Gäste Forum » court injunction -- demanding payment.Spence

HOUSTON -- Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez ended a tough stretch in emphatic fashion Wednesday.Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth, Jeremy Hazelbaker and Brandon Moss hit home runs and St. Louis beat the Houston Astros 8-2.Martinez (11-7) pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, allowing a run while striking out seven. He retired 15 of the first 16 batters before giving up a leadoff double to Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth.Martinez had allowed 14 runs over his previous three starts.Hes been impressive, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. I enjoy watching guys improve. When you see him pitch like that and maintain like that, thats improvement.Martinez leads St. Louis pitchers with 11 starts of seven or more innings.Every day I go out on the hill focused on my work and ready to go through nine innings hopefully, Martinez said. Some days theres bad days, some days theres good days like today. I stayed focused and I felt really good. I feel like its just part of the game and I went out and did the best I could.The Cardinals have won four straight and have a slim lead for the second NL wild-card spot over the Pirates and Marlins.St. Louis is averaging 7.5 runs per game during this winning streak and began its offensive frenzy Wednesday in the third inning against starter Doug Fister.Eight Cardinals batted in the three-run third, highlighted by Stephen Piscottys two-run single and Yadier Molinas RBI double.Hazelbaker bashed a 3-2 pitch from Fister in the fourth for his first home run since July 29. Moss blew it open in the seventh with a three-run homer off Tony Sipp.Moss has four home runs in the last six games and leads the Cardinals with 22 homers in just 281 at-bats. Its a nice resurgence for the 32-year-old, who hit .250 with four homers in 51 games last season after being acquired from Cleveland in July.Seems like everybody discounted everything he did before he got to us, Matheny said. That was a bunch of homers. Then he comes over smoking the ball and not getting anything for it. You could just see where he was trending and where he continues to trend. This guys got legitimate big power.St. Louis has 49 home runs since the All-Star break to lead the National League.Its good were just having good approaches and obviously were having success at the plate, Hazelbaker said. It comes from preparation and just knowing what were capable of and just being prepared every at-bat.Fister (11-8) gave up four runs, seven hits and a walk while striking three in four innings.It was a disappointing day, Fister said. Any loss is a tough loss to swallow. I felt good today. I felt strong, I felt in control, but they put a few good swings on balls, and the ball bounced their way today.Fister has allowed four or more runs five times in his past 10 starts after reaching that mark once in his first 14 outings this season.Alex Bregman drove in Hernandez with a single in the sixth. The rookie has seven RBI in the last 11 games and is batting .312 in that time.Houston has been outscored 29-11 during a four-game losing streak and surrendered eight or more runs in three straight games for the first time this season.The rollercoaster ride that weve been on is no fun when were in this portion of it, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. This game will test your character, itll test your resolve, itll test your ability to come back from adversity and this is another test for us. Weve got the better part of six weeks left in the regular season, and we need to compile some wins.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (9-7, 4.72 ERA) starts against Philadelphia on Friday. Wainwright is looking for his eighth season with 10 or more wins and needs four to tie Dizzy Dean (134) on the Cardinals career list.Astros: RHP Joe Musgrove (1-0, 1.47 ERA) starts against Baltimore on Thursday after getting his first major league win against Toronto on Friday.Wholesale Phillies Jerseys . The Barrie Colts defenceman, who impressed many with his play for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship, is the top-ranked skater in the February rankings. He has 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 45 games with the Colts this season. Philadelphia Phillies Shirts . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. https://www.cheapphilliesjerseys.us/ . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Philadelphia Phillies Store . Didier Drogba gave away the penalty that put Senegal one goal away from a major upset, but the veteran striker will get another chance -- probably his last -- at the World Cup after Salomon Kalous injury-time strike sealed the Ivorians place in Brazil next year. Fake Phillies Jerseys .S District Court against Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner and his own union, the MLBPA.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Almost four months after the Olympics ended, Rio de Janeiro organizers are unable to pay some of their bills, including $3.7 million owed to the International Paralympic Committee.IPC spokesman Craig Spence told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the money is owed for travel grants, which is part of the contractual agreement to host the Olympics and Paralympics.Never have we faced an issue like this with an organizing committee being so late paying travel grants, Spence told AP.The default is the latest for embattled Rio organizers, who have also been late paying hundreds of creditors and contract employees.Spence said the unpaid travel expenses were damaging national Paralympic committees, particularly those with tiny budgets.Some of our smaller national Paralympic committees, who took out loans to pay for their travel for the Games, are now in serious danger of defaulting on their repayments, Spence said.Cash-flow problems, budget cuts and cost overruns dogged organizers in the run-up to South Americas first Olympics.Despite this, International Olympic Committee officials last week described the Rio games as the most perfect, imperfect games, discounting empty seats, organizational setbacks, and pea-green water in a diving and swimming venue.As the Olympics opened on Aug. 5, organizers needed millions in a bailout from the city and federal governments to fund the subsequent Paralympics. This broke a promise to use only private money to fund the $2.8 billion operating budget.We told everybody before the Paralympics that we were short for the Paralympic Games because of lack oof sponsorship and ticket sales, Rio spokesman Mario Andrada said.ddddddddddddSpence said Rio CEO Sidney Levy shocked officials just four weeks before the Paralympic opened, saying there was no money to do the Paralympics.The cash-flow problems continue, even as the committee is downsized and will cease to exist later next year -- save for lawyers to handle lawsuits.Spence said Rio organizers have told him that money that should have gone to pay the travel grants was seized by other creditors -- through a lawsuit and court injunction -- demanding payment.Spence said he was told these creditors included security and cleaning companiesThe issues have put the spotlight on Rios city hall and out-going mayor Eduardo Paes.In the bailout pledge, the city committed 150 million reals ($45 million) with the federal government promising another 100 million reals ($30 million).Andrada said the city had paid only 30 million reals ($9 million) so far, though organizers have billed the city for at least twice that much.Paes has been in the unwanted spotlight recently.A state court froze his assets last week as a public prosecutor investigates whether he failed to assess an environmental fee to the company that built the Olympic golf course.This adds to suspicion about overbilling and favoritism in infrastructure built for the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup.---Stephen Wade on Twitter: http://twitter.com/StephenWade . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wade ' ' '