Chat » Rimmer relieved Brossoit for the third period but Hutchinso

ST. LOUIS -- Mark Ellis knew that he might not see a whole lot of playing time when he signed a free-agent contract with the St. Louis Cardinals in December. "I figured theyd want me to come off the bench and Im fine doing that," he said. "I just want to be on a winning team." Ellis has gotten the best of both worlds. The 37-year-old infielder drove in two runs, including the go-ahead score with a bunt, and the Cardinals got a scoreless effort from their bullpen to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 Sunday. The Cardinals have won two in a row and seven of 10. Philadelphia has lost two straight after a season-high five-game winning streak. Ellis, who has received increased playing time due to injuries, broke a 3-all tie with a safely squeeze bunt in the fourth. He added an RBI single in the sixth. He is hitting .193 with 12 RBIs in 41 games. "We talked about it and the opportunity came up," he said of the bunt. "The ball up is an easier pitch to get that ball down. We were able to execute it." St. Louis manager Mike Matheny appreciates Ellis professional approach at the plate. "Two big at-bats," Matheny said. "Mark did a real nice job of getting that bunt down. He was thinking and really preparing ahead of time. Hes done a lot of good things in this game for a long time." Starter Carlos Martinez (1-3) allowed three runs over five innings. Martinez, who has 31 relief appearances, was making his second start of the season, replacing Michael Wacha in the rotation. "I just focused on throwing strikes, not throwing the ball so hard," Martinez said. "As a starter, Im learning to use all of my pitches." Nick Greenwood, Sam Freeman, Pat Neshek and Trevor Rosenthal combined for four innings of two-hit scoreless relief. Rosenthal got his 22nd save in 25 chances. Freeman struck out three in 1 2-3 innings. "I thought the pen was terrific, too," Matheny said. "Those guys are doing a good job getting through the game when our starters may not be able to go too deep." Cody Asche drove in all three Philadelphia runs with a bases-loaded double in the second. Asche, who grew up in nearby OFallon, was playing his first series in front of family and friends. "Its fun to step in and contribute," Asche said. "I wish we could have taken the last two games and completed the perfect road trip. But weve got some confidence." The Phillies won the first five games of the seven-game swing. Jimmy Rollins had a 15-game hitting streak snapped. Kyle Kendrick (3-7) allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings. He gave up just one hit over the first three innings before St. Louis scored four times in the fourth. "That one big inning hurt," Kendrick said. "They got some hits and I wasnt able to minimize the damage." Jon Jay got the inning going with an RBI single with the bases loaded. Jhonny Peralta followed with a tying, two-run single and Ellis bunted home the go-ahead run. "I like the way they went about putting together some tough at-bats," Matheny said. "Just nice consistent approaches at the plate, not trying to do too much." NOTES: The Phillies announced after the game that RHP Ethan Martin (0-0, 4.50) has been sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley of the International League. RHP B.J. Rosenberg will be recalled. Rosenberg is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA. Manager Ryne Sandberg said Martin just "needs to get some innings in."... Matheny had the No. 57 written on his left arm to honour former St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile, who died 12 years ago Sunday. ... The Phillies begin an eight-game homestand Monday with the first of four games against Miami. Roberto Hernandez (3-5, 4.52) will face Nathan Eovaldi (4-3, 3.76) in the opener. ... St. Louis starts a 10-game road trip Monday with the first of three games in Colorado. Lance Lynn (7-5, 3.15) will take on Jhoulys Chacin (2-2, 4.65). ... The previous three St. Louis games prior to Sunday lasted exactly 2 hours and 48 minutes. This one took 2:54. ... St. Louis OF Matt Holliday hit in the No. 2 spot in the batting order for the first time this season. The Cardinals have used 11 different players in that slot this season. Clearance Soccer Jerseys . First-half goals by Will Bruin and Oscar Boniek Garcia sucked the life out of the Impact as the Houston Dynamo bounced them from Major League Soccers post-season with a 3-0 victory on Thursday. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic . The Blue Jackets play Thursday night at New Jersey in their first game after the NHLs Olympic hiatus. A native of Trencin, Slovakia, Gaborik has represented his country at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics but was unable to play in Sochi because of his injury. