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CHICAGO -- The loaded Chicago Cubs are going to have to make some difficult decisions when they set their postseason roster.From pitcher Jason Hammels perspective, its a matter of making it as tough on them as possible.Hammel tossed seven solid innings and Dexter Fowler hit a tiebreaking single during Chicagos three-run seventh, leading the Cubs to a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.This team continues to prove as long as you hang around for a little while theyre going to put up something, Hammel said. Theyll make it exciting, so kudos to those guys (for) putting some good at-bats together late.Hammel (15-9) allowed two runs and four hits during his best outing in a month, improving to 7-0 with 0.98 ERA in his last seven home starts. The right-hander had been struggling of late, going 1-4 with an 8.61 ERA in his previous five starts overall.Hammels performance gave the franchise four pitchers with at least 15 wins for the first time since 1935. It looks as if Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jake Arrieta are playoff-rotation locks for the NL Central champions and John Lackey has the pole position for the fourth spot, leaving Hammel in limbo as the season winds down.Weve got a good collective group here and their decisions are going to be really hard, Hammel said, so were just going to continue to do what we do, individually do our work and show up and play and then theyll put the best team out there whenever it is.Jason Heyward added a two-run homer in the eighth as the Cubs moved seven games ahead of Washington for the best record in the National League, lowering their magic number for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs to five. Thats the only major goal still out there during the regular season for major league-leading Chicago after it secured the division title last week.Brandon Phillips homered for last-place Cincinnati, which has lost five of six. Joey Votto went 2 for 3 with an RBI single and a walk, increasing his batting average since the All-Star break to .416.The Reds allowed three more homers to run their season total to 242, breaking the major league record of 241 belonging to the 1996 Detroit Tigers.We just have to be better in commanding the zone, manager Bryan Price said. And I make it sound simple; its not. We certainly have to improve the quality of the talent. Weve got to be able to get guys that can get the ball on the ground more often than we have this year.The Cubs (95-55) were coming off a lackluster series against the Brewers, dropping three of four while celebrating their division title, and manager Joe Maddon met with his hitters before facing the Reds to talk to them about making the most of the final part of the season.There was no sign of any carry-over from the meeting before Addison Russell led off the seventh with a drive to left for his 21st homer. Willson Contreras crushed another homer with one out, tying it at 2 and chasing Tim Adleman from the longest start of his rookie year.Chris Coghlan greeted Blake Wood (6-4) with a double to right. After pinch-hitter Tommy La Stella popped out, Fowler made it 3-2 with his only hit of the game.Dexter two-out knock right there is kind of spectacular, Maddon said.Hector Rondon worked the eighth before Aroldis Chapman finished for his 15th save with the Cubs and 35th on the year. It was Chapmans first career appearance against Cincinnati, which traded the hard-throwing closer to the New York Yankees last December.PACKING THEM INThe paid attendance of 39,251 ran the Cubs season total to 3,028,965 with five home games left in the regular season. Its the franchises first time drawing more than 3 million since 2011, and the ninth time at Wrigley Field overall.TRAINERS ROOMReds: RHP Homer Bailey (biceps) is scheduled for another bullpen session Wednesday. Its still possible that hell make a start or two before the year is out, Price said.Cubs: OF Jorge Soler (tightness on his right side) could be available to pinch hit on Tuesday, according to Maddon. ... Right-handed reliever Pedro Strop, who is coming back from knee and groin injuries, is on track to pitch in a simulated game soon.UP NEXTCubs LHP Jon Lester (17-4, 2.40 ERA) faces Reds RHP Josh Smith (3-1, 4.97) on Tuesday night. Lester is 8-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last 11 starts. Smith is making his first start of the season.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenapTony La Russa Cardinals Jersey . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Wholesale Cardinals Jerseys . Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists Walcott will add something extra to his team. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/274t-brett-cecil-jersey-cardinals.html . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Ramon Urias Jersey . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. Harrison Bader Cardinals Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases.BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Bob Costas and other top members of NBCs Olympics coverage team veered between optimism and caution in predicting Rio de Janeiros ability to pull off a successful Summer Games and said NBC will cover the good and bad.Other Olympics have taken place without significant difficulties and he hopes it will be the same for Rio, Costas said Tuesday. But he then ticked off the daunting list of challenges faced by the Brazilian city.It would be naive to think it isnt grappling with security worries, pollution and political turmoil along with a deep recession thats occurred since Rio won the Games, Costas said.He spoke to TV critics from Rio by satellite, along with executive producer Jim Bell and correspondent Mary Carillo. The opening ceremony airs Friday on NBC, which is carrying the games on the air and online.Whether any city can carry off the immense event is the question heading into virtually every Olympics, Bell said. Then the athletes arrive, the Olympic torch is lit and that is the story the network tells, he said.But if a host city falls short, he said, then NBC should focus on that.Costas said that any security issues or ill effects from contaminated water will be immediately apparent and have to be addressed. So far, the best advice given athletes competing in open-water sailing or swimming events is to close their mouths and keep their heads above water, he added.I guess some new techniques will be required, Costas said, sarcastically, adding, Im not trying to be facetious here, but its going to be impossible, in some cases, not to address some of the issues that have come up before the Olympics, because they will directly (effect) the competition.Many open-water competition test events have been held and resulted in zero problems so far, Belll said.ddddddddddddWhen Carillo chimed in that she will be helping to cover those contests, Costas asked her if she planned to take a dip yourself.Absolutely not, she replied. She added, however, that shes been told that open-water swimmers in the 2012 London Olympics faced dirtier conditions from goose droppings in Hyde Parks Serpentine lake.According to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press, the waterways of Rio de Janeiro remain as filthy as ever just days before the Games begin and are contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.If illness or other crises arise, does NBC bear some responsibility for what happens because of the large license fee it pays to the International Olympics Committee, the NBC team was asked.I dont think so, Bell replied.Costas expanded on that answer, saying that the Rio Games would happen without NBCs involvement. The argument could be made that the IOC should have considered moving or postponing it, given the problems that began emerging months ago, he said.But once the games were being held, the network that owned the rights to televise those games was going to televise them, Costas said, adding that the question about network responsibility becomes how thoroughly and credibly do we cover it.His expectation is that NBC Sports and NBC News will not shy away from that, Costas said.Asked if NBC could have used its financial-stake clout to influence the IOC, Bell said he didnt think so.You could make the case Zika is a bigger story in Florida than in Rio, where it is winter, and cooler and drier, he said. Is Disneyland responsible for bringing people to Florida? ' ' '