an indefinite period with a sprained foot, an

ST. LOUIS -- Matt Carpenter welcomes it when teams bring in a left-handed reliever to face him. In fact, he almost thrives on it. The left-handed Carpenter hit a two-run home run off lefty Wesley Wright (0-3) and Matt Holliday drove in two with a two-out hit to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 5-4 Wednesday night. "Ive always felt, my whole career, even as an amateur, like I see lefties pretty well," said Carpenter, who earned his first All-Star Game selection this year. "I try to take the same approach and just get a good pitch to hit and try to put a good swing on it." Carpenters batting average is nearly 40 points lower against lefties (.294 versus.333 against right-handers), but four of his nine home runs this season have come against southpaws. His homer in the seventh gave the win to Seth Maness (5-1). Tony Cruz got hit by starter Jordan Lyles first pitch of the inning and one out later Carpenter put a 2-1 pitch into the right field stands. "I think he takes it personal that they come in thinking thats something hed have more of a weakness with," manager Mike Matheny said. "Theres some guys who are just highly motivated and I think thats one of the things he takes a lot pride in, is putting together a tough at-bat so they just dont start firing left-handers against us." Maness gave up two hits and a run in two innings of relief. He struck out three. Edward Mujica earned his 25th save in 26 tries. He has appeared in six consecutive games, going 1-1 with four saves. Lyles gave up four runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out two and walked two. Lyles hasnt won a game since beating Milwaukee on June 18. Astros manager Bo Porter said he knew his starter would only face the first two batters in the seventh. "That was a totally left-on-left decision and you look at the stress of the innings in which he had gotten to that point," Porter said. "I sent him back out there with the notion he was going to face Cruz, he was going to face the pinch hitter (Yadier Molina) and Wesley was going to be ready for Carpenter." Cardinals starter Shelby Miller needed 94 pitches to labour through five innings. He gave up three earned runs, walked five and struck out five. He had a total of six full counts, coming back to strike out Jason Castro and getting Brett Wallace to ground out. "It was a rough one for me," Miller said. "I didnt have anything going for me. I couldnt throw strikes or much of anything. I just tried to keep the team in it as much as I could with what I had. It wasnt much, but five innings, three runs and the offence picks you up. "These guys never cease to amaze me when they go out there and do the things that they do." Wallace, who had four hits and scored a run, drove in Jose Altuve in the seventh to give Houston a 4-3 lead. Hollidays single in the fifth tied the score at 3-3. His slap to right field drove in Cruz and Shane Robinson, who had a pinch hit single in place of Miller. Allen Craig walked to open the second and scored on Matt Adams single. Adams has five RBIs in in his past six games. The Cardinals swept their five-game homestand with three victories over Miami before taking both against Houston. The home sweep comes on the heels of a 7-11 stretch that included three wins over the Chicago Cubs, who host the Cardinals in a four-game set starting Thursday. "This is a huge five-game stretch for us to win, come out here and win all these games at home, to get on a roll right before the All-Star break," Carpenter said. "Hopefully we can continue it in Chicago." Chris Carter hit his 18th home run just over the right field fence to open the second. Houston then used a Wallace single, two walks and an error for a 2-0 lead. The Astros took a 3-1 lead after Castro hit a ground rule double and J.D. Martinez drove him in with a single in the fifth. NOTES: Cardinals C Cruz got his third start in the past four games in place of All-Star catcher and league-leading batter Yadier Molina, who is nursing a sore right knee. Hes gone 3 of 9 in that span. ... Molina struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh. ... Wallace, former first-round pick of the Cardinals, is 7 for 18 with five RBIs and four runs in four games this season against St. Louis. . Porter said after the game the Astros will call up one of their top prospects, 23-year-old right-hander Jarred Cosart, to make his major league debut Friday at Tampa Bay. Dallas Keuchel will be pushed to Saturday with Erik Bedard starting on Sunday. . The Astros have lost 13 of their past 15 games against their former NL Central division rivals. Hydro Flask Korting . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Hydro Flask Goedkoop .