of only eight players to win the defensive play

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ST. LOUIS -- Not long after Jose Fernandez was lost for the season with an elbow injury, the Miami Marlins found a new ace. Theyve won a franchise-record 10 in a row when Henderson Alvarez takes the ball. "Hes been really good for us, especially since Jose went down," cleanup hitter Casey McGehee said Sunday after Alvarez (6-3) worked seven stingy innings and started the key rally with the first of his career-best three hits in an 8-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. "He pretty much did today what hes done all year for us. We love having him out on the mound." McGehee extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with an RBI single in the first. Marcell Ozuna had a two-run single in a three-run sixth that made it 4-0, and Jarrod Saltalamacchias three-run homer off Jason Motte put Miami up 8-1 in the eighth. The Marlins had lost four of six before taking two of three from their spring training partners. The first two games of the series were decided by one run. "This group is special," manager Mike Redmond said. "Weve bounced back all year." The Marlins easily took the series finale despite stranding 14 runners, largely because of Alvarez. Hes 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA since May 16, allowing two or fewer runs in each of his last nine games. "Ive always wanted to be a leader," the 24-year-old right-hander said through a translator. "Im just focused on being a pitcher." Kolten Wong, just off the 15-day disabled list, had two hits and homered in the seventh for the lone run against Alvarez. Matt Adams had a career-best four hits, including an RBI double. "All we can do is stick with our approach and go up there and get the barrel on the balls, and thats what were doing," Adams said. "Were just hitting it right at people right now." Cardinals rookie Marco Gonzalez (0-2) allowed a run in 4 2-3 innings despite giving up seven hits and walking five in his third career start since being recalled from Double-A Springfield. He yielded five runs in each of his first two starts. "You look at the bottom line, obviously it wasnt as efficient as he wanted to be and we had to get him out early," manager Mike Matheny said. "He kept us in there and made good pitches when he had to." Alvarez struck out to end the second and then had a hit in three consecutive at-bats, the biggest a leadoff bloop single in the sixth. He topped his previous best of two hits, done twice, and raised his average this season to .250. Obviously, thats a bonus. "Im glad hes on our side, especially since hes been lights out," Redmond said. "I think we all feel so confident when he takes the ball." The three-day weekend series drew 133,736 fans, with the first two games sold out and the finale just shy at 42,160. It was 84 degrees at game time and temperatures were unseasonably mild throughout. Redmond, a former catcher, remembers St. Louis and Kansas City as the hottest cities in the majors, with triple-digit temperatures this time of year and "just roasting out there." "Its gorgeous," Matheny said before the finale. "Yesterday, I didnt realize it during the game but it was a beautiful day." NOTES: The Marlins previous franchise mark for consecutive wins in a pitchers starts was nine straight for Chris Hammond in 1993. Hammond was 8-0 during that stretch. ... Jim Edmonds threw out the first pitch, firing a high fastball to Matheny, on his bobblehead giveaway day. ... McGehee has hit in 20 straight games on the road, the second-longest streak in Marlins history behind a 27-game run by Luis Castillo in 2002. ... The Marlins open a three-game series at Arizona on Monday with Tom Koehler (6-6, 3.48 ERA), back from paternity leave, opposing Chase Anderson (5-4, 3.91). ... Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright (11-4, 1.89 ERA) was tied for the league lead in wins heading into a matchup against the Pirates and Charlie Morton (5-9, 3.30). Wainwright is 1-1 with a 1.20 ERA in two starts against Pittsburgh this year. ... Matheny said closer Trevor Rosenthal was unavailable after tough outings in the first two games of the series. ... Motte missed last year due to reconstructive elbow surgery and allowed four runs for the first time since Sept. 22, 2011, at the Mets. Charles Oakley Knicks Jersey . Simona Halep of Romania claimed the fifth title of her career by beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 in the womens final. After trading sets, Gasquet trailed 4-3 in the decider but broke back to 4-4 in a game that went to seven deuces with Kukushkin constantly failing on his forehand shots. Mark Jackson Jersey . -- The NFL Players Association wants to determine if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers leaked information about quarterback Josh Freeman being in the NFLs substance abuse program. http://www.nbaknicksonline.com/. -- Among the 31 players at the Montreal Canadiens rookie camp, none feels closer to cracking the NHL roster than right winger Aaron Palushaj. Swingman Patrick Ewing Jersey . JOHNS, N. John Starks Jersey . -- A lawyer for the fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez asked a judge Friday to throw out perjury charges, saying Shayanna Jenkins did not wilfully lie as she was bombarded with 1,630 questions over two days before a grand jury.MIAMI -- It was arguably the signature moment of Alonzo Mournings career. He blocked a shot in the final minutes of Game 6 of the 2006 NBA Finals, then wriggled on the floor in what appeared to be celebration for a few seconds. Turns out, it was anger. Mourning was unimpressed by his chase-down block of Dallas Jason Terry with 8:55 left in the game where the Miami Heat would clinch their first NBA title. Instead, his memorable air-punching, arms-flailing reaction was borne from how Heat teammate Gary Payton had thrown the ball away seconds earlier and then argued with a referee at such a critical moment in the game. His fire was on full display in that moment. And it was that fire that led him to the Basketball Hall of Fame "So I had to sprint back to try to cover his butt for making that mistake, and I was mad," Mourning said. "Then I got up and I was like, Gary, what are you doing, man? Oh, I was mad. Maybe like two people really know why I was acting that way. The thing is, I was cursing Gary out. Thats what happened." After a career where he averaged 17.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots, the 6-foot-10 Mourning will be part of the class enshrined in Springfield, Massachusetts on Friday night, when the surest bet in sports will be that his speech will exceed the 10-minute recommendation he was given for his remarks. "I think I deserve it," Mourning said, laughing. Few would disagree. He was a seven-time All-Star, is one of only eight players to win the defensive player of the year award at least twice, an Olympic gold medallist and has already had his No. 33 jersey retired by the Heat in a star-studded ceremony that went way longer than planned, slightly raising the ire of an Orlando Magiic team that wasnt planning on a never-ending halftime that night in 2009.dddddddddddd "He had to be the first one to have his jersey retired by this franchise," Heat President Pat Riley said. "He earned that, many times over." But Mournings story is more about the journey than any statistic or award. He was raised by a foster mother who took him and 48 other kids into her home. From there, Mourning became a star at Georgetown, then an NBA icon who couldnt even be derailed by a kidney disease that necessitated a transplant while still in the prime of his career, and finally a champion with the Heat. "You dont think about going to the Hall of Fame. Its your reward," Mourning said. "This was the last thing on my mind. I had an ..... career. The journey was spectacular for me, personally. If no one else saw it that way, then so be it." Mourning, 44, will be presented by John Thompson, his coach at Georgetown, and Riley, his coach with the Heat. Thompson and Riley are two of the people who Mourning credits most for making him what he is. The other is Fannie Threet, the foster mother who died last year at the age of 98 and the person who Mourning speaks with more reverence for than anyone else. Thompson, Riley and the ............................... he still calls "Miss Threet" might seem like three wildly different people, but Mourning sees parallels in them all -- mainly discipline, devotion and a balance between toughness and compassion. Add them up, you get Mourning, who plans to spend his speech thanking just about everyone he can remember. "Its the pinnacle of the sport," Mourning said. "And outside of the birth of my children and winning a championship, its the pinnacle of it all." Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '