ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals offence is back in one of those rough patches. They need to be out of this rut soon. "Theres nothing wrong with us getting a couple of hits early," manager Mike Matheny said after the Seattle Mariners snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 victory Saturday night. "Theres nothing wrong with getting a couple of runs." Rookie James Paxton gave up two hits in six shutout innings, quieting a near-sellout crowd of 41,374, and the Cardinals dropped into a first-place tie in the NL Central. "I was really just kind of locked in on the catcher, I didnt really hear the crowd much," Paxton said. "I kind of noticed how many people were there after they took me out of the game. "I said to somebody, Wow, theres a lot of people here." The Cardinals totalled 26 runs while sweeping the Pirates to regain the Central lead at the start of a nine-game homestand. Theyve scored three runs in two games against the Mariners and leadoff man Matt Carpenter thought the unfamiliarity has definitely been a factor. "Weve faced the Pirates 100 times and we know exactly what A.J. Burnett has, we know what Francisco Liriano has, and those kinds of guys," Carpenter said. "Then we come in here and weve got these guys, and nobody knows anything about anybody." Now, St. Louis and Pittsburgh share the division lead once again. The Pirates topped the Cubs 2-1. "Weve got a chance to kind of control our own destiny," Carpenter said. "Hopefully at the end of this thing, well be happy where we are." The Cardinals mustered only three hits, including Carpenters league-leading 50th double in the eighth. He later scored on a wild pitch by Charlie Furbush. Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run double in the fifth inning that ended St. Louis rookie Michael Wachas scoreless streak at 23 2-3 innings. Kendrys Morales hit his 22nd homer in eighth off Tyler Lyons to make it 3-0. The St. Louis hitters have been struggling all week, and they never got going against the 24-year-old Paxton (2-0), who limited them to a pair of singles. The first was by Wacha (3-1) in the third when Paxton came off the bag to field a tapper and then slipped and fell, losing his grip. Paxton struck out five and walked two. He won his major league debut a week ago against Tampa Bay, allowing an earned run in six innings. Danny Farquhar finished for his 14th save in 16 chances. Wacha struck out five in his seventh career start, but also walked four in five innings. Mariners pitchers were 0 for 20 with 13 strikeouts this year before Wacha walked Paxton on four pitches in the fifth to put runners on first and second with none out, setting up Gutierrezs double. "Hes trying to give me a free out, bunting the ball," Wacha said. "Its not acceptable, walking the pitcher. Anybody really. I wasnt really too excited about that." Paxton said it was his first at-bat in more than a decade. "I didnt really know what to do with the bat after I got walked," Paxton said. "I just kind of dropped it and then told the umpire when I was at second base I hadnt run the bases in about 11 years, gave him a little chuckle. "It was fun to be out there and do that. It was pretty cool." Seattle leadoff man Brad Miller was removed with a mild left hamstring strain after running out a sacrifice bunt in the fifth. Replacement Carlos Triunfel had a sacrifice fly in the ninth off Fernando Salas. NOTES: Yadier Molina, who threw out two runners attempting to steal in the same inning Friday, was the first Cardinals C to do that since manager Mike Matheny on May 1, 2001, at Florida. Matheny said he didnt remember the occasion, but added, "You dont normally get that many opportunities unless youre stinking, or else your pitchers just giving you no chance." ... Morales has five homers in the last 10 games after going 28 games without a long ball. Cheap New Jersey Devils Jerseys . 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He sits there every night, he hears me cuss out the referees every night, Casey said, laughing. Cheap Devils Jerseys . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost .FRANKFURT - Two questions dominate as the Bundesliga season resumes after a long winter break: how early will Bayern Munich win the title and will Borussia Dortmund get relegated?The league has not played since the weekend before Christmas and kicks off again on Friday when Bayern visits Wolfsburg. No other major league in Europe has such a long midseason break.Bundesliga clubs typically give their players brief vacations, before assembling again to start preparing for the second half of the season. That usually involves a trip to warmer shores for a week of training, before returning to the European winter.Here are some things to know ahead of the weekend:___BAYERN UNDER FIREBayern also went abroad for its training camp, to Qatar. On the way home, Bayern stopped over in Saudi Arabia for a friendly set up by one of its sponsors — raising a wave of criticism at tome. Critics, including high-ranking politicians, accused Bayern of being insensitive to Saudi Arabias poor human rights record.Bayern officials hoped to ride out the storm without much comment but eventually were forced to admit that the club should have raised the human rights issues.___BAYERNS LEADBayern enters the second half of the season undefeated and with a massive 11-point lead over Wolfsburg. Only a Wolfsburg victory on Friday victory could restore at least some suspense to the season, although no one seriously doubts that Bayern will win its second straight title under coach Pep Guardiola and itss third consecutive championship.ddddddddddddast season, Bayern won the title with a record seven matches to spare and could break the mark. So far, Guardiolas team has 14 wins and three draws. It is also still in the German Cup and the Champions League.___MOURNING WOLFSBURGWolfsburg players are still trying to come to terms with the death of the 20-year-old forward Junior Malanda. The Belgian was killed in a car crash as he headed to join his teammates for the trip to the training camp.There were times when we could not concentrate fully, coach Dieter Hecking said. I wish we had another week to prepare.Goalkeeper Diego Benaglia said the team was trying to remain concentrated and professional, but when you have time to think and the emotions overcome you, its not easy.___DORTMUNDS DESPERATIONFrom Bayerns challenger to relegation candidate: Dortmund had a dismal first half of the season as it lost 10 of the first 17 matches and is next to last.Dortmund was the 2011 and 2012 champion and runner-up to Bayern the last two seasons. But it has been set back by a seemingly never-ending series of injuries to key players and a run of poor luck.Weve trained well and worked through a lot of routines. Now its a matter of doing the fine-tuning, and then were off, coach Juergen Klopp said ahead of Saturdays match at third-place Bayer Leverkusen.Dortmund has high expectations of newly signed attacking midfielder Kevin Kampl, a German-born Slovenia international. 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