assembles for their next tie in February against New Ze | Forum

ATLANTA -- Matt Wisler is trying to close out the season on a strong note after struggling at times for the Atlanta Braves. Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic .Ive had my ups and downs this year, he said. Ive shown that I can be really good and Ive shown I can be really bad. Its just a matter of not taking any start for granted.Adonis Garcia drove in three runs, Wisler pitched five-plus innings and Atlanta beat the Washington Nationals 6-2 in a rain-shortened game Sunday.The game was official with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. The two delays totaled 2 hours, 57 minutes.Washington has dropped two straight and needs any combination of six Nationals wins and six New York Mets losses to earn its third NL East title in five years.After a 1-hour, 7-minute delay in the top of the sixth, the Braves scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-2 on Garcias two-run single and Freddie Freemans RBI double.Wisler (7-12) allowed two runs, five hits and struck out two in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win.He faced a limited lineup as Nationals manager Dusty Baker gave sluggers Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon the day off and used Ryan Zimmerman as a pinch-hitter.Today I thought I came out aggressively, made them put the ball in play, Wisler said. They were swinging kind of early. They werent squaring up a lot of balls like they were the last game (he faced them).Joe Ross (7-5), reinstated from the disabled list after missing 66 games with right shoulder inflammation, took the loss. Ross, on a pitch count, allowed one run and six hits, one run and struck out five in three innings. It was his first start since July 2.Its a welcomed sight to see him back, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said.Ross trailed 1-0 in the second on Jace Petersons RBI single. He gave up three singles to begin the third, but retired the next three batters to escape the jam.Pitched myself into a jam and was able to work out of in the third, Ross said. Felt good, and thats the main thing I was concerned with today. I could have kept pitching, but probably best to keep it to three innings.Reynaldo Lopez took over in the fourth and trailed 3-0 on Dansby Swansons RBI double and Garcias RBI single.Washington made it 3-2 in the sixth. Trea Turner tripled and Jayson Werth doubled off Wisler. After the first delay ended, Bryce Harpers single off Ian Krol scored Werth.Wisler is 3-3 with a 4.83 in five career starts and one relief appearance against Washington.The Nationals went 15-4 against Atlanta this season and 36-13 in the series since June 21, 2014. They played their last game at Turner Field with the NL-worst Braves moving to a new ballpark next year.STILL STREAKINGIn 13 games against Atlanta, Turner hit .475 with five doubles, two triples, six homers, 16 RBI, seven stolen bases and 20 runs scored. ... Freeman went 2 for 3 and has a 22-game hitting streak and has reached safely in 38 straight games. Both are career highs and rank first in the majors among active streaks. ... Braves CF Ender Inciarte went 1 for 3 and leads the majors with 88 hits since the All-Star break.SWOON STOPSHarper ended a stretch of 26 plate appearances without a hit, though he did have nine walks over the span. He had two hits in 29 at-bats over his previous 10 games.UP NEXTWashington RHP A.J. Cole (1-2) is scheduled to make his sixth start and first in his career against Miami. Braves RHP Aaron Blair (0-6) is set to start at the New York Mets. The rookie has an 8.23 ERA in 12 starts and is 0-2 with an 8.04 ERA in three starts against the Mets. Wholesale Jerseys For Sale . Giroud, who wasnt in the starting lineup for two matches after allegations about his private life and a decline in form, scored twice in the first half. Tomas Rosickys chip made it 3-0 before half time at Emirates Stadium, while defender Laurent Koscielny scored an unmarked header in the second half. China NFL Jerseys . I cant pinpoint a date, but I do remember a player from my youth. Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games. http://www.chinajerseys.info/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. After enduring what he describes as one of his worst years on the circuit, Rohan Bopanna is hopeful of bouncing back next season in the company of a new partner in Uruguays Pablo Cuevas. Bopanna finished 2016 without a single tournament win and his individual doubles ranking has plummeted to 28. Having split with Romanian Florin Mergea, his partner for a large part of the last two years, Bopanna is now counting on improved results with Cuevas, who has a singles ranking of 22 and has won a mens doubles Grand Slam previously - the 2008 French Open with Luis Horna.I could have surely done much better, Bopanna told ESPN in Bangalore, where he is on a short break. I am disappointed in the fact that I couldnt win a tournament this year though I made some finals. Changing partners constantly after Wimbledon doesnt really help. It was challenging, but something for me to learn from and keep moving forward.Florin (Mergea) sent me an email right after US Open that he would like to find a different partner, which