ever hope of beating a club with more firepower; adding four more bans

ATLANTA -- The Braves insisted they werent trying to hit Bryce Harper. They were just going for the knockout punch in the NL East race against the Nationals. Justin Upton hit a home run with one out in the 10th inning to power Atlanta to a 3-2 win over Washington on Friday night as the Braves continued their domination of the season series. The Braves, who swept a three-game series at Washington on Aug. 5-7, lead the season series 11-3, including six straight wins. Jason Heyward had two hits and scored one run for Atlanta, which stretched its lead over the second-place Nationals to 15 1/2 games. "Theres a lot of baseball to be played," Upton said. "Our lead is pretty big right now, but crazier things have happened in baseball. Youve got to go out and win as many games as you can." Uptons 23rd homer to left-centre came on a 2-2 pitch from Ian Krol (1-1). It was his third career game-winning homer and second of the season. "Its a great feeling when you can go out and win the ballgame for your team," Upton said. "Theres nothing like that." Scott Downs (2-0) pitched a scoreless 10th for Atlanta. Harper was hit by pitches in the fourth and eighth innings by Alex Wood and Luis Avilan, respectively. Home plate umpire Marty Foster warned both benches after Avilan hit Harper on his shoulder in the eighth. Washingtons players rose to the top of the dugout but didnt come onto the field. It wasnt the first time Harper had been hit by a pitch against the Braves this month. Both Atlanta pitchers insisted they didnt try to hit Harper. "I tried not to look at him," Wood said of Harper. "It was embarrassing to hit somebody with a curveball." Avilan was trying to protect a 2-1 lead when he hit Harper. "I didnt want to put the runner on," Avilan said. "I was like, I hope he doesnt think I did it on purpose. Were leading 2-1. ... I felt bad because I almost hit him in the head because its dangerous, you know." Harper did not talk with reporters after the game. Nationals manager Davey Johnson said he thought Avilan should have been thrown out of the game. Asked if he thought Braves pitchers were trying to hit Harper, Johnson said, "I hope not, because its ridiculous. In a close ballgame, theyve got a lot more to lose than we do at this point, so it would be a ridiculous thing to do. "After he got hit the second time they should have thrown (Avilan) out of the ballgame and be done with it. But its their choice." On Aug. 6, both benches emptied when Harper was hit by Julio Teheran in the Braves 2-1 win at Washington. Downs threw an inside pitch past Harper to the backstop before walking Harper with one out in the 10th. Jayson Werth hit into a double play to end the inning. Wood gave up one run and five hits and no walks and a career-high nine strikeouts in 6 1-3 innings. Washingtons Taylor Jordan did not allow an earned run, but was hurt by three errors. Jordan allowed two runs, both unearned, and seven hits and three walks in six innings. Heyward led off the first inning with a single and took off for second base on ball four to Upton. Washington catcher Wilson Ramos made an unnecessary and wild throw to second base for an error, allowing Heyward to advance to third before scoring on Freddie Freemans double play grounder. Paul Janish, starting at second base after the Braves announced Tyler Pastornicky would need season-ending knee surgery, singled to lead off the third. After Janish advanced to third on Heywards single, shortstop Ian Desmond fielded Uptons grounder and threw to second to force Heyward. Second baseman Anthony Rendon attempted to complete the double play, but threw wild to first for an error, allowing Janish to score for a 2-0 lead. There was no reaction from Harper when he was hit by a pitch from Wood to lead off the fourth. Harper calmly jogged to first base and then made a comment to Freeman at the bag, prompting both to laugh. Harper advanced to third on Werths single and scored when Desmond hit into a double play. Harper wasnt laughing after he was hit by Avilans pitch in the eighth following a double by Ryan Zimmerman. Luis Ayala replaced Avilan and gave up a single to Werth as the Nationals pulled even at 2-2. NOTES: Upton also hit a game-winning homer against the Cubs on April 6. ... RHP Drew Storen, recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday, pitched a scoreless ninth. ... Braves 2B Phil Gosselin, recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, made his major league debut as a defensive replacement in the 10th. ... Braves RHP Jordan Walden, who hadnt pitched since taking a liner off his pitching hand on Saturday, said his hand is fully recovered. ... The series continues Saturday night when Atlantas Mike Minor will try for his 13th win against Washingtons Stephen Strasburg, who is only 6-9 despite a 2.83 ERA.Cheap World Cup Jerseys . It is a cliché dragged out by fans and pundits regularly when discussions take place around which teams are better than others. Soccer Jerseys From China .Y. -- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said Wednesday that J. http://www.cheapjerseyssoccerauthentic.com/ . