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CINCINNATI, Ohio -- David Freese set the tone with a bases-loaded double in the first inning, and Daniel Descalso hit two of the Cardinals three homers on Friday night as St. Louis pulled away to a 13-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals have emerged from a deep hitting slump by scoring 13 runs in each of their last two games. Its the first time this season theyve had double-digit run totals in consecutive games. Shelby Miller (11-7) limited Cincinnatis slumping offence to two singles over the first five innings before Joey Votto hit a three-run homer in the sixth. Bronson Arroyo (9-9) matched his season high by giving up seven runs in only 3 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the season. Freese also had a bases-loaded walk, giving him four RBIs. Allen Craig and Carlos Beltran each had three hits as St. Louis piled up 14 in all. The 13 runs were the most allowed by Cincinnati this season. The Cardinals improved to 7-3 against the Reds this season, keeping the defending NL Central champions at arms length. They moved to a half-game behind first-place Pittsburgh. Cincinnati stayed 5 1/2 games back. Both teams were coming off tough weeks set up by a lack of offence. The Cardinals lost four of five in Pittsburgh and seven straight overall, allowing the Pirates to take over the top spot. St. Louis managed a total of only 10 runs during the seven-game losing streak, which ended with a 13-0 victory in Pittsburgh on Thursday. The Reds had trouble scoring runs on the West Coast while dropping five of their last six games there. Which one would break out first in the weekend series? The Cardinals. Emphatically. They quickly got to Arroyo, who had trouble getting his pitches to go where he wanted. The Cardinals loaded the bases on a pair of hits and a walk with one out in the first, and Freese doubled off the wall in centre for a 3-0 lead. Jon Jay followed with an RBI single on Arroyos 24th pitch. It never got much better for Arroyo, who has faced the Cardinals more than any other opponent in his career and had far more bad times than good. He fell to 8-16 in 37 career starts against St. Louis. Curtis Partch relieved Arroyo in the fourth and walked the first three batters he faced, including Matt Holliday and Freese with the bases loaded. Jays double made it 9-0. Descalso hit a pair of solo shots for the first multihomer game of his career, and Craig had a two-run shot as St. Louis pulled away. The Cardinals hit only nine homers in July, including one after the All-Star break. NOTES: Cardinals leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter went 0 for 6, extending his slump to 0 for 18. ... Reds 3B Todd Frazier went hitless for the seventh straight game. Hes in an 0-for-23 slump, the worst of his career. ... RH reliever Jonathan Broxton is scheduled to make his second appearance of a rehab stint on Saturday. Hes been on the DL since June 15 with a sore elbow. ... LH Tony Cingrani makes his first career start against the Cardinals on Saturday. Jake Westbrook goes for St. Louis. ... Sixteen couples were married on the field pregame by the man who wears the Gapper mascot costume. Cheap NFL Jerseys .C. -- Rodney Hood connected from all over the court while freshman Jabari Parker was busy swatting shots and scoring in transition. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. http://www.nfljerseyschina.net/ . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Jerseys Cheap . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Cheap Jerseys . The 20-year-old Pelicans big man glanced up and smiled widely at the well-wishers -- a fitting end to a day he wont soon forget. Davis responded to his selection earlier in the day as a Western Conference All-Star with 26 points and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 98-91 on Friday night. TROON, Scotland -- When the likes of Tom Morris, James Braid and various other designers laid out their courses along the sea in places all over Great Britain and Ireland, there is no way they could foresee the game that exists today, one fraught with technological advances that allow players to hit a golf ball short-hop plane distances.Of course, there were no airplanes back when they laid out these links, mostly by shaping the existing land with the help of horses, mules and rudimentary tools. Morris, who won The Open four times using an early gutta percha ball (he was a ball maker as well as champion golfer and course designer) would trip over his wooden-shafted clubs at the sight of a Dustin Johnson tee shot.And somehow these courses of a bygone era have withstood the test of time. Sure, theyve been tweaked and lengthened and some would say tricked-up, but a place such as Royal Troon has been around for more than 100 years and will undoubtedly give players fits when the 145th edition of The Open begins Thursday.The likes of Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson -- each in the