Red-Racers Forum » the Schuylkill River and past the shipyards.Conti

ST. LOUIS -- Aledmys Diaz made a vow Monday to the family of childhood friend Jose Fernandez, the late Miami Marlins ace who died in a boating accident early Sunday.I told them that every single time I put on the uniform, I would be thinking of him, Diaz said. And that I would give 100 percent because thats how he played the game.Fernandez would have been proud of his longtime buddy on Tuesday night.Back in the lineup after attending a private ceremony for Fernandez in Florida on Monday, Diaz hit his first career grand slam and the St. Louis Cardinals finished with five home runs in a 12-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.St. Louis remained one game behind San Francisco for the final NL playoff spot, and 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets.The Giants routed Colorado 12-3. The Mets, who lead the wild-card standings, won 12-1 at Miami.Jhonny Peralta had a three-run homer and drove in four runs for the Cardinals, who had lost four of five. Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Matt Adams also homered.Joey Votto and Scott Schebler went deep for the Reds, who beat St. Louis 15-2 on Monday.Diaz slammed a 2-1 pitch from Cincinnati starter Robert Stephenson over the left-field wall. The 408-foot drive erased a 2-1 deficit and served as a wake-up call for the Cardinals, who grabbed their first lead since Saturday.The Cuban-born Diaz pointed to the sky after he crossed home plate and fell into the arms of teammate Yadier Molina. Diaz had tears in his eyes as he came out of the dugout for a curtain call.I felt some serious goose bumps when he hit that, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said. I almost got choked up. I know he was. He wanted to make some good swings for Jose.The emotional home run triggered an 11-run outburst in a span of three innings.Watching him cross the plate, and watching his reaction as he (shook hands) with the guys, really hit me on how much that meant to him, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. You can never understand what each persons going through when they suffer a loss like that. The show goes on and so does life. But its a tough thing for anyone to go through.Stephenson (2-3) ended up allowing five runs in four innings.Wainwright (13-9) gave up five runs and 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.Adams connected for a pinch-hit homer in the sixth, extending the franchise record to 16 this season.St. Louis has hit an NL-leading 218 homers this year.Carpenter hit his 20th home run, giving the Cardinals five players with 20 or more.The Cardinals broke out of a hitting slump after scoring just three runs in their previous two games.Theres no telling how big this could be, Wainwright said.Votto was 3 for 5 and finished a triple shy of the cycle.Stephenson rolled through the first three innings, giving up just a solo homer to Carpenter.I felt a lot better today, especially at the beginning of the game, Stephenson said. I was a lot more under control. Just a nightmare inning in the fourth inning.Stephenson was aware of Diazs relationship with Fernandez.I thought that was real unfortunate timing for me, Stephenson said. But really, a special moment for him.TRAINERS ROOMReds: SS Zack Cozart, who has not played since Sept. 10 due to a sore right knee, was placed on the disabled list and will not return this season. ... 2B Brandon Phillips left in the seventh after hurting his wrist when he checked his swing. He is day to day. ... Schebler had a cramping issue and was removed in the eighth.Cardinals: Carpenter was back in the starting lineup after missing Mondays game with a right finger injury.UP NEXTReds RHP Anthony DeSclafani (8-5, 3.38 ERA) faces RHP Mike Leake (9-11, 4.72) in the third game of the four-game series Wednesday. DeSclafani has 13 quality starts in 19 starts this season. Leake is 0-1 with an 8.31 ERA in three starts against his former team.Swell Water Bottle Sale . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. Lativas Tomass Dukurs was third, 1.41 seconds off the pace. Jon Montgomery of Eckville, Alta. Swell Bottles Wholesale .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. http://www.swellbottlesale.com/swell-bottle-marble-sale.html . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. Discount Swell Bottles . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Swell Water Bottle Clearance . