swallow. But if we can learn a lesson from them they ca

PITTSBURGH -- Clint Hurdle grabbed the brim of his cap and ducked his head. When pressed about what pleased him the most about Pittsburghs 9-2 win over St. Louis on Monday, a romp that propelled the resilient Pirates within a half-game of the NL Central lead, the manager thought for a moment and sighed. "Getting a little picky arent we?" he asked with a smile. Hurdle isnt. Neither is his team as it tries to shrug off two decades of misery and mediocrity. Francisco Liriano allowed one run over seven dominant innings, Pedro Alvarez hit his NL-leading 27th home run and the Pirates kicked off a pivotal series by sending the Cardinals to their season-high fourth straight loss. Liriano (11-4) continued his midcareer renaissance by striking out eight and walking just two to win his fifth consecutive start. "Its been a good run for him being able to watch, and thats pretty much what Ive been doing," Pittsburgh centre fielder Andrew McCutchen said. "I dont get a lot of action when hes on the mound. It makes it a lot easier for the defence." Having some help from an underachieving offence helps. The Pirates came in hitting just .221 with runners in scoring position, the worst mark in baseball. Clint Barmes smacked two doubles and drove in two runs and McCutchen added two hits as Pittsburgh went 5 for 13 with runners on second or third to continue its mastery over St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook. The veteran right-hander fell to 1-8 against Pittsburgh in his otherwise solid resume. The Pirates touched Westbrook (7-5) for four runs in the first inning, capped by Alvarezs three-run homer into the first row of seats in right field. "It was a battle from pitch 1 -- and it showed early on," Westbrook said. "Its not really how you draw it up with a walk and a hit batsmen and a single and a homer. Put us in a bad spot against a good team and against a guy whos throwing the ball really well." Hurdle stressed the need to not place too much focus on a late-July series, pointing out two more months remain after the five-game set wraps up on Thursday. Maybe, but with the Pirates chasing their first playoff berth in 21 years and a chance to make inroads on the team with the best record in baseball, the game had an electricity typically reserved for early fall in cities far away from the one that hasnt fielded a winner since 1992. Lower-lever tickets were fetching $100 or more hours before the first pitch, and Liriano did not disappoint the largest Monday-night crowd (32,084) since the park opened. The left-hander, whose path to stardom veered off track after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2007, had little trouble with the most explosive offence in the majors. He retired the first 10 batters he faced and kept the best-hitting team in the National League on its heels while dropping his ERA to 2.16. "Frankie can answer," Hurdle said. "Hes been in big matchups before." So has Westbrook, who still hasnt figured out a way to handle the Pirates. He was touched for four runs in the first inning of his previous start at PNC Park in April. The game was eventually washed out. The weather couldnt save him this time. Neither could Westbrooks usually solid control. He issued three walks and hit three batters and never appeared comfortable. "Hes going to go out there and give us whatever hes got every time and for whatever reason this teams just given him a tough time and hes had a hard time in this stadium," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. Westbrook survived a bases-loaded jam in the second to stay close, but by then Liriano had all the support he would need. His only real mistake came in the sixth, when pinch-hitter Tony Cruz led off with a triple and scored on Carpenters single up the middle. A strikeout and a double play followed, and the Pirates broke it open in the seventh against relievers Marc Rzepczynski and Fernando Salas. Garrett Jones started it with Pittsburghs first sacrifice fly to the outfield since May 27 and Barmes clubbed a two-run double as the Pirates batted around. Even with its best offensive showing since the All-Star break, Hurdle isnt so sure the Pirates made a statement. "Were a confident team," he said. "I think were a team whose confidence isnt built on its last game. Its not shattered by a losing streak. You continue to push through and thats what weve done from Opening Day until now." NOTES: Pirates LF Starling Marte did not start after getting a planned day off in favour of Alex Presley, recalled from Triple-A on Monday after C Mike McKenry went onto the disabled list with a sprained knee. Marte entered in the seventh as a pinch hitter and singled. He is hitting just .131 (5 for 38) since July 20 ... The series continues with a doubleheader Tuesday. A.J. Burnett (4-7, 2.96 ERA) faces Lance Lynn (12-5, 3.98 ERA) in the opener with the Cardinals Tyler Lyons (2-3, 5.51) starting the second game. The Pirates will not name a starter for the second game until Tuesday morning. ... Lynn was originally supposed to start the second game, but Matheny moved him into the matchup against Burnett because he wanted a more experienced pitcher to take on Pittsburghs ace. Cheap Fake Yeezys . -- Yogi Ferrell orchestrates pretty much everything in Indianas offence. Fake Yeezy 350 Cleat . