CINCINNATI, Ohio -- St. Trent Murphy Bills Jersey . Louis first baseman Allen Craig has a sprained left foot but no fracture, a big relief for a Cardinals team that feared it had lost its cleanup hitter for the rest of the season. Craig hurt his foot while rounding first base in the fourth inning of a 5-4, 16-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night. He stayed on the ground for a long time and walked off gingerly. X-rays in Cincinnati were inconclusive. He was sent back to St. Louis for an MRI and more X-rays on Thursday that indicated nothing was broken. "We just got word that the X-rays did come back with no fracture," manager Mike Matheny said Thursday evening. "It looks like a sprained foot right now, but its much more optimistic than what we were thinking last night." The second-place Cardinals moved to within a game of Pittsburgh in the NL Central with their win on Wednesday night. Cincinnati is third, 3 1/2 games out. All three are in position to make the playoffs -- one as the division champion, the other two as the wild cards. Craig ranked third in the NL with 97 RBIs when he was hurt. Hes batting .454 with runners in scoring position, the best in the majors. Matheny said the Cardinals medical staff was going to meet with Craig later Thursday to figure out a course of treatment. There was no estimate of how long he might be sidelined. When he walked slowly off the field on Wednesday night and got X-rays that were inconclusive, the Cardinals feared he could be sidelined for the rest of the season. "You watch him go down like he did, watch him having trouble getting off the field, and you wonder if hes going to play the rest of the season," Matheny said. "I think right now were optimistic were going to see him through this year at some point." Matt Adams will take over at first base. Adams got into the game Wednesday night when Craig got hurt and broke an 0-for-17 slump with a homer in the 14th inning, but the Reds tied it in the bottom of the inning. Adams homered again in the 16th inning to win it, becoming the first Cardinals player with two homers in extra innings. Adams ranks third in the NL with a .324 average as a pinch hitter. Hes batting .269 overall with 11 homers and 38 RBIs. "Were going to get him in there and let him play," Matheny said. "Weve seen him on a consistent basis doing a real nice job for us." Catcher Tony Cruz was in the lineup for the final game of the series on Thursday night. Cruz went on the 15-day disabled list on Aug. 15 with a stress fracture in his left forearm. Cruz is batting .212 with one homer and 11 RBIs in 41 games. Cruz was the Cardinals primary catcher when Yadier Molina missed 15 days with a sprained right knee, starting 11 of the 14 games while he was gone. After finishing their final series of the season against Cincinnati, the Cardinals return home for a three-game series against Pittsburgh, their final head-to-head games of the season. Jim Kelly Bills Jersey .Bacca took advantage of Cristian Alvarezs hesitation to head a lobbed pass over the goalkeeper and then used his feet to roll the ball into an empty net in the eighth minute. The Colombia strikers 10th goal pulled him level with Lionel Messi as the leagues third-leading scorers, far behind Cristiano Ronaldos runaway tally of 23 goals. Josh Allen Jersey .com) - The Ottawa Senators will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they face the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to secure their place in the post-season. http://www.billsnflgears.com/Black-Tremaine-Edmunds-Bills-Jersey.html?cat=949 .m. ET, CBSOPENING LINE — Packers by 3RECORD VS. SPREAD — New England 7-4, Green Bay 5-5-1SERIES RECORD — Tied 5-5.Way back at the start of the season, amid all the whistles and fouls, the defensive-minded teams appeared to be in trouble, a seemingly dying breed hamstrung by the NCAAs new hands-free rules. As the season progressed, the top coaches and teams adjusted to the changes and found ways around the impediments. Now, after the all increases in scoring and shooting percentages and offensive flow, the season has come down to a Final Four of teams held together by one common thread: shutdown defences. "In general, its like most sports: Defence wins championships," said Bill Frieder, a longtime coach and TV/radio analyst. "You still need to score, but basically when it gets right down to it, you have to make stops. The teams that can make a stop or two back to back are the teams that advance." The Final Four teams in this wild ride of an NCAA tournament earned a trip to North Texas this weekend because they can do just that. Florida is the best defensive team in the country, allowing just 88.5 points per 100 possessions, according to the analytics of KenPom.com. The Gators can be downright dominating on the defensive end, swarming ballhandlers and luring shooters into a fall sense of security before rising up to swat shots back in their faces. Defence has been a cornerstone for Bo Ryan since he won four national championships at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville and its been the calling card -- along with that ultra-patient offence -- since he arrived at Madison. The Badgers are fundamental and fierce, allowing about 56 points per game to NCAA opponents -- nearly eight less than before the tournament. For all the flash of Kentuckys fabulous freshmen, these young Cats can get after you on D. Kentuckys latest one-and-done lineup is filled with long, athletic players who can harass on the perimeter and guard the rim -- 10th nationally with 6.1 blocked shots per game -- like few teams in college basketball. And for all the hype heaped on Connecticuts Shabazz Napier, the Huskies are pretty husky when it comes to defence. Ryan Boatright has become a point-guard stopper -- he had four steals and helped limit Michigan States Keith Appling to two points in the East Regional final -- and UConn seems to have an entire roster of rim protectors, ranking 16th nationally with 5.8 blocked shots per game. "We are predators out there," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. In most years, the high-scoring teams often get the attention, whether it was Florida Gulf Coasts Dunk City a year ago or backk to Houstons Phi Slamma Jamma of the early 1980s. Buffalo Bills Jerseys. What usually happens at the finish? The best defensive teams end up with the hardware. Louisville rode its swarming, chaos-inducing defence to a title last season. The year before that, Anthony Davis and Kentuckys shot-swatting young Cats set an NCAA record with 335 blocked shots on their way to the national championship. In 2011: Connecticut 53, Butler 41. Great defensive teams litter the list of national champions throughout history, too. UNLV ran its wrecking crew through the bracket in 1990. North Carolina State and Georgetown let the air out of Phi Slamma Jamma in consecutive title games. Indiana played superb team defence during the last perfect season in 1976. Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton anchored the UCLA teams that ran off 10 titles in 12 years. Go all the way back to the 1950s and the San Francisco teams that won consecutive championships had a young Bill Russell dominating the middle before he went on to do the same thing for the Boston Celtics. "In the NBA, its always seems to come down to the teams that play the best defence and its no different in college basketball," Arizona State associate head coach Eric Musselman said. "At the end of the day, no matter how well you score, youve got to be able stop people." The Final Four teams have proven they can do it so far in the tournament. Wisconsin opened the NCAA tournament by holding American to 35 points and reached the Final Four by preventing Arizona from getting off a potential game-winning shot before the buzzer sounded in overtime. Kentucky held Kansas State to 49 points in its NCAA opener and held Michigan scoreless for nearly 4 1-2 minutes of a three-point Midwest Regional final win that sent the Wildcats to the Final Four for the third time in four seasons. UConn went toe-to-toe with one of the nations best defensive teams in the East Regional final, holding Michigan State to 39 per cent shooting and two field goals -- one at the buzzer after the game was decided -- over the final 5 minutes. Florida is the third team in NCAA tournament history to win four games by double digits and hold opponents under 70 points per game en route to the Final Four, limiting teams to an average of 55 points per game. "We just take so much pride into being able to disrupt the team and being able to lock down guys," Florida forward Patric Young said. So do the other three teams, a big reason why theyre all together in North Texas. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys Online Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Jerseys NFL Cheap Wholesale NFL Hoodies ' ' '