Chat-World » ay points. Bostons Milan Lucic along with Chicag

ST. LOUIS -- Danny Duffy became the latest pitcher to shut down the St. Louis Cardinals. Duffy worked six innings of one-hit ball coming off a pair of poor outings and Alex Gordon homered to start a breakout three-run seventh for the Kansas City Royals in a 6-0 victory over the suddenly punchless defending NL champs on Monday night. "I told him, You didnt throw a great game, you pitched a great game," manager Ned Yost said. "He was just right on top of his game." The Royals had just two singles off Shelby Miller (6-5) in a game that had been scoreless before they opened the seventh with four straight hits. Gordons fifth homer ended a 15-inning scoreless drought and Mike Moustakas capped the rally with a two-run double. "I felt good early on," Miller said. "I felt like I just kind of gave the game away in the seventh. Its just frustrating." Matt Holliday had two singles and a walk for the Cardinals, who have been shut out in consecutive games at home and have single-digit hit totals the last four games. Theyre just 2-6 with one game to go on a nine-game home stand. "Its a long season. Youre going to have those times," said Yadier Molina, who is 2 for 21 during the home stand. "We know were good hitters." Between Hollidays single with two outs in the first and his single leading off the seventh, the Cardinals were 0 for 17 with a walk -- also by Holliday in the fourth. Coming off an 8-0 loss to San Francisco on Sunday, the Cardinals were shut out two straight times at home for the first time since 1992 against Pittsburgh, and by six or more runs at home in two straight games since dropping a doubleheader to the Reds in 1937. "Weve had lots of meetings, weve had the conversations we needed to have," manager Mike Matheny said. "What were doing right now isnt going to work and they know that. We all do." Duffy (3-5) struck out five and walked one, rebounding from consecutive losses in which he surrendered 10 earned runs in 10 innings. He has a one-hit start over six or more innings each of the last three seasons. "Physically, I felt really good," Duffy said. "I still didnt have as much behind the ball as I normally do, but I felt fine just like last time." Rare backing from the offence made everything feel a lot better. The Royals totalled three runs while Duffy was in the game his first five starts over 27 innings. "Sometimes its just the luck of the draw," Duffy said. "The guys swing the sticks really well." Three relievers completed a three-hitter. The Royals advanced one runner to second base before Gordon led off the seventh with his fifth homer, a drive over the Cardinals bullpen in right field. "It was awesome," Moustakas said. "It got a good pitch to hit and he crushed it and it kind of loosened us up in the dugout." Lorenzo Cain beat out an infield hit unsuccessfully challenged by the Cardinals and Miller threw his second wild pitch of the inning after a visit from pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, setting up Moustakas double. Kansas City added three in the eighth. Cardinals rookie centre fielder Randal Grichuk struck out three times and whiffed fielding the ball on the RBI single by Salvador Perez, allowing a second run to score. NOTES: Holliday has reached safely in all 29 home games. .. The Cardinals anticipate pitcher Lance Lynn, who underwent medical tests after tweaking his right knee Sunday, will make his next start. ... Cardinals pitching prospect Marco Gonzales, a first-round pick last year, and teammates from Double-A Springfield attended the game on a day off. ... The Royals claimed RHP Blake Wood on waivers from Cleveland and assigned him to Triple-A Omaha, making room on the 40-man roster by transferring RHP Luke Hochevar (elbow surgery) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL. Kansas City also purchased the contract of RHP Wilking Rodriguez, optioned RHP Louis Coleman to Omaha and designed LHP Justin Marks for assignment. ... The Royals are 5-1 in interleague play. Custom Arizona Cardinals Jerseys .500 were once common achievements for the Dallas Mavericks. Now, both are season highs as Dallas slowly works its way back into playoff contention in the Western Conference. Pat Tillman Jersey . -- Golden State Warriors reserve centre Ognjen Kuzmic is expected to miss at least six weeks after undergoing surgery on his fractured right hand. http://www.thecardinalsshoponline.com/Yo...als-Jersey/.com) - The 2014 Holiday Bowl is the first postseason venture pitting a pair of ranked foes against each other, as No. Larry Fitzgerald Jersey . "Back in 2011, when they announced that the game was coming here, we knew that it was going to be pretty important that we had a good year and hopefully could get into it, let alone win it, so I felt some pressure obviously within for sure," Taman said Monday, less than 24 hours after the Riders won the championship. Arizona Cardinals Jerseys . Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres came to an agreement on a big trade that may only offer incremental improvement to the Blues in their quest for a Stanley Cup.Playoff hockey begins Wednesday and this years Playoff Payoff once again has the numbers and information to help you win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdown for your playoff pool prep. When it comes to playoff pools, the basic strategy is simple: pick players from the four teams you think will reach the Conference Finals; that will give the players selected ample opportunity to score enough points for your squad. Its very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to win without having a solid presence among the final four teams because no matter how many points get accumulated in early rounds, if your team runs out of active bodies before the Conference Finals, its going to be extremely challenging to hold the lead. Naturally, the focus will be on top seeds and there is nothing wrong with loading up on players from Boston and Chicago if you can get quality players. At the same time, it needs to be recognized that there is not a huge difference in quality between the rest of the playoff teams, so theres likely going to be plenty of value to be found on lower-seeded teams. That doesnt mean ignoring the blue chip players -- top players on the favourite teams are the most valuable -- but it does suggest that once you have laid the groundwork with players