CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The defending National League champions opened the season with a lot of waiting. [url=https://www.shoesnzonl

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The defending National League champions opened the season with a lot of waiting. Shoes NZ From China . And a couple of wins, too. The St. Louis Cardinals overcame another long delay and Todd Fraziers two homers on Thursday, holding on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 and take two of three in their season-opening series. The first pitch was delayed 3 hours, 42 minutes because of rain. Some of the Cardinals spent their down time by studying Cincinnatis pitchers again and getting a little extra work in the indoor batting cages. "Its tough to stay mentally into it," said Matt Adams, who had a single and a pair of doubles. "Thats what we had to do to make sure we could go out there and perform. Were watching video and taking swings in the cage and stretching and making sure were ready to go." Finally on the field, the Cardinals emerged from their two-game hitting slump by knocking Homer Bailey (0-1) out of the game in the fifth inning. Jhonny Peralta homered to get it going. It wasnt perfect -- St. Louis stranded eight runners -- but it was much better. "We had a lot of opportunities that we missed, too," manager Mike Matheny said. "We had a lot of guys in scoring position." St. Louis pulled away with three runs in the seventh, when Matt Hollidays single off the top of the outfield wall was upheld by the only video review of the series, this one initiated by the umpires. Lance Lynn (1-0) gave up Jay Bruces two-run homer and Fraziers solo shot during five innings. Frazier added a three-run homer in the seventh that cut it to 7-6. Trevor Rosenthal got the last four outs for his second save. The series involved nearly as much waiting as playing. There was a 2-hour, 40-minute delay before Wednesdays game, a 1-0 victory by Cincinnati. Along with the delay on Thursday, the teams wound up waiting 6 hours, 22 minutes to play during the two days. As Thursdays delay stretched on, Reds reliever Sam LeCure tweeted: "Uncle." "The whole series was kind of weird with all the rain and stuff," Frazier said. "It really put a damper on things." The starters had a rough time after the delay. Lynn beat the Reds three times last season, but couldnt get a 1-2-3 inning on Thursday. Bruce and Frazier hit back-to-back homers in the first for a 3-0 lead. Even Bailey had a single off Lynn, who gave up eight hits while throwing 107 pitches. Peralta hit a two-run homer in the second off Bailey, and the Cardinals tied it with a breakthrough hit in the fourth. Adams doubled and came around on Jon Jays double, the Cardinals first hit with a runner in scoring position this season. They had been 0 for 17. Jays hit also extended his hitting streak to 15 games, including the end of last season. Hollidays first hit of the season, an RBI double, put the Cardinals up 4-3 in the fifth. Bailey lasted only 4 1-3 innings, giving up seven hits, three walks and four runs. The Cardinals added three in the seventh, when they loaded the bases on a pair of walks and Hollidays single off the top of the wall. The ball went over Billy Hamiltons glove and deflected to Bruce, who caught the ball. The umpires correctly ruled that it a hit off the top of the wall, and a 2-minute, 8-second review initiated by the umps upheld the call. They wanted to make sure the ball hadnt cleared the wall. Allen Craig and Yadier Molina followed with RBI singles as St. Louis pulled ahead 7-3. NOTES: The game ended 7 hours, 23 minutes after it was originally scheduled to start. ... Shelby Miller starts for the Cardinals in Pittsburgh on Friday against Gerrit Cole. Mike Leake goes for the Reds in New York against the Mets Jenrry Mejia. ... Adams dived into the stands trying to catch a foul ball, and pushed a fan who reached up and caught it before he could get it. "I was trying to stop myself from going into the stands," Adams said. "People came up to me and said I shoved him. I didnt even know. Im not that type of guy to go after anybody." ... It was Fraziers fourth career multihomer game. ... Hamilton walked in the eighth inning, reaching base for the first time this season. He is 0 for 12 with six strikeouts. Wholesale Shoes NZ . -- Cordell Cato scored his first goal of the season and the San Jose Earthquakes survived a full half playing a man down to beat FC Dallas 2-1 Saturday night. Cheap Shoes NZ . On Wednesday, Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas hit back. In a passionate defence of himself and the London clubs medical staff, the Portuguese coach rebuked the "incompetent people" who have attacked Tottenham for allowing Lloris to continue playing after being briefly knocked unconscious against Everton on Sunday. https://www.shoesnzonline.com/ . Vinci also beat Dulgheru last week in Bucharest en route to her first WTA final in a year. Vinci next faces sixth-seeded Kurumi Nara of Japan, who beat Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-2. No.Algeria, Russia set sights on knockout round (TSN 1050, TSN 690, TEAM 1410) Curitiba, Brazil - Russia and Algeria will close out the group stage of the World Cup on Thursday with a crucial Group H clash at the Arena da Baixada, with both sides hoping to secure a knockout round berth. Algeria enters the match riding a wave of unexpected confidence after pummeling South Korea, 4-2, in Porto Alegre on Sunday. The Desert Foxes opened the scoring after 26 minutes as Carl Medjani sent a long ball over the top to the feet of striker Islam Slimani, who did well to split two South Korean defenders and touch it past goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong. Two minutes later the Algerians doubled their advantage when Abdelmoumene Djabou served a perfect corner kick into the penalty area where Halliche got to the ball ahead of an out-of-position Jung and nodded it home with pace. Djabou then made it 3-0 for Algeria seven minutes before the intermission when he found himself alone in the box to accept a square ball from Slimani and slide it home for a three-goal halftime lead. South Korea got back into the match five minutes into the second half when Son Heung-Min collected a long pass from Ki Sung-Yueng, turned and beat Algeria goalkeeper Rais MBolhi through the legs. But Algeria regained the three goal lead in the 62nd minute as Sofiane Feghouli and Yacine Brahimi worked a nice one-two on the edge of the penalty area to send Brahimi through on goal and he finished by ripping a strike under Jung. Again South Korea pulled one back through Koo Ja-Cheol, but it wasnt enough as the Desert Foxes held on for the win. Vahid Halilhodzics side can advance to the round of 16 on Thursday with at least a draw. "I woulld like to dedicate this victory to the fans who were here and the Algerian people back home who have waited a long time for this victory. Shoes NZ Nike. It means a lot to us all," Halilhodzic said."Today the team played to its strengths. I told the players to keep it tight for the first 15 minutes and I felt that did extremely well and effectively in the first half - it was almost perfect. We slowed a little during the second half, why Im not sure. Now we have to try to get a good result against Russia and qualify for the round of 16. Anything is possible." Russia, meanwhile, faces an uphill climb to reach the knockout round following their 1-0 loss to Belgium in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The first 80 minutes of the match produced little in the way of offensive output for either side, but Divock Origi gave the match its one moment of quality two minutes from time to hand Belgium its second win in as many games. Chelsea star Eden Hazard set the scoring play in motion when he ook possession of the ball on the left wing and dribbled to the end line, where he pulled a pass back to Origi, who struck it first-time into the roof of the net past goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. Russia needs to win to have any chance of advancing. A one-goal win for Russia means that South Korea would have to beat Belgium by three, while a two-goal margin for Russia makes them a near lock to advance. Anything less than a win, however, and Fabio Capellos team will be eliminated. "I still believe we have a chance, but we now have no choice but to beat Algeria," said Capello. "Today we went out to win the match, but we got caught on the counter-attack - its as simple as that." ' ' '