PITTSBURGH -- Digesting the first two games of a series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals going into the finale Wednesday at PNC Park has it challenges for the two clubs.The Pirates are hanging onto anything they can, while the Cardinals might have to guard against doing cartwheels out of joy.Pittsburgh has lost the first two games of the series, with Tuesdays game a real heartbreaker. The Pirates fell behind by five runs, rallied for a one-run lead, then gave up three homers in the ninth to fall 9-7.It was Pittsburghs eighth loss in a row, leaving it three games under .500 at 67-70 and 5 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the chase for a National League wild-card spot, a spot that could very well be slipping away.A sweep by the Cardinals (73-64) could spell doom.Yet Pirates manager Clint Hurdle put on a double-thick pair of rose-colored glasses.I dont think well get any questions about fight and battle, he said. Thats what we do.Were going to fight. Were going to keep showing up. A lot of things went well (Tuesday) to get us back in the game to get us on top.St. Louis, by virtue of its comeback Tuesday, had similar feelings, but with the relief of a win -- its third in a row and one that kept it just a half-game behind San Francisco, which sits in the top National League wild-card spot.The Cardinals seem to be brimming with confidence.Weve got a team that I think the best way to describe it is a dangerous team, said Matt Carpenter, who hit a game-tying home run Tuesday with two outs and two strikes in the ninth.Weve got a team that I dont think anybody wants to match up with, especially in a postseason scenario. Its a fun team to play on. We never quit, and (Tuesday) was a good example of it.St. Louis has been feasting on home runs. Carpenters homer came as a pinch-hitter, the Cardinals major league record 15th pinch-hit homer this season. The team also has a franchise-record streak of 25 games with at least one home run, which also ties the National League record set by San Diego earlier this year.What did we have? Five? manager Mike Matheny said after Tuesdays game. Yes, it was five.Thats impressive. It shows the talent level we have, taking good at-bats and not stopping.Right-hander Mike Leake (9-9, 4.56 ERA) will return from the DL after having shingles to start Wednesday for St. Louis. It will be his first start since Aug. 21 when he threw seven scoreless innings with a walk and eight strikeouts in a 9-0 win at Philadelphia.Against Pittsburgh this season, Leake is 1-2 with a 5.71 ERA.The Pirates will counter with rookie Jameson Taillon (3-4, 3.25 ERA), who will be making his 15th start.Pittsburghs losing streak is hardly Taillons fault. Friday against Milwaukee, he allowed one run in six innings but got no run support in a 1-0 loss.He has allowed 19 earned runs in his past 10 starts, has pitched at least six innings in nine of his past 10 starts, and has given up one or no walks in 11 of his 14 starts. Charles Haley Jersey . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. Xavier Sua-Filo Jersey . Cote was eligible to become a free agent Feb. 15. Cote helped running back Jon Cornish run for a league-high 1,813 rushing yards en route to being named the leagues most outstanding player. http://www.cheapcowboysjerseyschina.com/maliek-collins-jersey/ . 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. Trysten Hill Jersey .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled forward Kevin Porter and defenceman Chad Ruhwedel from the minors as part of a five-player roster shuffle made by the NHLs worst team. Dorance Armstrong Jr. Jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Mark Few wondered how his eighth-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs would handle a nine-day break for exams, traveling cross country and playing in front of a heavily orange crowd.Tennessee coach Rick Barnes saw enough Sunday to think Few and Gonzaga still might be undefeated when March rolls around.Nigel Williams-Goss scored 20 points, and Gonzaga remained unbeaten by holding off Tennessee 86-76.I thought they did good, especially the way we started the first half, Few said. Usually when you come out of finals like this, youre a little bit concerned about losing rhythm. We had some pretty good rhythm going into finals. Gave them several days off, I was a little bit worried about that. They responded.Gonzaga (11-0) hadnt played since beating Akron on Dec. 10 and looked strong as it scored the first eight points and never trailed. The Bulldogs led 27-6 on a jumper by Zach Collins with 12:06 left, 43-29 at halftime and 64-48 midway through the second half.Tennessee (6-5) went on a 10-3 run and got within 75-71 on a jumper by Robert Hubbs III with 2:26 left.Josh Perkins then hit a jumper as Gonzaga held on for its fourth straight win in the five games between these teams.Obviously we werent perfect, but to come in here and beat a good Tennessee team by double digits, and pretty much control the entire game, I thought we did a good job, Williams-Goss said. But theres room to grow.This was billed as the Battle of Broadway played at Bridgestone Arena, so technically it was a neutral court -- except for all the fans wearing Tennessee orange in the seats. Those fans got very loud as the Vols made their run.Barnes wasnt happy with how the Vols started, and hes tiring of coming close in losses.Its one thing being talked about as being a scrappy team that fights all the time, but at some point in time weve got to want to be more than that, he said. Weve got to want to play 40 minutes, and we havent done that at anny point in time this year.ddddddddddddDetrick Mostella led Tennessee with 17 points and Hubbs had 10.The Vols played without 6-foot-7 freshman John Fulkerson, who missed his first game since dislocating his right elbow in Thursday nights win over Lipscomb. Fulkerson is expected to miss six weeks with the injury.BIG PICTUREGonzaga: The Bulldogs came in as one of six undefeated teams in the Top 25 and did nothing to hurt their stock after their break. ... They improved to 12-8 all-time against Southeastern Conference teams and 2-0 this season. Gonzaga beat Florida last month. ... With 7-1 center Karnowski and 6-9 Johnathan Williams, the Bulldogs outrebounded Tennessee 42-38.Tennessee: This was the Vols fourth game in eight days, a stretch that started a week ago with a 73-71 loss in Chapel Hill to No. 7 North Carolina. ... Barnes now is 0-5 against Gonzaga and 0-4 against Few. ... Freshman Grant Williams scored 30 points in the Vols last game and finished with 11.QUOTABLEI think hes got as good a team as hes ever had, Barnes said of Few. I think hes going to become an even bigger story in college basketball because if you look ahead, hes always done tremendous things with his team in the league and he could be the first time in a long time that youve got a team capable of being undefeated heading into postseason play.FOUL TROUBLEThe officiating crew of Karl Hess, Jamie Luckie and Brent Hampton called 56 fouls combined. Gonzaga and Tennessee each had a player foul out with Silas Melson pl