from higher-seeded teams, then there ought to be an opportunity to secure value on lower seeds. There will come a time, at some point in your draft, that you have to decide whether you would rather have the best player on a low seed or a lesser player on a top seed and the answer will probably come by looking at the players youve already selected. BEST PLAYER vs. PLAYER ON BEST TEAM If you can take the best player off a lower seed, and it wont contradict any of your early picks, then its likely a good move. If you dont have representation on a highly-seeded team already, its generally not worth it to start investing in lower-tier players. So, Reilly Smith and Carl Soderberg might offer value when youre picking Bruins, but if they are the best available Bruins by the time you pick, youre likely fighting an uphill battle to beat out teams that have David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla etc. As an aside, it makes lots of sense to target Bruins because they have a more definitive edge over their Eastern Conference competition, compared to the West where, for example, legitimate Cup contenders Los Angeles and San Jose meet in Round One, and one of them has to lose. It could make more sense, instead, to go for Zach Parise or Mikko Koivu, top players on a lower seed that offer bigger marginal returns if they pull off at least one series upset. INJURIES Just as with the real teams involved, injuries are always a factor in fantasy sports, so its imperative to stay on top of the playing status of top players heading into the postseason, both for the potential line combinations and having some idea who might be filling in if a significant player remains sidelined. NHL teams are notorious for being vague or even dishonest regarding injuries at the best of times, let alone at this point in the season, but you may want to avoid, or at least decrease the value of, guys who are already going into the playoffs with injuries. As the playoffs start, there are a number of high profile players that arent expected to be ready. That list includes: Matt Duchene, Nathan Horton, Henrik Zetterberg, Mikael Granlund, Alex Galchenyuk, Chris Kreider, Evgeni Malkin, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Add into that mix, stars that at least have questionable health status after late-season injuries. Jonathan Toews, Drew Doughty, Ryan McDonagh, Martin Hanzal, T.J. Oshie, David Backes and Ben Bishop have all missed time late in the year and at least some could miss at least some first-round games. PICKING PAIRS Consider doubling-up on line combinations, when thhe value is right.dddddddddddd If you set your sights on Joe Thornton early, youll get all the more enjoyment out of Brent Burns a round or two later. Over the short season of an NHL playoff tournament, a hot line can go a long way and if you happen to pick the right one, that can tilt the results of your pool. TAKE A CHANCE Dont be afraid to make a sleeper pick late in the draft. The small sample size of playoffs lends itself to unexpected results, like Bryan Bickell scoring 17 points last year, Bryce Salvador scoring 14 points in 24 games in 2012 (he had nine points in 82 regular season games), Joel Ward scoring 13 points in 12 games in 2011, Ville Leino tallying 21 points in 19 games in 2010 or many others, from Ruslan Fedotenko to R.J. Umberger to Fernando Pisani, generally unheralded players who have all had double-digit goal totals in a single playoff year. Late in your draft, roll the dice on an unheralded player that might have a decent opportunity. THE NUMBERS Given these basic plans, the following team lists will provide information to help organize your drafting priorities. Each player listed has their points per game listed and thats a general value to start with. Then, look at what the player has done in the later portion of this season. Usually, I break down splits after the All-Star break but, for this year, a look at the pre and post-Olympic splits can reveal some changing roles. If the point totals are higher, maybe its a young player who is taking on more responsibility, or a veteran whose playing situation changed due to trade. Gustav Nyquist, for example, could be held in higher esteem than the standard player that hasnt even scored 50 points. Nyquist was the leagues most dangerous scorer from about mid-January through to the end of the season. The third rate included for each player is their NHL career playoff scoring average. In the vast majority of situations, that number will be lower than players career averages because the playoffs are tighter checking games that involve the best teams. Even some great players have lower career scoring averages in the playoffs because they didnt contribute much early in their career and theyve since emerged as elite postseason perfomers. Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are among the high-profile players that didnt produce early in the playoffs, but have had many productive postseasons since then. By no means should previous playoff production eliminate a player from consideration -- because sometimes a player is labeled as unproven in the postseason, until suddenly he is -- but if a player has made a career of under-performing in the playoffs, the safe play could be to let someone else take that risk or wait an extra round or two before wading into those waters. Power plays rule the postseason so make sure your roster is loaded with players who get time with the man advantage. No one in the Top 20 of last years playoff scoring had zero power play points. Bostons Milan Lucic along with Chicagos Patrick Kane and Bryan Bickell each had one power play point. Power play defencemen, in particular, have more value in the playoffs so dont let these players slip by you in the middle-to-later rounds of the draft. Kris Letang, Zdeno Chara, Slava Voynov, Duncan Keith and Paul Martin all hit double figures in scoring in last years playoffs, all with at least four points on the power play. Power play point totals are included as a general guide for which players are most likely to get those man advantage opportunities. Finally, as the postseason approaches and match-ups are set, check out the Fantasy Hockey Update playoff editions, and my blog which will have my playoff picks for more information as you prepare to win your playoff pool. Click here for TSN.cas 2014 NHL Playoff Payoff, a full team-by-team stats breakdow