will be Kiffins fourth head-coaching s | Forum

WASHINGTON -- Gio Gonzalez is picking the right time to pitch his best baseball of the season. Clyde Drexler Jersey .With just a few weeks left in regular-season play, the veteran left-hander has thrown well in his last few starts for the Washington Nationals. He is 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA in his last three starts.He will take the mound Tuesday night at home to face the Atlanta Braves, who will start right-hander Williams Perez.And Braves interim manager Brian Snitker knows that Perez will have to contend with rookie Trea Turner, has been a spark plug in the leadoff spot for the Nationals.Turner went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs in a 6-4 win over the Braves on Monday.He is something else, Snitker said. He is a very, very special young player. He is making the most of this opportunity that is for sure. He is tough.Turner, now hitting .343, has been grateful for his opportunity. All three of his hits Monday came with two strikes.Put the ball in play, he said of his two-strike approach. I have an idea what they are going to throw me. With two strikes it is hard to guess. I try to see the ball and put the bat on it. I would rather swing a close pitch than take it for strike three.Teammate Gonzalez is 10-9 this season with a 4.14 ERA and is 0-0 with a 2.31 ERA against the Braves in two starts this season. He has won at least 10 games in every season, when he pitched for the Oakland As.Gonzalez was acquired in a trade with Oakland before the 2012 season and that year he won 21 games for the Nationals. He is 101-75 in his career with a 3.67 ERA.Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman, who hits the Nationals very well, and outfielder Matt Kemp have had success against Gonzalez in the past.Freeman is hitting .290 with two homers and 10 RBI against Gonzalez. Kemp is hitting .308 in 13 at-bats.Gonzalez had been able to neutralize Atlanta right fielder Nick Markakis, a left-handed batter. The former Orioles outfielder is hitting .167 in 18 at-bats against the Washington left-hander and he had three hits Monday.Perez was activated from the 60-day disabled list when rosters expanded on Sept. 1 and he will make his first start since June 6, when he strained his right rotator cuff.Perez made three rehab starts in the minor leaguers, with five shutout innings in his last start for Triple-A Gwinnett in the International League.There are few Washington hitters with a track record against Perez, who is 2-2 with a 4.62 ERA this year in nine starts and 1-0 with a 5.68 ERA in two games, with one start,in 2016 against Washington.Clint Robinson is 2-for-3 against Perez, Bryce Harper is 1-for-4 with a homer, Daniel Murphy is 3-for-6 and Anthony Rendon is 1-for-3.The Nationals won Monday as normal reserves Robinson, Chris Heisey (three-run homer), Ben Revere, Brian Goodwin and Jose Lobaton were starters. All but Robinson got a hit.Thats what theyre here for, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said of his bench. Ive always said you cant win with just your regulars. Youve got to get those other guys some opportunities to play. We feel very confident, especially for a short period of time, that those guys can do the job. ... The circle is not completed unless youre dependent on everybody in that circle, so everybody in that circle is important. That was a big day today, to win that game.The guys feel good about themselves, the regulars got a day off, get a good night sleep. (Bryce Harper) said it best, sittingnext to me in the dugout. He said, I love this team because we are a team. Thats the kind of attitude you want to have on a team. Gary Trent Jr. Blazers Jersey . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Bill Walton Blazers Jersey . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. http://www.blazersteamofficial.com/ . -- Jacksonville wide receiver Cecil Shorts will likely be a game-time decision whether hell play Sunday in the Jaguars home game against the San Diego Chargers. Alabama?offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has agreed to become Florida Atlantics next football coach.Although the school hasnt announced the move, Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said in a Monday news conference that FAU had made a great hire.We think this is a wonderful opportunity for him to be a head coach again, Saban said. I think FAU has selected someone that is going to do a great job for them. Hes done a great job here molding our offensive players to what they can do to have the best chance to be successful, and I think thats always something thats very telling about the quality of a coach.Kiffin had been engaging in back-and-forth talks with the Conference USA school since last Friday, sources told ESPN. At one point, negotiations between the two sides stalled, but a deal was struck early Monday morning, sources said.Kiffin will remain Alabamas offensive coordinator throughout the College Football Playoff, Saban said, maintaining a similar role to former defensive coordinator Kirby Smarts last season, after he took Georgias head-coaching job.Kiffin, 41, returns to the head-coaching fraternity after three seasons as offensive coordinator under Saban. The Crimson Tide are in pursuit of their second straight national championship and have won three straight SEC titles, with Kiffin getting three different first-year starters ready at quarterback, including true freshman Jalen Hurts this season.Kiffins contract with Alabama was set to expire after this season, and he wasnt expected to return, which helps explain why he made a hard push to find a head-coaching job -- even if it meant a step down in prestige and most likely a pay cut.Lane appreciates the opportunity Nick Saban gave him and feels good about everything Alabama accomplished during his three years there, but he was at a point in his career where he was ready to go prove that he could be a head coach again, a source close to the situation told ESPN.com.Kiffins salary at FAU will average in thee $1 million range annually, according to sources. C.J. McCollum Blazers Jersey. He was making $1.4 million per year as Alabamas offensive coordinator.One of the finalists for the Houston head-coaching job, which went to Major Applewhite last week, Kiffin takes over an FAU program that went 3-9 this past season. He replaces Charlie Partridge, who was fired in November after going 9-27 in three seasons at the Boca Raton, Florida, school.Kiffin was also being pursued by new LSU head coach and friend Ed Orgeron to be the Tigers offensive coordinator. But Kiffin?wanted to keep all of his options open, including going back to the NFL.Considered by many to be one of the top offensive minds in the game, Kiffin has generated his share of controversy in his career, which has given some athletic directors and presidents around the country cause for concern about his ability to manage a program. But Saban said last week that he is confident Kiffin is ready to be a head coach again.This will be Kiffins fourth head-coaching stint. He was the Oakland Raiders head coach for the 2007 season and part of the 2008 season before being fired by Al Davis, the late Raiders owner. He went to Tennessee as head coach in 2009, but he bolted for USC after just one season in Knoxville.A former assistant at USC under Pete Carroll, Kiffin was the Trojans head coach from 2010 to 12 and then was fired five games into the 2013 season by then-USC athletic director Pat Haden. At USC, Kiffin inherited a program under severe NCAA sanctions. He was 35-21 at Tennessee and USC and 5-15 with the Raiders. He landed all three head-coaching jobs before the age of 35.Kiffin has some ties to the Florida area. His father, Monte Kiffin, was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator for 13 years from 1996 to 2008, and Lane Kiffin was on the Jacksonville Jaguars staff for a season in 2000. ' ' '