ended. The Cubs fell to 9-9 against St. Louis.

Try running with your head tilted up towards the sky, your wide-brim hat on top, and the head parallel to the ground. Hang on. Focus on the ball that is already ahead of you and is coming down fast. Go full pelt while you are at it; if you go slowly you wont make it by the time the ball lands. Careful. Dont move your head or you will lose sight of the ball. Then, after 12 full strides, not straight but at an angle and back from midwicket towards the boundary, as the ball falls over your shoulder, stick your hands out at the exact right time even as you make the final two strides. Fourteen strides of magic. The stable head. The strong legs propelling him towards the ball. No need to dive.The leading edge from Jonny Bairstow wasnt a skier but seemed to be travelling far enough from fielders. The bowler Ishant Sharma didnt seem to be too hopeful of a wicket. Ravindra Jadeja didnt have even half a second to decide which direction to run in and how fast he needed to go. He judged the direction perfectly, and put his head up and charged towards the ball. About 30-35 metres of smooth gliding run without any time to judge the catch because this was not a skier. No TV cameras can do justice to this bit of magic.Magic it was that India needed in the final two sessions of the day if they were to stretch their 3-0 series lead. Seventeen wickets had fallen in 13 sessions before that. The pitch had been flat. Moeen Ali had scored a century, Englands Nos. 8 and 9 had scored fifties without ever looking out, KL Rahul gifted his wicket on 199 and Karun Nair scored a triple-century in only his third Test. You needed some magic to bring this Test to life. Magic came through getting little things right. The way Jadeja does. Like in that catch. It wasnt a spectacular dive. There was no juggling involved at the boundary. It was the coming together of little things: the judgement, the head position, the legs, the extension of the hands. He hardly broke stride. He hardly bowled magic deliveries, but the little things he did right on that pitch came together to become magic.Bairstows was the fourth wicket to fall. The first three had fallen to Jadeja. One of them was Cook, for the sixth time in the series. A man whose career Jadeja gave a new lease of life back in 2014 when he dropped him in Southampton. A better tribute to Jadeja cant come than from Cook. Jadeja is not a spectacular bowler. He doesnt dip it or drift it alarmingly. So it is not always easy to spot what it is that Jadeja does to get all those wickets. It is a good idea to ask Cook what was special about Jadeja. After all he was averaging 98 against left-arm spin before he came to India: 1372 runs at 3.14 an over for just 14 dismissals.Cook started off by saying, You can see why he was getting me out. I was missing straight balls or getting caught.Yet another voice dismissing Jadeja, you thought, but then Cook went deeper. He said it was strange to struggle against left-arm spin for the first time in his career. Then he summed Jadeja up. Nothing like a little grudging respect. I found him hard work, Cook said. It has been a strange thing for me. Credit to him, he found a bit of a weakness there. And he was relentless at it. I wasnt good enough to cope with it.Find a weakness. Keep attacking it relentlessly. And with Jadejas fitness you never find a release. The weakness here was that Cook was getting a touch too far across when he played left-arm spin. Jadeja kept bowling in an area from where he would repeatedly threaten the inside edge or beat him. He would keep dragging Cook further and further to the left, and then slip one straight in. The accuracy meant you had to take risks lest you be sitting ducks to the one that misbehaves.Through the series, Virat Kohli acknowledged, Jadejas pressure helped Ashwin get wickets. On the final day of the series, though, Jadeja kept them all for himself. England will be rightly criticised for getting out to attacking shots - none of their first eight fell defending - but Cook could see why they were doing so. Stuart Broad eventually got one from Jadeja that he could do nothing about. The batsmen were mindful they didnt want a similar end, and they knew Jadeja had found his rough and was going to keep hitting it relentlessly. They just didnt back themselves to be good enough for so long that Jadeja starts making mistakes.Eventually Jadeja ended just two wickets behind Ashwin in this series, at five runs apiece cheaper and in 17 overs fewer. In that final dance of victory - when every ball is accompanied by an appeal from the stands - Jadeja was everywhere. Seven wickets, three catches, creating magic, but without tricks. Michael Strahan Jersey . