nsignor Sanchez said. Thats the aim of the conference. I

NEW YORK -- The Mets basked in defeat.Sure, they were disappointed. But there were no tears, not a shred of frustration. Instead, there was -- to a man -- a sense of accomplishment.Their starting lineup included just three batters who were on the field for the season opener in Kansas City.Their third baseman and captain didnt play after May 27.Their starting first baseman had 23 at-bats after May 20.Their second baseman was done for the year on Aug. 27.Their shortstop was playing on a bum knee.Their regular catcher was benched after driving in one run in the seasons final month.Their star slugger, struggling with a strained quadriceps, hit one home run after Sept. 11.And four of their five highly touted projected starting pitchers were on the sidelines after seasons more notable for surgeries than strikeouts.In a season when MRIs were discussed more often than ERAs, not even seven shutout innings from Noah Syndergaard was enough, given the decimated offense for the defending NL champions.Im really proud of these guys, to handle all that adversity, Syndergaard said after Wednesday nights season-ending 3-0 loss in the NL wild-card game to Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants.Last year, they won their first NL pennant since 2000, reviving a franchise that seemed to be on spin cycle after the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. And this year they filled the seats regularly at Citi Field, which rocked with energy as they overtook the Yankees in local television ratings. Just 60-62 in mid-August, they managed to finish 87-75 and clinch a playoff berth with a game to spare.I dont think you can say enough for what these guys did, said Jacob deGrom, one of the injured star pitchers. Everybody was pretty much counting us out at one point, and we battled back. ... Im proud to call them my teammates.Syndergaard pitched up to his Thor nickname , striking out 10 and walking three, throwing 42 thunderbolts to 98 mph or higher -- more than Philadelphia or Clevelands pitchers all season, according to Inside Edge. Curtis Granderson made a run-saving catch in a Willie Mays impersonation.But Jeurys Familia gave up a three-run homer to Conor Gillaspie in the ninth inning, a drive into the right-field bullpens that stunned the Citi Field crowd into silence.No more comebacks. No more hope.Theyre hurting, but theres no reason to be, Mets manager Terry Collins said . They were written off so many times this summer and yet they kept fighting back. ... Youve got to have special people and special character to play in this town and in this environment, and thats in that room.Last year, Familia allowed a tying home run to Alex Gordon in the ninth of the World Series opener, and he was charged with three blown saves -- partly because of his defense. He knew the 96 mph offering to Gillaspie would be a home run as soon as the bat made contact.I missed the location, he said.Casey Stengel dubbed his early 1960s teams the Amazin Mets, terrible but entertaining. The 1969 championship club became the Miracle Mets, and the 1986 champs made a notorious bunch that partied as hard as it played. This years group was the Replace-Mets.Captain David Wright and second baseman Neil Walker watched the end of the season injured. Lucas Duda played sparingly after returning from a back injury. Asdrubal Cabrera powered through pain at short. Travis dArnaud watched Wednesday from the bench, and Yoenis Cespedes failed to replicate his power surge that helped lift New York to the World Series last season.T.J. Rivera, the second baseman against San Francisco, started the season in Triple-A Las Vegas and made his big league debut in mid-August at age 27, a Bronx boy done good.Rene Rivera, the 33-year-old catcher, was released by Tampa Bay in spring training before signing with the Mets, who also sent him to Vegas.James Loney, the 32-year-old first baseman, was sold by San Diego to the Mets in late May for the closeout price of $1 -- less than the subway fare from Manhattan to the ballpark.Now its time to look back at the positives and look at it as a positive experience, T.J. Rivera said. Its been a fun ride.There are fewer than 4 1/2 months until pitchers and catchers, ones the Mets hope report to Port St. Lucie, Florida, with soothed muscles, mended tendons, resuscitated ligaments and rejuvenated spirits.Were disappointed, Collins said, but well be able to get healthy, and well be back. Matt Barkley Jersey .ca NBA Power Rankings, ahead of the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. O. J. Simpson Jersey . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL. http://www.wholesalebillsjerseys.com/?tag=youth-matt-milano-jersey . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. 