ST. Oscar Fantenberg Jersey . LOUIS - It didnt take Tony Cruz long to consider all of his home runs and rank his latest. Hes only had three in his 100-game career and the first two came on the road. Cruz hit a three-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals connected three times, beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Saturday night and moving closer to their fourth straight playoff berth. "It was a really good feeling," said Cruz, who also had the first curtain call of his career. "The first one of the year is always a really good feeling and my first one at home. You know you hear the crowd. Its amazing." Milwaukee beat second-place Pittsburgh 1-0 on Saturday to give the St. Louis a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL Central. The Cardinals cut their magic number to one for clinching a post-season berth, and five for their second NL Central title in a row. Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk also homered as St. Louis won for the seventh time in eight games. The Cardinals have hit five homers in the past two games, but have just 104 for the season — among the lowest total in the majors. Their lack of power has provided an ongoing issue manager Mike Matheny has had to address. "I like the home runs," Matheny said in his postgame interview. "You guys always accuse me of not liking them, but especially those three-runners that Tony did. We know we have the kind of team that can do that and its nice to see them." Cincinnatis four runs were as many as it scored in the previous five games. The Reds have lost six in row and has been outscored 30-8 in that stretch. They are 20-40 since the All-Star break. "Youre seeing us having to go out there and really struggle so mightily to try to find a way to win a ball game," manager Bryan Price said. "Certainly nobodys enjoying this current portion of our schedule. The way weve played for the last 60 games has been miserable." Jason Motte (1-0) needed just three pitches and one out to earn the win. He came in relief of starter Michael Wacha and got Todd Frazier to foul out to right. Wacha didnt qualify for the win because he lasted just 4 2-3 innings. He was seeking his first win since June 17 before going on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. Wacha gave up two runs and six hits on 78 pitches, the most since returning at the start of the month. "I felt a lot better, today," he said. "More secondary stuff was working for me. My command was a little bit better. I felt it was a step in the right direction." Mike Leake (11-13) allowed six runs in five innings. He also walked two and hit a batter, all of whom scored. He gave up two homers and has surrendered 22 this season. Cruz hit his first homer in more than a year, connecting in the second. His last home run was Aug. 4, 2013, at Cincinnati. Wong hit his 12th, a two-run shot in the third. Grichuck added a pinch-hit homer in the sixth — it was his third of the season and his second in two nights. Grichuck later added an RBI bloop double. Zack Cozart homered for the Reds and Kris Negron doubled twice. TRAINERS ROOM Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams and 3B Matt Carpenter both were out of the starting lineup with a stomach virus. Matheny said they were "quarantined," though it wasnt clear if they were at Busch Stadium and available or sent home. ... Star C Yadier Molina got his first start of the season. Reds: C Devin Mesoraco was pulled in the sixth inning because of a stomach bug. Price said Mesoraco could have continued but the manager didnt think it was worth it. UP NEXT Reds: RHP Alfredo Simon (14-10, 3.35) has given up five hits in seven innings during each of his past two starts, including in a 4-2 win against St. Louis on Sept. 10. The Cardinals have batted .228 in 101 at-bats against Simon over 22 2-3 innings. Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (15-9, 2.68) has given up two runs over his past 15 innings and went 0-1 in those games, including a 1-0 loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 11. He has a 2.00 ERA this month over four starts and goes after his fourth win against the Reds. He is 3-1 with a 3.12 ERA in four games against them division rivals this season. Andy Andreoff Jersey . The Wizards gave up two seldom-used players — forward Jan Vesely and point guard Eric Maynor. Vesely goes to the Nuggets, while Maynor gets shipped to the 76ers. Philadelphia receives two second-round draft picks, one from the Wizards in 2015 and one from the Nuggets in 2016. Jeff Carter Jersey . - Buffalo Bills running back C. http://www.nhlkingsauthority.com/ . The Maple Leafs handed their embattled head coach a two-year contract extension on Thursday, while at the same time announcing that assistants Dave