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona.PHILADELPHIA -- On Nov. 21, 1976, audiences met Rocky Balboa, the southpaw boxer from south Philadelphia. Four decades later, Sylvester Stallones lovable character resonates with fans drawn to his underdog tale of determination, grit and sleepy-eyed charm.The reach of Rocky is international, and the film serves as a slice of Americana. It is shorthand for Philadelphia as much as the Liberty Bell or Benjamin Franklin.Anytime we are speaking to overseas visitors ... the conversation always turns, at some point, to `Rocky, said Julie Coker Graham, president of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. They ask, `Have you met Rocky? A lot of them think its an actual, real-life person.On the films 40th anniversary, a few reasons for its enduring legacy:---LOVABLE UNDERDOGWritten by Stallone in three days, fans fell hard for the ballad of Rocky Balboa. For the uninitiated (SPOILER ALERT): The small-time boxer from the heavily Italian neighborhood of South Philly stumbles into a bout with the heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed, fighting in the city to celebrate Americas bicentennial. To get him into fighting shape, Rocky (played by Stallone) is trained by the peppery Mickey Goldmill (Burgess Meredith), whose many one-liners make him a frequent scene stealer. Rocky also finds love in the film with sheepish neighborhood pet store clerk, Adrian (Talia Shire). Though he ultimately loses the fight, Rocky proves himself and wins Adrians heart, making him the winner of much more than a title.The film itself was a long shot, made on a budget of only $1 million and shot in 28 days, with a largely unknown cast, including Stallone himself. And it was shot in working-class Philadelphia, a city that -- despite its roots as the crucible of freedom -- had long had a chip on its shoulder as second-tier as compared to more cultured East Coast metropolises like New York and Boston. (It is worth noting that the film had its premiere in New York.)---CHEERS FOR ROCKYWhat the movie lacked in beauty, it made up for in heart, something that resonated with audiences worldwide. The film was the highest-grossing of the year, earning $117 million at the North American box office and another $107 million overseas. Rocky received 10 Oscar nominations in nine categories at the Academy Awards, winning three: best picture, best director (John G.dddddddddddd. Avildsen) and best film editing. Stallone, Burgess and Shire were all nominated in acting categories, and Stallone was nominated for his screenplay.Rocky is preserved in the Library of Congress National Film Registry as being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. It was also ranked one of the greatest sports films ever made and is the second-best film about boxing behind Raging Bull, according to the American Film Institute.---GONNA FLY NOWThe score for Rocky, which was also nominated for an Oscar, was penned by Bill Conti. The main song, Gonna Fly Now, was originally intended as filler for the training sequence marking Rockys journey from amateur to contender. The opening fanfare is among the most recognizable in American culture, and the soaring melody that plays on the melancholic theme woven throughout the movie is the backdrop to Rocky doing impressive one-armed pushups, punching meat in his girlfriends brothers butcher shop and running through Philadelphias Italian Market, along the Schuylkill River and past the shipyards.Conti went on to win an Oscar for his score to 1983s The Right Stuff and made music recognizable to millions in theme songs to Dynasty and Falcon Crest.---THE ROCKY STEPS AND STATUEThe montage climaxes in one of the films most memorable scenes, as Rocky bounds up the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, raising his arms in triumph. Four decades later, the run and pose atop the steps are re-created daily in Philadelphia, mostly by tourists. In 1982, a statue of Rocky commissioned by Stallone for Rocky III was placed in the spot where he stood in the original film. Its current home is just to the right of the steps and is a selfie stop for visitors.---ROCKYS NEXT CHAPTERThe original movie was followed by six sequels. In 2015, Rocky was reborn in Creed, the story of Adonis Creed, the son of his nemesis-turned-best friend, Apollo. An aging and dying Rocky trains Adonis for a brawl not unlike the grizzled boxers first fight nearly two generations earlier. The New York Times reviewed it as a dandy piece of entertainment, soothingly old-fashioned and bracingly up-to-date. ' ' '