Schwarzesbrett » Miller, who entered the game having given

Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week they discuss Kyle Lowrys All-Star blessing, Coach Q, unheralded undraftees and leaving the NFL playoffs alone. Cathal Kelly, Toronto Star: My thumb is up to the 14 NBA coaches who decided this week that raptor Kyle Lowry doesnt deserve to be on the All-Star team. Theyre wrong, of course. Badly wrong. According to reports, the player who pipped Lowry for the last bench spot was Brooklyn Nets forward Joe Johnson. Lowry is out-averaging Johnson in every statistical category - including rebounds - and Johnson is seven inches taller. In making this mistake, however, those coaches have done Raptors fans a huge service. From here until the end of the season, Toronto not only has the best point guard in the East, they now have the most motivated point guard in the East. Steve Simmons, Sun Media: My thumb is up to Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks, who this week moved up to No. 3 on the all-time list of coaching victories in the National Hockey League. Its impressive enough to make the top three. Its even more impressive when the only coaches ahead of you in wins are named Scotty Bowman and Al Arbour. Quenneville, for some reason, doesnt get a whole lot of attention, doesnt make a lot of headlines, rarely gets mentioned for coach of the year, which he won once more than a decade ago. But here he is behind a nine-time Stanley Cup champion and a four-time Cup winner. And nobody else. Yeah, hes an all-time great. And when have we ever said that about Joel Quenneville? Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: My thumb is up to Edmonton goalie Ben Scrivens, for impenetrability. Scrivens stopped a record 59 shots in a shutout of the Sharks, a dash of good news in a city unaccustomed to seeing a goalie make 59 saves in a week. Scrivens stellar game underscored the notion that goalies dont need pedigree. Undrafted out of Cornell, Scrivens once played in the East Coast Hockey League. Ex-Calgary Hitman netminder Martin Jones of the Los Angeles Kings, also was undrafted and played in the Coast as did the Rangers Cam Talbot, out of the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Another thing they have in common: among NHL goalies with at least 12 starts, they are one-two-three in save percentage. Dave Hodge, TSN: My thumb is down to the likelihood that the NFL playoffs will be expanded to include 14 teams, up by two from the current 12. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones delivers the argument for more playoff teams this way: "How exciting is it for fans of a .500 team to see that team in the playoffs with a chance to win the Super Bowl?" Well, heres whats more exciting - two teams like Denver and Seattle, with 13-3 records, showing off their season-long excellence at the Super Bowl. Jerry Jones needs to improve his team, not the League. But the guy in charge of the league, Roger Goodell, supports the idea of more playoff teams, thus more playoff games - get ready for wild-card "week". Air Max 90 Womens Canada . Canada Day is here and with it comes Free Agent Frenzy as the NHLs 30 teams storm out of the gate for signing season. Air Max 270 Sale Canada .com) - Australian Open champion Li Na, former Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova and former world No. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-tavas-canada-sale.html . Tristan Jackson returned a missed field goal 129 yards early in the fourth quarter as the Roughriders beat the B.C. Nike Air Max Canada Online . Jeff Green and Jordan Crawford each scored 19 points, Bass added 15 points and had a game-saving block in the closing seconds Saturday, and the Celtics held on for a 103-100 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Nike Air Max Canada Sale . However, the 38-year-old is in no hurry to sign with another team. "Im not in a rush. This will be my last contract, so I want to do it right," said Burris on Thursday.MILWAUKEE -- After coming off a 15-inning loss at Colorado the night before, another extra-inning affair wasnt what a weary St. Louis Cardinals team needed. Fighting to maintain control of the lead in the NL Central, the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers Friday night on Carlos Beltrans sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, preserving their roost atop the division. "Getting taken into extra innings isnt what we were looking for, but what a win," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "That would be a pretty tough one to eat when you have the two-run lead. It was just a great, great win." The Cardinals hold a two-game lead over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. The Reds downed the Pirates 6-5 in 10 innings to move into a tie for second place. "That says a lot about this club the way we responded. It was a huge win and we needed that one," said Matt Carpenter, who had three hits and a walk in six plate appearances. "Every game is crucial." Matt Adams, who has been plagued by right elbow soreness and was fitted for a brace before the game, smacked a towering two-run, ninth-inning home run to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead, but the Brewers rallied for two runs in the bottom of the frame to tie the game. Adams blast to right-centre field came off Brewers closer Jim Henderson, who walked Matt Holliday to start the inning. Former Brewers closer John Axford (7-7), acquired by St. Louis last month, picked up the win. Carlos Martinez got his first save of the year for the Cardinals. "Coming back here to Miller Park, I was definitely nervous in the pen, but when I was out there on the mound I was calm," Axford said. "We needed that win." Michael Blazek (0-1), whom the Brewers received in the deal for Axford, took the loss. Beltrans fly ball to deep right field off Blazek scored Kolten Wong, who led off the 10th with a walk. Matheny was impressed with Axfords composure. "He was sharp, looked good and (got) a real big double play ball for us. It was pretty impressive how he could maintain and do that under that kind of pressure." Trailing by two runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Brewers got a leadoff double from Jeff Bianchi and he later scored on a single by pinch-hitter Logan Schaffer.dddddddddddd The Brewers added another run on Aramis Ramirezs slow roller off Axford. Carlos Gomez grounded into an inning-ending double play to send the game to extra innings. "I was just trying to get a groundball and get us back in the dugout," Axford said. "I would have preferred to have gotten the save as opposed to the win, but it worked out." Axford came on in relief of closer Edward Mujica, whom the Brewers tagged for three hits and two runs in one-third of an inning. "We are trying to get our closer right. We are one groundball away from turning a double play," Matheny said. "We turn a double play, he gets a save, we get a win and he is feeling pretty good about himself. It didnt happen tonight. We hurt for him." The Cardinals jumped on Brewers starter Johnny Hellweg for a run in the first inning on Matt Hollidays single. Ramirez hit a three-run home run with one out in the Brewers half of the first off Shelby Miller, who entered the game having given up just three earned runs over 25 innings in four previous starts against the Brewers this season. "It was a hanging breaking ball that didnt finish," Miller said. "Obviously a bad way to start off the first inning. Other than that, we settled in and battled as much as we could. At the end of the day it was a huge win for us." Miller surrendered seven hits and four runs in six innings. He walked two and struck out four. Hellweg gave up seven hits and two runs over in an erratic five-inning stint. He walked five, struck out one, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch. "He looked pretty good today," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. "He faced a really good lineup. He also got ground balls when he needed them and got double plays. Thats what he does." NOTES: The Cardinals ran their record to 7-1 at Miller Park this season and 13-4 overall against the Brewers. ... Shelby Miller became the first St. Louis rookie pitcher to start 30 games in a season since Rick Ankiel in 2000. ... With four strikeouts, Miller passed Harvey Haddix for third place on St. Louis rookie strikeout list with 166. ... St. Louis wraps up its final regular-season road trip with the three-game series in Milwaukee. ' ' '