ormer Boston College star spent five seasons with the Tica

SAN FRANCISCO -- Everyone seemed to be of the same mind that Thursdays series opener between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants was an important game.More important, they all agreed, is the series.The Giants got the jump on the Cardinals with a 6-2 win Thursday night behind Johnny Cuetos complete game.Cueto seemed to challenge his teammates after the win, boasting, Every game I will pitch from now on, I will pitch like a playoff game. Thats the way we need to play, like its a playoff game.The Giants and Cardinals are well versed in playoff-type games, dating back to the Giants run at their first of three World Series championships in 2010.But neither of Fridays starting pitchers has been a part of it.The Giants Matt Moore, acquired at the trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays, and Cardinals Luke Weaver, who has only six games of major league experience, will duel in Game 2 of the series.The night will begin with the Giants (78-68) leading the New York Mets (77-69) by one game and the Cardinals (76-70) by two in the race for the two National League wild-card spots.Also at stake in the Cardinals-Giants series is home-field advantage in a possible wild-card tie-breaker should they finish the regular season in a tie.Home field will go to the team that has the better head-to-head record during the regular season. The Giants win Thursday evened that count at 2-2.Im not trying to downplay (Thursdays) game, but we do have time left, losing pitcher Adam Wainwright insisted. We have plenty of time left to make this thing happen. We just have to play good games and have good starting pitching and play good defense and get timely hits. Thats what were going to try to do going forward.The Giants had all of the above in the opener. Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer off Wainwright, Buster Posey had a four-hit game, and Denard Span, demoted from first to eighth in the batting order, contributed a key two-run single in support of Cueto.The Cardinals, meanwhile, got a subpar effort from Wainwright (four runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings), hit poorly in general (seven 1-2-3 innings), and stranded four baserunners in the two innings in which they scored single runs.No doubt, the spotlight was on, and the Giants responded best on the first night.There was added intensity with who were playing, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the playoff-type atmosphere. Were both fighting to get there. We knew we had to go out and play well, and we did that.The Cardinals welcomed back a potentially key player for their stretch run when former closer Trevor Rosenthal was activated from the disabled list before Thursdays game.He could play a role in the series before weekends end. ETwaun Moore Jersey . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Custom New Orleans Pelicans Jerseys .com) - The Calgary Flames aim to bounce back from their first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago. http://www.shoppelicansonline.com/Authentic-Jrue-Holiday-Pelicans-Jersey/ . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Jahlil Okafor Jersey . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Jrue Holiday Jersey . Tracey comes to the Blue Bombers after spending over a decade with Queens University. Most recently he was the schools assistant football coach.MONTREAL -- Veteran quarterback Quinton Porter was among 11 players released Friday by the Montreal Alouettes. Also let go was sophomore defensive end Mike Lockley. Porter signed with Montreal in the off-season after being released by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The former Boston College star spent five seasons with the Ticats. The six-foot-two, 250-pound Lockley appeared in 14 games with Montreal last season, registering 15 tackles and three sacks. Lockley had a tackle on the Alouettes 24-20 exhibition loss Thursday night to the Toronto Argonauts. "Shout out to my boy (at)MikeLock59 its a crazy business," tweeted veteran Montreal defensive lineman John Bowmaan.dddddddddddd"Hold your head dude u got more to give." Also released were receivers Damone Blackman, Phillip Livas and Michael Campbell, guard Matt Cleveland, defensive linemen Cyril Obiozor and Scott Paxson, defensive backs B.J. Scott, Devon Torrence and Seth Williams. CFL teams have until 10 p.m. ET on Saturday to reduce their training camp rosters to 46 players. But clubs will be able to keep more players on the practice roster and the limit was boosted from seven to nine, with two more spots for Canadians. The 2013 regular season kicks off Thursday night with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers hosting Montreal at the new Investors Group Field. ' ' '