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/ . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Fake Yeezy 451 . Vaives lawyer Trevor Whiffen claims the former 50-goal man wasnt provided with a copy of the claim beforehand and that he would not have agreed to the allegations made against the NHL had he been asked to review its contents. Fake Yeezy Boost 350 V3 . The CFLs leading rusher kept adding to his gaudy numbers this season and scored the winning touchdown with just over two minutes to play. The New Westminster, B.C., native plowed three yards into the end zone for the last score of a heated, see-saw battle between the two teams with the best records in the CFL. NEW YORK -- Colorado had to rebound from its first loss of the season and the Buffaloes did by rebounding.George King had 12 points and 13 rebounds to lead Colorado to a 68-54 victory over No. 22 Texas on Tuesday in the third-place game of the Legends Classic at Barclays Center.King, who matched his career high for rebounds which he set on Monday, led the big rebounding game for the Buffaloes (4-1), who finished with a 41-32 advantage on the boards including 17-12 on the offensive glass. Colorado scored 18 second-chance points.Huge, Colorado coach Tad Boyle said of his teams rebounding. Thats really where you find out where the toughness comes from. Thats the stat that just shows up. Every game that we have youre either plus or youre minus. Last night Notre Dame outrebounded us. Today we outrebounded Texas by nine and thats a big number. We want plus eight, thats our goal and we hit it.And it was King who led the charge to the boards.George, the second half last night and tonight, he played (like) the light bulb was maybe coming on for him, Boyle said. He was terrific on the boards but I thought our whole team was.Derrick White had 16 points for Colorado, which lost 89-83 to Notre Dame in the semifinals, while Josh Fortune had 11.We needed that one, Boyle said. Its crazy to think in November you feel its a must win but thats how I felt approaching this game today for our team in terms of what it meant for down the road. You come to a place like this, you dont want to go home 0-2.Kerwin Roach Jr. led Texas (3-2) with 16 points and Jarrett Allen had 15.Colorado, despite giving up size on the inside, used offensive rebounding to take a 33-24 halftime lead. Led by King, a 6-foot-6 junior, the Buffaloes were up 16-2 at one point on the offensive glass and Texas had no answer.The Longhorns, who lost to Northwestern 77-58 in the semifinals, used full court pressure to force turnovers and they were within 54-51 with 5:12 left on two free throws by Allen.But Colorado went on an 11-2 run that was capped by -- what else? -- an offensive rebound by Wesley Gordon to match their biggest lead to that points.King said hes concentrating on rebounding.Absolutely. Im long, atthletic, he said.dddddddddddd Why not use it because Im not going to have it forever.Texas was 3 for 17 from 3-point range while the Buffaloes made 6 of 14 from beyond the arc.I think for our guys, you never want to lose and you never feel good about losing, Texas coach Shaka Smart said. Theyre certainly down. I think anyone in our program is disappointed but Ill tell you what if you cant have a clear mind for what goes into what we need to do next, then youre in the wrong locker room. I think this has gotten our guys attention from the standpoint of some of the things we preach as coaches all the time, which is you have to have a level of humility in your preparation to understand what you have to do to take away what other teams are trying to do.Sometimes experience is the best teacher and unfortunately these two games we experienced here in New York, theyre tough pills to swallow. But if we can learn a lesson from them they can help us as we move forward.BIG PICTURE:Texas: The Longhorns will have to decide on which point guard will run the offense and they will have to work on the inside rotation. After averaging over 80 points a game in their first three, the Longhorns averaged 56 points per game in the tournament.Colorado: The Buffaloes have a deep roster and coach Tad Boyle has kept everyones minutes close with nobody averaging more than 28.5 minutes.POLL IMPLICATIONS:With the two losses in the Legends Classic Texas will almost certainly drop out of the Top 25. The Longhorns can still make a run at being ranked with all the Big 12 games to come.OLD FOES:Texas leads the all-time series with Colorado 14-10. The two were both in the Big 12 until Colorado left for the Pac-12.TURNING IT OVER: Texas had 11 turnovers and just four assists against Colorado. That leaves their assist-to-turnover ratio for the season at 51-56.UP NEXT:Texas: The Longhorns face Texas-Arlington at home on Tuesday and then host Alabama on Dec. 2.Colorado: The Buffaloes head back to Boulder for games with Wofford and Colorado State on Nov. 27 and Nov. 30. ' ' '