Dein erstes Forum » crews get in the first two rounds of the

ATLANTA -- Craig Kimbrel found ninth-inning drama before a big stretch by Freddie Freeman saved the night for the Braves. Justin Upton hit a three-run homer to continue another strong April, Ervin Santana earned his third win and the Atlanta Braves held off the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Friday night. Kimbrel gave up a leadoff single to Roger Bernadina and walked Zack Cozart to open the ninth. Kimbrel struck out Brayan Pena and Chris Heisey before earning his seventh save on Joey Vottos groundout. Freeman made a long stretch at first base for Chris Johnsons throw from third base on Heiseys groundball. Reds manager Bryan Price challenged first base umpire Vic Carapazzas ruling that Freemans foot remained on the bag. The call was confirmed, ending the game. "Freddie did a terrific job staying on the bag," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. He acknowledged he was nervous about the challenge before seeing the replay on the video board "and I felt kind of relaxed." Price said that when looking across the field he thought he saw "a huge gap" between Freemans foot and the bag. He said he agreed with the confirmed out call after seeing the replay. "I had a chance to come up here and look at our own video, which is what theyre getting in New York, and it was a confirmed out call," Price said. "They got the call right in the end, which is what were looking for." Two Cincinnati players left the game with injuries. Third baseman Todd Frazier was pulled in the fifth with tightness in his left leg. Catcher Devin Mesoraco strained his left hamstring and stumbled after rounding third base in the seventh, before limping across home plate. Price said he was protecting Frazier, who had previous tightness in his groin. Santana (3-0) gave up four runs on nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. Following singles by B.J. Upton and Freddie Freeman off Homer Bailey (1-2) in the first inning, Justin Upton hit his team-leading sixth homer. He leads the team with 15 RBIs. "Weve seen him do this before and carry us for a while," Gonzalez said. In 2013, Justin Upton led the majors with 12 homers in April, becoming the fastest player in Braves franchise history to reach the mark. He has hit 35 homers in April for his career, his highest total for any month. "Im just getting it going," said Upton, who is hitting .296 and leads the team with 15 RBIs. Freeman had three hits for Atlanta to shake a mini-slump. B.J. Upton, who was hitting .205, had one hit in his first game wearing prescription glasses. "Well see how the glasses work and if Ill keep them," he said. "I could see the ball better on both sides of the plate. It was good tonight." Bailey allowed five runs on nine hits in six innings. He allowed at least four earned runs for the fourth time in five starts this season and has a 6.15 ERA. The Braves increased their lead to 4-0 in the second on Jason Heywards RBI single. Evan Gattis drove in a run in the third for a 5-0 lead. Jay Bruce had a run-scoring single in the Reds two-run sixth. Cincinnati added two more in the seventh, knocking Santana out of the game. Mesoraco scored on Billy Hamiltons double. Votto had a run-scoring single off Luis Avilan. A strong defensive play by right fielder Jason Heyward helped Santana in the first inning. Votto doubled with one out in the first and moved to third on Phillips bloop single. Votto was thrown out at the plate on a strong throw by Heyward on Jay Bruces fly ball. Votto, sliding head-first, was tagged out in the batters box and never reached the plate. NOTES: Price said closer Aroldis Chapman, recovering from facial fractures and a mild concussion when hit by a line drive on March 19, will throw 35 to 40 pitches in batting practice on Saturday. If it goes well, it should be Chapmans final test before he is cleared for a minor league rehab assignment. ... Braves RHP David Hale will look for his first win of the season when he faces Reds RHP Mike Leake on Saturday. Air Max 720 Clearance . The right-hander said he threw about 30 pitches in a routine bullpen session Sunday at Yankee Stadium, his final hurdle before starting Tuesday night at Tampa Bay. Cheap Air Max 90 Clearance . But when it was all over they had wasted another lead, seen another pitcher flame out on the mound and lost their fourth straight at home. http://www.wholesalenikeshoesclearance.c...ormax-plus.html. -- James Harden scored 31 points, including 25 in the second half, and the Houston Rockets dug out of a double-digit, first-half hole to beat the Orlando Magic 101-89 on Wednesday night. Custom Air Max 97 Plus . Speaking on Leafs Lunch with Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan on Thursday, Bernier said it was "very hard" at times being entrenched behind Jonathan Quick and is now excited at the prospect of getting an opportunity to compete with Reimer for the top spot with the Leafs. Replica Air Max 270 . Right-hander Todd Redmond took the loss. Jose Bautista hit his second home run of the spring. Here are a handful of tidbits from around camp: Hutchison impressive The Blue Jays are being cautious when talking about their young arms but internally, excitement is building over the way Drew Hutchison is looking and performing this spring.Echoes of replacement refs.One item in the labour agreement the NFL struck with its game officials in 2012 after the lockout called for all-star crews working the post-season.The NFL Referees Association insisted on it. The league was so eager to get the regulars back on the field after the replacement officials debacle that it agreed.After the uproar surrounding one specific non-call in the Detroit-Dallas wild-card game Sunday — and other calls made or ignored over the weekend — lots of people are wondering why the NFL gave in.Generally, before 2004 the highest-rated full crews worked playoff games and the Super Bowl. That changed to a hybrid system in 04 that allowed for eliminating lower-rated officials on some crews from working the post-season.Moving to the current all-star approach allows for officials rated highest at each position by supervisors to get the premium assignments. But it also can rob the crews working the critical January and February games of the cohesion developed through a full preseason and regular season.Regardless, until the CBA with the officials union runs out after next years post-season, the all-star format is in effect.So how are these officials evaluated?—Officiating supervisors rate performances of on-field referees, umpires, linesmen and judges every week on every play. All of the supervisors are former on-field officials.The crewmembers get to see those weekly reports.—Officials get an accuracy percentage on their calls for the entire season, which takes into account the calls made and missed, and calls that should have been made, says Dean Blandino, director of NFL officiating.—Then the officials are grouped into three tiers based on that accuracy percentage of their calls. Those in Tier 1 are eligible for playoff assignments, including the Super Bowl and the conference championships.ddddddddddddhose in Tier 2 will fill in the blanks and handle some of the other playoff games.If an official is in Tier 3, he gets no post-season assignments and could be up for employment review, Blandino says.Seniority is not taken into account.—Once placed in a tier, the officials are divided up based on other criteria. That includes decisiveness, clarity of explanations, control of the game, physical fitness, and several other categories.The officials who rate best overall are chosen to work the post-season.—No crew will work more than two games. The Super Bowl crew will handle one of this weekends games, meaning that Pete Morellis group that worked the Lions-Cowboys contest will not do the big game.For the Super Bowl crew, we want them to work one game, and the divisional round is best, Blandino says. Its not that long a break after the season or before the Super Bowl. It fits right in the middle.Often, several of the officiating crew members will have worked a game or more during the regular season, perhaps even much of the schedule. For Lions-Cowboys, Blandino says four of the officials had been at the same regular-season game, but none had worked with Morelli in 2014.As for which particular games the crews get in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Blandino says the NFL will look at the matchups and the two teams and tendencies, and then look at the officials and if they fit for certain matchups.Could the assignment system be changed once the CBA with the officials union concludes?Its definitely something to look at after the 2015 season, Blandino says, but at this point there is no strong opinion one way or the other.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '