Cardinals marathon to air on Christmas Day
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ST. LOUIS -- While the St. Louis weather forecast doesn't offer much hope of being snowed in this Christmas, FOX Sports Midwest is giving Cardinals fans an excuse to cozy up in front of the television on Sunday anyway.
The station announced that it will be airing five of the team's most memorable games from 2016, as well as a Hot Stove show and behind-the-scenes look at the Cardinals' Winter Meetings stay. The marathon begins at noon CT and will run for 11 hours.
Here's a look at the games chosen for a rebroadcast:
• July 16 vs. Miami (12 p.m.): On a night when the Cardinals celebrated the 10th anniversary of their 2006 World Series championship, Adam Wainwright flirted with a no-hitter through five innings and completed a three-hit shutout.
• April 8 at Atlanta (2 p.m.): The Cardinals earned their first victory of the season while also becoming the first team in Major League history to connect for three pinch-hit homers in one game. Beginning in the seventh, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Aledmys Díaz and Greg Garcia went deep as pinch-hitters in consecutive innings.
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• May 2 vs. Philadelphia (4 p.m.): Wainwright sent a fastball into Big Mac Land to jumpstart a five-homer game that also featured long balls by Matt Adams, Diaz, Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk. It was one of five games the Cardinals played last season in which they homered at least five times.
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• Sept. 30 vs. Pittsburgh (6 p.m.): With a National League Wild Card spot on the line, Carlos Martínez dazzled for seven scoreless innings and Matt Holliday provided one of the most poignant moments of the season. Taken off the disabled list so he'd be able to make one final appearance in front of the home crowd, Holliday went deep in a pinch-hit at-bat.
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• Sept. 6 at Pittsburgh (8 p.m.): Down to their final strike in Pittsburgh, the Cardinals stunned the Pirates with three ninth-inning home runs to steal a 9-7 win. It marked the first time since 2006 that the team had connected for three homers in the ninth.
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National exposure
The Cardinals are a popular pick by ESPN once again for its weekly Sunday Night broadcasts next season. The network released a partial schedule of its primetime picks, and it included four games involving the Cardinals.
The first was already known, as ESPN announced last month that it would be televising the season opener between the Cubs and Cardinals at Busch Stadium on April 2.
That's the first of at least three Cubs-Cardinals games that will be televised as part of the Sunday Night broadcasts in 2017. The June 4 and July 23 matchups between the rivals have also been selected for the primetime slot. Both of those games will be at Wrigley Field.
The fourth Cardinals game picked up is the team's series finale at Yankee Stadium on April 16. This will be the first time since 2003 -- and just the second time ever in Interleague Play -- that the Cardinals will face the Yankees on the road.