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Carl Banks Jersey . The recently retired Stern was elected Friday to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and will be enshrined with the class of 2014 on Aug. http://www.giantsonlineteamshop.com/deandre-baker-jersey-cheap.html . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Ny Giants Jerseys .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Doug Kotar Cheap Jersey . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. CHICAGO -- The St. Louis Cardinals have a lot to accomplish if they want to return to Chicago in two weeks for a rematch of last years NL Division Series. They would have to qualify for one of the wild-card spots, then win the single-elimination playoff game.If they do, the Cardinals may be the one club that wont be fazed by Wrigley Field and the Cubs.Yadier Molina drove in four runs, Stephen Piscotty homered and the Cardinals improved their standing in the NL wild-card race by getting to Jason Hammel early in a 10-4 rout of Chicago on Saturday.Randal Grichuk added three RBI and Jhonny Peralta had three hits and scored three runs for the Cardinals, who stopped a two-game skid and are a half-game behind New York and San Francisco for the two NL wild-card spots.Its been a difficult year for us, up and down, but we got a good win and a lot of base hits, said Molina, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Hopefully, we can continue it.Hammel (15-10) allowed six runs and six hits while getting just seven outs, hurting his bid for a postseason rotation spot. A day after clinching the NLs best record, the Cubs were denied their 99th win and a record 57th at Wrigley Field.Dexter Fowler finished a home run shy of the cycle, Ben Zobrist had a two-run triple and Willson Contreras homered in the ninth for the Cubs, who are 3-6 at home against St. Louis and 53-17 against other teams.Theyre obviously the best team in the league, Molina said. We respect that. But at the same time we come here thinking about winning.Alex Reyes (4-1) needed 115 pitches to get through five innings. But the rookie settled down after a tough start and allowed three runs and six hits with six strikeouts.Hours after Fridays win, the Cubs clinched home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs when Washington lost to Pittsburgh. Manager Joe Maddon was watching on TV and declared it another checkmark for their season.They remained two wins shy of another goal -- 100 wins -- thanks to Hammels struggles.The right-handers solid previous outing renewed talk he could supplant John Lackey as the No. 4 playoff starter. But Hammel saw his ERA risse from 3.dddddddddddd56 to 3.83 after Maddons early hook.Molina had a two-run double and Grichuk a two-run single in the first. An inning later, Piscotty crushed Hammels slider 450 feet onto Waveland Avenue for a solo homer. Hammel was lifted after giving up two more hits in the third.Molina added a two-run single for his third hit in a three-run seventh against Hector Rondon. Piscottys third hit in the eighth off Rob Zastryzny scored another run.Reyes had his 11 1/3-inning scoreless streak snapped in Chicagos two-run first, and Fowlers RBI double an inning later made it 5-3. But Reyes allowed just two hits over his final three innings.When you have 71 pitches after three (innings), you typically got a lot more on you than the three runs they had, Cardinals manager Mike Mathney said. He just did a nice job of managing the innings.Maddon cleared his bench in the late innings as Chicagos four-game winning streak ended. The Cubs fell to 9-9 against St. Louis.They would be very tough, Maddon said of a potential playoff matchup. Theyre very good offensively. They can match up out of the bullpen. They do a lot of things.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: Mathney said LF Matt Holliday (broken right thumb) was pretty sore a day after his first live batting practice session. Hell see a hand specialist Monday before being cleared to hit again. . SS Aledmys Diaz (arm fatigue) started after a day off. . Kolten Wong (shoulder) didnt start after an outfield spill Friday.Cubs: LF Jorge Soler (right side soreness) started for the first time since Sept. 16. . RHP Pedro Strop (knee, groin) reported no pain a day after his first appearance since Aug. 10.SCHEDULE CHANGEMaddon pushed his bullpen game to Thursday in Pittsburgh. Kyle Hendricks, Lackey and Jake Arrieta will start the first three games against the Pirates.UP NEXTLHP Jon Lester (18-4, 2.36 ERA) faces Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (15-8, 3.16) in Chicagos regular-season home finale Sunday night. Lester is 8-0 with a 1.05 ERA in his last 10 starts. ' ' '