ST. LOUIS -- In what was billed as a largely ceremonial pinch-hitting appearance, Matt Holliday hit a home run Friday night.The St. Louis Cardinals activated the outfielder before playing the Pittsburgh Pirates so that fans at Busch Stadium could bid the seven-time All-Star goodbye in one of the final three regular-season games.Holliday was greeted with a loud standing ovation from an announced crowd of 43,070, but that was nothing compared to the greeting after he hit reliever?Zach Phillips third pitch to him over the right-field wall. It was the first pinch-hit home run of Hollidays 13-year major league career.Cardinals players also greeted Holliday with a standing ovation, and he was mobbed in the dugout before coming out for a curtain call.The Cardinals went on to win 7-0.I still have chills, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. To watch how the fans responded, we had a great crowd tonight, and every one of them made that extremely special for him. And how he responded, thats, yeah, amazing. Very special night.General manager John Mozeliak said before the game that he spoke with Holliday earlier this week and informed him the odds of the team picking up his $17 million option for 2017 were low.Most people who have options and they ask me in season, I simply tell them, Look, well deal with that when the time comes. In his case, I feel hes earned the type of respect and had the type of career here that he had that right, Mozeliak said.The Cardinals said Holliday was too emotional to meet with reporters before the game, but he released a statement through the team that read, in part: It has been an honor to play in front of such great fans and for such a historic organization. I can honestly say it has been a dream come true. While Im disappointed this could be it here in St. Louis, I understand that it might be time to move on.Holliday, 36, expressed his love and admiration for Matheny, former manager Tony La Russa and the coaches with whom he worked.The most emotional part of this is my teammates and the relationships Ive built with some of these guys over the years, particularly,?Adam [Wainwright] and Yadi [Molina], to be considered part of the core with two of the finest human beings Ive ever known, Holliday said.Holliday had faced live pitching just once since he was hit by a pitch in July, which required surgery on his thumb.Its been tough for him because he wants to be back, Wainwright said. Each time he went out and hit batting practice, his thumb would swell up, and nobody wants to have surgery and then have it swell up. I think he just wanted to get out there and play, help the team win. Hes a great hitter, one of the best hitters of this generation. Hes been a great Cardinal, but I know he did not want to sit on the bench and not get another at-bat here.Matheny said he thinks Holliday wants to continue playing beyond this season. Holliday entered Friday batting .247, the lowest average of his career, but the home run Friday gave him 20 for the sixth time in his past seven seasons.I dont think theres a question about that, at least in conversations weve had, Matheny said.The Cardinals acquired Holliday from the Oakland Athletics in 2009, then signed him to a seven-year, $120 million extension the following offseason. Over nearly 1,000 games with the Cardinals entering Friday, Holliday had collected a .292/.379/.493 line.Once the Cardinals decline his option in November, he will get a $1 million buyout.Hollidays extension is viewed as one of the few multiyear free-agent deals in which the player lived up to it throughout its length.Very rare, especially a deal of that length. I feel grateful, Mozeliak said. As I mentioned, Ive always admired him as a player, even before we traded for him, thought he was one of those gritty, hard-working individuals. But getting to know him, getting to see how he is as a person, Ive gained tremendous respect for him. Vapormax Scontate . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Vapormax Hyper Punch . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. http://www.scarpevapormaxscontate.it/vapormax-flyknit-2-italia.html . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Vapormax Plus Blu . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Vapormax Off White Nere . 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. CALGARY, Alberta -- Marian Hossa has been in the NHL long enough to knows how to make a goal out of seemingly nothing.Hossas team-leading 10th goal of the season with 2:23 left in the third period lifted the Chicago Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.Chad Johnson threw up his glove to stop a hard shot from Artemi Panarin but the puck went off the top of his glove and high in the air. It ended up landing behind him where Hossa got his stick on it for his 80th game-winning goal.I dont think the goalie knew exactly where the puck was and the defender tried to put his stick out, Hossa said. I tried to hook on his stick so he doesnt touch the puck and the puck just bounced pretty much close to the goal line and I just tried to put it underneath me in the net.As the puck trickled over the line, Hossa was in the crease and in the process of falling on the Flames goaltender.Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said he would have challenged for goaltender interference but he did not have a timeout left, having used it earlier in the period.Hossa, who has five goals in his last six games, is tied for fourth in the NHL in goals behind Patrik Laine (12), Sidney Crosby (11) and Michael Grabner (11).I just try to put the puck at the net right now, Hossa said. When you feel like the pucks going in for you, you just try to be around the net or shoot pucks to the net and try to make plays.Its nothing Chicago coach Joel Quenneville hasnt seen before.Hes scored some goals from right around that net here to get us a point or two and tonights a good illustration of how important hes been for us, he said.Ryan Hartman and Brent Seabrook also scored for Chicago, which has points in 12 of its last 13 (10-1-2) games. Corey Crawford stopped 28 shots.Sam Bennett and Sean Monahan scored for Calgary, and Johnson had 21 savesThese ones are tough games. I thought we played well, Gulutzan said. We needed a little bit more out of our special teams, but overall, we played a good game, its just unfortunate what happened.Down 1-0 after the first period, Calgary took the lead early in the second with two goals 3:30 apart from its new-look top linee.dddddddddddd With Johnny Gaudreau sidelined six weeks with a broken finger, Bennett has been inserted into his spot on left wing with Monahan and Troy Brouwer.Bennett jammed a loose puck past Corey Crawford at 3:33 from a scramble in the crease that was all set up by a dangerous rush from defenseman TJ Brodie.On their next shift, Monahan was credited with his fifth goal when his centering pass deflected in off the skate of Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling at 7:03.Chicago tied it with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the second when Seabrook blasted a slap shot past Johnson, who was screened by Giordano.It was a power-play goal for Chicago and came on the Blackhawks first man advantage of the night.Its the same old story with special teams. Weve got to be better. If we get one on the power play, it might be a different outcome, said Bennett. Its tough to swallow right now, especially when we played a good game like we did tonight.Special teams once again let down the Flames. Their 30th ranked power play failed to score on five chances against the 30th ranked Chicago penalty kill -- while the 28th ranked penalty kill gave up one goal on one chance.The Blackhawks nearly scored in the opening minute of the first period but video review showed that Mark Giordano pulled the puck off the goal-line before it bounced past a sprawled Johnson.Hartman then gave Chicago the 1-0 lead at 7:42 when he got behind Dennis Wideman, took a perfect breakaway pass from Artem Anisimov, and while fending off the Flames defenseman, fired a shot inside the goal post.Game notes Flames LW Kris Versteeg (groin) took part in morning skate and is nearing a return. Hes missed seven games ... Calgary has gone 10 games without a goal from a defenseman. ... Chicago LW Tyler Motte (lower body) missed his fifth game, but coach Joel Quenneville says hes a possibility to play Saturday.UP NEXTBlackhawks: At Vancouver on Saturday night in the third game of a seven-game trip.Flames: At Detroit on Saturday night in the opener of a six-game trip. ' ' '