and a double in the fou

[lw789]

TORONTO – His left foot was swollen with shades of purple and wrapped heavily in bandages. Only crutches supported Dave Bolland as he met with the media for the first time since a tendon outside his left ankle was severed. The 27-year-old could not pinpoint a date for his return, still stung by disappointment from the injury and its effects on his first season as a Leaf. "Things were going well and then something like this happens [and] it really crushes you," said Bolland, who had six goals and 10 points amid a quick start in Toronto. It was more than a week ago in Vancouver that the 27-year-old dug deep for a puck in the Toronto zone when his foot was sliced by the left skate of Zack Kassian. Lingering on the ice uncomfortably as Kassian and the Canucks scored their second goal in an eventual 4-0 loss, Bolland was helpless. Eventually assisted off the ice by teammates, he left the arena on a stretcher, requiring surgery in B.C. the next day. "I just went in the corner and by the time I turned around, I just fell and didnt really feel anything in my ankle," he said. "Tried to get up and my ankle just buckled." Bolland was convinced that the actions of Kassian were without malice, the Kevlar socks he wore unable to protect his ankle from injury. "Its just a freak thing," he said. "Its hockey. Youre going in the corners and youre wearing sharp blades; it was just a little opening in my foot that got cut." Unable to put any weight on the foot, the Toronto native has been stuck at home with little to do, save for watching television and spending time with his new daughter. "You cant do much," he said. "Youve got to let the healing begin. For me, its sitting in front of my Apple TV watching as [many] shows as I can." "Get to see the motherhood of life and see what goes on actually when Im on the road," he continued. "Had to actually change a diaper and do things like that." One of two injured Toronto centres – Tyler Bozak also remains out – Bolland could not pinpoint any specific return date – hes certain hell be back this season – but he expects to remain on crutches for a month. . The bout served as the headlining matchup of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Brown vs. Silva" event, which took place at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. It was Silva who looked well on his way to victory in the early going, delivering a pair of crushing kicks to the body that sent Brown crashing to the floor, doubled over in pain. . Seth Smith hit a towering drive for a tying homer leading off the eighth and Chris Denorfia singled home two runs to give the Padres a 3-1 victory against the rival Dodgers in baseballs North American opener Sunday night. http://www.lonzoballjersey.com/.Kraft says Goodell realized before seeing a video showing Baltimore running back Ray Rice striking his then fiance that domestic violence was very serious for society in general. . The Rays hope to stay alive for the postseason and salvage the finale of this series Sunday at Rogers Centre, where they dropped a 7-2 decision Saturday. Chris Archer lasted 2 1/3 innings in the no-decision, charged with a run and five hits, and Alex Torres suffered the loss in relief. . The pair ended pointless droughts when they each scored two goals in a 6-4 victory over the Winnipeg Jets that halted a two-game losing skid for the Stars (15-11-5). ST. LOUIS -- Adam Wainwright decided to use a simple approach to break out of his two-game slump. The St. Louis right-hander bounced back from back-to-back sub-par outings with seven shutout innings and David Freese homered to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. The victory moved the Cardinals into first place, a half-game ahead of the Pirates in the NL Central. Pittsburgh has lost four of six including the first two of the three-game set. The Pirates remain stuck on 81 wins, one shy of assuring them a winning record for the first time since they went 96-66 in 1992. Wainwright (16-9) had given up 15 earned runs over his previous two starts, both against Cincinnati. He allowed a career-high nine runs in two innings of a 10-0 loss Aug. 28. But he regained his form against the Pirates allowing just two hits. He struck out eight and walked two. "The way to make pitching as simple as possible is to repeat your delivery and execute your pitches," he said. "My stuff tonight was drastically different because of that." Wainwright, who retired the last 11 batters and ended his performance with four successive strikeouts, is tied with Jordan Zimmermann of Washington and Jorge De La Rosa of Colorado for the most wins in the NL. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was pleased to see his ace return to form. "Thats the same guy we expect to see every time out," he said. "He had it all working." Wainwright fashioned a 16.88 ERA in his two previous starts. "This time he was aggressive," catcher Yadier Molina said. "This is a long season and everyone is going to have slumps. Hes a tough guy. Hes going to battle." Wainwright threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 24 batters. He gave up a single to Andrew McCutchen in the first and a double in the fourth.dddddddddddd Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle was not surprised to see Wainwright bounce back. "He was down in the zone all night, he wore it out," Hurdle said. "He did what hes done for years." Freese drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who moved into sole possession of first place for the first time since Aug. 29. Matt Holliday, Pete Kozma and Daniel Descalso also added RBIs. "Weve been back-and-forth with them all year," Wainwright said. "Any time you can win against them, its a big win." Freese homered off reliever Jeanmar Gomez in the sixth to push the lead to 4-0. Pittsburgh left-hander Jeff Locke (9-5) allowed three runs on three hits over five innings. He was making his first start since Aug. 27. Locke was sent down to Double-A Altoona to clear his mind, but he did not make an appearance. "I felt refreshed, like I was re-charged," Locke said. Molina started a two-run outburst in the fourth inning with a double that followed a leadoff walk to Carlos Beltran. Freese then brought in Beltran with a sacrifice fly to left. Kozma added an infield single to bring in Molina., The Pirates are 9-9 over their last 18 games and they remain confident. "We need to step it up, to get going again," McCutchen said. "Weve just got to keep battling." Notes: RHP Michael Wacha (2-0, 3.20) will face Charlie Morton (7-3, 3.00) in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday. ... Pittsburgh has hit an NL-leading 79 home runs on the road. ... The Pirates have out-homered St. Louis 19-5 in the 18 games between the teams this season. ... St. Louis had nine successive hits in a seven-run seventh inning during Fridays 12-8 win. The nine in a row is the most by any team in the majors this season. ' ' '