ST. LOUIS -- In what was billed as a largely ceremonial pinch-hitting appearance, Matt Holliday hit a home run Friday night.The St. Louis Cardinals activated the outfielder before playing the Pittsburgh Pirates so that fans at Busch Stadium could bid the seven-time All-Star goodbye in one of the final three regular-season games.Holliday was greeted with a loud standing ovation from an announced crowd of 43,070, but that was nothing compared to the greeting after he hit reliever?Zach Phillips third pitch to him over the right-field wall. It was the first pinch-hit home run of Hollidays 13-year major league career.Cardinals players also greeted Holliday with a standing ovation, and he was mobbed in the dugout before coming out for a curtain call.The Cardinals went on to win 7-0.I still have chills, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. To watch how the fans responded, we had a great crowd tonight, and every one of them made that extremely special for him. And how he responded, thats, yeah, amazing. Very special night.General manager John Mozeliak said before the game that he spoke with Holliday earlier this week and informed him the odds of the team picking up his $17 million option for 2017 were low.Most people who have options and they ask me in season, I simply tell them, Look, well deal with that when the time comes. In his case, I feel hes earned the type of respect and had the type of career here that he had that right, Mozeliak said.The Cardinals said Holliday was too emotional to meet with reporters before the game, but he released a statement through the team that read, in part: It has been an honor to play in front of such great fans and for such a historic organization. I can honestly say it has been a dream come true. While Im disappointed this could be it here in St. Louis, I understand that it might be time to move on.Holliday, 36, expressed his love and admiration for Matheny, former manager Tony La Russa and the coaches with whom he worked.The most emotional part of this is my teammates and the relationships Ive built with some of these guys over the years, particularly,?Adam [Wainwright] and Yadi [Molina], to be considered part of the core with two of the finest human beings Ive ever known, Holliday said.Holliday had faced live pitching just once since he was hit by a pitch in July, which required surgery on his thumb.Its been tough for him because he wants to be back, Wainwright said. Each time he went out and hit batting practice, his thumb would swell up, and nobody wants to have surgery and then have it swell up. I think he just wanted to get out there and play, help the team win. Hes a great hitter, one of the best hitters of this generation. Hes been a great Cardinal, but I know he did not want to sit on the bench and not get another at-bat here.Matheny said he thinks Holliday wants to continue playing beyond this season. Holliday entered Friday batting .247, the lowest average of his career, but the home run Friday gave him 20 for the sixth time in his past seven seasons.I dont think theres a question about that, at least in conversations weve had, Matheny said.The Cardinals acquired Holliday from the Oakland Athletics in 2009, then signed him to a seven-year, $120 million extension the following offseason. Over nearly 1,000 games with the Cardinals entering Friday, Holliday had collected a .292/.379/.493 line.Once the Cardinals decline his option in November, he will get a $1 million buyout.Hollidays extension is viewed as one of the few multiyear free-agent deals in which the player lived up to it throughout its length.Very rare, especially a deal of that length. I feel grateful, Mozeliak said. As I mentioned, Ive always admired him as a player, even before we traded for him, thought he was one of those gritty, hard-working individuals. But getting to know him, getting to see how he is as a person, Ive gained tremendous respect for him. Stitched Lakers Jerseys .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. Lakers Jerseys 2019 . PAUL, Minn. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/ . The deal is pending a physical, assistant general manager Bobby Evans said. Traded from Seattle to Baltimore on Aug. 30, Morse also can play first base and right field to give manager Bruce Bochy some flexibility in writing his lineup. Los Angeles Lakers Pro Shop . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Los Angeles Lakers Store . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- For the past three weeks, Eric Ebron has watched from the sidelines. The Detroit Lions tight end hasnt practiced. He hasnt played in games. He has been doing some mentoring of younger tight ends, and thats about it.All the while, he has had one thing in his head as he has watched the Lions play without him.I need to get my ass out there on that field, Ebron said Monday in his first comments since suffering a right ankle injury Aug. 6. Cause Im not a huge person thats [into] watching. I like action. I like to be in action. It just sucks being on the sideline, man. Its not my lifestyle. I wasnt born for this. I wasnt bred to do this, but I got to right now.Ebron said he and the Lions are taking things slowly as he recovers. That includes Ebron likely not playing in the preseason finale Thursday against the Buffalo Bills. Asked whether he would be out there in a game primarily used for backups and those trying to make one last roster push, he said, Is Matt [Stafford] going to play on Thursday? You aint going to see Ebron if you dont see Matt Stafford.He was less definitive about whether hell be available for Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts. Ebron initially wouldnt answer the question about his availability and then said the decision would be up to Lions coach Jim Caldwell and the teams doctors.Caldwell has repeatedly deflected questions about Ebrons status.Ebron, though, has missed a chunk of preseason time. He said that when he suffered the injury during the Lions mock game at Ford Field, he thought, My life sucks, because he didnt know what to expect. He said he wasnt sure of the severity of the injury and admitted he thought his season might have ended before it started.Did I have that in mind?? I was afraid, Ebron said.dddddddddddd. I was afraid for the worst and just hoped for the best. I mean, easily, by far, thats what I did. Whatever happened, happened, and Im just taking it as slowly as I possibly can to make sure that Im back to what we were seeing that day, because if I dont get back there, then its not going to be a good season for myself.When Ebron does return, he will be the teams top tight end after he caught 47 passes for 537 yards and five touchdowns last season. Hes at the top of the depth chart of a thin tight end group. Brandon Pettigrew is still on the physically unable to perform list recovering from an ACL injury. Timothy Wright is on injured reserve with an ACL injury. The Lions cut veteran Matthew Mulligan on Monday, and that leaves Orson Charles, Adam Fuehne, Cole Wick and Andrew Quarless -- who will miss the first two games of the season due to suspension -- as Detroits tight ends.When Ebron got hurt, he leaned on his mother, Gina Jackson, for guidance. She helped him through it and actually reached out to him before he could get in touch with her. He said his phone wasnt going crazy initially, but as more people heard what happened, they started to reach out.Not exactly when I got to the locker room. But [it] blew up like the World Trade, Ebron said, referring to the lyric from the 1994 Notorious B.I.G. song Juicy. And I just tried to keep everybody thats close to me in the loop on whats going on, and everybody outside, I just ignored it.Ebron returned to the locker room after his session to make sure people understood his reference was to the B.I.G. lyric. ' ' '