ATLANTA - The Braves found a temporary fix for their overstuffed rotation on Friday by moving Alex Wood to the bullpen for a week. [url=http://www.custom49ersjersey.com/custom-richard-dent-jersey-large-1 548d.html]Richard Dent Jersey[/url] . Wood had been scheduled to start Sunday against the Chicago

ATLANTA - The Braves found a temporary fix for their overstuffed rotation on Friday by moving Alex Wood to the bullpen for a week. Richard Dent Jersey . Wood had been scheduled to start Sunday against the Chicago Cubs but instead will become Atlantas second left-handed reliever in addition to Luis Avilan. Aaron Harang will make Sundays start. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Wood will be back in the rotation on May 17 against St. Louis. Gonzalez said hell take another look at his rotation in a week. "This buys us eight days," he said. "Putting Wood in there kind of gives us a little breather and kind of gives him a little breather." The 23-year-old is 2-5 with a 3.00 ERA in seven starts — including back-to-back 1-0 losses. He was on pace for about 220 innings, which would surpass his total of 139 2-3 innings last year. "Thats a pretty big gap," Wood said. "Thats part of it. Right now we need help in the bullpen, too. It works best for everybody." Atlanta could make a similar move with Wood after his start against the Cardinals by giving him another short stretch in the bullpen. The plan would keep Wood stretched out for occasional starts until he makes a full-time return to the rotation. "They made it clear they see me in the rotation for the future," Wood said. He was 3-3 with a 3.13 ERA last year in 11 starts and 20 relief appearances. He had a 2.08 ERA out of the bullpen. "Its nice to go to the bullpen and have some experience throwing out of it, thats for sure," Wood said. "I know what to expect and I know what to do to stay ready and stay prepared. ... Its a compliment, going to the pen and pitching in tight situations where they need me." Wood said it wasnt easy to pitch in relief for two months in 2013 and then move to the rotation. He spent 10 days in the minor leagues, making one start, before returning to Atlanta to join the rotation. "Its definitely difficult going that long without starting in terms of getting back in the swing of things," he said. Mike Minor and Gavin Floyd have returned from the disabled list to assume starting spots. That left the Braves with a surplus of starters, even after rookie David Hale was sent to the bullpen. The rotation also includes Julio Teheran, Ervin Santana and Harang. Alex Smith Jersey . Kuper, a fifth-round pick in Denvers 2006 draft, started 79 games at guard over eight seasons. He dislocated his left ankle in the last game of the 2011 regular season, and though he started another seven games after that, he never returned to his previous level. Monty Stickles Jersey . Particularly when speaking in the stadium of Tuesdays opponent: Manchester City. "Maybe they dont fear us as before," Pique said on Monday, "because in the last two years we didnt win the Champions League. http://www.custom49ersjersey.com/custom-fred-warner-jersey-large-2818d.html . Iwakuma pitched seven strong innings to stay unbeaten in road games since last July, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.LEVI, Finland -- American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin easily won the World Cup slalom opener Saturday, beating reigning Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by more than a second to send an immediate message to her rivals ahead of the Sochi Games. The 18-year-old slalom world champion led by half a second after the first run and raced seamlessly at the top of the hill in the second to extend her advantage, overcoming a mistake near the end to clock a combined time of 1 minute, 55.07 seconds. "Im really happy with how the day went and Im also really excited because it looks like there are some pretty fast girls in the back of the pack," Shiffrin said. "Im excited for the Olympics for sure but there are a couple of races between now and then, so hopefully I can just keep this going." Hoefl-Riesch, who was in a tie for third place after the first run, skied nearly flawlessly in the second but still finished 1.06 seconds behind in second place. Last years overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who struggled in the giant slalom opener in Soelden last month, was third, 1.61 back. Shiffrin emerged as a major star in the discipline last season by winning both the World Cup slalom title and the world championship race, making her one of the major medal favourites for the Sochi Olympics. Her dominant display on Saturday did little to lower expectations on the teenager -- although Shiffrin thinks theres still plenty of room for improvement. "Every day there is something you can do better," Shiffrin said. "Im going to go back and study my skiing from today and study all the other girls to see who is doing what well and try to get better." Another 18-year-old also made a name for herself, as Christina Ager of Austria finished fourth in her first career World Cup start. Ager started with bib No. 53 but was fifth after the first run -- in part because of favourable winds -- and then missed the podium by just 0.07 seconds. Hoefl-Riesch has won three World Cup slaloms in Levi and made the podium for the seventh time here. "It was a great day for me. I had a good feeling in training already,"; she said. Elvis Grbac Jersey. "Its always really special for me here because of my first win many years ago and because of my many good results here." Maze said she was happy to get back to skiing fast after the disappointing result in Soelden, where she struggled with the high expectations after her dominance last season. "I got a lot of pressure in Soelden race, it was the start of the season so it was not easy to handle all of this pressure so I felt really empty," Maze said. "But at the end I realized its nothing important, the only thing important is to ski fast." Marlies Schild of Austria, the slalom specialist who injured her knee in December 2012, returned for the first time since recovering fully but was already well behind Shiffrin in the first round by the time she missed a gate and skied out. Still, Schild was just happy to finally be able to ski without feeling any effects of the injury. "Of course I wanted to race a second run but yeah, its not so bad at all," Schild said. "Im in a good shape, I have no pain anymore and thats very important for me and I just have to wait, I think, to get a good feeling." Four-time former overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn skipped the Levi meet and will make her debut in the speed events in Beaver Creek, Colorado, after recovering from a right knee injury sustained in a crash in February. "She is back and shes strong," Shiffrin said of her teammate. "Im impressed with how strong she is. ... I dont think anybody should count her out thats for sure." For Shiffrin, the Olympic gold medal is clearly main goal for this season, although she received another memorable prize on Saturday. In a first for this year, organizers presented the winner with a live reindeer from the local Lapland region. Shiffrin named the 6-month-old reindeer Rudolf, although she wont be allowed to take him home with her. "I scared him off a bit when I jumped off the podium to meet him but I think we will be getting along," Shiffrin said. "I hope that when he gets older and trained I can go for a ride on a sledge with him." ' ' '