I completely agree with. As an individual player if someone wants to make that change and look for something different, they have every right to do so. Hence I had to find a new partner and hence Pablo (Cuevas) came into the picture. He has a similar game to Florin, who served and stayed back. I am used to this kind of partnership, so I thought I would stick to a similar type of partnership and see if it helps me.Bopanna has also decided to make changes to his methods and approach in his quest to overcome the downward spiral in his recent performances. After playing on the ad-court (left side of the court) in recent years, he will switch over to operating from the deuce court (right side) next year. He has had success in previous partnerships with Mahesh Bhupathi and Daniel Nestor by operating from the deuce court and is gambling on a similar outcome by returning to the formula.The 36-year-old has also made changes to his training regime by experimenting at the fitness fight club over the last few days. Bopanna says one of his main goals for the remainder of his career is to win a mens doubles Grand Slam title, though he concedes it will be an uphill task on an increasingly competitive circuit.If you look at the Grand Slams for the past 3-4 years there hasnt been a team that has won consistently, he says. That clearly shows the field is getting stronger, many more singles players are playing doubles. So you have to work with that, hence me getting a singles player as partner might just help me.But despite all the tennis he has played this year, Bopanna does miss not being a part of the ATP World Tour Finals, where he has reached the mens doubles final twice, in 2012 and 2015.My main focus is to play the Masters series and doing well in the Grand Slams. The ATP tour Finals is going on this week and I will be wrong to say I am not missing it. Last year was a great experience as was 2012. So when I am watching on TV, I feel a little let down by myself, not being a part of it. So that is my goal for next year, to get back into the top eight teams.Rio pain One of Bopannas biggest disappointments thiss year was missing out on a medal at the Rio Olympics. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys. Having lost in the first round of the mens doubles with Leander Paes, Bopanna and Sania Mirza reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles before going down to Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams after taking the first set. A day later, they were beaten in the bronze medal play-off by the Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek. Bopanna admits that the memories of those two matches in Rio continue to haunt him.I think it is a high point and a very low point, he says. Sometimes its better to lose the first round than to come so close. When someone brings up the topic, I do feel really hurt. It would have made a big difference for the country to win a medal. As athletes we go out there to try and win a medal for India, so coming fourth was very hard to take.Looking at the overall picture we had a better chance in the semifinals match against Venus and Rajeev. In the bronze match it was very hard, sometimes you are reliving the moments from the earlier match. It was on the same court and less than 24 hours later. We gave it our best shot. Credit to Venus, who really stepped it up, and gave confidence to Rajeev to play his game also.After their run in Rio and previous success at events such as the Hopman cup and the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL), there have been murmurs of Bopanna and Mirza forging a partnership for the four Grand Slam tournaments next year. Bopanna, who played with different partners at each of the slams last year, says that while he would relish the opportunity to join forces with Mirza, he understands why the world number one would not want to split up her pairing with Croatias Ivan Dodig.They are a good team, they reached the final of the French Open, he says. You cant break up a team just like that. Everybody wants to play with someone who is playing really good tennis and Sania is playing her best tennis right now. If there is an opportunity to play mixed doubles together surely it will be a great chance. Mixed doubles is there are only four slams. Combined ranking is important too. My ranking is much lower, Ivan is higher, so obviously they will be seeded higher if they play together rather than if I team up with her.Although he will be 40 at the time, Bopanna hasnt given up hopes of playing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics provided he can stay fit and healthy. In the immediate future though, he is keen to get some down time in before the third season of the IPTL begins at the end of the month. Having missed the Davis Cup World Group play off tie against Spain in Delhi with an injury in September, Bopanna is keen to get back in the mix when the Indian team assembles for their next tie in February against New Zealand in Pune.If I am fit, I will be 100% available, he insists. I am looking forward to the tie, it is on hard courts. I read they want to have three singles players in the squad, which leaves place for only one doubles specialist. So we will have to wait and see. ' ' '