Kritik und Anregungen » really wanted to win for our seniors, and

ATLANTA -- Trea Turner homered, had four hits and scored four runs, Max Scherzer won his fifth straight decision and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 7-2 on Friday night.Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rendon each added two RBI.The Nationals, seeking their third NL East title in five years, have won 13 of 17. Their magic number to clinch the division is six with 15 games remaining.Scherzer (17-7) gave up seven hits, two runs, two walks and struck out eight in seven innings. The Washington ace is 12-3 with a 2.10 ERA in his last 20 starts.John Gant (1-4) allowed six hits, five runs and three walks in 1 2/3 innings. Appearing in his 16th game with seven starts, Gant had his ERA rise 84 points to 5.24.The Nationals took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Rendons two-run single and went up 5-0 in the second on Turners ninth homer and Murphys RBI double.Atlanta made it 5-1 in the bottom of the second on Tyler Flowers RBI single. Flowers cut the lead to 5-2 in the sixth with a sacrifice fly.Turner stole second and third in the seventh and scored on Murphys sacrifice fly. Turners 26th stolen base dropped Flowers, the Atlanta catcher, to 1 for 56 this season on caught stealing attempts.Turner added a ground-rule double and score in the ninth on Jayson Werths single.Murphy has 46 doubles, most in the majors. His 104 RBI rank second in the NL.Blake Treinen pitched the eighth and Shawn Kelley the ninth for the Nationals.Washington improved to 15-2 against the NL-worst Braves this year and 36-11 in the series since June 21, 2014.BAKER IS BACKWashington manager Dusty Baker returned after a one-game absence due a death in his family. He arrived at Turner Field about three hours before the game.PROUD PARENTSInterim manager Brian Snitker told 1B Freddie Freeman to stay home and rest after his wife, Chelsea, gave birth to their first child, a son, on Thursday. Freeman is expected to be back in the lineup on Saturday. Rookie Blake Lalli took his place and went 0 for 4. ... Nationals SS Danny Espinosa wasnt in the lineup after his wife, Sara, gave birth to a boy in California. Espinosa arrived during the fifth inning. Stephen Drew took his place and went 1 for 3 with one run scored.ON APPEALBraves RHP Jose Ramirez filed an appeal after receiving a three-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for throwing a pitch near the head of Marlins starting pitcher Jose Fernandez on Wednesday. Both teams benches emptied, but the situation settled down after players from both teams crowded around Fernandez, Ramirez and Flowers. Ramirez was ejected from the game.TRAINERS ROOMBraves 2B Jace Peterson was scratched from the lineup with a left ankle sprain. Gordon Beckham took his place and went 1 for 4. ... Braves OF Mallex Smith was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list after missing 76 games with a broken left thumb. Smith had a pinch-hit single in the seventh. ... Atlanta RHP Mike Foltynewicz is walking without much discomfort and could make a start next week. He was injured last Monday when a liner bounced off his calf.CENTRAL FLORIDA-BOUNDThe Braves are moving their high Single-A affiliate from Zebulon, North Carolina to Kissimmee, Florida before the start of next season.UP NEXTNationals: LHP Gio Gonzalez (11-9) will make his 30th start. Hes 4-8 with a 4.70 ERA in 16 career starts against Atlanta.Braves: Snitker has yet to announce Saturdays starter. RHP Josh Collmenter, acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs earlier this week, is a possibility.Nike Tns Womens Australia . Burris threw two TD passes, including a key 15-yard fourth-quarter strike to Bakari Grant that effectively countered a Toronto comeback bid and led Hamilton to a 33-19 victory. Nike Vapormax 95 Australia . Coach Tom Thibodeau says the former MVP will probably start travelling with the team in the next few weeks. Rose tore the meniscus in his right knee at Portland in November and was ruled out for the remainder of the season by the Bulls. http://www.vapormaxaustraliashoes.com/buy-air-max-plus-australia/tn.html . DAmigo scored twice in regulation and added the shootout winner as the Toronto Marlies edged the San Antonio Rampage 5-4 in American Hockey League action. Nike Vapormax Mens Australia .Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Air Vapormax Clearance . They were putting most of their energy into a record-setting offensive display.The zaniness continues in the Pac-12, weve got some fun news from the NCAA and it was a special week for two Tobacco Road teams. But we open with a nod to a team that continues to fly high.Nearly perfect Dayton team still on a rollTwo teams have one loss on the season. One of them is senior-laden Nebraska, the defending national champion and the No. 1 team at 22-1. The other is Dayton (26-1), which checks in at No. 23 in this weeks American Volleyball Coaches Association poll after debuting at 24 last week.Dayton swept La Salle on Sunday and handed Duquesne its first home loss of the season on Friday to remain perfect in the Atlantic 10 and clinch a share of the regular-season title.Being an Atlantic 10 power is nothing new for the Flyers, 104-9 the last eight seasons in conference and winners of that league 12 times. Neither is success for Tim Horsmon, in his second stint as coach of the program.Horsmon has led the Flyers to six of the programs 11 NCAA tournament berths, including in 2014 when they were 30-6. Last year Dayton advanced to the second round of the national tournament, taking a set from Penn State.Ask Horsmon about this years success and he will tell you this is not his best team despite the gaudy record. After graduating five starters, including Daytons all-time digs leader Janna Krafka, Horsmon admits he didnt expect this group to be quite this successful.If you had asked me where wed be at this point in the season, I would not have believed wed have only one loss, he said. No way.Only setter