urprised at the pending departure of two of his teammate

MIAMI -- The Atlanta Braves made themselves at home all weekend at Marlins Park, including when Evan Gattis put a dent in the home run sculpture Sunday. Gattis broke a ninth-inning tie with a two-run homer, newcomer Shae Simmons made another key contribution and Atlanta completed a three-game sweep by beating Miami 4-2. "We played about as good a series as weve played in a while," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. The Braves pulled off the sweep after losing four consecutive games to Boston, and after being swept by the Marlins during a three-game visit to Miami a month ago. "Theyre a good ballclub, and its good to get three wins," Gattis said. Making the sweep even more impressive is the Marlins 20-11 record at Marlins Park. They lead the majors in home victories and made a bid for a ninth-inning comeback Sunday. Simmons, pitching in his second big league game, earned his first career save when he retired Christian Yelich with two on for the final out. Closer Craig Kimbrel was given the day off because of a heavy recent workload. "I got through it," Simmons said. "Im not going to say it wasnt a little intimidating." Simmons also got a key out in his major league debut Saturday. He left town with two game balls and two souvenir lineup cards. "Its kind of surreal," he said. "I dont really feel like its happened. I feel like I wasnt even out there." The series began with the Marlins and Braves tied atop the NL East. Now Miamis three games back. "This was a good test," manager Mike Redmond said. "Believe me, theres a sour taste in all of our mouths." With the score 2-all, Freddie Freeman started the ninth with a single, only his second hit in 36 at-bats this year against Miami. Gattis then hit a 2-0 fastball into the sculpture in distant left-centre field for his 11th homer, and the first this year allowed by Marlins closer Steve Cishek (4-2). "Thats a big home run there, in this ballpark off that reliever," Gonzalez said. "That doesnt happen very often. The matchup there didnt favour us." But Marlins Park seems to bring out the best in the Braves, their visit a month ago notwithstanding. Atlanta is 18-7 in the ballpark since it opened in 2012. Gattis is batting .333 with six homers and 20 RBIs in 18 games at Marlins Park. Hes a fan of the stadium and even the colorful sculpture, which has its share of detractors. "The sculpture? I like it," Gattis said. "I like this park. It has been good to me." Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer, his 10th. Those were the only runs allowed by Aaron Harang in 6 2-3 innings, but he remained winless in his past four starts for Atlanta. Alex Wood (5-5) pitched 1 1-3 perfect innings. Miamis Nathan Eovaldi gave up two runs while pitching a season-high eight innings. He has an ERA of 0.75 in five starts against Atlanta since the beginning of 2013. Shaky defence cost Eovaldi an early lead. Jason Heyward hit an RBI single in the third, and then the tying run scored when second baseman Derek Dietrich failed to turn a double play that would have ended the inning. "It was a tough series," Redmond said. "We didnt play our best, we didnt play great defence, we didnt run the bases well. We need to play better, but we know we can play with these guys. Every guy in that clubhouse believes that, but we have some work to do." NOTES: After the game, the Marlins optioned RHP Arquimedes Caminero to Triple-A New Orleans. ... Ozuna made a sliding catch in centre field to rob Chris Johnson of a hit in the seventh. ... Freeman fell to 3 for 24 lifetime against Eovaldi. ... The Marlins open a two-game series at home Monday against Tampa Bay, with Randy Wolf (0-1, 4.50) scheduled to pitch against Alex Cobb (1-2, 2.93). ... The Braves are off Monday and begin a two-game series Tuesday at home against Seattle, with Mike Minor (2-3, 3.41) scheduled to start against Hisashi Iwakuma (3-1, 2.39). Robert Franks Jersey . LOUIS - Two-thirds of the St. Custom Charlotte Hornets Jerseys . Jacob Jacques, Andrew Ryan and Jonathan Drouin also scored for Halifax (37-18-3), who outshot the Islanders 40-26. Kevin Darveau stopped 25 shots. Bradley Kennedy had the lone goal for Charlottetown (18-33-5), which has nine losses in its last 10 games. https://www.hornetslockerroom.com/ .5 million. University officials released the term sheet signed by Harsin Wednesday, the day the former Broncos walk-on player and Boise native was named the successor to Chris Petersen, who left for Washington last week. Bismack Biyombo Jersey . -- The Orlando Magic finally are showing the patience in critical moments that coach Jacque Vaughn has been waiting for all season. Glen Rice Jersey . In the days leading up to the draft, TSN.ca and TSN Radio basketball analyst Duane Watson looks at some of the names that will be headlining the event. Tonight, Michigans Nik Stauskas of Mississauga, Ontario.Veteran skip Kevin Martin will have a much different lineup if he decides to return for another season on the mens curling circuit. Team second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert plan to leave Martins rink after this season to join reigning national champion Kevin Koe. Its the first major move of whats expected to be an off-season loaded with significant roster changes. As for the 47-year-old Martin, who has national, world and Olympic titles on his glowing resume, he plans to take some time after the season to consider his future plans. "I cant confirm that Im looking for a new roster," Martin told The Canadian Press on Wednesday from Napa Valley, Calif. "But I can confirm that Marc and Ben are going to curl with Kev, yeah. I havent decided if Im going to curl again at all." The timing of the news is less than ideal for Koe and his current lineup of third Pat Simmons, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen, who will try to put the distraction aside as they prepare to play at the world championship in Beijing this Saturday. Koe preferred to keep his focus on the upcoming competition and respectfully declined comment. Rycroft, whose wife is pregnant, has already said hell be taking a year off from the sport after this season. Simmons and Thiessen were not available for comment and their future plans remain unclear. Hebert declined comment and a message left with Kennedy was not immediately returned. Martin said it was unfortunate that the news surfaced during the season and before the world championship. "I sure wish none of this stuff (came) out," he said. "Im not exactly sure how it did but its too bad." With the Olympic season nearly complete, several roster changes are expected as teams prepare for the next four-year cycle. Team Brad Jacobs, which won gold at the Sochi Games last month, will be one of the rinks to beat next season. Whats uuncertain at this time is what ripple effect the new Koe lineup might have on teams throughout the country.dddddddddddd. The 2014-15 season isnt necessarily critical as rinks start to look ahead to the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but the sooner that players can lock in the better. Martin, Kennedy and Hebert teamed with John Morris to win Tim Hortons Brier titles in 2008 and 2009, going undefeated en route to the championship each year. They also won Olympic gold at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Morris left the team almost a year ago and later joined Jim Cotters B.C. rink. Morris was replaced by Dave Nedohin and the current Martin lineup has enjoyed a strong season. Martin wasnt surprised at the pending departure of two of his teammates since they want to position themselves for the next Olympic cycle. "Having teams change and personnel change, thats just part of sport," he said. "Thats not unusual I dont think. Its just unfortunate that any of these changes -- and there are a lot of changes that are going to happen this year -- happen before the end of the (season). That should definitely happen in May." Martin added the moves make "perfect sense" for Kennedy and Hebert. The veteran skip expects to decide on his own future plans by the end of June. There is still one major event left on the curling calendar -- the April 15-20 season-ending Grand Slam Players Championships in Summerside, P.E.I. That competition was already shaping up to be an emotional one with Alison Kreviazuks announcement this week that it will be her last competition with Team Rachel Homan. The longtime second has decided to move to Sweden to be with her boyfriend. Joanne Courtney of Val Sweetings rink will join Homan, lead Lisa Weagle and third Emma Miskew next season. Homan is the reigning national champion and won silver at the world championship last weekend. ' ' '