PITTSBURGH -- Ryan Vogelsongs resilient return from the facial fractures that cost him two months in the middle of the season is remarkable.The veteran pitchers stuff at the moment, however, is not. And the 39-year-old knows it.The Chicago Cubs pushed Vogelsong around for five choppy innings and Pittsburghs ninth-inning rally fell short on Tuesday night in a 6-4 loss.Pittsburgh was eliminated from postseason contention when San Francisco won later Tuesday, ending a run of three-straight playoff appearances.Vogelsong (3-7) struggled with his command, giving up four hits, walking five and hitting a batter. He threw just 51 of his 102 pitches for strikes and fell to 0-3 with a 9.55 ERA this month, a downturn thats coincided with his teams fade out of playoff contention.Just an unacceptable start, really, Vogelsong said. Just no excuses. Unacceptable.Vogelsong managed to get out of a two-on, two-out situation in the first but couldnt in the second. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases before Chris Coghlan sent an offering off the wall in right-center to clear them to give the Cubs the lead. Chicago won for the seventh time in its last eight games to improve to 101-56, the clubs highest victory total since it won 104 games in 1910.Much of that success has come against the Pirates. A year after the two reached the postseason as wild cards, Chicago is 14-3 against the Pirates this season, outscoring them 109-64 in the process.Dexter Fowler added an RBI double for Chicago. Lackey (11-8) worked around five hits and three walks to win his last regular season start.Felix Pena recorded the final two outs for his first career save after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run single off Justin Grimm to get the Pirates within two. Pena struck out Sean Rodriguez with the bases loaded to end it.Chicago manager Joe Maddon is experimenting with his lineup over the seasons final week with the Cubs already assured of home-field advantage in the NL playoffs. That means plenty of playing time for Coghlan, who has been mired in a season-long slump but is hitting .423 (11 of 26) since Sept. 16.Lackey made sure the early lead stood, though not without some shaky moments. He needed a double play to thwart a potentially big inning in the second and his defense bailed him out when Jordy Mercers line drive with the bases loaded in the fourth went straight to second baseman Munenori Kawasaki, who flipped to second to double off Rodriguez.The Pirates went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position -- both hits coming in the ninth -- and left 11 men on base.NO Ks FOR NICASIOPittsburgh reliever Juan Nicasio gave up two runs in the ninth and failed to record a strikeout for the first time in 34 appearances, ending his club-record streak.TRAINERS ROOMPirates: LF Starling Marte remained out of the starting lineup with back stiffness and grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the fifth. The All-Star has just three plate appearances -- all as a pinch hitter -- since Sept. 5. Theres a chance Marte could get back in the lineup before the series with Chicago ends. Things are moving quickly and Im feeling a lot more better than things were before, Marte said after the game. Right now, Im just submitting to my trainers and what they have me doing and hopefully Ill get back and be able to bounce back as soon as possible.UP NEXT:Cubs: Jake Arrieta (18-7, 2.85 ERA) makes his final start of the regular season. The 2015 Cy Young Award winner is 9-1 with a 1.46 ERA in 12 career starts against the Pirates.Pirates: Rookie Jameson Taillon (4-4, 3.49) faces the Cubs for the second time this season. Chicago touched him for four runs in four innings of a 10-5 loss on June 19. Air Max 90 Sale Canada . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. Buy Air Max 90 Canada . The next step is a better finish. Bae played bogey-free Friday on another gorgeous day at Riviera for a 5-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley and Robert Garrigus going into the weekend. http://www.airmax90canada.ca/ . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. Air Max 90 Clearance . And follow TSN.ca right through Deadline Day for all the updates. From Pierre LeBrun While Anaheim GM Bob Murray said earlier this season he was not going to trade Jonas Hiller despite the fact hes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, some sources have told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun that Murray might be willing to move another goalie. Air Max 90 Canada . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Fog prevented downhill racers from getting their Olympic dress rehearsal.Ipswich Witches race on a Thursday evening, and owner Chris Louis talks us through the planning for a race day at Foxhall Stadium. Generally, the fixture list is done in the winter, Louis said. As long as you dont get rain offs and dont have to shift things around, thats when it gets a little more difficult with riders individual calendars. But the fixture list is there and you know what is coming up.During the week you have to name your team to the opposing club first and they tell you what their team is. As the staging promotion, you put both teams up on the SCB website so the referee can log in and check both teams are legal. If there are any changes he makes sure there is a legal reason and checks the replacement rider fits the criteria. I check with Bob Ellis, the trackman, to see if he has any problems and then if Im busy with engine preparation I go to the workshop and spend a few hours there. I always report back to the track before midday Chris Louis Then in the run-up to the meeting, that gets updated as-and-when people drop out with injury or illness. So thats pretty well organised and straightforward, its just more of a problem if you get rained off and you have to rearrange. You get involved with individual riders calendars and that is more of a problem.Louis has been in speedway for over 25 years and although he has made the switch from rider to owner, raceday still remains the focus of his week, and the 46-year-old talked us through his routine on a Thursday, a day that sees him take on various roles throughout the day.I get up and go to the track, check my emails and check there are no team issues, either with us or the visiting team, he added. If there is, at any point during the day, I let the referee know that someone will be missing. I check with Bob Ellis, the trackman, to see if he has any problems and then if Im busy with engine preparation I go to the workshop and spend a few hours there. I always report back to the track before midday to check with Bob and his wife Chris and normally go to lunch. During that time Bob is constantly watering and making sure the track is how he wants it. Louis helps prepare the track on race day After lunch I come back to the track and stay there for the rest of the day. I help withh the watering if its needed on a hot day but my track duties dont start until 4pm when we start to move the track around and make sure the top surface is how we want it, so I stay involved with that until 6pm.dddddddddddd Then I go into a telephone box, spin around and turn into a promoter! I greet visiting teams and managers and then basically watch the meeting.Since I stopped doing the team manager job Im very strict on myself at not interfering with what the team manager does but of course if they want any advice Im always in the pits or on the centre green to help riders or the team manager. Then I always go to spend a bit of time with the team sponsors, who have two areas of hospitality.Its a long day on a Thursday, obviously the track is the main laborious part. The fence has to come up and go down every week after the speedway. That goes up on a Monday and then the track preparation is literally done from the Friday after a meeting to the following Thursday for the next one. The air fence must come down after every meeting at Foxhall. The busy life of a speedway owner does not stop there. Louis is part of Sky Sports panel at live broadcasts and also keeps himself involved in the mechanical side of the sport.I do a few engines, I have that side of the business to take care of, he said. I do Mondays for Sky Sports, so theres a little bit of homework for that to see what the teams are, what changes there are and then I go to do that. Then maybe there is a BSPA meeting on a Tuesday, they dont happen very often but they do happen on occasion. Then there is away meetings, I go to all of the away meetings, so there is more than enough to do during the week. Louis is part of Sky Sports Speedways broadcast team As the season ends in October and riders pack up for the winter, the owner begins to plan for the next gruelling campaign.In the off-season week-by-week its not busier than the speedway season but its different. From the seasons end until December, its about making sure we get a competitive team together and making sure weve got the sponsorship advertising, meeting sponsors all of those things to pay for it. Also See: Inside Speedway: The Team Inside Speedway: Ownership cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '