Plauderecke » scorted ride to SunTrust Park.Thats the way we all wa

Faf du Plessis has distanced the South Africa team from former captain Graeme Smiths warning that Australia is on the wane following a string of defeats. Smith listed loss of confidence, the rotation policy, a packed schedule and the struggles of Steven Smith to assert himself as a leader as heaping pressure on the hosts, but du Plessis would not be drawn into the war of words.I dont know too much about it. I just read something about the culture and Im always of the position if you dont know exactly whats going on, you cant comment on that, du Plessis said. I dont know enough about the Australian culture, so I cant comment on it. From the outside, it seems the same as always.Steven Smith echoed that opinion and insisted his team remained unaffected by the issues Graeme Smith mentioned. Im not sure what Graeme Smith knows about Australian cricket, Smith said. He obviously wasnt involved in it. I think the teams in a good place at the moment, weve got a good culture, built on constant improvement and getting better. The guys are in a good place, were a tight-knit group and were ready to hopefully turn this around this week.On Wednesday evening, when Graeme Smith was inducted as a Bradman Honouree at the SCG - alongside Bill Lawry, who was the last Australia captain to lead the side to a home series win after losing the first Test in 1968 - he seemed to sympathise with Steven Smiths attempts to forge his own captaincy style. I look at him and you kind of think hes trying to figure a lot of stuff out at the moment, Graeme Smith said. But as a leader, I think you need to understand that for yourself about who you are and thats the only time you can really get your team to play with that personality. I think hes trying to figure that all out at the moment. It certainly looks that way and he looks a bit lost.Steven Smith admitted he expected to come under criticism, given the teams performance and hopes. Ive seen a lot of the criticism and I guess when youre losing cricket games that sort of criticism is warranted so weve got to try and turn it around and play the way that Australia does best and thats by winning games of cricket in Australia, he said. Some of the naysaying has come from within. Shane Warne has been among those who have questioned Smiths tactics, particularly on the third morning of the Perth Test when Nathan Lyon was not used at all. South Africa added 118 runs in that session and lost just one wicket to bat Australia out of the match and Warne believes Smith could have done more to make inroads in that period.Smith stuck to his guns and maintained that he was hoping to make use of reverse swing. Warneys entitled to his opinion, but I stand by the way I did things, he said. We saw in that game that the reverse swing was the biggest player in the game and it was the decision to be made whether the quicks were going to do the job and get the ball reversing.Despite that, Australias captain conceded his team had underperformed but said they had done enough work to be ready for a better show in Hobart. Weve not been good enough and I guess for me its about making sure that the guys are upbeat and ready for the challenge out there in the middle, he said. Weve prepared very well like we have for every Test match. The guys feel like they are in a good place so its about going out there and making sure that we get the job done. Rockies Jerseys 2020 . Vettel, who has already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, enters the finale with a chance to equal Michael Schumachers 13 victories in a year and match the record of nine consecutive wins by Alberto Ascari in the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Colorado Rockies Store . 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ATLANTA -- The Detroit Tigers needed a lot of things to go right on the final day of the regular season.Nothing did.So its wait `til next year for the Tigers, who were eliminated from the wild card Sunday with a 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves in the final game at Turner Field.Julio Teheran matched a career high with 12 strikeouts, and Freddie Freeman drove in the lone run with a first-inning sacrifice fly off Justin Verlander. Detroit missed the playoffs for the second year in a row after four straight postseason appearances that included a trip to the World Series in 2012.When you start spring training, your goal is to get to the postseason, said Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, whose team won 12 more games than a year ago. We didnt, so were very disappointed.Detroit needed to win, hope that either Baltimore or Toronto lost, and then win a makeup game against Cleveland on Monday in order to force a tiebreaker for an AL wild card.I would not have enjoyed the travel, Ausmus said, but I would have relished traveling.Detroit lost its second straight against the last-place Braves. With a runner aboard in the ninth, Justin Upton was called out on strikes to end the game.It didnt matter, anyway, as both the Orioles and the Blue Jays won.We were dead in the water in a lot of peoples minds, Ausmus said. The guys played hard and continued to play hard all the way through the last game.Atlanta was never a playoff contender but is feeling a lot better about its prospects heading to SunTrust Park. After an 18-46 start that included the firing of manager Fredi Gonzalez, the Braves went 50-47 the rest of the way under interim manager Brian Snitker, who might have done enough to keep the job in 2017.We feel really good walking out of here, Snitker said. I dont know how we could end the season any better to build momentum for next year.Clearly inspired by the Turner Field finale, Teheran (7-10) went seven innings, giving up three hits and a walk before a sellout crowd of 51,220 that included former President Jimmy Carter and Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz, who threw out ceremonial first pitches in unison.When Teheran took the mound, he did a pretty good impression of those three in their prime.The emotions I was feeling on the mound were unbelievable, Teheran said. Everybody was excited. Im glad that I had my stuff. It couldnt be any better than that.Verlander (16-9) allowed six hitts in seven innings, walked one intentionally and struck out eight.dddddddddddd Most days, it would have been good enough to win. But one run was all the Braves needed.Ender Inciarte led off the Atlanta first with a single to left center, and raced around to third when Adonis Garcia followed with another hit. Freeman brought home the run by flying out to center.I was just a little out of sync there to start the game, Verlander said. I settled down from there but too little, too late at that point. Who would have known that?Atlanta had a chance to pad its lead in the sixth. Garcia started things with a single, stole second and made it to third on an errant throw by catcher James McCann.Verlander buckled down, getting Freeman on an infield pop and striking out Matt Kemp. After Nick Markakis was intentionally walked, Verlander fanned Tyler Flowers to end the inning.The Tigers only real threat off Teheran came in the second, when J.D. Martinez singled and Nick Castellanos walked with one out. McCann struck out and Jose Iglesias popped out to the shortstop.Jim Johnson, who agreed to a two-year contract extension before the game, worked around a hit in the ninth for his 20th save in 23 chances.Then it was on to a postgame ceremony that included the removal of home plate, which was taken by Hank Aaron and team chairman Terry McGuirk on a police-escorted ride to SunTrust Park.Thats the way we all wanted to finish and close this book, Teheran said. Im proud of myself and the job that I did.BIG CROWDThe third sellout of the season at Turner Field pushed the season attendance to 2,020,914, ensuring the Braves drew at least 2 million fans in each of their 20 seasons at the ballpark.Still, it was their second-lowest season attendance at the Ted (the team drew 2,001,392 a year ago) and a far cry from the first season in 1997, when Atlanta attracted 3,464,488 for an NL East-winning team.TRAINING ROOMDetroit OF Ty Collins tripped on a sprinkler head during batting practice Saturday, leaving him with a sprained ankle. He didnt play in the season finale.UP NEXTThe Tigers open the 2017 season at the Chicago White Sox on April 3.The Braves also begin next season April 3, facing the Mets in New York. The first game at SunTrust Park is set for April 14 against the San Diego Padres. ' ' '