Injuries to their pitching staff havent yet been able to slow down the St. Louis Cardinals, who remain in top spot in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings, ahead of the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds. The Pittsburgh Pirates, up to fifth, are the third team from the National League Central in the Top Five. A soft spot in the schedule helped the Atlanta Braves win eight of nine, lifting them from 12 to seven, while winning six of nine helped the Rockies move from 15 to nine. 9-3 in their last dozen games, and boosted by the return of starting pitcher John Danks, the Chicago White Sox moved from 22 to 16 while the L.A. Angels have emerged from a first quarter coma to win eight straight, climbing from 28 to 19. On the down side, the Kansas City Royals have lost nine of their last 10 games, bad enough to fall from 11 to 22, and the Seattle Mariners have lost eight of nine, dropping from 18 to 24. The Toronto Blue Jays, 11-8 in their last 19 games, have made slow progress, up a couple of spot to 25 in this weeks rankings. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007. SAN DIEGO -- David Ortiz ended his All-Star Game career with quite a walk off.The popular Big Papi was embraced by nearly every member of the American League roster Tuesday night when he was replaced by a pinch runner and strolled back to the dugout.Miguel Cabrera playfully tousled Ortizs hair. As the Boston slugger made his way through the scrum of players, he wrapped his Red Sox teammate Jackie Bradley Jr. in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.Ortiz called the embraces something Ill never forget. ... You see all your boys.Catcher Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants clapped his bare hand against his mitt as Ortiz left the field.Ortiz helped the Red Sox end their 86-year World Series title drought in 2004, and then helped them win the Series in 2007 and 2013, when he was chosen as MVP.Ortiz announced on Nov. 18 -- his 40th birthday -- that 2016 would be his final season.Things are getting harder. ... As you get older, it gets a little difficult, he said after coming out of his 10th All-Star Game.The designated hitter leads the majors in slugging percentage, on-base average and extra-base hits this year. Hes batting .332 with 22 home runs and 72 RBI.The Red Sox are two games behind Baltimore in the AL East at the break.Ortiz drew a walk in the third inning from Miamis Jose Fernandez, who said a day earlier that hed groove a pitch for the slugger. Ortiz kidded with Fernandez on his way to first base after taking ball four.I was supposed to hit a home run in my second at-batt.dddddddddddd My boy told me he was going to throw me a fastball and the first pitch was a changeup, Ortiz said. I was like, `I thought it was going to be a fastball?He told me yesterday all he was going to throw me was fastballs. He told me it was the catchers fault -- he called it. Then 3-2 he threw me a slider and Im like, `Are you trying to break my back? But he said it was the catchers fault.Fernandez called it an amazing experience. At first I was just throwing fastball, fastball, fastball, so I thought I should mix it up with a breaking pitch and he took it. I was nervous. I couldnt believe that I was actually pitching to him. We both looked at each other and smiled. We knew what was going on. It was great. He signed the jersey I brought for him. It was just special.A few moments after Ortiz reached first, AL manager Ned Yost sent in Edwin Encarnacion to run and Ortiz left to a nice ovation.Big Papi addressed his teammates earlier in the day.I told them that it takes a lot of work to get to the All-Star Game. You dont get here with a good name or a good family. You have to put up the numbers. I told them that they have to do that for their whole career.Asked about his career overall, he said: I have learned so much about this game, I would like to spread it out to the young kids in the game.Ortiz grounded out hard in his first at-bat in his finale. ' ' '
