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BOSTON - The St. Louis Cardinals have a problem on their hands. Its not how poorly they played in the World Series opener or whether theyre able to bounce back with a better performance on Thursday night. It appears, after a cold spell, David Ortiz is heating up. "Big Papi," as hes affectionately known in these parts, has had an up and down fall. After torching the Tampa Bay Rays in the Division Series to the tune of .385/.556/.923, two home runs, a double and three RBI, Ortiz slumped in the ALCS. Tigers pitching held him to just two hits and a .091/.200/.227 slash line. Its easy to forget Ortiz struggled against Detroit because one of his two hits was an eighth inning grand slam in Game 2 that erased a 5-1 deficit, propelled the Red Sox to a series-evening victory and may well have saved Bostons chances of advancing. The other was a dunk single to left field in Game 5. The mantra of good teams is when one player is struggling; another guy - or guys - picks him up. Dustin Pedroia has been finding ways to get on base. Mike Napoli has been hot since his home run off Justin Verlander in Game Three of the ALCS. Ortiz seemed to break out on Wednesday night. He was robbed of a second inning grand slam by Carlos Beltran but later singled and, in the eighth inning, hit a two-run home run he made sure cleared the right centerfield fence. If not for Beltrans great catch, Ortiz would have had a two home run, three hit, six RBI night. To this point in the playoffs, not that its deterred them; the Red Sox havent had Pedroia, Ortiz and Napoli hitting well at the same time. If last nights performance is an indicator of whats to come, Boston is in good shape. "Im very encouraged, particularly with what Mike Napoli has done since probably Game 3 of the ALCS," said Farrell. "Probably each guy has the ability to carry us. And the fact that we can get the middle of the order going like that - we still have other guys we need to get going." St. Louis, on the other hand, has non-performance related issues in the middle of its order. An injury and a recovery have put two key players in difficult positions. Beltran was injured making the catch on Ortizs would-be grand slam. He left the game and went to hospital for tests. A CT scan and an X-ray showed no fractures and he will attempt to play through a deeply bruised right side of his ribcage. Its hard to imagine Beltran wont be compromised by the injury. Meantime, Allen Craig will be the Cardinals designated hitter again in Game 2. He returned last night, having not played since September 4 due to a sprained foot. Craig had a single in four at-bats and is being asked to quickly find his offensive timing with so little time left in the season. Farrells starting lineup will suffer with the deletion of either Ortiz or Napoli under National League rules. It appears Ortiz will get the Game 3 start at first base, relegating Napoli to a pinch hit role. The Cardinals dont have a left-handed starting pitcher so Ortiz could get all the starts at Busch Stadium. Napolis degenerative hip condition prevents him from returning to catcher, a position which hes played for most of his career. "The one outside view might be to put Mike Napoli behind the plate but we wouldnt do that," said Farrell. "One or the other is going to sit, unfortunately." Authentic Super Bowl Jerseys 2018 . TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted Monday morning that Callahan - who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, is now open to a six-year contract at less than $7 million per season. Wholesale Super Bowl LII Jerseys . The Islanders own the fifth pick in the 2014 draft but had until June 1 to decide whether to keep it or defer to 2015. The selection was packaged in the teams deal for Thomas Vanek on October 27, 2013. http://www.cheapsuperbowljerseysauthentic.com/. Ho-Sang is a highly regarded prospect, as seen in TSNs Midseason Rankings. This was Game 3 of their playoff series and that wasnt the only strange incident in Londons 10-2 win over Windsor. Cheap Super Bowl 52 Jerseys . "I only want to go through this one more time," Crosby said Friday. The 24-year-old captain hasnt played since the symptoms resurfaced following a loss to Boston on Dec. 5. Doctors allowed him to return to full practice on Tuesday and while Crosby is pleased with the way his body is responding he refuses to put on his return. Cheap Super Bowl Jerseys . Wayne and Cindy Tuck of Ilderton, Ont., closed out round-robin play earlier in the day with a 7-3 win over Finland but needed a win over Austria to reach the final eight.HONG KONG -- John Moonlight scored a pair of tries as Canada defeated Portugal 35-7 Friday in its opening match at the Hong Kong Sevens rugby tournament. The Canadian men improved their career record against Portugal to 15-9-0. Canada, which is currently ninth in the series standings, is coming off three impressive performances in the U.S., New Zealand and Japan, where it qualified for the quarter-finals of the elite Cup competition each time. Nanyak Dala, Conor Trainor and Sean White also scored tries Friday for Canada, which will face No. 8 Argentina and No. 4 England on Saturday. Captain Nathan Hirayama, who missed the final day of action in Tokyo last time out due to injury, converted all five Canadian tries. Pedro Bettencourt had the lone try for No. 14 Portugal. Moonlight opened the scoring with a try just 39 seconds into the match. Hirayama then converted tries from Dala and Trainor to put Canada up 21-0 by the 7:20 mark of the first half. Bettencourt got Portugal on the board late, cutting Canadas lead to 21-7 at the break. Moonlight struck quickly to open the second half with a try 50 seconds in. That was all the scoring until Whites try in extra time. In other games, Fiji opened its title defence by blowing away Wales 42-7. In a pool matchup of last years finalists, Fiji ran in six tries to one to put a smile on the face of coach Ben Ryan. "Lets not get carried away. We havent qualified for anything as yet," Ryann said.dddddddddddd "We have a far way to go before we can think of defending our title." Fiji, the most successful side at the mecca of sevens rugby, is bidding for a third successive title to go along with hat tricks in 1990-92 and 1997-99. England was the last team to win three in a row, 10 years ago. The Pacific Islanders, coming off victory in Tokyo last weekend, led the charge of all the big guns on the opening night. World series leader South Africa defeated France 31-7, and New Zealand brushed aside Scotland 33-0. Of the top four seeds, England had the hardest time having to ward off a feisty challenge from Argentina, 19-12. In qualifying for core team status in next seasons series, Japan was the most impressive in romps over Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago, thanks to wingers Yoshikazu Fujita and Kenki Fukuoka, who were released by 15s coach Eddie Jones. Host Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Italy and Russia also emerged unbeaten in the 12-team second-tier competition. The winner of that tournament will join the core teams in the first-tier series next year. Also Friday, the Canadian women defeated France 24-0 to win their second consecutive Hong Kong Invitational Sevens title. The event was a tuneup for the Womens Sevens World Series tournament next week in Guangzhou, China. Canada is currently third in the womens series with 48 points. Australia and New Zealand each have 56. With files from The Associated Press ' ' '