Kritik und Lob » season.The matchup to watch during this ga

ST. LOUIS -- Wednesday nights pitching matchup looks like a classic pitchers duel between hard-throwing right-handers Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets and Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals.Then again, deGrom was supposed to be involved in a pitchers duel in his last outing and that didnt pan out.Facing Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants Thursday night, deGrom suffered perhaps the worst outing of his big league career. In five innings, he allowed 13 hits and eight runs as New York lost 10-7.Odds are that deGrom will be sharper this time, and hell probably have to be against Martinez. In a performance 180 degrees removed from deGroms, Martinez rolled through seven innings in his last start on Aug. 17 in Houston, allowing just a run and fanning seven in an 8-2 win.Whats more, Martinez has shut down the Mets in his brief big league career, going 2-1 with a 1.31 earned run average in six career outings. That includes a 3-2 win in the opener of a doubleheader July 26 in New York that saw him last five innings and work out of numerous jams.The Mets offense might be better-equipped for the rematch, even though second baseman Neil Walker (paternity leave) will miss the game. New York rapped out 12 hits Tuesday night in a 7-4 win, with the 1-2 batters -- Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera -- each bagging three.At 63-62, the Mets sit 3 1/2 games back of St. Louis (66-58) for the National Leagues second wild-card spot.Its crunch time and its nice to have the majority of our lineup back, Mets manager Terry Collins said. They know were playing for something.The Cardinals remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Miami for the second wild-card position, thanks to the Marlins 1-0 loss to Kansas City. They could have actually picked up another game on them except for a poor performance with men on base.St. Louis stranded 11 men Tuesday night, leaving two aboard in the third, fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth innings. After the first inning, when it collected a pair of RBI hits with men in scoring position, it was 0-for-6 for the games remainder in that situation.We had opportunities later on and we hit some balls hard, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. But it was just one of those days. It was an uphill battle right from the beginning.Despite the loss that dropped St. Louis to 28-34 at home, center fielder Randal Grichuk continued his power surge. Since being recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Aug. 11, Grichuk is batting .289 in 38 at-bats with four homers, the fourth coming in the sixth inning Tuesday night.All but one of Grichuks 11 hits since his return have gone for extra bases as Matheny has turned him loose, willing to deal with strikeouts in exchange for the long ball and solid defense.Im not feeling for (the ball), Grichuk said when asked what the difference has been in his hitting. Im just taking a rip at it and playing.Wholesale NHL Jerseys China . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. NHL Jerseys Outlet . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ . 31, the CFL club announced Monday. The team also has yet to decide on the future of Doug Berry, who began the season as a consultant to the head coach but took over the offensive co-ordinators duties in July. Wholesale NHL Jerseys . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic . In what the team had called a retirement, Ryan said Thursday that he is resigning as chief executive of the Rangers in a move effective at the end of this month.There are few teams in the NFL as hot as the New York Giants.The Giants (8-3) are riding a six-game winning streak and go on the road for their Week 13 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The last loss for the Giants was Oct. 9 in Green Bay.The Steelers (6-5) can take solace in the fact they get home cooking for this matchup with major playoff implications.The Steelers are 3-2 at home and two of the Giants three losses have happened away from New York. This statistic may look good on paper, but when dissected, the Steelers have lost their last two home games. They are 2-4 in their last six games and last won at home, ironically, on Oct. 9 against the New York Jets.These are two teams that appear to be headed in distinctly different directions at the most critical time of the season.Its December football. this is where the real football begins, Giants coach Ben McAdoo said. All our hard work to this point has set the table for December. Its an exciting time against a lot of playoff teams and playoff environments. The margin for error is small. This is where our identity needs to take over.Both the Steelers and the Giants have flaws that need to get corrected if either wants to be playing in late January.The Steelers have an explosive offense but are lacking on defense.The Giants defense, which made major upgrades the offseason, has been dominant. The offense has not been. That unit, led by quarterback Eli Manning, produced only 296 yards in an escape win overt Cleveland in Week 12. Manning threw for a season-low 194 yards.I dont think we took a step back (against Cleveland), but I definitely think we could have taken a bigger step forward. We got time -- a couple more games left. Now its time to progress this week, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said of the offensive struggles.To emphasize this lack of offense, Beckham Jr. has been held under 100 yards receiving in the last five games.The Giants offense will be facing a Steelers defense that has only allowed 16 points in the last two games. Granted, those games were against the Cody Kessler-led Browns and the Scott Tolzien-led Colts. Before those wins, the much=maligned defense had ggiven up 113 points during the teams four-game losing streak.ddddddddddddhe defense will need to play like they have the last two weeks and hope the Giants offense continues to struggle.The Steelers offense is their strength and the play of the Giants defense is how they win games. If those two units play to a stalemate, the winner of the New York offense against the Pittsburgh defense will heavily sway the winner of the game.Guys are definitely trying to make plays. Trying to be around the ball a lot more. Trying to be more physical and force the people to do what we want them to do, Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier said of the defenses improvement the past two weeks.One way for that defense to tilt the game in their favor is to force the Giants to run the football.Neither starter Rashad Jennings or rookie backup Paul Perkins has been able to light a spark in the rushing attack. Jennings is 30th in the NFL in rushing with only 395 yards.Only the Minnesota Vikings have a worse run game than the Giants in the NFL. The Giants average 79.5 yards rushing per game and do not have a run for more than 40-plus yards this season.The matchup to watch during this game for football purists will be the Ben Roethlisberger-led Steelers offense going against defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and the Giants.The Steelers average 263.9 yards through the air and have scored 24 passing touchdowns. Pittsburgh has the eighth-best passing attack in the NFL. The Pittsburgh offensive line has done a solid job of protecting the quarterback, only allowing 14 sacks.Pierre-Paul has been a man among boys the last two games. He has produced 5.5 sacks, four tackles for a loss, six quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery for a touchdown.Giants safety Landon Collins is tied for second in the NFL with five interceptions. These two playmakers have helped hold opponents to 19.4 points per game. That is tied for fifth in the NFL.The Giants defensive unit has only allowed 10 touchdowns, yet they have 10 interceptions and 25 sacks. ' ' '