ST. LOUIS - Matt Adams hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series with the NL Central rival they topped in the division series last fall. Matt Carpenter walked to lead off the ninth and Matt Holliday flied out. Adams then hit his 10th homer on an 0-1 pitch from Justin Wilson (2-1) for his first career game-winning homer. It was the Cardinals first game-winning homer since Skip Schumaker connected against the Kansas City Royals on June 19, 2011. Charlie Morton allowed one hit in seven innings for Pittsburgh, which stranded 12 runners. Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals 11-game winner, scattered seven hits in seven scoreless innings. Pat Neshek (3-0) worked a perfect ninth against the top of the order for St. Louis. Richard Dent Jersey . 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The 57-year-old Tietjens has coached New Zealand to nine IRB World Sevens titles and to four Commonwealth Games gold medals as its only coach in the professional era. New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew said the re-signing was made with a focus on 2016 when sevens will be in the Olympics. Dick Butkus Womens Jersey . Knapp defeated American Alison Riske 6-3, 7-5 to secure Italys victory in the best-of-five series. She held a 5-2 lead in the second set, only to let Riske tie it at five.MONACO, Monaco - With the IOCs new bidding process now in place, the race for the 2024 Olympics is primed to take off.The U.S. Olympic Committee will make a decision next week on whether to bid and may even select a city to put forward, making a choice among Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.Were not in it to come in fourth, third or second, USOC chairman Larry Probst said Tuesday, setting the stage for a contest that could also include Paris, Rome, Berlin or Hamburg and other cities.The 2024 campaign is ready to move forward after the International Olympic Committee approved a raft of changes Monday that include a revised process designed to make bidding less expensive and more attractive to potential candidates.The new system includes an invitation phase where interested countries and cities discuss their plans with the IOC in advance of bidding to tailor the project to their own needs and conditions.I dont think it has much of an impact on our process, Probst said. I dont think any of these reforms have a significant impact on bidding or not bidding.IOC President Thomas Bach said Tuesday the invitation phase will begin on Jan. 15, eight months before the Sept. 15 deadline for declaration of bids.Bach said the IOC will contact all national Olympic committees interested in bidding. Meetings will be arranged in Lausanne, Switzerland, or in the potential bid cities.Its not an evaluation, Bach said. It will be up to these potential candidate cities to raise the topics they think are worthwhile. Our delegation will listen and give them any advice.Bach again ruled out reopening the bidding for the 2002 Winter Games. Scared off by high costs and other factors, several cities pulled out, leaving only Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, in the running.Canadian member Dick Pound said the former candidates should be given the chance to rejoin the race under the new bidding rules. But Bach said it would be unfair to the two remaining contenders.Its like a 10,000-meter race, Bach said. If you pull out after five laps, you cant expect that the race will be started again.One thing is already certain for 2024: The Peruvian capital of Lima beat out Helsinki on Tuesday for thee right to host the IOC session in 2017 where the vote will be held.ddddddddddddGermany has already announced it will be bidding, with a choice between Berlin and Hamburg to be made in March. Italy is expected to announce a Rome bid on Monday. France is likely to approve a Paris bid next month.Other potential contenders include Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; Baku, Azerbaijan; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Budapest, Hungary; and a city or region in South Africa.The United States hasnt hosted the Summer Games since 1996 in Atlanta. New York made a failed bid for the 2012 Olympics, and Chicago missed out for 2016.Thats 28 years, Probst said. Thats more than a generation. Thats a long time to not have the games in the United States.Probst said he spoke with Bach and other IOC members in Monaco who encouraged the U.S. to submit a 2024 bid.Its more along the lines of its time for the U.S. to bid and if you have a strong bid with a high-quality leadership team, good venue plan and all the other elements that are important to the membership, you have an opportunity to compete and hopefully compete successfully, he said.The USOC board will meet in California on Dec. 16 to decide whether to bid after listening to presentations from all four cities. The board could decide to choose a candidate city right away or wait a month or two.If we decide to move forward with a bid next week, I would say within 30-60 days we would probably select a city, but we could get to that next week as well, Probst said.The new IOC rules allow for events to be held outside host cities and countries in exceptional cases.I dont think the notion that you could have venues in two different cities is really applicable to a U.S. bid, so I dont think it advantages us or disadvantages us, Probst said.Los Angeles is seeking to host the Olympics for a third time after staging the games in 1932 and 1984.I think some people think its a pro, some people feel its a con, Probst said. Theyve got facilities in place, theyve done it before, but you hear some members say been there, done that, so thats one of the things we have to consider.___Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stevewilsonap ' ' '