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ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals are prepared to live with the swings and misses, knowing that when Mark Reynolds connects the ball really travels.They have lacked a power bat off the bench, or power anywhere for that matter, and Reynolds also could platoon with Matt Adams at first base. Manager Mike Matheny promises he wont have batting coach John Mabry tinker too much with a stroke thats boom or bust.We need to capitalize on what his strengths are and not focus on the weaknesses, and realize hes got a power component thats very rare, Matheny said at the Winter Warm-Up fan festival. Make some subtle changes to maybe improve, but also not be afraid to get up there and try to drive the ball. Thats why we did bring him in.General manager John Mozeliak points out something of a happy medium approach would help both parties. Reynolds is playing for his fifth team in four seasons.I think we understood what we were buying, Mozeliak said. But thats not to say we also werent hopeful of maybe a little bit of an adjustment.The Cardinals made it to the post-season for a franchise-record fourth consecutive season without relying on the long ball, totalling 102 homers for second-worst in the major leagues. Home runs were down across the board among the starters and the bench contributed just 12.Thats why the Cardinals think the 31-year-old Reynolds is a good fit. He holds the major league record of 223 strikeouts in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and is just a .229 career hitter, but he hit 44 homers in 2009 and has 21 or more in each of his last seven seasons.Though he batted a paltry .196 last year with Milwaukee — and fanned nearly once per three at-bats in a part-time role — Reynolds managed to hit 22 homers.The one thing weve talked about a lot is whos the power off the bench, Mozeliak said. Historically, we just havent had a great answer for that. At the minimum, were hoping he can do that.Certainly, Reynolds would love reducing the strikeout count without sacrificing too much pop. But theres a limit.When theres two outs and nobody on base and I have two strikes, Im not going to try to hit a ball to second base, Reynolds said. Im going to try to drive the ball in the gap and get in scoring position, and I dont want to compromise that.After playing his first four seasons with Arizona, Reynolds has had stints with the Orioles, Indians, Yankees and Brewers. He chose a one-year deal with St. Louis for opportunities at the corner infield spots and perhaps some outfield, too, for a chance to play for a faithful fan base and above all join a team accustomed to playing deep into October.I had other opportunities to go other places where I could have probably played more, at least on paper, but it didnt look too good for the post-season, Reynolds said. I wanted to be here.The move figures to be a motivator for the left-handed hitting Adams, who batted .318 against right-handed pitchers but just .190 against lefties. Only three of Adams homers came against lefties.Reynolds hasnt exactly crushed lefties, either, with a career average of .231. But his on-base percentage of .351 against lefties is impressive.Im definitely not here to ride the pine, Reynolds said. Im going to try and make it tough on Mike to keep me on the bench. Klay Thompson Jersey . As the schedule flipped from November to December, they would go on to drop five straight, falling six games below the .500 mark before a franchise-altering trade turned them into an unrecognizable team. Mitch Richmond Jersey .200. His solution to his hitting woes was business in the front and a party in the back."That would be a mullet," Norris says. https://www.warriorsrookiesshop.com/Dangelo-Russell-City-Edition-Jersey/ .com) - The fading Ottawa Senators have a chance to make up some ground in the playoff race on Tuesday night as they play host to the New York Rangers. Glenn Robinson Warriors Jersey . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution. Andre Iguodala Jersey . They kicked off the still-going trend of host cities winning the Grey Cup and sent Hall of Fame head coach Wally Buono to the front office a champion. Cristiano Ronaldo put his enormous talent on display with a hat trick in World Cup qualifying, and the reward may be the Ballon dOr after a voting deadline extension on Wednesday improved his chances of beating out Lionel Messi for the honour. Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. 29. FIFA said it was reopening the deadline due to the low number of responses received by last Fridays original deadline, and invited voters to switch their preference. Ronaldo became the favourite on Wednesday to beat Messi and Bayern Munich forward Franck Ribery for the world player of the year award, which will be presented on Jan. 13. Portuguese and Spanish sports dailies splashed Ronaldos photo across their front pages on Wednesday, when FIFA president Sepp Blatter expressed his congratulations to Ronaldo in a tweet reading "fantastic performance." Ronaldo has scored 13 goals in six games since Blatter said last month that he preferred Messi, an Argentine who plays for Barcelona. Ronaldo has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season. "Every year I show what Im about. Ive scored 40 or 50 goals a season and thats not enough for everyone. Im not obsessed with the (Ballon dOr)," RRonaldo said Tuesday.dddddddddddd"I did my job as I have been doing all season. I dont have to answer to anybody. I do my talking on the field." Ronaldo, who won the award in 2008, has watched as Messi has won the award the last four years. But Messi has the edge in trophies over Ronaldo after Barcelona won the Spanish league last season. Ribery helped Bayern win a treble of Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League titles. Blatters slight -- when he said Ronaldo spent more time at the hairdresser and compared his on-field personality to that of a commander -- has seemed to energize the player, who also equaled Pauleta as Portugals record scorer with 47 goals. At the Friends Arena in Sweden, Portuguese fans carried a banner reading "Commander Ronaldo" in response to Blatters comments, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also appeared to applaud Ronaldos heroics. Ronaldos scoring run comes with Messi sidelined by injury and unable to add to his own collection of awe-inspiring goals. Messi is expected to be out until the end of December because of a hamstring injury. The Barcelona forward said his left leg was pain-free on Wednesday as he collected his third Golden Boot award for scoring the most goals in Europes domestic leagues last season. Messi, who has scored 14 goals in 16 games this season, was not asked about Ronaldos performance or his Ballon dOr prospects during the presentation, when questions were not allowed. Ronaldo will take the field again Saturday when Madrid plays Almeria. ' ' '