NEW YORK -- A good ending to a long road trip kept the New York Mets talking in the present tense for at least a little while longer. The Philadelphia Phillies, meanwhile, will arrive in New York on Friday having taken another step toward their future.The Mets host the Phillies in the opener of a three-game series Friday night at Citi Field. New York (64-63) edged closer to the pack in the National League wild card race Thursday night by beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-5.The win gave the Mets a series win in the three-game set against the Cardinals and pulled them within 3 1/2 games of St. Louis for the second wild card. New York went 5-5 on a 10-game road trip but ended the three-city trek with four wins in five games against the San Francisco Giants, who are currently the first wild card, and the Cardinals.The Mets two wins against the Cardinals came in games in which starter Jonathon Niese lasted just one out before exiting due to a knee injury and in which rookie Seth Lugo threw five shutout innings in place of left-hander Steven Matz, who is on the disabled list with a shoulder injury.I dont care who were playing. weve got to put some wins on the board, Mets manager Terry Collins said. Weve got to get some streaks going, get back in the hunt here. Hopefully we get our pitching straightened away here in the next couple days where, going into that last month of the season, well know who is going to be out there.The Mets will send their one sure thing -- 43-year-old Bartolo Colon -- to the mound in Fridays series opener. Colon, the oldest player in baseball, will be making his team-high 26th start and will be looking for his 12th win, which would break a tie for the team lead with Noah Syndergaard. If he lasts at least 3 2/3 innings Friday, Colon will also surge past Syndergaard for the Mets lead in innings pitched.While the ageless Colon pitches for the Mets, the Phillies youth movement will be on full display with their battery. Adam Morgan, a 26-year-old left-hander, will make his 15th start of the season and the 30th of his career for Philadelphia (59-68), which is headed for its fifth straight non-winning season.Morgan may be throwing to rookie catcher Jorge Alfaro, who is expected to be promoted following Thursdays trade that sent 37-year-old catcher Carlos Ruiz to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for fellow aging backstop A.J. Ellis, minor league pitcher Tommy Bergjans and a player to be named later.With Ruiz gone, the only member of the Phillies 2008 World Series-winning squad still wearing a Philadelphia uniform is first baseman Ryan Howard, who is sure to depart following the season. While general manager Matt Klentak said the organization was glad to give Ruiz a chance at pursuing another ring, he acknowledged the trade will leave a big hole to fill for a rebuilding club.Carlos has been such an important leader for so long, we knew we had to fill a role on and off the field, Klentak told CSNPhilly.com. There is a reasonably good chance one of our young catching prospects will be in the big leagues before the season is over. Wholesale Running Shoes . PETERSBURG, Fla. Cheap Running Shoes China . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. http://www.cheaprunningshoes.us/ . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. Nike Running Shoes Cheap .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. Cheapest Running Shoes Store . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. EDMONTON, Alberta -- Auston Matthews helped get the Toronto Maple Leafs three-game trip off to a solid start.Auston Matthews scored his 10th goal of the season as the Maple Leafs got just their second road win of the season, beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Tuesday night.I think we stuck to the game plan the whole 60 minutes and we didnt get away from it too much, Matthews said. We got pucks in deep and kind of just played heavy down there, grinding them down low. Theyre a very good rush team, so we wanted to eliminate that from them. So I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight.James van Riemsdyk, Nazem Kadri and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto, which has won two straight and improved to 2-5-4 on the road. Frederik Andersen stopped 28 shots.It probably wasnt our prettiest win, but were very happy to kick off this road trip with two points, Toronto assistant captain Morgan Rielly said. I think that when you look at our team, I think that speed is one thing that stands out, so when you play teams like Edmonton with the amount of speed that they had and the amount of skill that they have, its important that we have our legs with us, were skating and were keeping up with them.Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and Andrej Sekera also scored for the Oilers, who have lost three in a row. Cam Talbot gave up four goals on 14 shots over the first two periods, and Jonas Gustavsson stopped all nine shots he faced in the third.Its frustrating, the highs and lows, said McDavid, who had his ninth multi-point game of the season. Its stupid mistakes that are costing us. We just have to bear down.Toronto took a 1-0 lead not long after Edmontons Ryan Nugent-Hopkins rang a shot off the post. William Nylander made a great pass on a rush and Matthews diirected the puck past Talbot at 5:45 of the first.ddddddddddddAndersen made 12 saves in the opening period, including a huge glove stop to rob Leon Draisaitl in tight.Less than 3 minutes into the second, van Riemsdyk was left completely alone in front of the Oilers net and had three whacks at the puck before getting it past Talbot for his 10th.Sekera beat Andersen on a long shot from the point 2:01 later to cut the deficit in half.Kadri restored the two-goal lead at 6:00. Leo Komarov picked a puck off Oilers defender Matt Benning and got it across to Kadri, who became the third Toronto player to get his 10th goal of the season in the game.Hyman extended Torontos lead to 4-1 with just over 3 minutes remaining in the middle period, swatting in a puck that bounced around in front of the net.Oilers forward Milan Lucic said his team once again fell into the trap of reacting rather than creating.Its almost like we were kind of waiting for the first thing to happen rather than going out there and making it happen, he said. That is still something we are learning as a young group. No matter whom you are playing, you have to get up for the games. It starts here in this dressing room and creating that emotion before the puck.The Oilers cut into the lead four minutes into the third as McDavid made the most of a partial breakaway, scoring his 11th goal and league-leading 31st point.Game notes It was the second and final meeting between the Oilers and Maple Leafs this season. Toronto won the first contest 3-2 in overtime at the beginning of November.UP NEXTToronto: At Calgary on Wednesday night.Oilers: At Winnipeg on Thursday night. ' ' '