ance metrics, he is generally right in the middle of the pack. Still, despite lacking obvious, elite athletic qualities, Harden has made a career out of keeping the defense off-bala

ST. LOUIS -- Never has a 94 mile-per-hour fastball to the ribs felt so good for Yadier Molina as it did Monday night.Molina started and ended a five-run rally in the ninth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals stunned the Cincinnati Reds 5-4. He was hit by a pitch from Ross Ohlendorf with the bases loaded to drive home the winning run. Instead of wincing, Molina pumped his fist and slid into first base.He walked by me and said we have lots of ice, manager Mike Matheny said. So he wasnt concerned about being hit there.Molina singled to start the inning against Reds closer Tony Cingrani. Matt Carpenter drove in two runs with a single, Stephen Piscotty singled home another and Matt Holliday walked to load the bases before Cingrani (2-4) was lifted for Ohlendorf, who walked Brandon Moss to tie it before hitting Molina.You can have the good approach, you can do all the things you want to, you can hit the ball hard, but it takes a little luck sometimes and youve got to get the pitches to do it with, Moss said. And in the ninth inning we got a lot of pitches to do it with.The comeback erased what had been a night of offensive futility for St. Louis through the first eight innings, as the Cardinals entered the last inning 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.You trust in each other and that was one of those next men up, Matheny said. There was nobody with that huge home run. It was just one right after the other whether its a hit batsman, whether its walks or whether its a big hit. Play the game, good things can happen.Seth Maness (2-2) pitched a perfect ninth to earn the win.Cardinals starter Michael Wacha struggled to settle in as seven of the first 12 batters he faced reached base. Zack Cozarts double eluded the outstretched glove of Holliday in left field and went off the wall to give the Reds a 2-0 lead in the second. Cozart, who had two hits, scored when Joey Votto followed with a triple.Just command early on, especially in the first and second inning I was kind of just all over the place, Wacha said. I felt like I was able to settle in and throw some good pitches down in the zone.The rally spoiled what had the makings of Cody Reeds first major league win. Reeds six scoreless innings dropped the Reds starters ERA to 2.84 over the last 11 games.Its miserable, Reds manager Bryan Price said. Its a miserable feeling but weve just got to come back tomorrow and win the game and get this feeling out of our system.GRAND THEFTBilly Hamilton led off the game for the Reds with a single and stole second and third. He is 17 for 19 in stolen base attempts against Molina, a perennial gold glove catcher, and the 17 stolen bases are the most by any baserunner against Molina.When you have a true base stealer like that, hes going to disrupt, Matheny said. Thats just how it goes. Yadi made a good throw . this guy gets some good jumps at times.STILL STREAKINGMolina walked in the fourth inning to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 21 games. It is the longest streak by a Cardinals catcher since Gene Tenace reached in 35 straight between the 1981 and 1982 seasons.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Alfredo Simon (right trapezius) and RHP A.J. Morris (strained right shoulder) began rehab assignments at Triple-A Louisville on Sunday. Simon gave up a run in an inning and Morris gave up three runs in 2/3 of an inning.Cardinals: LHP Tyler Lyons (knee) saw a specialist in Chicago, but no update was available.UP NEXTReds: LHP Brandon Finnegan (7-8, 4.45 ERA) is coming off a two-hit, six-inning shutout of St. Louis in a 7-0 win last week. His current 12-inning scoreless streak is the longest of his career.Cardinals: RHP Mike Leake (8-9, 4.80 ERA) will look for better results against his former team after allowing seven runs his last time out in Cincinnati. In two career starts against the Reds, he is 0-1 with a 10.32 ERA. Sony Michel Patriots Jersey .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training. Stephon Gilmore Youth Jersey . Ibaka equaled a career high with 20 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and 15 points as the Thunder smothered the Milwaukee Bucks offence in a 92-79 victory Saturday night. http://www.patriotsjerseysauthentic.com/Tom-Brady-Super-Bowl-Jersey/ . -- Timbers coach Caleb Porter didnt stray from his business-like approach to the season even after Portland downed the two-time defending league champion Los Angeles Galaxy to gain crucial playoff position. Tedy Bruschi Womens Jersey . