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ST. LOUIS -- Back in April when the season started, it was easy to expect the Pirates season-ending trip to Busch Stadium meaning something for both Pittsburgh and the St. Louis Cardinals.Instead, all Pittsburgh can do when it closes the season is play the role of spoiler against a Cardinals team trying to make its sixth consecutive National League playoff appearance.St. Louis starts the Friday night series opener fresh off the years most controversial win, a 4-3 decision Thursday night over the Cincinnati Reds that was decided by Yadier Molinas two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning.Molinas one-hop liner shouldnt have scored Matt Carpenter, though, because the ball hit off signage beyond the left field wall. It should have been a ground-rule double, but third base umpire Scott Barry ruled the ball in play and the Reds didnt challenge fast enough after the fact.Biggest win of the year, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, and tomorrow nights the biggest game of the year. Cant wait.St. Louis (83-76) is two games behind the New York Mets (85-74) for the NLs top wild-card spot and a game in arrears of the San Francisco Giants (84-75) for the second spot.The Giants close the season with a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the Mets finish with three at Philadelphia.The Cardinals will have the matchup advantage in the opener against the Pirates as St. Louis right-hander Carlos Martinez (15-9, 3.15 ERA) will face raw but talented Pittsburgh right-hander Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 4.91).Martinez is coming off a 3-1 loss Sunday night at the Chicago Cubs that saw him work six innings and give up two runs on six hits and four walks while fanning six. Martinez is 3-5 with a 4.01 career ERA against the Pirates, and 1-2 this season in three starts.Glasnow will make his fourth career start. His first occurred July 7 in St. Louis, where he pitched decently for 5 1/3 innings but lost 5-1 as Adam Wainwright stifled Pittsburgh for seven innings. The hard-throwing Glasnow can touch the mid to upper 90s with his fastball but has experienced command issues at times.The Pirates (78-81) reached the playoffs the past three seasons, but they fell victim to injuries and inconsistent pitching this year. They will have to sweep the series to avoid their 21st losing season in 24 years.Pittsburgh will be without left fielder Starling Marte (back) for the weekend and might be without shortstop Jordy Mercer (forearm) as well.Were going to play all the men that are capable of playing, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. Marte has been unplugged. Mercer might not be able to go. You saw a couple of throws he made across the diamond (Thursday). ... Thats basically all hes got.Pittsburgh leads the season series 9-7, having won five of the seven games in St. Louis. The Cardinals are 35-43 at Busch Stadium, clinching their first losing mark at home since 1999.The Saturday game will match Pirates right-hander Chad Kuhl (5-4, 4.25) against a pitcher to be determined. St. Louis will use Wainwright (13-9, 4.67) in Sundays regular-season finale opposite Ryan Vogelsong (3-7, 5.00).Josh Howard Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Brad Davis Jersey . - The Oakland Raiders re-signed offensive lineman Khalif Barnes on Friday. https://www.cheapmavericks.com/823l-courtney-lee-jersey-mavericks.html . Hey!" The lower tier of the School End of Queens Park Rangers Loftus Road was packed solid with a very festive-sounding Chelsea choral section in this particular part of South Africa Road London, W12. Dwight Powell Jersey . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Adrian Dantley Jersey . The 18th player to shoot 60 on the tour, Jamieson settled for par on the final hole when his 15-foot birdie chip grazed the edge of the hole and stayed out. After opening with rounds of 66 and 73 to make the cut by a stroke, he had 11 birdies in the bogey-free round.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Atlantic Coast Conference finally is getting its own TV channel.Commissioner John Swofford said Thursday the ACC Network will launch in August 2019 as part of an extended media deal with ESPN that now runs through the 2035-36 season.Speaking at his annual forum during the ACC Kickoff media days, Swofford said there will also be the creation of a digital channel that will be online next month. The league will move to a 20-game league schedule in mens basketball by 2019, part of an effort to boost the available content toward the goal of airing more than 1,300 events annually through those outlets.It was also very important to both ESPN and our league that we try to create a model in which each of the ACCs 27 sponsored sports would be televised in some manner, Swofford said. I dont know if well get them all as some are extremely difficult to produce for television, but by 2019, were going to be very close.The other major TV news was about the media rights schools would leave behind if they left the ACC.Swofford said league schools unanimously extended a grant-of-rights provision that gives the ACC control of media rights -- and more importantly, the money that comes with them -- for any school that choses to leave the conference for the duration of the ESPN deal.Its a move designed to ensure the stability of the league since schools that go elsewhere wouldnt bring along their own media rights to enhance the TV package for a new conference home, said Dean Jordan, a global media managing executive with the Wasserman media group who represented the ACC in negotiations with ESPN.The league typically receives and then distributes the media-rights revenues to member schools. In a hypothetical case, Jordan said, the ACC would keep the revenue for a teams home football game as the rights holder even if that team was playing in another league, then divide the departed schools amount among the remaining ACC schools.The ACC first announced a grant-of-rights arrangement with its schools in 2013 after Maryland announced it would leave for the Big Ten. That deal with ESPN originally ran through the 2026--27 season.ddddddddddddSwofford wouldnt comment afterward on the payouts to league schools with the creation of the ACC Network other than to say the rights fees obviously go up with the deal.The ACC will become the fourth major conference with its own network, joining the Big Ten, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference. The SEC also has ESPN as its partner and launched in August 2014.As an example of the work ahead of the ACC Networks launch, North Carolina State athletic director Debbie Yow said the school has committed to spending roughly $6 million for a broadcast studio at the football stadium as well as for a control room at newly renovated Reynolds Coliseum on campus to eventually help produce content.We have to make sure we continue to keep up with (the other power conferences) and be in a strong position there to compete nationally, Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said Thursday.The digital channel will be available to authenticated subscribers via ESPNs online apps, which means viewers will have to first provide the usernames and passwords they use to log into the online accounts for their cable or satellite television providers.The creation of an ACC-specific channel has been a frequent off-field topic of discussion for the league since realignment slowed throughout college sports. The league has spent years researching the possibility, with Swofford frequently deflecting questions about it with answers that offered little other than it was something the league was looking into.On Thursday morning, however, Swofford was ready to talk in detail about the subject with ESPN President John Skipper joining him on stage with ACC coaches and administrators for an announcement that took over his annual state-of-the-league forum.Some of you may be disappointed that Im not going to be able to do the dance that Ive done the last couple of years, Swofford quipped, dancing around some questions about television.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap ' ' '