combined earned-run average of 4.70 with 99 walks. And the Jays are hitting .247. Boston slugger David Ortiz hit his 50th career homer against the Jays and right-hander Jake Peavey scattered five hits over seven innings in a tidy outing to earn his first win after four non-decisions. A unanimous NL Cy Young Award-winner in 2007, Peavey struck out seven and walked two. The lone blemish on the Peavey scoresheet was a Juan Francisco home run -- his first as a Blue Jay -- in the seventh inning. The six-foot-two 245-pound designated hitter muscled a moonshot that landed in the right-field boxes just under the 500 level. Buehrle (4-1) was trying to become first Blue Jays starter to win his first five starts of the campaign. Instead he wobbled early as the Red Sox (11-13) recorded their 300th career victory against Toronto before an announced crowd of 29,411. The 35-year-old left-hander came into the game with a 4-0 record and MLB-leading 0.64 ERA. Buehrle had allowed two runs in 28 innings, striking out 19 and walking only five batters. The opposition was batting .210 against him. On Friday, he gave up seven runs on 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings, throwing 101 pitches that included 64 strikes. Buehrle walked three, had no strikeouts and saw his ERA increase to 2.16. "Hes been so good. Thats baseball, youre not going to be perfect every time out there," Gibbons said. "Hell bounce back. He was just off tonight, its that simple." Buehrle pointed to his walks and some bloop hits that found holes and eluded defenders. "Youve got to have the luck on your side. I wasnt hitting my spots as good as I was in the past. And when I did they got some base hits. But overall, too many strikes in the middle of the zone and they took advantage of it." Boston outhit Toronto 16-6 with all nine Red Sox starters registering hits on the night. The roof was closed on a wet, windy evening in Toronto. But down the street, Raptors fans braved the elements at Maple Leaf Square to watch Game 3 of Torontos NBA playoff series against the Nets in Brooklyn on the big screen outside the Air Canada CCentre. Cheap Jerseys From China. . That ending was closer but no more satisfying to locals. A leadoff walk and four hits in the second inning put the Jays behind 4-0 as Boston sent seven men to the plate and Buehrle threw 30 pitches. An A.J. Pierzynski sacrifice fly, Will Middlebrooks single and Dustin Pedroias two-RBI single kept the Boston scoreboard ticking. The inning snapped Buehrles streak of 0-23 with runners in scoring position. An Ortiz home run to deep right field made it 5-0 in the third. It was Ortizs fifth homer of the season and the 436th of his career, moving him within two of tying Andre Dawson and Jason Giambi for 40th place on the MLB all-time list. The Ortiz blast was also his 33rd at the Rogers Centre. Only Alex Rodriguez (36) has hit more in a visitors uniform here. Torontos Jose Bautista doubled in the fourth and has now reached base safely in all 23 games this season. The feel-good story ended quickly when he was caught stealing third, with one out and Edwin Encarnacion on first. Dioner Navarro then popped up to end the threat. "Ive got no idea," Gibbons said when asked what Bautista was thinking. "Its not smart winning baseball. Im sure he wont do it again." Said Peavey: "That was a shot in the arm for us." Middlebrooks, returning to the Boston lineup from a strained right calf injury that had sidelined him since April 4, doubled home Pierzynski in the sixth to make it 6-0. Buehrle exited one hitter later after walking the No. 9 hitter, Jackie Bradley Jr. Neil Wagner followed Buehrle and soon had to deal with the bases loaded, with two out, after a Jose Reyes error and Ortiz walk. Wagner walked Mike Napoli to make it 7-0, after the Boston first baseman had fouled off a string of balls with the count full, before striking out Jonny Gomes. The Jays had men on first and third with two out in the sixth but Peavey struck out Bautista and Encarnacion to snuff out Torontos first threat of the night. Boston manager John Farrell called it a key moment. "Jake gets two big strikeouts to end their threat, to keep the momentum on our side." The hard-throwing Wagner, who complicated matters with two walks and one hit batsman in 1 1/3 innings, was followed by Todd Redmond. The Jays sent Wagner to Triple-A Buffalo after the game, calling up pitcher Chad Jenkins. Bradley, who had three extra base hits on the night, made it 8-1 with a two-out RBI double off Redmond in the ninth. Chris Capuano pitched the eighth for Boston, striking out the side. Andrew Miller worked the ninth, giving up a single while striking out two. wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' '