Though the Broncos fell short, they showed they can hang with a nationally

ST. LOUIS -- While the Milwaukee Brewers are negotiating one of their toughest stretches of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals are seeking any kind of traction in a place that has suddenly turned cruel.When the teams start a three-game weekend series Friday night in Busch Stadium, Milwaukee will try to reverse its recent trend of losing to St. Louis while the Cardinals will attempt to reverse a stunning streak of futility.Thursday nights 4-2 loss to Kansas City marked St. Louis seventh straight home defeat, its longest streak of that kind since Aug. 2-15 of 1983, and dropped its record to 15-23 at home. Last year, the Cardinals didnt lose their 23rd home game until Sept. 7.A major factor in St. Louis inability to win when wearing white uniforms has been its defense, or the lack of it. The Cardinals made three errors in each of their two losses to the Royals and have been charged with an major-league-high 62 errors, leading to 28 unearned runs.By contrast, last years 100-win team that captured the NL Central title committed only 96 errors and gave up just 47 unearned runs.Its a surprise to all of us, outfielder/first baseman Brandon Moss said. Weve got a lot of guys who are all defensively sound. Its just one of those things that happens.You want to play well in front of your home fans. You want to give them a reason to get excited. For some reason, were not playing our best games here. I think over the course of the season, it will even out.Based on past history, St. Louis (40-38) may have an ideal foil to help make a course correction. The Brewers (35-43) are only 13-23 on the road and have lost 10 of 15, including an 8-1 decision Thursday to the Los Angeles Dodgers that wrapped up a 3-3 homestand.Milwaukee kicks off a six-game road trip with this series and is in the middle of a stretch where it plays 26 of 28 games against teams with winning records.Weve been in this stretch against these teams that are at the top of the league, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. Were battling.Milwaukee turns to veteran right-hander Matt Garza (1-0, 2.81) to start the trip. Garza is 4-4 with a 4.07 earned run average in 12 career starts against the Cardinals, and is coming off a win Saturday against Washington.Garza will have to be cognizant of St. Louis third baseman Jhonny Peralta, who is 17-of-37 in his career against the right-hander with two homers and five RBI.The Cardinals will counter with left-hander Jaime Garcia (5-6, 4.09). Garcia, who had a no-decision in Sundays11-6 win at Seattle, is 10-5 in 19 career outings against the Brewers, tied for his most wins against any opponent.St. Louis will start Adam Wainwright (6-5, 5.04) opposite Jimmy Nelson (5-6, 3.60) on Saturday. Michael Wacha (4-7, 4.42) goes against Milwaukees Chase Anderson (4-8, 5.45) in Sundays series finale. Jim Brown Womens Jersey . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Bernie Kosar Jersey . -- Kyrie Irvings last-minute 3-pointer helped seal another victory for Cleveland -- and the Cavaliers longest winning streak since LeBron James left. http://www.footballbrownsnflprostore.com/Youth-Austin-Seibert-Elite-Jersey/ .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Bernie Kosar Youth Jersey . Inter president Erick Thohir says in a club statement on Wednesday that Vidic is "one of the worlds best defenders and his qualities, international pedigree, and charisma will be an asset. Odell Beckham Jr Womens Jersey .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. LAS VEGAS -- With his roster down to eight healthy scholarship players, Arizona coach Sean Miller knew one of his freshmen would have to step up during the Continental Las Vegas Invitational.On Thursday night against Santa Clara, two of them did.Lauri Markkanen had 16 points and nine rebounds, Kobi Simmons scored 14 and No. 8 Arizona advanced to the championship game with a 69-61 victory.The Wildcats (5-0) will play Butler for the title on Friday.Every game is going to be a tough game right now, Miller said. It was a great challenge. They played a 3-2 zone for 40 minutes, and for a young group like ours, we had our moments where we really did a nice job. If it wasnt for a couple of turnovers, I think we would have been even better against their zone.Arizona limited the Broncos to 36 percent shooting (9 of 25) in the second half. And yet, Santa Clara sliced its deficit to 59-58 when Jared Brownridge drained a long 3-pointer with 4:10 left -- the teams fourth straight 3 during a 12-4 run.But then Keanu Pinder converted both ends of a 1-and-1, Santa Clara turned the ball over and Parker Jackson-Cartwright hit a 3 to push Arizonas lead back to 64-58. The Wildcats closed the game on a 10-3 spurt, and the Broncos (3-3) went scoreless over the final 3 minutes.I think we just stayed confident in ourselves. We know what we need to do out there and we know what we need to get done, Simmons said. (If) we keep playing hard to the end, well get the victory. We were very composed, we got to our spots, we knew what we wanted to do and I think we did a good job.Brownridge had 25 points. Last season he scored a career-high 44 in Arizonas 75-73 overtime win against Santa Clara, hitting seven 3s and making all 15 of his free throws.Our team did a much better job this year guarding him than last year, Miller said. He made some really, really good shots. There arent many guards that play college bbasketball that are better .dddddddddddd.. being able to shoot the 3 than Brownridge.Henrik Jadersten and Nate Kratch each had 10 points for Santa Clara, coached by former Arizona State coach Herb Sendek.Arizona led 37-34 at halftime and scored 14 of the first 23 points in the second half behind Simmons. Every time the Broncos tried to answer, the Wildcats produced timely defensive stops and offensive production to maintain control of the tempo.We just kept fighting, rebounding the ball and being aggressive, said Markkanen, a 7-footer from Finland who is averaging 18.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. We were able to knock some shots down.BIG PICTUREArizona: After playing Butler, the Wildcats get some much-needed time off. Theyll have five days before their next game after playing five games in 11 days and their first six over 14 days in three cities.Santa Clara: Though the Broncos fell short, they showed they can hang with a nationally ranked power, which should help them when West Coast Conference play begins and they face the likes of No. 11 Gonzaga and No. 15 Saint Marys.TARGET PRACTICEAfter shooting 43.3 percent in the first half, the Broncos ended up at 40 percent for the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcats shot 48 percent overall while outrebounding Santa Clara 37-26.Santa Clara did an excellent job on offense, being patient and moving the ball, Miller said. Kobi played a really good game tonight for us. We challenged him a couple of games ago to give more effort defensively and nobody can question his effort tonight. He has a big upside.UP NEXTButler will pose the biggest test for Arizona since the Wildcats beat then-No. 12 Michigan State on Nov. 11 in Hawaii.Santa Clara faces Vanderbilt on Friday in Las Vegas, hoping to avoid dipping below .500. ' ' '