Farrish, Greg Cronin and Scott Gordon will not be back.The gold-wrapped TV deal the Canadian Football League secured last year will make financial life a lot easier for every franchise this season. But for a few weeks this spring, it also played a significant role in a labour dispute that could have stopped the season from getting off the ground. TSN/RDS and the CFL signed a new contract last year that runs through 2018, reportedly worth in the neighbourhood of $40 million per season, more than double the previous five-year agreement. That extra cash is great news for money-losing franchises like the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. "We needed a deal that would dramatically change the economics of our league and its teams and thats what this does," league commissioner Mark Cohon said last year when it was announced. "This will allow losing teams to start making money and to make some investments in their future, whether its new stadiums or practice facilities. Its definitely transformative from an economic standpoint." But the flip side of the coin was the serious pre-season friction with the CFL Players Association the lucrative new agreement provoked. Players wanted a bigger slice of the TV pie than the league was offering and in the end settled for a $600,000 bump in the salary cap to $5 million, more than a million short of what they initially sought, although only $200,000 less than their final offer to the league. But labour peace has now been guaranteed for the next five years and TSN president Stewart Johnson wants to look for even more ways to give fans an up-close-and-personal look at the CFL this season as the new deal kicks in. "How do we create better access for a viewers?" he said as the CFL prepares to start the 2014 season with the Toronto Argonauts visiting the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday. He said he league has already been very co-operative in allowing the network to put microphones on players, put cameras in locker-rooms for speeches and Grey Cup pre-game and post-game talks and putting cameras in less traditional places on the field. "Look for us to continue to look for new ways to innnovate when it comes to that type of thing," he said. Dustin Brown Jersey. This year former Bombers coach Paul LaPolice will move to a full-time member of the "CFL on TSN" panel from the part-time role he occupied last season. Rod Smith will host the show. "He (LaPolice) has shown to be an incredible asset to bring a coachs perspective to our panel as we try to tell those stories," said Johnston. The panel is expected to be live in Ottawa for the expansion Redblacks opener and Hamilton as their new stadium is christened. The 2014 CFL broadcast schedule will expand to 86 games in 2014, with the addition of the Ottawa expansion franchise and the playoff games, including the Grey Cup. "Were thrilled with that expansion to begin with. Having nine more games on the schedule in and of itself is a huge benefit to TSN (and) expanding to another major Canadian market that will generate interest not only in the home team but the league as a whole is a benefit to TSN." The new agreement gives TSN and RDS exclusive media rights to all CFL exhibition, regular-season and playoff games — including the Grey Cup — as well as the leagues annual draft and combine. In addition to broadcast and digital rights, it includes exclusive radio rights to the Grey Cup for TSN and Team radio stations. "The deal is an incredibly important component of TSNs overall programming schedule," said the network president. "It is an exclusive relationship with a top-tier property that delivers incredibly compelling all-Canadian content and culminates in the biggest show on Canadian soil, the Grey Cup." The CFL is a marquee property for TSN, which lost the NHL national rights earlier this year after Rogers paid $5.2-billion for a 12-year deal. Sports increasingly is seen as the premium product for broadcasters in the competitive multi-channel environment. "It has to be consumed live, there are very few folks who want to PVR a sporting event and watch it later," said Johnston. "That translates into an increased value proposition for our advertisers." Wholesale Spain Jerseys Cheap Juventus Jersey Cheap Cristiano Ronaldo Jersey Wholesale AC Milan Jerseys Cheap Arsenal Jerseys Cheap A.S. Roma Jerseys Cheap Atletico Madrid Jerseys Cheap Chelsea Jerseys Cheap Barcelona Jerseys Cheap Bayern Munich Jerseys Cheap Borussia Dortmund Jerseys Cheap Inter Milan Jerseys Cheap Juventus Jerseys Cheap Leicester City Jerseys Cheap Liverpool Jerseys Cheap Manchester City Jerseys Cheap Manchester United Jerseys Cheap Paris Saint-Germain Jerseys Cheap Real Madrid Jerseys Cheap Sevilla Jerseys Cheap Tottenham Hotspur Jerseys ' ' '