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RIO DE JANEIRO -- The spectators told Monica Puig they believed she could win Puerto Ricos first Olympic gold medal in any sport, providing a soundtrack of Si se puede! -- Yes, we can! -- during the Rio de Janeiro Games womens tennis final.She could. And she did.The unseeded and unheralded Puig capped her run of upsets with the biggest one of all Saturday, overpowering No. 2 Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to become the Olympic champion.I did hear everybody saying, Yes, you can! Yes, you can! Yes, you can! I kept repeating it inside myself: `Yes, I can! Yes, I can! Yes, I can! Puig said. They really helped me believe and just showed me they were there for me, whether I was going to win or lose.Puigs father told her he believed, too, emailing the lyrics to the Puerto Rican national anthem a day earlier, just in case they would come in handy.And so, as the strains of that song echoed around an Olympic arena for the first time, and Puerto Ricos red-white-and-blue flag was raised to the highest level during a medal ceremony for the first time, Puig remembered what Dad had written.She recognized plenty of the words as fans belted them out.She just couldnt join in the joyous chorus, for a simple reason: too many tears.If I wouldve stopped crying, I probably would have started singing, Puig said afterward, smiling at the thought. But I couldnt. I was choking up the whole time.A 22-year-old born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now based in Florida, Puig is also the first woman representing her country to earn a medal of any color. When she finished a tense closing game -- saving six break points and converting her fourth match point -- she flung away her racket and went over to collect a flag she paraded across the court.I couldnt really believe what just happened, she said. It was such an amazing moment.Gigi Fernandez, who is Puerto Rican, won two Olympic womens doubles gold medals in tennis, but did so while representing the United States.Im particularly happy for Puerto Rico, Fernandez said in a telephone interview from Connecticut. All the hurt that people felt, all the anger people felt because I played for the U.S., I couldnt be happier.Puig had shown promise in the past, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon as a teen in 2013, but she hasnt been that far again at any major.Also notable about Puig: She is the first unseeded woman to win the singles title since tennis returned to the Olympics in 1988. Ranked 34th, she added her surprising win over Kerber -- a German who won the Australian Open and was the Wimbledon runner-up this year -- to those she picked up in Brazil against two other past major title winners, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova.Earlier Saturday, Kvitova earned the bronze for the Czech Republic by beating Madison Keys of the United States 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.Kvitova called her medal one of the best things that happened in my career, definitely.Clearly, Puig felt the same.And she played attacking tennis full of powerful shots that seemed to rattle the counter-punching Kerber.Puig smacked a down-the-line backhand -- her 18th winner to that point, 10 more than Kerber -- for a break that gave her the opening set.During the ensuing changeover, Kerber was visited by a trainer, standing on the sideline while her lower back was massaged and manipulated, before heading to the locker room for a medical timeout. Kerber said later that bothered her from the outset, but it wasnt why she lost.She played her best tennis and one of her best matches in her career, for sure, Kerber said. I tried everything.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich---AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski and Tim Reynolds contributed. Pedro Martinez Mets Jersey .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. Gary Carter Mets Jersey http://www.metssale.com/mets-pete-alonso-jersey/ . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Gary Carter Jersey . Ouellette, from Montreal, already has three Olympic gold medals since joining the team in 1999. Devin Mesoraco Mets Jersey . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, whose team missed the playoffs in 2016 for the first time in his five-year tenure, has agreed to a three-year contract extension.The Cardinals announced the new contract Thursday, a day after the rival Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Terms were not disclosed. Matheny had one year remaining on his previous contract, and the extension keeps him with the team through 2020.The Cardinals have averaged 92 wins per season since Matheny took over after Tony La Russa retired following the World Series-winning 2011 season. Overall, Matheny is 461-349.Matheny, 46, a former Gold Glove catcher, led the Cardinals to playoff appearances in 2012 through 2015 before falling one game short this season, including NL Central titles in 2013-2015. He also led St. Louis to the 2013 World Series, losing in six games to Boston.Matheny was lauded for leading the Cardinals to baseballs best record in 2015, a 100-win season in which they lost to the Cubs in the first round of the playoffs. But they dropped to 86 wins last season, 17 1/2 games behind the Cubs.The Cardinals, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants were in a three-way race for the final two playoff spots, with the Cardinals falling just short.Mike has continued the Cardinals tradition of winning in his first five years as manager and we are happy to extend his contract leading our club on the field through 2020, Cardinals principal owner and CEO, Bill DeWitt Jr., saaid in a statement.ddddddddddddhe Cardinals also announced changes in their coaching staff. Bill Mueller, who served as third base coach in Jose Oquendos absence, will return to his former duty as assistant hitting coach. Oquendo missed the entire season after undergoing knee replacement surgery.Oliver Marmol, who was manager of the Class A Palm Beach affiliate, will be first base coach in 2017. Triple-A Memphis manager Mike Shildt moves to quality control coach for the major league team. The Cardinals said all of the other major league coaches will return except assistant hitting coach Derrick May.One of the Cardinals themes has been continuity. Since owner Bill DeWitt Jr. bought the team in 2005, the Cardinals have had just two managers, Matheny and LaRussa, and two general managers, Walt Jocketty and John Mozeliak.I know if you read Twitter or the blogs, [Matheny] definitely takes a black eye out there, but when you watch even the most recent World Series, two of the most highly respected managers in the game were being second-guessed and I think what it really tells you is managing is hard, Mozeliak said. Its certainly hard to appease the masses.With Mike, whether you agree with how he calls a game or not, he certainly has the respect of his players and he gets the most out of them.ESPNs Mark Saxon contributed to this report. ' ' '