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VATICAN CITY -- One in four IOC members are women, but only three are on the 14-member IOC executive board.Two out of 211 soccer federation presidents are female, and women are allotted only six quota seats on the 37-member FIFA council.A mere one of 17 are on UEFAs executive committee.When female sports pioneer Val Ackerman looks at the numbers of women in leadership roles in world sports organizations, she cringes.Having been in the business now nearly three decades, I can see some movement, but its slow, said the founding president of the Womens National Basketball Association and current commissioner of the Big East collegiate athletics conference.To me anything less than 30 is not good, and 50-50 is the ideal. So the hope is that over the next 15 years we can get closer to equality, Ackerman said at this weeks first global conference on faith and sport at the Vatican, called Sport at the Service of Humanity. Thats the endgame and how we get there requires the input of many and thats part of what this conference is about, figuring out action steps.The paradox, of course, is that the Catholic Church in general -- and the Vatican in particular -- have few if any women in leadership positions. Pope Francis has strongly upheld the ban on womens ordination but has said women should be more involved in church decision-making, including heading a Vatican office.Still, Francis named an archbishop to head the new Vatican secretariat for family and laity -- a job that some thought should have gone to a woman.As of 2014, only 18 percent of Holy See employees were women -- most in low-ranking positions.By contrast, womens sports have exploded at the high school and collegiate levels in the United States since Title IX was introduced in 1972. The federal statute bans discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.At the recently concluded Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the U.S. team included more female than male athletes -- 294-264 -- for only the second time in history. Meanwhile, about 45 percent of all athletes in Rio were female.The force of federal law doesnt exist in other places and without that Im sure we wouldnt be as far along in the U.S. as we are, Ackerman told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the conference, which concluded Friday.Nine of the 10 schools in the Big East -- such as defending NCAA mens basketball champion Villanova, Georgetown, St. Johns and Seton Hall -- are Catholic institutions.So for them the fact that Im here is important, Ackerman said. Our hope is that we can carry forward some of the principles (discussed) here within the conference.The Vatican conference has provided Ackerman with an audience full of world sports leaders to listen to her message -- from IOC president Thomas Bach to Arsenal soccer club CEO Ivan Gazidis to New York Giants co-owner John Mara.Mel Young, the co-founder of the Homeless World Cup; Loretta Claiborne of the Special Olympics and IInternational Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven were also in attendance.ddddddddddddThe inspiration came from Pope Francis, explained Monsignor Melchor Sanchez De Toca Y Alameda of the Pontifical Council for Culture. While hes not an athlete himself, he understands perfectly that sports provide a venue for people to grow up in -- a world in which diverse people find a common element to understand each other and do something together. It has an enormous educational potential.Kirsty Coventry, the recently retired swimmer from Zimbabwe and the most decorated African Olympian with seven medals, is working to promote women in her continent.We are one of those regions where girls and women are not encouraged to take leadership roles or play sport, said Coventry, who is a member of the IOCs athletes commission.So one of my biggest goals is to figure out how we can talk to people and tell good stories of amazing women who have broken through and achieved those things and broken through those glass ceilings, Coventry added. How do we figure out how to best get that message across?A variety of religions were represented at the conference, including Judaism and Islam.At the elite football level, if youre excluding any group of people you cant be elite because you will give an advantage to your competitors, said Gazidis, the Arsenal CEO. So its actually a marvelous test tube where you have to challenge your own prejudices and make sure that you break them down. It becomes setting an example out of the values of the club. But its also a competitive imperative.Gazidis described it as an incredibly powerful moment when Muslim players Mesut Ozil and Shkodran Mustafi pray before each Arsenal match.These are people, human beings that our fans know. They know their characters, they know their skills and abilities and they know them as people, Gazidis said. So seeing them in prayer like that breaks down the mythologies and the ignorance about Islam and says, `There are good people here. These are people just like us.Its a very powerful and very visible tool for breaking down prejudice, Gazidis added. Football, while it has its own problems and we need to continue to work on them, its overall influence has been good in terms of unifying people and making us understand that we can all work together toward a common goal.For the Vatican, the goals are just beginning.Im pleased by this participation but Ill be even happier if at the end of this conference a movement begins, Monsignor Sanchez said. Thats the aim of the conference. Im hoping this is only the first of many mee