Theres just no way to avoid that, but I never once | Forum
miaowang123
Dec 7 '17
ATLANTA -- Aaron Harang realizes his struggles in 2013 were a sign to some that he no longer could be a winning pitcher. Zack Greinke Jersey . Through eight starts in 2014, Harang is proving hes still on top of his game. Two days after his 36th birthday, Harang pitched six strong innings and, backed by home runs from Evan Gattis and Jason Heyward, led the Atlanta Braves to a 5-2 win and a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Harang (4-3) gave up two runs on six hits and two walks. He had nine strikeouts. He is one win shy of matching his total in 26 starts combined with Seattle and the Mets last year, and hes savoring his career revival. "It means a lot, just to get back out here and prove that I can still do this," Harang said. "I know there were probably a lot of people questioning that after last year. Ive been pitching well and guys are playing well behind me and were battling through games. Its been a lot of fun. Ive just got to keep it going." Harang, who was 5-12 with a career-worst 5.40 ERA last year, has a 2.98 ERA this season. The right-hander has allowed more than two earned runs in only one of his eight starts -- nine runs in a 9-3 loss at Miami on April 30. Ryan Kalish, Chris Coghlan and Welington Castillo each struck out twice against Harang. Overall, the Cubs finished with 14 strikeouts. "They have a young, aggressive team over there and I think I was able to take a little advantage of that, knowing how aggressive they are," Harang said. Gattis gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead with his homer off Edwin Jackson in the fourth inning. Heyward added to the lead with his first home run since April 9, a two-run drive off James Russell in the seventh that landed in the Braves bullpen beyond the right-field wall. "It felt like it was longer than that," Heyward said of his power drought. "I keep on showing up every day and trying to put up good at-bats and find good pitches to hit. If you try and do too much, thats when you start to compound things." Jackson (2-3) allowed three runs on six hits and two walks in six innings. "The two balls I got hurt on were balls up and over the middle," he said. "Balls that should be hit. Ive just got to do a better job of getting ahead in the count and working down." David Carpenter pitched the ninth for his second save. B.J. Upton made a sliding catch of Kalishs short fly in centre field to end it. Atlanta closer Craig Kimbrel was rested after pitching two straight days. The NL East-leading Braves have recovered from seven straight losses by winning four of five. The Cubs, last in the NL Central, have dropped seven of eight. Ryan Doumit had a run-scoring single and Andrelton Simmons drove in a run with a double to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead in the second. The Cubs tied it in the fourth on Nate Schierholtzs two-run double. The Braves quickly reclaimed the lead when Gattis hit his eighth homer over the 380-foot sign in left field. Dan Uggla was hit by a pitch from Russell as a pinch-hitter to lead off the seventh. Uggla scored on Heywards third homer. NOTES: Jackson, who grew up in Georgia and lives in Atlanta, is 0-3 in eight career games, including six starts, against the Braves. ... Braves LF Justin Upton was held out after he sustained a bruised lower back muscle when he was hit by a pitch from Jeff Samardzija on Saturday night. Justin Upton said he hopes to play Monday in San Francisco. ... Atlanta 2B Tyler Pastornicky made his second consecutive start and was 0 for 4. ... The Braves begin a six-game road trip at the Giants with RHP Gavin Floyd facing RHP Tim Lincecum on Monday night. Lincecum beat the Braves on May 2. ... The Cubs open a four-game series in St. Louis on Monday night when LHP Travis Wood faces LHP Tyler Lyons. Fernando Rodney Jersey . The Brazilian driver had the second-best time in last months tests at Jerez and said the "good start" could play to his advantage when the season gets underway in Australia in March. Nick Ahmed Jersey . The 17-time Grand Slam champion, who lose three straight finals in Monte Carlo to Rafael Nadal from 2006-08, has not played in the tournament since 2011, when he lost to Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals.Former Toronto Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo addressed his tanking comments made at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference in Toronto on Friday and admitted it was merely a poor choice of words. Speaking on TSN Radio 1050s TSN Drive with Dave Naylor on Monday, Colangelo said he had no intention of tanking the shortened 2011-12 season, but definitely wanted a high pick in the draft. "I wish that word wasnt used for headline reasons," said Colangelo, "but the story behind it was: how can we fix the system? How can we tweak the system to make it less likely that teams are rewarded for losing records? "I do believe that if youre as transparent as we were at the time - with our season seat holders, our fans, the market place and the media - everybody knew what the plan was and what we were going through. It didnt make it easy to lose games but there was anticipation that games would be lost. With that comes curtain rewards and in the system that we currently play under, the team with the worst record gets the greatest odds and a non-playoff team is in a lottery that can ultimately lead to them getting top-notch talent coming to their team." Colangelo said the team was happy getting Terrence Ross in the first round (8th overall) of the 2012 draft and would never tell a coach to lose games since it can only have negative long-term effects. "Coach was doing such a fabulous job with the group that there certainly was no intentional losing going on because we won far too many games than anyone anticipated and it put us in a position to still get a nice draft pick in Terrance Ross," said Colangelo. "But it certainly decreased our odds of getting the top choice, which was a franchise centre in Anthony Davis." Colangelo talked about when the team faced heavy scrutiny when they picked Jonas Valanciunas, who was selected in the first round (5th overall) in 2011. ";We got booed off the stage when the announcement was made but that was the right pick for this organization. Shelby Miller Jersey. It was not an easy one to make knowing that Jonas would not be made available for at least a year and maybe more if the buyout hadnt been successfully negotiated. We knew it was going to be a tough scenario going into a new year without the inclusion of a top draft pick but the following season we also knew that not only would Jonas be coming but another fairly high-value draft selection - unknown at the time - would be helping us as well. Not to mention we would have cap space and greater developed players at that point." The Raptors finished the 2011-12 season with a 23-43 record, good for 11th in the Eastern Conference, 12 games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for the final playoff spot in the East, and the eighth-worst record in the NBA. The team neither rose nor fell in the lottery, receiving the eighth-overall pick in the 2012 draft where they selected Ross out of the University of Washington. The 2007 NBA Executive of the Year (with the Phoenix Suns) was speaking at the MIT Sports Analytics Conference on a proposal currently in front of the NBA Board of Governors which would see the draft lottery and any incentive to bottom out eliminated. "Admittedly, I will say, I tried to tank a couple years ago," said Colangelo to the conference. "And I didnt come out and say, Coach (Dwane Casey), youve got to lose games. I never said that. I wanted to have him establish a winning tradition and a culture and all of that, but I wanted to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players, and with that comes losing. Theres just no way to avoid that, but I never once said, Youve got to lose this game." Colangelo was relieved of his general manager position last May in favour of Masai Ujiri and eventually resigned his post as Raptors president the following month. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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