L and designated C Eric Fryer for assignment. Pena signed a $5 million, two-year deal to backup Yadier Molina but has not played this season.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals SS Ale

NASSAU, Bahamas -- Tiger Woods has gone through two back surgeries since he last played a golf tournament 15 months ago. He had another back surgery that knocked him out of the Masters for the first time in 2014. He had four knee surgeries before that.None of that matters to Ernie Els when Woods returns to competition this week.Els is more curious about whats going on in his head.The talents there. Its been proven. It doesnt go away, Els said. Its what you think of yourself. Its what you think where you are. We look at this great player, but hes not seeing the same stuff in his own mind. A lot of us are like that. When youve achieved as much as he has ... its a shock to the system not to play as good as you have been. To look at other people looking at you like, `Hey, youre not the same guy, thats hard to take.Els, perhaps more than any other player, has a deep golfing connection with Woods.He was the player Woods sought out 20 years ago at Royal Lytham & St. Annes when deciding whether to turn pro. They had so many meaningful battles, and Woods almost always got the better of him. Els was runner-up to Woods seven times, the most of any player.Els designed the Albany golf course where Woods comes back from the longest layoff of his career. He plans to be in the Bahamas, and he is as eager as anyone else to see how a guy who won 79 times on the PGA Tour, including 14 majors, stacks up against a generation that grew up in awe of how Woods played golf.The Hero World Challenge is a holiday tournament with an 18-man field and no cut. Even so, it commands as much attention as any tournament this year. Woods has been a star attraction his entire career, and the appetite is even stronger after an absence that dates to Aug. 23, 2015.I cant wait to watch, either, just to see him play, Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III said. The last time I saw him play, I won. Its hard to believe its been that long. Ive seen his swing. Ive seen him on video. Hes sent me clips, and Ive heard the description of how he feels. Im excited to see him play.Youve got to start somewhere, he added. And I want to see the start.Woods already has had one false start. He signed up to play the Safeway Open, only to pull out three days later because he said he felt vulnerable. That followed a week as assistant captain at the Ryder Cup, and cramming in practice the week before with results that made him want to wait.Love won the Wyndham Championship last year in August at age 51, and it could easily have served as a model for Woods -- a power player no longer in his prime, not among the biggest hitters anymore, but with enough experience and talent to find a way to score and to win.It has to motivate him that Vijay Singh is lasting until 53, that Ernie is still competitive, that Davis is still competitive, Love said. He knows Jack Nicklaus won the Masters in 1986 playing part-time. He knows what everybody has done. I know hes working hard not to come back and be average. He wants to come back and win again.That might be expecting too much, way too soon.Woods hasnt won a tournament since his seven-shot victory in the Bridgestone Invitational in 2013, the year he won five times and was PGA Tour player of the year. He hasnt had a serious chance at winning since his tournament three years ago when it was at Sherwood Country Club. Zach Johnson holed a wedge from the drop zone to force a playoff, and won when Woods missed a 5-foot putt in the playoff.No other player has ever faced so much scrutiny, especially now.I wont be able to turn the TV on, or the radio on, or look at my phone without knowing what he shot, Jim Furyk said. The expectations are so high. ... Every pitch shot, every putt, every 3-footer, its not under public scrutiny like he has. I guess you live by the sword, die by the sword. Thats why hes Tiger Woods. Its a tough situation.Woods said his health had nothing to do with pulling out of the Safeway Open, and Els believes him. He says Woods is in better shape than some players in their 20s. Then again, he has accumulated plenty of emotional baggage over the last several years, on and off the golf course.They physical side is not an issue. Its the other side thats an issue, whatever is blocking him, Els said. But youve got to get on the horse. You cant be standing on the sidelines. Youve got to get out there. ... Hopefully, he plays well, really, for his own goodness, his own sake, his own mental sake. If he plays well, it would be great. Hell have hope and start a good schedule. If it goes the other way, hes behind the 8-ball again. Fake Flames Jerseys . Jeff Green scored 13 points and Kris Humphries 12 for the Celtics, who nearly blew an 18-point, second-half lead. Sullingers 20-20 was the first by a Celtics player since Kevin Garnetts first game in Boston in 2007. Garnett was dealt -- along with Paul Pierce -- to Brooklyn during the off-season. Calgary Flames Pro Shop . