Milton Keynes

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CHICAGO -- Teams usually cant wait to get out of the cramped quarters of the visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field. Not so the Atlanta Braves, who were delighted to put in some overtime in the less-than-friendly confines Friday night. The Braves 9-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs reduced their magic number to one and ensured them of at least a tie in the NL East. The players decided to watch the game between the second-place Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins in the clubhouse to see if they would win the outright title -- even though Nationals-Marlins wasnt slated to begin until an hour and a half after the Braves game ended. "Some guys are going to stay here and some guys families are here, so theyre going to go spend some time with their families," closer Craig Kimbrel said. "Were all going to be back here around the end of the game." The Nationals won 8-0 to keep the Braves from clinching. When asked if it would be weird sticking around so late to watch the game in an empty ballpark, Kimbrel said: "No, we did it in 2010 with San Diego and San Francisco. Its actually, a lot of fun. Lets just hope the Marlins win." If not, the Braves simply will look to take care of things during their next opportunity. "This might be the best group of guys in terms of resiliency," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "They battle. Theyre a talented group of guys -- lets not forget that --but weve gone through some adversity at times, losing some key players earlier in the year and a leader on our pitching staff. "Its a good group of guys; just a good team." That all was on display Friday. Chris Johnson went 3 for 4 with a home run, and the Braves broke open a tie game in the top of the ninth inning with four runs -- all with two outs. Brian McCann and Johnson each had an RBI single, and Andrelton Simmons followed with a two-run double. Freddie Freeman earlier hit a three-run homer for Atlanta, which jumped out to a 4-0 lead. "We had a chance for some add-on runs earlier in the game," Gonzalez said. "We some opportunities and didnt do it; (McCann) popped up with runners on second and third (in the fifth inning). But thats how good this guy is. He comes back later in the ninth inning, facing a pretty good reliever in Kevin Gregg, and gets a base hit." McCann made the most of his second chance. "I was just glad to get a pitch to handle and not miss it," the catcher said. Gregg (2-5) gave up all four ninth-inning runs, and that was just the start of his bad day. Gregg had been told by manager Dale Sveum a couple of days ago that Cubs would take an occasional look at Pedro Strop in the closers role, but Gregg took it to mean that he was no longer the closer and went on a rant against the front office after the game. That prompted Cubs president Theo Epstein to get involved. "Apparently Kevin misunderstood Dale and thought hed had his job permanently taken away from him," Epstein said. "Despite getting the ball in the closers role the past couple days, he apparently had some choice words. Upon hearing that I called him up to Dales office to tell him how disappointed I was in him. "I think it took him a couple minutes to understand that hed misunderstood Dale and he ultimately apologized to me and Dale. I told him that Id sleep on it and decide if we had any disciplinary action." On the other side of Wrigley Field, the atmosphere was completely different as the Braves prepared for their post-season party. "Its been a fun season," starter Paul Maholm said. "We started off real hot and built a big lead, we cooled off a bit, lost some people, but we were able to maintain that big lead. "Hopefully, well go deep in their playoffs." NOTES: The Braves activated OF Jason Heyward before the game. He wore a facemask attached to the right side of his batting helmet to protect the right jaw that was fractured Aug. 21 when he was struck by a pitch from the Mets Jon Niese. "Im just really excited and happy to be back," he said. "Im not going to be as good today as I will be in five days, but you have to start the process sometime." As planned, Heyward played just five innings, going 0 for 2 with a walk. ... The Cubs announced before the game that C Welington Castillo has partially torn meniscus in his right knee and will miss the rest of the season. He will have arthroscopic surgery and the expected recovery time is 4 to 6 weeks. ... The series continues Saturday with Cubs LHP Travis Wood (9-11) going against RHP Kris Medlen (14-12). David Long Youth Jersey . The Canadiens captain, who underwent surgery on his injured biceps in the off-season, had been skating with the team in a non-contact capacity since last week. Jack Youngblood Youth Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.ramsrookiestore.com/Rams-Cooper-Kupp-Jersey/ . After falling 5-0 on home ice in a game that could have tied them for second in the wild card standings, Washington head coach Adam Oates had some strong words for Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin. Greg Gaines Youth Jersey . The Boston Celtics hadnt played since the All-Star break. So the Suns 100-94 victory over Boston Wednesday night was an uphill affair, with Phoenix relying on balance rather than its trademark high energy. Aaron Donald Rams Jersey .In the Football Money League compiled by accountancy firm Deloitte, German champion Bayern Munich remained third but Barcelona dropped from second to fourth during its trophyless 2014.In the 2013-2014 financial year, Real generated 549.Edmonton, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Tomas Kopecky and Sean Bergenheim scored in the third period, sending the Florida Panthers to a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night. Roberto Luongo made 31 saves for the Panthers, who have won a season-high three straight games and improved to 4-1-0 on their six-game road trip.dddddddddddd Ben Scrivens stopped 23-of-27 shots for Edmonton, which was looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 7-9. The Oilers beat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Friday. ' ' '

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