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Kevin Faulk Patriots Jersey . Still, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke thought taking him out before the fifth inning was an unusual move. "Im looking up at the board and hes got two hits given up and one run, and Im taking him out after the fourth inning," Roenicke said. James Harden is not often accused of being the most athletic player in the NBA. The sport scientists at the P3 Applied Sports Science group in Santa Barbara, California, are here to tell you, however, that in some very specific ways, Harden is an elite NBA athlete.Andrew Wiggins is commonly understood to pass every test of athleticism you could throw at an NBA player. The P3 group isnt about to refute that sentiment. But they will tell you Wiggins may be the most athletic player theyve ever tested.?Whats more, P3s scientists have uncovered the reality that in some very specific ways, Harden and Wiggins are similarly unique, and their distinct movement skills have manifested themselves within their effective -- though different -- styles of play.Dr. Marcus Elliott, a Harvard-trained physician, founded P3 to bring a science-driven approach to elite athletic performance. The P3 group collects literally thousands of data points on each athlete that walks through its doors -- a population that includes more than 300 athletes with NBA experience.?When Harden, Wiggins, or any other athlete goes to P3 for testing, they are wired up as if they were models for the latest version of NBA2K, while cameras capture their motion and metal force plates measure the impact of each movement. Instead of creating the next best video game, the goal is simply to quantify aspects of athleticism that, to this point, have remained largely qualitative.?After assessing an athlete, P3 uses those thousands of data points to create a profile of the athlete based on their individual strengths and weaknesses in comparison to the hundreds of NBA athletes in the database.The deeper tests of athleticism have provided athletes -- and the teams that might employ them -- with a much deeper understanding of what their physical skills and limitations are, and how those skills translate to their on-court performance.?In Hardens case, his athletic profile is very similar to the average NBA guard assessed. Looking at high-level performance metrics, he is generally right in the middle of the pack. Still, despite lacking obvious, elite athletic qualities, Harden has made a career out of keeping the defense off-balance -- creating space when it suits him and drawing the defender into a foul when the opportunity presents itself.He has astoundingly consistent spikes in metrics associated with a single characteristic -- braking, Elliott says of Harden. He has the best all-around NBA braking system weve ever measured.?Simply put, Harden exhibits an almost unparalleled ability to quickly slam on the brakes. When having athletes complete the Standing Vertical leap -- an NBA and NFL combine staple -- P3 measures not just the height that the athletes can leap, but the force they generate at different phases of the jump. As Harden prepares to jump, he creates more force tthan all but 2 percent of NBA athletes in P3s database.dddddddddddd According to P3, an athletes ability to generate force during this phase of the jump is at least part of what gives Harden an elite ability to stop and change direction.On the court, Harden has learned to utilize this elite skill to his extreme advantage. In a sense, despite lacking superior top-end speed, his first-class ability to apply the brakes becomes its own physical advantage with the ball in his hands. When driving to the basket, Harden can change the path of his attack like no one else. When he stops and changes direction, he is already several beats ahead of his defender who either has to let Harden blow by on his way to the basket, or foul him. Hardens mastery of this athletic ability has put him in the position to lead the league in trips to the foul line.In several ways, Wiggins is Hardens athletic mirror -- a high-level athlete in P3s traditional and more sophisticated measures. While Harden can decelerate impressively, Wiggins exhibits a rare ability to accelerate. During a set of prescribed movements, Wiggins demonstrated an elite ability to explode out of a jump. In fact, his measurement in the Standing Vertical Leap related to this type of explosiveness is the best P3 has ever measured in an NBA player.On the court this skill has similar implications to Hardens stopping ability. Offensively, his explosiveness allows him to seek the easiest shot available -- whether that involves a drive to the basket or raising up for an uncontested jumper (or another SC Top 10 play).Defensively, Wiggins unique athleticism allows him to more easily catch up to a ball handler or move quickly into help position -- making life tough on the opposition regardless of who hes guarding. Though Wiggins is still learning how to maximize the value of his athletic gifts on the court, his athletic abilities provide him time to learn to be as crafty as a player like Harden. If he puts both pieces of the puzzle together, look out.Although theres been much noise about the use of technology and biometrics as it relates to injuries, P3s sports and data scientists are showing that technology and data can also help us better understand what makes athletes excel or struggle in very specific areas or actions on the court. This granular assessment of performance systems allows us to start unlocking the hidden code that underlies all competitive sports.We have found, says Elliott, that in the rare case that a professional athlete has any one physical performance metric that is substantially better than those of the other genetic lottery winners they play against in pro sports, they nearly always find a way to exploit it on the court or field. ' ' '