top 3 in the PGA Tours strokes gained off the tee statistic -- might well have their issues, even though the 7,190-yard course might be considered short by todays standards.You do have to know how to navigate and kind of plot your way around these courses, especially when its dry, said Zach Johnson, who won The Open at St. Andrews last year. I just think the beauty of this tournament and this style of links golf is youve got to have everything. Youve got to hit your driver higher. Youve got to hit it low. Youve got to hit it left. Youve got to hit it right. And that goes with every club in your bag.Youve got to hold it. Youve got to use the wind. Youve got to do everything. ... This tournament, more than anything, I think its purity.Zach Johnson is a perfect example of a player who can excel on such a layout without the length that the likes of Jason Day or McIlroy or U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson have.It was Dustin Johnson who led The Open through 36 holes last year at St. Andrews, only to post 75-75 and fall out of contention over the final 36.I love coming over and playing links golf, said Jordan Spieth, who missed a playoff by a shot last year at St. Andrews. I think my game in general over the course of the next 20 to 30 years out here will show that this style of golf plays to my strengths. I feel comfortable playing this style of golf.Links is a term often tossed around haphazardly, almost generically, to describe any golf course -- and it is done so incorrectly. Links is not interchangeable with any golf course. There are various definitions, sometimes not easily explained, but Golf Digests description is simple: A course on oceanside sand dunes that were formed by a receding sea and covered by fertile soil from a river estuary.Each of the venues used for The Open -- now officially nine -- has those aspects. Royal Troon hugs the Firth of Clyde, and while that body of water is not visible from every part of the course, it has an impact, whether it be wind or rain. AAnd the hard ground, even in wet conditions, typically drains to allow for more bounce and roll.ddddddddddddThe Open was first played at Royal Troon in 1923, and this will be the ninth time it is staged here. The place hasnt changed a great deal over that time. When Todd Hamilton won here 12 years ago in a playoff over Ernie Els, the winning score was 10 under par. Just 15 yards have been added to the course since then. When Arnold Palmer won here in 1962, the length was 7,045 yards, just 145 yards shorter than today.Their defense is the bunkers, so for me its all about just navigating the bunkers, Dustin Johnson said. In spots its very playable, so just knowing where to hit it and not driving it in a bunker, thats the biggest key. If you can stay out of the bunkers this week, I think youre going to do pretty well.Johnson should be able to fly a good number of them, especially on the downwind holes. The first seven holes, typically, come with a helping wind, and Johnson is able to get his tee shot near or on par-4 greens at the first and third holes. Hell have short irons into the others before the links turns back home and a strong headwind becomes a big factor.I think the beauty of a links golf course is the weather makes a massive difference, said Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A, which conducts The Open. The way the ball moves on the fairways, depending on how firm it is, the ability to control that. The ability to make sure where you want to put the ball versus where the ball has to finish on the green. I think that protection, and then you add in the weather is what makes links golf so difficult and so different and provides more than enough challenge for the players.I find it fascinating going around this course, watching the different type of holes and the different way the guys are playing it. There isnt one way to play it. You can quite often see in a three-ball three different shots, completely different ways how theyve seen how they want to play it, and I think thats the beauty of links golf.None of this is to say that Dustin Johnson, or Day or McIlroy or Watson or any of the other games long hitters, cant succeed at Troon.Its a fantastic asset to have, said Colin Montgomerie, who noted that Dustin Johnson will have no problem carrying various hazards. Thats an advantage, theres no question. Id love to have played my career where he hits his drives; we all would.But at the same time, if that driver is slightly off and the pin positions are as theyre going to be, which are hidden and on slopes to protect the course, these links courses ... you can get into trouble, theres no question. Youve got to be very, very careful at the same time. I dont think its a bombers course as such.I think our motto here, Tam arte quam marte, as youre all aware of course as journalists and English scholars, you would know that its not just with strength but with skill. So you have to have both. This course demands both. ' ' '