d. The Cardinals also purchased the contract of outfielders Osca

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals gave manager Mike Matheny a three-year contract extension through 2017 on Wednesday, rewarding him for deep post-season runs in his first two seasons in the job. The team also said that 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter is retiring after missing this season with a recurring nerve issue in his shoulder. Matheny led the Cardinals to the World Series this year, losing in six games to Boston. In 2012, his first season managing at any level, St. Louis fell one game shy of reaching the Fall Classic. The 43-year-old Matheny was a four-time Gold Glove catcher with St. Louis and had one year left on his deal. "We didnt want any distractions, we knew we wanted Mike to be a part of this organization for a long time," general manager John Mozeliak said Wednesday. "So we might as well deal with it and get it behind us. "Obviously, with the success hes had he deserves this contract," Mozeliak added. Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. characterized Mathenys first two seasons as "pretty historic." Matheny called it an "amazing ride." Mathenys managed 30 post-season games the last two seasons and is among eight managers in major league history to lead a team to the post-season his first two full seasons. The Cardinals picked up Mathenys option for 2014 in February. "You look at how everythings kind of unfolded and you just never know," the manager added. "Opportunities come up and fortunately Ive been surrounded by some very, very good people." Mozeliak said the team hoped to "identify a future role" in the organization for the 38-year-old Carpenter. "When you think back to everything this organization has been through in regard to his ups and downs, he will still go down as one of the greatest weve ever had," Mozeliak said. Carpenter went 95-44 with a 3.07 ERA in nine seasons in St. Louis despite making only seven starts combined between 2007-08 and 2012. His began his career in 1997 with Toronto, signing with the Cardinals after the 2002 season. He missed all of 2003 with an injury and was 144-94 overall. "We think back to his career and what an amazing one it was," Mozeliak said. "He was part of so many highlights and I think he really created a culture of higher expectations." Carpenter won 21 games in 2005 and led the league in ERA in 2009, the same year he was named the NL comeback player of the year -- after having Tommy John surgery. Hes the franchise career leader with 10 postseason victories, the most memorable is his 1-0 win over the Phillies and Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the NL division series in 2011. "Chris will always be remembered as the leader of the pitching staff during one of the great eras of Cardinals baseball," DeWitt said. The Cardinals also purchased the contract of outfielders Oscar Taveras and Mike ONeill, and infielder Greg Garcia. St. Louis has 36 players on the 40-man roster. Taveras is the franchises top prospect and is coming off right ankle surgery after batting .306 in just 46 games at Triple-A Memphis. ONeill hit .320 in 98 games at Double-A Springfield and finished the year at Memphis where he batted .295, and the versatile Garcia batted .271 at Memphis and played second base, third base and shortstop. The Cardinals took left-hander John Gast, outfielder Jermaine Curtis and shortstop Ryan Jackson off the 40-man roster. Gast and Curtis were outrighted to Memphis and Jackson was claimed by the Houston Astros. Mozeliak called it a roster "clean up" prior to the winter Rule 5 draft. The team is seeking a replacement for Bengie Molina, an assistant hitting coach this year who last week was hired as the Texas Rangers first base coach and catching instructor. Drew Bledsoe Youth Jersey .com) - Driphus Jackson had three touchdown passes, including two in a 19-second span in the opening quarter, to guide Rice to a 30-6 rout of Fresno State at the Hawaii Bowl. Stephon Gilmore Jersey . Blatter also told reporters Saturday after meeting with Qatars emir that the decision to award the tournament to the desert nation is "not reversible." There have been calls to move the tournament because of Qatars intense heat. http://www.shoptheofficialpatriots.com/E...atriots-Jersey/. Yup, he definitely needed this one. Craig homered twice and had three RBIs Wednesday night to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Craig went 4 for 5 and Yadier Molina added three hits for the Cardinals, who salvaged the final game of a three-game set in hopes of staying within shouting distance of front-running Milwaukee in the NL Central. Julian Edelman Jersey .C. Lions. The clubs former starting quarterback, assistant and head coach returned Thursday as its receivers coach. Sony Michel Jersey . Argentina, who have yet to beat New Zealand in 17 meetings, rocked the All Blacks with an early converted try to backrower Juan Manuel Leguizamon and led 7-0 after five minutes. But Smiths double in the 23rd and 26th minutes - when Argentina was reduced to 14 men by the sin-binning of hooker Eusebio Guinazu - turned the tide of the match and set up New Zealands third straight Championship win. SAITAMA, Japan -- European champions Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte received 69.70 points to finish first in the short program. Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., trailed by half a point. Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third on 68.20. "This is definitely where we want to be, in the attacking position of the top spot, because we feel that we put great work into this season especially and we want to end on a high note and put out two solid performances," said Poje. Torontos Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., were 10th with 59.42 points. Alexandra Paul of Midhurst, Ont., and Mitchell Islam of Barrie, Ont., scored 57.68 points for 11th place heading into Saturdays free dance. Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, the top-ranked Russians, were forced to withdraw after Soloviev injured his groin in the morning practice. Defending champions and Olympic gold medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States were not taking part. The ice dance concludes on Saturday with the free dance. Japanese teenager Yuzuru Hanyu came back with a brilliant free skate to become the first man in 12 years on Friday to win the Olympic and world figure skating titles in the same year. The 19-year-old Hanyu, who trailed compatriot Tatsuki Machida by nearly seven points after the world championships short program, produced a near-flawless free skate to finish with 282.59 points, just three-tenths of a point ahead of Machida. Javier Fernandez of Spain was third with 275.93. "That was very close," Hanyu said. "I work hard to become a skater who can always end with strong performances. I felt the responsibility to win the event." Hanyu fell twice during the free skate at the Sochi Olympics but had no falls on Friday. Skating to "Romeo and Juliet," he opened with a quad salchow and followed with a quad toeloop. His only deduction came onn the triple flip and he got extra points on five straight jumps.dddddddddddd The mens Olympic-worlds double was last achieved by Alexei Yagudin in 2002. Machida captured his first major medal with a graceful performance to Stravinskis "Firebird." "I showed everything I have at this moment," Machida said. "I tried to perform without caring about the score or ranking but it got into my head and I had a really tough four minutes." Fernandez, who was fourth in Sochi, was deducted points when he singled a planned triple lutz. "I popped the triple lutz," Fernandez said. "And I didnt do my quad salchow triple toeloop combination, but still it was a good program even though Yuzuru did better than me." Maxim Kotvun of Russia was fourth followed by Jeremy Abbott of the United States. Canadian Patrick Chan, who had won the last three world titles, decided to skip this years competition. Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C., was the top Canadian in 11th place. Its been a tough season for Reynolds, who struggled with ill-fitting skates for several months. "The whole season was a giant learning experience, and I can take from that knowing I can still skate my best even though Im not feeling even close to where Id like to be in terms of being comfortable and being ready, being prepared," said Reynolds. "What I can take away from this is that even if Im not feeling 100 per cent, I know that I can still do the job, and that should give me confidence when I do feel good." World junior