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. Cheap Soccer Jerseys China . Siddikur, whose previous win on the circuit came in Brunei three years ago, finished his bogey-free round with a birdie on the 18th for a total of 17-under 199. Indias Shiv Chowrasia, who has finished runner-up in this tournament twice, was in second place after a 66. Soccer Jerseys Wholesale . Westbrook has missed 27 games since having a procedure on Dec. 27 to deal with swelling in his injured right knee — the third operation on the knee in nine months.A new year of League of Legends means a slew of changes from champions and to the rosters of the clubs challenging for the Summoners Cup and to the Summoners Rift itself. One aspect of the game that hasnt morphed over the years, however, has been the drafting phase of the game -- but that might soon change.Currently, the two teams fire bans back and forth until six champions are left off the table. From there, the blue side picks the first champion it want in its composition, and then the red side counters with two picks of its own. At the end, to counteract the blue side from getting the theoretical strongest champion on the board with the first pick of the draft, the red side gets the final choice -- a position that is normally used to try to counter the opposing team, with the blue side having its lineup already set in place.All that could be different in 2017, however, with a possible 10-champion ban system being implemented for the new season. Unlike the current iteration, the draft phase could become a staggered draft, meaning it would flip from banning to picking champions to back into banning champions -- before ultimately picking the final champions for each teams composition out of the remaining champion field.While the image of the drafting process might not be entirely correct -- the blue side would not only get the first champion selection but the last, as well, effectively negating the balance of the draft -- its possible a variation of the staggered draft will make its way into the professional scene for the start of the new campaign. With the amount of champions in the game growing by six to eight each year, it seemed inevitable the draft would need to be expanded.In a world where the 10-ban staggered draft is implemented -- but with the red still getting the final pick of the draft instead of the blue -- it would change the entire complexion of the professional scene. Players with minuscule champion pools would almost certainly become extinct over the next year; while being able to play two to three champions at an elite level has been doable for the past few splits, it would be almost impossible in the new system. While teams could prioritize those players ahead of the rest in the drafting phase every game, that player would eventually become an anchor to the team, pulling down the rest of the club along the way.The winners of the change, as cited by OGN caster Christopher MonteCristo Mykles, would also just so happen to be the region that has won the past four World Championships in dominating fashion: South Korea.dddddddddddd[Ten] bans in LoL is only going to make the gap between Korea and the West wider, due to deeper champ pools of KR players, said Mykles on Twitter. Now there is basically no hope of Western pocket/comfort picks, and many NA/EU players can just be completely banned out. R.I.P. [CLGs] Huhi.This change would almost seem like a gift to a player such as Lee Faker Sang-hyeok. After revolutionizing the mid lane with picks such as Riven when he was a rookie, he has been itching to bring unknown champions to the spotlight with his immaculate touch. The extra bans would simply allow Faker to open up his Pacific Ocean-sized champion pool to swallow up teams whole. Weve already seen what Faker can do on unorthodox champions against mid laners armed with their top choice. What happens when Faker gets to play against a player who is on their fourth- or fifth-best champion? The answer is a continuous montage of gray screens for the opponent.Additionally, the drafting change would make the game more complex. With Riot reinforcing lane matchups to spite lane swapping, the scene has been missing the depth it once had. The drafting changes would make it so that games could be decided, now more than ever, in the pick-and-ban phase. A good drafter -- be it the coach, in-game leader or committee -- could become stronger than the sum of its parts, with smart drafting and picking at the weak points of teams.Last season, the Immortals team had trouble in the drafting phase but was able to overcome its shortcomings by being more talented than a majority of the field. The mishaps in the draft would catch it come playoff time against the best teams in the league, and in this new system, Immortals would be even more open to attacks from smaller clubs.Perhaps in the current system, a certain team could never hope of beating a club with more firepower; adding four more bans, however, with a staggered draft, will separate the simply talented teams to the all-around great ones. As always in League of Legends, its adapt or die. ' ' '