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Metairie, LA - The New Orleans Saints have placed starting free safety Jairus Byrd on season-ending injured reserve after he tore his meniscus in Thursdays practice. Byrd, one of the most highly sought after players in the 2014 free agent class, signed a six-year deal with the Saints in the offseason. The Saints had to let Malcolm Jenkins leave via free agency to sign Byrd. The 27-year-old Byrd had 22 tackles in four starts with New Orleans (1-3). Rafael Bush will replace Byrd in the starting lineup. Byrd was selected with the 42nd overall pick of the 2009 NFL Draft by Buffalo, where he spent the first five seasons of his career. The three-time Pro Bowler missed the first five games of the 2013 season with an injured foot. He appeared in the final 11 games of the season, totaling 48 tackles, four interceptions and one forced fumble. Byrd underwent back surgery earlier this offseason. ... as usual. Even with the salary cap being set lower than many general managers expected and hoped for at $69 million and whats considered a shallow pool of top-end players available, this unrestricted-free-agent period figures to follow the familiar script of teams bidding up prices to keep up with each other. . Today, well look at five frontcourt players today, here from the Bay Area. 1. AMIR JOHNSON (Raptors): I cant figure out what the issue or problem is, but based upon what Im seeing, hes not right. . The 18-year-old centre was the Senators first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The six-foot 196-pound native of Salmon Arm, B. .com) - Jimmie Johnson won Sundays AAA Texas 500 while championship contenders Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski as well as their teams were involved in a post-race fight on pit road after the two clashed in the closing laps at Texas Motor Speedway. . -- Floridas smothering defence returned to form just in time for the third-ranked Gators to keep their winning streak going. MIAMI -- Jose Fernandez got booed for not running out a grounder, and felt a tiny twinge of disappointment about not getting a chance to finish off what could have been his first complete game. Everything else for the Miami Marlins young ace went perfectly once again Tuesday night. Fernandez allowed two hits in eight stellar innings, Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and the Marlins opened a homestand by beating the Atlanta Braves 9-0 on Tuesday night. "Jose did a great job," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "We needed him to go out there and log some big innings, and thats back-to-back great starts against a great offensive team." Jarrod Saltalamacchia also homered for Miami, which had its third-highest run output of the season in a game that took just 2 hours, 7 minutes. It was the fastest one in the majors this season, according to STATS. Miami second baseman Ed Lucas had three hits in his season debut after recovering from a broken left hand, and Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run single for the Marlins. Fernandez (4-1) was dominant against the NL East leaders for the second time in a week, lowering his ERA to 1.59. He struck out eight and walked two, and hasnt allowed an earned run in 23 innings over his last three starts. The right-handers numbers are eye-popping going back to early in his rookie season. Fernandez is 14-4 with a 1.52 ERA in 24 starts since June 1, with 190 strikeouts against 45 walks in 160 innings. "Same as last time -- hes good every time," Atlantas Freddie Freeman said. Braves starter Alex Wood (2-4) allowed seven runs and 10 hits, leaving after facing four batters without getting an out in the sixth. Wood and Fernandez had a memorable duel last week, combining for 25 strikeouts and no walks in what became a 1-0 Miami win that lasted 2 hours, 8 minutes. This time, Fernandez -- who got booed by some in the crowd after not running out a sharp grounder to shortstop leading off the third -- needed only one run again. Miami just happened to give him eight more for good measure. The runs came in bunches during the rematch, with Miami scoring three in the third and five more in the sixth to blow it open. &quoot;We have to figure out how to beat Fernandez," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.dddddddddddd "Not everybody is Cy Young, and you still have to beat Cy Young every once in a while." Stanton went the opposite way for a two-run homer to right in the third inning, and Ozunas single in the sixth was enough to chase Wood. Fernandez even added a run-scoring single later in the sixth, and Saltalamacchia connected off Braves reliever Anthony Varvaro in the seventh. The Braves had only three right-handed batters in the starting lineup against Fernandez, looking for any way to break through against him. It was evident early that little was going to work. Fernandez needed only 17 pitches to get his first seven outs, and ended two innings with a pair of knee-buckling 83 mph off-speed offerings. Fernandez was even solid in the field, keeping the game scoreless with a nifty play to end the third. He came hard off the mound to field Ramiro Penas chopper that stopped halfway up the third base line, then faked a throw to first -- which baited the Braves Tyler Pastornicky into taking off from third base. Fernandez simply flipped the ball to Saltalamacchia, who put the tag on a sliding Pastornicky and kept the game scoreless. By the time Fernandez returned to the mound, he had a 3-0 lead and was rolling. Fernandez said he and Saltalamacchia had a quick pregame meeting to go over strategy and came up with the following plan: Whatever Miamis catcher called, Fernandez would throw. Redmond said he considered letting Fernandez finish the game, but with a nine-run lead the manager didnt want to take any risks in the ninth. "Ill get it sometime," Fernandez said of the elusive first complete game. NOTES: Aaron Harang (3-1) goes for Atlanta on Wednesday against the Marlins Nathan Eovaldi (1-1). ... To make room for Lucas, the Marlins designated INF Greg Dobbs for assignment. ... Marlins RHP Jacob Turner (shoulder strain) will come off the DL to start Saturday at home against the Los Angeles Dodgers. ... The Braves said LHP Mike Minor (shoulder soreness) will start in Atlanta on Friday, making his season debut against San Francisco. ' ' '
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