ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Cardinals are prepared to live with the swings and misses, knowing that when Mark Reynolds connects the ball really travels.They have lacked a power bat off the bench, or power anywhere for that matter, and Reynolds also could platoon with Matt Adams at first base. Manager Mike Matheny promises he wont have batting coach John Mabry tinker too much with a stroke thats boom or bust.We need to capitalize on what his strengths are and not focus on the weaknesses, and realize hes got a power component thats very rare, Matheny said at the Winter Warm-Up fan festival. Make some subtle changes to maybe improve, but also not be afraid to get up there and try to drive the ball. Thats why we did bring him in.General manager John Mozeliak points out something of a happy medium approach would help both parties. Reynolds is playing for his fifth team in four seasons.I think we understood what we were buying, Mozeliak said. But thats not to say we also werent hopeful of maybe a little bit of an adjustment.The Cardinals made it to the post-season for a franchise-record fourth consecutive season without relying on the long ball, totalling 102 homers for second-worst in the major leagues. Home runs were down across the board among the starters and the bench contributed just 12.Thats why the Cardinals think the 31-year-old Reynolds is a good fit. He holds the major league record of 223 strikeouts in 2009 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and is just a .229 career hitter, but he hit 44 homers in 2009 and has 21 or more in each of his last seven seasons.Though he batted a paltry .196 last year with Milwaukee — and fanned nearly once per three at-bats in a part-time role — Reynolds managed to hit 22 homers.The one thing weve talked about a lot is whos the power off the bench, Mozeliak said. Historically, we just havent had a great answer for that. At the minimum, were hoping he can do that.Certainly, Reynolds would love reducing the strikeout count without sacrificing too much pop. But theres a limit.When theres two outs and nobody on base and I have two strikes, Im not going to try to hit a ball to second base, Reynolds said. Im going to try to drive the ball in the gap and get in scoring position, and I dont want to compromise that.After playing his first four seasons with Arizona, Reynolds has had stints with the Orioles, Indians, Yankees and Brewers. He chose a one-year deal with St. Louis for opportunities at the corner infield spots and perhaps some outfield, too, for a chance to play for a faithful fan base and above all join a team accustomed to playing deep into October.I had other opportunities to go other places where I could have probably played more, at least on paper, but it didnt look too good for the post-season, Reynolds said. I wanted to be here.The move figures to be a motivator for the left-handed hitting Adams, who batted .318 against right-handed pitchers but just .190 against lefties. Only three of Adams homers came against lefties.Reynolds hasnt exactly crushed lefties, either, with a career average of .231. But his on-base percentage of .351 against lefties is impressive.Im definitely not here to ride the pine, Reynolds said. Im going to try and make it tough on Mike to keep me on the bench. Authentic Brandon LaFell Jersey . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Authentic Gareon Conley Jersey . -- Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was admitted to the hospital Friday for observation due to minor complications from cancer treatments, his family said. http://www.cheapraidersjerseysauthentic....etnikoff-jersey. Ho-Sang is a highly regarded prospect, as seen in TSNs Midseason Rankings. This was Game 3 of their playoff series and that wasnt the only strange incident in Londons 10-2 win over Windsor. Authentic Arden Key Jersey . He never mentioned anything about his hitting. The 33-year-old right-hander had success with both Sunday, pitching six solid innings and helping the offence-starved Mets with an RBI single as New York salvaged a doubleheader split with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Authentic Jim Otto Jersey .ca! There is plenty of blame to be shared as a result of the most recent NHL player (Pittsburghs Brooks Orpik) to be evacuated from the ice on a stretcher following an ugly incident Saturday night in Boston.KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Justin Verlander took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and won his fourth straight decision, leading Detroit over the Kansas City Royals 9-4 Sunday and extending the Tigers winning streak to a season-high five games. Billy Butler singled to right on a 1-2 pitch with two outs in the sixth, leaving him with a .432 career average in 74 at-bats against the Detroit ace. Verlander (4-1) allowed three runs, four hits and four walks in seven innings with seven strikeouts. Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run triple in the seventh and scored on a sacrifice fly by Nori Aoki, who walked his first three times up. Verlander pitched no-hitters against Milwaukee in June 2007 and versus Toronto in May 2011. He improved to 17-5 against the Royals, the best winning percentage (.773) among active pitchers with 10 decisions or more. Nick Castellanos and Alex Avila homered for the Tigers, who had 16 hits, and Torii Hunter had three hits and three RBIs, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. RRajai Davis and Andrew Romine also had three hits each.dddddddddddd. Davis raised his average to .337, scored three runs and stole two bases, raising his total to 11. Detroit is 5-0 against the Royals this year and has won seven of eight overall. Kansas City, outscored 26-8 in the series, is 0-4 this month after going 8-20 last May. Jason Vargas (2-1) gave up seven runs and 11 hits in five innings -- hes allowed 12 runs and 21 hits over 11 1-3 innings in his last two starts. NOTES: The Royals walked Victor Martinez intentionally twice Sunday and twice Saturday. ... Kansas City optioned RHP Aaron Brooks to Triple-A Omaha, a day after he gave up six runs and seven hits in two innings in his major league debut. The Royals activated LHP Tim Collins from the DL. ... RHP Max Scherzer, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, is to start Monday against Houston as the Tigers open a seven-game homestand. ... The Royals begin a seven-game trip Monday at San Diego, where they are 0-6. ' ' '