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . You can watch the game on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt and listen to the game on TSN Radio 690 in Montreal. After starting the month of November on an 0-3-1 slide, the Canadiens have recorded wins in three of their last five outings (3-1-1). Fake Soccer Jerseys . Even that couldnt slow them down against the New Orleans Hornets. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook scored 31 points apiece and the Thunder overcame injuries to two key backups to beat New Orleans 101-93 Monday night for their 10th straight home win. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys China . I kept my eyes focused up on the camera during each approach. I just tried to stay focused on my form, as I didnt know what the ball reaction was. I was quite emotional at the end. I did not actually see any of the shots in the game until I got home and watched the video. WINNIPEG -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins goal was the turning point as the Edmonton Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit to beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in pre-season action Wednesday night. And linemate Jordan Eberle believes some of the prospects should get credit for making it happen. "It might have been just before that," he said of Nugent-Hopkins second-period goal. "We had a couple of shifts in our third and fourth lines, some young guys went out there had some zone pressure against them and we were able to capitalize on a shot there." Nugent-Hopkins agreed. "That line of (Kale) Kessy, (Tyler) Pitlick and (Travis) Ewanyk had a big shift for us," he said. Ewanyk and Kessy played last season for Edmontons AHL franchise in Oklahoma City as did Pitlick -- although he also played 10 games with the Oilers. Bogdan Yakimov and Justin Schultz also scored for Edmonton in the second period. Before that it had been all Jets. TJ Galiardi got things started on a first-period breakaway off a long pass from Will ONeill and beat Laurent Brossoit at 14:09. Brossoit played last season in the ECHL and finished with Edmontons AHL farm team in Oklahoma City. Jets forward Evander Kane had a breakaway as well in the first and earned a penalty shot on a hook but hit the crossbar. Wednesday night was the debut of the Kane, Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler line. Nugent-Hopkins took the first penalty of the game late in the first period and the Jets opened the second with 1:19 left in their power play. Matt Halischuk cashed in at 1:11 off a pass from Kane as he snapped the puck past Brossoits glove. "We definitely rope-a-doped em. I mean early, it seemed like they were playing in our end quite a bit," said Eberle. Galiardi said the Jets gave it away after their strong start. "It was more what we did, not what they did," said the off-season acquisition from the Calgary Flames. "Every chance they had and every goal they got was basically our doing. We gave them the opportunities and thats thhe kind of team they are.dddddddddddd Theyve got a lot of skill and if you give them those two-on-ones and odd-man rushes theyre going to score." It was Edmontons second pre-season win. The Jets are now 1-1. The Oilers made Brossoit work pretty hard in the second -- at one point the Jets were ahead 17-8 on shots -- but Nugent-Hopkins finally got the Oilers on the board with a slick shot as he rushed past Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba to beat Michael Hutchinsons glove. Yakimov tied the game off a cross-net pass from Vladimir Tkachev at 16:03 and with just nine seconds left in the period Tkachev fed Schultz in front of the Winnipeg net to make it 3-2. The Oilers ended up outshooting the Jets 12-10 in the second. As a measure of how the complexion of the game changed, the Jets had managed only two shots in about 20 minutes of hockey midway through the third period while the Oilers had 20 in the same time span. Tyler Rimmer relieved Brossoit for the third period but Hutchinson stayed in the Winnipeg net. The Jets finally regained some momentum but Halischuk hit the crossbar with just over three minutes left on what could have been the tying goal. Despite the loss, Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice liked what he saw from some of the young players he had in the lineup. "I think Nik Ehlers showed flashes in each of the two games . . . I really liked Nicky Petan in the middle, in the centre face-off . . . Adam Lowrys just smart kind of wherever he goes. . . and (Josh) Morrissey, another step better." He said overall they were too happy with themselves midway through the second, stopped doing what had been working until then and paid for it. "Thats human nature." Maurice also liked the way Kane and Scheifele helped kill penalties. The teams each took three but the Jets managed to kill all of theirs without giving up a goal. Notes -- The Jets sent six more of their young prospects back to their junior teams Wednesday: Axel Blomqvist, Eric Comrie, Chase De Leo, Jan Kostalek, Jimmy Lodge and Nelson Nogier. ' ' '