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. http://www.hydroflaskkorting.com/ . Now, correct me if Im wrong but I saw one official distinctly pointing at the net indicating a good goal but after an inconclusive review they overturned the goal. Shouldnt the ruling on the ice (good goal) stand after an inconclusive review? Why was this overturned? James Veaudry Pembroke, ON -- Hey Kerry, Youll get a lot of these, but why was the Montreal goal against Nashville Saturday night overturned? Eller puts the puck on net and the on ice ruling from the ref behind the net is a Montreal goal. Hydro Flask Kopen . There are some early surprises in the race for the Hart Trophy, but two of the contenders are the leagues biggest stars over the past decade. There are many more players in contention for the awards than just the three that Ive named, and a good or bad week can easily alter the landscape, but through the first 20 or so games of the NHL season, this is how the awards races look to me. Hydro Flask Rietje . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. CLEVELAND -- Cody Kesslers back in the saddle. The Browns are hoping he can stay in it a while.Kessler has recovered enough from an injury to his chest and ribs to start Sundays game at Tennessee, a relief to the Browns who have already started three quarterbacks and played five in five games this season.Kessler, who got hurt in the first quarter of last weeks loss to New England, practiced again on Thursday and following the workout Browns coach Hue Jackson said the third-round draft pick will make his fourth start.I think he is ready to go, Jackson said.Kessler led the Browns (0-5) on a touchdown drive on the series before he got hurt when Patriots linebacker Donta Hightower shot through the line unblocked and put a hard shot on Clevelands quarterback. Kessler said he heard a crunching sound when he hit the turf and feared his injury was much worse.But after a few days of rehab, he feels much better and is looking forward to another chance.Its exciting to be back out and obviously last week was unfortunate, he said following practice. The game got cut a little short for me, so its exciting to get back out there.Kessler said hes still feeling discomfort when he throws, but the pain is manageable.Its starting to go away each day, he said. Its getting better and better.Jackson has been impressed with the improvement hes seen from Kessler, who expected to spend his first season learning in a backup role but was thrust into the lineup after injuries to starters Robert Griffin III and Josh McCown.I just think he is getting better, Jackson said. He is understanding our system, how to play within our system, where to deliver the ball to. He has started to play in a rhythm that runs our offense and a rhythm that works for him. That is what we have to do is, whoever is playing quarterback, make sure we get them in rhythm where they can play and function and play good. He has done a good job, obviouslyy, but still so early in the season and we have a long way to go.ddddddddddddMcCown was cleared to practice this week after breaking his left collarbone in Week 2. The 37-year-old wants desperately to play, but he might need more time to heal before hes completely ready.Jackson said he did not know if McCown will back up Kessler. If McCown isnt available, rookie Kevin Hogan will be the No. 2 quarterback.Wide receiver Terrelle Pryor also took snaps at quarterback this week. He took 14 snaps in Clevelands Sept. 25 loss to Miami and filled in briefly last week after Kessler went down.The Browns also had veteran Charlie Whitehurst on their roster this week, but he sustained a left knee injury against the Patriots and was released after reaching an injury settlement with the team.Cleveland lost starting left guard Joel Bitonio for an indefinite period with a sprained foot, and Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas missed time this week with a knee issue. Jackson, though, said my left tackle is fine and Thomas will play Sunday -- he hasnt missed a snap in nine-plus NFL seasons.Because of injuries and a team suspension after Alvin Baileys arrest, the Browns have had to rotate centers and guards in front of their quarterbacks, hardly an ideal scenario to give them protection. Kessler has taken his share of shots, but knows he has to trust the guys in front of him.Its unfortunate and we want everyone to stay healthy, but you kind of just go with it and roll with it and whoevers in there, you know theyre going to come in and compete, he said. Its kind of how this game works. A guy gets hurt, its the next-man-up-mentality and obviously we have some great guys on our offensive line and guys that keep getting rotated in.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '