Sonstiges » many defensive holes in the Avs lineup.

CHICAGO -- With a division title well in hand, the Chicago Cubs might be tempted to ease up through the final stages of the 2016 regular season.Instead, the Cubs swept the Cincinnati Reds this week and have more objectives in mind -- including a chance to play spoiler this weekend as the St. Louis Cardinals come to Wrigley Field with the opener set for Friday afternoon.Chicago (97-55) matched last years win total with Wednesdays 9-2 victory over the Reds.Cubs manager Joe Maddon said hed like to reach a 100-win plateau hes never achieved.Ive had 100 losses (with Tampa Bay), he said.Chicagos magic number to clinch home field through the National League playoffs is three.And then there are the Cardinals (80-72), who are one-half game behind the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets in the wild-card race.I think definitely the intensity will be there, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant said. I think any time you play them, its a fun series. You get a lot of Cardinals fans down here. We want to play everybody tough.The Cubs big four starters work the next four games as right-hander Jake Arrieta (17-7, 2.96 ERA) pitches Friday with Jason Hammel and Jon Lester to follow.Kyle Hendricks is scheduled to pitch Monday, kicking off a three-game series in Pittsburgh.There will be other lineup tweaks as Maddon and his staff ponder the postseason roster.There are all kinds of different things were working on right now to try to make it a constructive week where you get a really final good look at some guys, give them a chance to possibly be in a role they might be utilized in the postseason, he said.Arrieta makes his 30th start of the season and is 6-2 with a 2.03 ERA in 12 career turns against St. Louis.The Cardinals had won four straight until Wednesdays 11-1 loss in Colorado. With no head-to-head games against their wild-card competitors, St. Louis is on its own while hoping for help from those playing the Giants and Mets.We control what we can control, same boring stuff, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told reporters. But it works for us, because it keeps it very simple what our job description is. We control ourselves. Thats it.The Cardinals Mike Leake (9-10, 4.54 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season (0-2, 4.26) against the Cubs on Friday.It will be his fourth start this month since coming off the disabled list (shingles). Hes 0-1 in that span with a loss to Chicago and two no-decisions, including a Cardinals victory over the Giants on Saturday as he allowed two runs and seven hits over six innings.The Cardinals close the regular season at home with four games against the Cincinnati Reds and three against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs hit the road for series in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.Roquan Smith Womens Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Richard Dent Bears Jersey .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. http://www.bearsfootballpro.com/Authentic_Anthony_Miller_Bears_Jersey/ . Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. Mike Singletary Youth Jersey . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Jim McMahon Womens Jersey . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No.I happened to be in Denver in the fall of 2013 for part of Patrick Roys first training camp as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, and there was a palpable excitement around the once-great, now-moribund franchise.Buzz is an easy throwaway term, but its an apt description for what was happening in Denver.I was also on hand for Roys first game as an NHL head coach, when his Avs thumped Bruce Boudreaus Anaheim Ducks 6-1 and Roy completed the night by shoving over a barrier between the two benches in an angry postgame altercation with Boudreau and Ducks player Corey Perry. Glorious. The same Roy who smashed a television set in former coach Bob Hartleys office after being lifted in a game was back with a vengeance behind the bench.And it seemed to work, didnt it?The Avs, shockingly, won the Central Division in Roys rookie coaching year, sending him on his way to a landslide win in the Jack Adams Award voting as coach of the year.Under the guidance of the Hall of Fame goalie, the Avs went from being one of the worst teams in the NHL to having the third-best record. The hockey world, it appeared, was once again Roys oyster.But the Avs were bounced in the first round of the 2014 playoffs and then promptly sunk out of sight the next two seasons, finishing last in the Central in 2015 and sixth this past season, missing the playoffs both times, a team seemingly without a clue -- at least defensively -- for much of the time.Still, in spite of the setbacks, few could have seen Roys abrupt departure on Thursday from his twin roles as head coach and vice president of hockey operations, a bombshell announcement made by Roy himself, apart from the team.Clearly the move took the Avs by surprise, though according to what Roy told ESPN.coms Pierre LeBrun, the coach informed GM Joe Sakic earlier in the day of his decision.Long after social media was agog at Roy walking away from the team, the Avalanche website still listed him in his positions and there was no reference to his having resigned.The Denver Post reported that longtime Roy teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Sakic was on vacation. Eventually, a team release confirmed Roys departure with the obligatory thanks-for-coming-out line from Sakic, but it seemed the front office was shell-shocked.I recall a conversation with veteran defenseman Erik Johnson after the Avs were beaten by the Detroit Red Wings in the Stadium Series outdoor game at Coors Field in February. The Avs were very much in the playoff hunt then, and Johnson suggested that with a management/coaching team that included Hall of Famers Roy and Sakic in the organization, the price for failure would be paid by the players in the room.And it seemed a valid point: Sakic and Roy have resumes that would seem to make them impervious to organizational shakeups, and the players should be held accountable for their failures.The Avs have made minor lineup moves this summer, and as it turns out the catalyst for the biggest move came from within.Roy also told LeBrun on Thursday not to read too much into the departure, but its difficult not to when Roy himself said that its important for the vice president of hockey operations to have a say in the decisions that impact the teams performance.ddddddddddddThese conditions are not currently met, Roy added in his statement, which was released independently of the organization and presumably without the organizations knowledge. The Avs did not comment.Whether he was being frozen out purposefully by Sakic and the rest of the management/scouting staff or whether Roy simply felt time had run its course, its that clear Roy sensed a change in atmosphere in Denver, and in typical Roy fashion, he audibled.As it turned out, the play he called was a down-and-out-and-keep-going.But for how long?Roy, 50, still has an enormous presence in the game of hockey. A few potential next destinations immediately come to mind.If Quebec City is really ever going to get back in the NHL, Roy would certainly be a natural fit, the hometown hero bringing the NHL back home. The storylines dont get much better than that if youre a fan of hockey in Quebec City.Or what about the new team in Las Vegas? That team could use a coach with experience and a big profile. Roys profile might be more valuable than his coaching acumen, but his potential presence with an expansion franchise cant be ignored, at least if only for discussion purposes, by new Vegas GM George McPhee.And of course theres Montreal, where Roy has been a folk hero since leading the Canadiens to championships in 1986 and 1993. Already folks on social media are suggesting Roys departure from Colorado turns up the heat on current Habs coach Michel Therrien. As if its not hot enough already after the Habs collapsed and missed the playoffs last season thanks in large part to goalie Carey Prices ongoing injury issues.But the only thing that is certain after Thursday is that the Avs are under the gun now.Clearly, Roy felt snubbed and now the pressure falls squarely on the shoulders of Sakic, the Hall of Fame center, to find not just a replacement for Roy but one who can restore the teams luster.The Central Division is a bear and the Avs are a big blueberry bush.Sakic must find a coach who can help plug some of the many defensive holes in the Avs lineup. The search is made more difficult by the fact that Roy waited until into the second week of August to pull the chute on the Avs.Many have already pointed to Bob Hartley, under whom Sakic (and Roy) won a Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Avalanche.Why not?Hartley did wonders with a foundering Calgary Flames team two seasons ago, guiding them to the second round of the playoffs before they took a step back last season; he was fired and ultimately replaced by Glen Gulutzan.The one thing I know about the Avalanche is that the past is never far behind when it comes to trying to revive the teams fortunes, even if a big part of that past abruptly walked out the door Thursday afternoon. ' ' '