New York Giants coaches are preparing for Sundays NFC East showdown against the Dallas Cowboys with the expectation that they not have defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, a league source told ESPNs Ed Werder. Custom Boston Red Sox Jerseys .Pierre-Paul suffered a groin injury in the loss to the Steelers Sunday and visited Dr. William Meyers, a Philadelphia surgeon who specializes in groin and sports hernia injuries. Pierre-Paul went for a second opinion after an MRI indicated he does not have a sports hernia. The Giants are awaiting Meyers diagnosis but are skeptical that Pierre-Paul can recover in time to play against the Cowboys regardless of the outcome.The Giants need Pierre-Paul during a difficult closing stretch as they try to reach the postseason for the first time in five years. He has been a key piece to their defensive resurgence this season and is among the NFLs leader in sacks since Week 9.The only defensive end to play more NFL snaps this season than Pierre-Paul is teammate Olivier Vernon.Should Pierre-Paul be unable to go, the Giants would be in a difficult spot according to the teams defensive captain, Jonathan Casillas.No one is JPP. No one is Jason Pierre-Paul. No one can really do the things he can do for us, Casillas said. There are going to need to be different things we might have to do. I dont know what that is quite yet but his presence will be missed out there.Before the injury, Pierre-Paul was playing his best football in years. He had 5.5 sacks in the two games before Sundays loss to the Steelers. He had seven tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble return for a touchdown the previous week in Cleveland that earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.After missing the first half of last season following a Fourth of July fireworks accident that cost him his right index finger and parts of several others, Pierre-Paul has started all 12 Giants games this season. He has 53 tackles and seven sacks while logging the most snaps of any defensive lineman in the NFL entering last week.Pierre-Paul is set to become a free agent at the end of the season.Information from ESPNs Jordan Raanan was used in this report. Red Sox Jerseys 2019 . -- In one brief spurt, Brazil turned a close game into a rout and proved again it will be a strong World Cup favourite. Boston Red Sox Pro Shop . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. https://www.cheapredsox.com/ . The native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., captured a World Cup downhill event Saturday, his second this year and fifth career victory on the circuit. ST. LOUIS -- The fact that former Cardinals backup catcher Eric Fryer delivered a two-run double to help hand St. Louis another home loss Tuesday night was irrelevant to manager Mike Matheny.Every loss stings, Matheny said. It doesnt matter who does it to us. They all hurt.The Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 win dropped the Cardinals to 18-25 in Busch Stadium and was St. Louis ninth consecutive defeat at home to a team with a winning record, dating back to June 14.If St. Louis plans to hold onto second place in the National League Central, let alone make up any ground in the division or wild-card race, a win in the third game of its four-game series with the Pirates might be a good idea.Nine games behind the Chicago Cubs in the division, the Cardinals (43-40) are just a half-game ahead of hard-charging Pittsburgh (43-41) for second. The Pirates bring a six-game winning streak into Wednesday nights matchup, tying a season high set from April 24-30.Pittsburghs bullpen has keyed the stretch of excellence. Since June 24, the relievers have allowed just one run over 40 1/3 innings, and they tossed five scoreless innings Tuesday night after inheriting a 2-2 tie.They are on a roll, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said his relievers. Theyre in good form, and were going to keep giving them the ball.Given the form of left-handed starter Jeff Locke, the Pirates bullpen might see action sooner rather than later. Although Locke (8-5, 5.13 ERA) is coming off a 7-3 win Friday night in Oakland, he has been pummeled on the road more often than not, going 3-4 with a 77. Wholesale Red Sox Jerseys. 16 ERA in nine starts away from PNC Park.Locke has also struggled in his career against St. Louis, going 2-4 with a 4.04 ERA in nine starts and averaging only 5.4 innings per outing. He faced the Cardinals on May 7, allowing three runs over six innings in a no-decision.Locke will be opposed by left-hander Jaime Garcia, who cruised through a 7-1 win Friday night over the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up four hits and a run in eight innings and just 98 pitches.Garcia (6-6, 3.84 ERA) is 2-1 in six career games against Pittsburgh with an 0.57 ERA. This will be his first start against the Pirates since he bagged a 4-1 win last September with seven shutout innings, fanning nine.The Cardinals felt they were turning a corner of sorts at home with a weekend sweep of Milwaukee, but they have run into old familiar problems against the Pirates. They have managed only four runs in the series first two games, unable to consistently capitalize on scoring chances.St. Louis is averaging 4.4 runs per game at home, more than a run and a half less than it scores on the road, where the team is 25-15. While Matheny and some players might be tired of answering questions about that trend, the best way to make those queries stop is to start winning games.We cant wait for tomorrow to arrive and kind of erase this one, Cardinals backup catcher Brayan Pena said. We can go back to what we do, and thats playing the game we love. ' ' '