Jane Emmenecker and middle blocker Amber Erhahon are in the same roles as last year. Two underclassmen who Horsmon said he really didnt have a pulse on prior to the season, sophomore Kendyll Brown and freshman Jamie Peterson, have developed into key players. Brown is fifth in the NCAA in hitting percentage; Peterson is a regular starter and earned league rookie of the week honors on Oct. 24.But coaches are rarely satisfied, and an hour after the sweep of LaSalle, Horsmon was listing ways Dayton could improve. He wants more consistency from this group, whose lone loss came to 2015 NCAA tournament Sweet 16 team Loyola Marymount on Sept. 16. We dont play clean; we still make way too many errors, he said. We have to be able to train differently in the gym so what we do in practice carries over to our matches.Big weekend for the Carolinas in the ACCIf youre a Florida State fan, last weekend was a disaster at the hands of the North Carolina teams.The Seminoles entered the weekend tied for 10th in the country, sitting alongside North Carolina at the top of the ACC.What they were not expecting was North Carolina State (16-10) to pull off the upset in Tallahassee. The Wolfpack had never beaten a top-10 team until Fridays 3-2 upset of the Seminoles. The social media buzz called it the biggest win in school history, and there was no shortage of drama. NC State won the first two sets; FSU took the next two. Finally NC State used a 10-3 run to pull away from a 5-5 fifth-set tie to record its first win over the Seminoles since 1999.One of the best things about tonight was our resiliency to go up two sets, lose the next two and then to keep our composure going into the fifth and just keep executing when it mattered most, Wolfpack coach Linda Hampton-Keith said.Two days later, FSU surged ahead 2-0 against North Carolina, only to drop the next three sets. The victory was North Carolinas third over a top-10 opponent this season; the Tar Heels trailed 13-10 in the final set before winning 15-13.We made great plays when the pressure was on, coach Joe Sagula said.The eighth-ranked Tar Heels are a game ahead of Duke in the ACC. Florida State (18-5), which fell to 18th in the poll, and Georgia Tech are tied for third.How would the top teams stack up if the season ended today?We always wonder what the womens volleyball committee is thinking this time of year, and on Wednesday night, well get an idea.ddddddddddddThe committee will reveal a top-10 ranking at 6 p.m. ET during Wednesdays Alabama vs. Auburn match on ESPNU. The ranking will be based on the criteria used to select and seed the 64 teams for the NCAA tournament. The announcement will have no bearing on the final bracket that will be revealed during the selection show on Nov. 27 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.This is yet another move by the committee to build excitement for the sport, as is the format change of having the NCAA discontinue predetermined host cities for regionals.Starting with the 2016 tournament, the highest remaining tournament seed in each of the four parts of the bracket after the completion of the second round will have the opportunity to host a regional with each of the four sites hosting two Sweet 16 matches and one Elite Eight match. The regional winners move on to the final four in Columbus, Ohio.We have to think Lincoln, Nebraska, is a good bet to host, and it wouldnt be surprising to see the Big 10 lock up as many as three of the four spots. But who? Purdue extended No. 3 Wisconsin to five before the Badgers survived on Saturday. Indiana upset Ohio State, also on Saturday. Even Nebraska needed five to get past Penn State. No. 4 Kansas and No. 5 Texas are possible hosts, and, as for the Pac-12 possibilities, read on.Pac-12 congestion -- at the topWeve been talking about a logjam in second place in the Pac-12 race for quite a while now. This week, the tide shifted.The congestion has moved up a notch to first place. Four teams, No. 9 Stanford, No. 11 Washington, No. 13 UCLA and No. 16 Oregon are tied for the top spot. There isnt a conference tournament, but wouldnt it be fun if there was?Stanford, which defeated Utah and Oregon over the weekend, has won its last five, dropping just one set in that span.UCLA, which plays at Stanford on Saturday, went 1-1 over the weekend, falling to Arizona, but beating Arizona State.Oregon held Washington to a .131 hitting percentage in sweeping the Huskies and held on for a five-set win over Washington State on Sunday. The Huskies needed four to get by Oregon State.Also noteworthy, the Cougars, once 5-0 in league play, are now 7-7 in the conference and have lost four straight. They dropped out of the national poll this week, while Arizona, at 16-10, moved in.And the nations longest winning streak belongs to...Maybe it was the magic of senior night.How else to explain how an injury-riddled Kent State team that had lost three of its last four could rise up and stun the team with Division Is longest winning streak? The Golden Flashes did just that, though, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to top Miami (Ohio) in five sets and snap the RedHawks school-record run of 20 straight victories.Our players really wanted to win for our seniors, and several of them stepped up to make that happen, Kent State coach Don Gromala said.Not that the veterans didnt do their part. Seniors Katarina Kojic had a season-high 65 assists, and Maddie Moxley managed a career-high 16 digs. And then there was junior Kelsey Bittinger, who posted her third 20-20 match with 23 kills and 22 digs.The loss was the first for Miami (21-5) since a setback to Illinois State on Sept. 3. Division Is longest winning streak now belongs to Fairfield, which escaped Niagara in five sets Sunday for its 18th straight triumph.The Stags have also won 28 straight against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponents, the third-longest such streak in Division I.On Saturday, American saw its 30-match streak against Patriot League foes end in a 3-1 loss at Lehigh. ' ' '