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. https://www.cheapflames.com/ .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Calgary Flames Shirts . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Flames Jerseys 2021 . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Cardinals manager Mike Matheny could have come up with more promising road trips than one against the red-hot Cubs and World Series champion Royals, with a long flight to Seattle smashed right in between.The fact that St. Louis won five of eight left him grinning like a schoolboy.Thats a good trip. This was a tough ask, Matheny said after an 8-4 victory over Kansas City on Tuesday night evened their four-game, two-city series. This has been a tough month, a lot of games on the road.Just about everybody in the Cardinals lineup contributed to the offense, while Michael Wacha (4-7) allowed four runs over six bumpy innings -- he served up nine hits and three walks.His bullpen nearly gave away the win, too: Seung Hwan Oh loaded the bases with one out in the ninth before getting pinch-hitter Alex Gordon to pop out and inducing Eric Hosmer into a routine fielders choice.I dont want to put the team in that situation, Oh said through a translator.Meanwhile, Yordano Ventura (6-5) allowed seven runs on seven hits, three walks and a hit batter in 5 1/3 innings for Kansas City. Ventura had only allowed one run over his last two starts, both of which came before an eight-game suspension for his role in a benches-clearing brawl during a game June 7 in Baltimore.As if things werent bad enough for Kansas City, Lorenzo Cain grabbed his left hamstring while trying to beat out an infield hit in the seventh inning. The All-Star outfielder left the game and declined to speak to reporters in the clubhouse, though he was walking without much of a limp.I wish I had an answer for you but it doesnt happen that quick, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Well have an MRI soon as they can get him in. Well determine how much fluid is on it and what the extent is.The cross-state series shifts to St. Louis for two more games beginning Wednesday night.Ventura actually breezed through the first inning on just 12 pitches, but trouble came promptly in the second. He gave up three hits, walked two and Yadier Molina, Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia drove in runs.ddddddddddddHe appeared to settle down over the next couple innings before more trouble hit in the fifth.Matt Carpenter started it with a homer to center, the 48th allowed by a Kansas City pitcher this month -- the club record is 51 in May 2006. Matt Adams added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to make it 5-2.Venturas night was done in the sixth, when another hit and walk brought Yost ambling from the dugout. Carpenter provided an RBI double and Brandon Moss and Matt Holliday made it 8-2 before reliever Brian Flynn finally got the Royals out of the inning.Kansas City tacked on two runs in the bottom half before its comeback collapsed in the ninth.We had some opportunities. We capitalized in the second inning, Yost said. We had a couple of more opportunities. We made it exciting in the ninth inning, but couldnt make anything happen.YOURE OUTTA HEREPlate umpire Tim Timmons tossed Royals RHP Edinson Volquez from the bench during the third inning, though it was unclear what prompted the ejection. It was the second time Volquez has been ejected in his career.ROSTER MOVESThe Cardinals activated C Brayan Pena (left knee surgery) from the DL and designated C Eric Fryer for assignment. Pena signed a $5 million, two-year deal to backup Yadier Molina but has not played this season.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals SS Aledyms Diaz had no structural damage after fouling a ball off the ground Monday night that ricocheted back off his forehead. He experienced blurry vision in his right eye and visited the hospital after the game, but manager Mike Matheny said Tuesday that Diaz should be back in a few days.UP NEXTRHP Carlos Martinez takes the mound for the Cardinals while Kansas City counters with Volquez on the mound at Busch Stadium. Martinez is 3-0 in his last five starts. ' ' '