MILWAUKEE -- At least in his first start, Aaron Harang came through with what the Atlanta Braves were hoping for when they signed him late in spring training. After spending most of the exhibition season with Cleveland on a minor league contract, Harang signed with the Braves on March 24 after a series of injuries to the teams pitchers. Making his Braves debut, Harang matched Matt Garzas no-hit bid into the seventh inning Wednesday, when Chris Johnson homered with two outs and sent the Braves to a 1-0 victory. "Its a huge pickup for us," Johnson said. "We were struggling with having guys go down, and were going to struggle getting guys healthy and to have a performance like that. its just what we needed." After season-ending injuries to Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy, the Braves signed Harang and Ervin Santana. Given how good Garza was in his Brewers debut, Harang had little margin for error. "I looked up there after six and saw zeroes all the way across on both sides," Harang said. "I was just able to come out and keep them off balance and keep their team guessing. Then you see their guy throwing up numbers like that, and youre trying to do the same thing and give your team a chance to win. I was able to do that." Harang (1-0) didnt allow a hit until Logan Schafer grounded a single leading off the bottom of the seventh. He gave up two hits in 6 2-3 innings, struck out three and walked one, throwing 63 of 97 pitches for strikes. "After the first hit, the emotions just run out of you for a minute, but knowing that youve got a 1-0 lead youve got to stay in there and regain your focus and keep executing pitches," Harang said. "The bullpen was able to get me out of that jam and slam the door." Relievers Luis Avilan, David Carpenter and Craig Kimbrel held the Brewers hitless. Kimbrel got three outs for his second save, completing a two-hitter. "Any time you get a 1-0 win, all kudos goes to the pitching staff," Johnson said. "He was fun to play behind. He was throwing strikes on both sides of the plate." Harang retired his first seven batters before walking Lyle Overbay, then retired 10 in a row before Schafers single. This marked the first time both starting pitchers in a big league game had not allowed a hit through six innings since June 13, 2010, when Ted Lilly of the Cubs and Gavin Floyd of the White Sox accomplished the feat, according to STATS. Alfonso Soriano doubled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and scored on Chad Tracys single, and Lilly didnt allow a hit until pinch-hitter Juan Pierres leadoff single in the ninth. The Cubs won 1-0. Garza (0-1) made his first start for Milwaukee after signing a $50 million, four-year contract as a free agent. He allowed one run and two hits in eight innings, struck out seven and walked none, throwing 65 of 90 pitches for strikes. "Its one mistake and thats it. Its the big leagues," Garza said. "Youve got to pay for things like that, especially with the heater to the four-hole hitter." NOTES: The Braves have scored five of their six runs via four homers ... Garza hit a dribbler in front of the plate in the sixth that Harang fielded cleanly and threw to first for the out. Gomez followed with a drive down the left-field line that hooked foul, then struck out. ... Jason Heywards diving catch of a Ryan Braun liner to right in the fourth kept Harangs no-hit bid intact. ... The Brewers start a six-game trip Friday to Boston and Philadelphia. ... The Braves have Thursday off, then are at Washington on Friday in the Nationals opener. Fake Basketball Shoes . -- Marty Havlat scored three goals for the first time in nearly nine years, and the San Jose Sharks prevented Colorado from clinching the Central Division title with a 5-1 victory over the Avalanche on Friday night. Cheap Basketball Shoes Free Shipping . "It was a little weird looking over and seeing all the green uniforms," he said of his first game against the Boston Celtics. https://www.cheapbasketballshoesstore.com/.C. -- Ryan Sproul scored the winner late in double overtime to lift the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 2-1 win over the Abbotsford Heat on Friday in Game 1 of their American Hockey League playoff series. Discount Basketball Shoes . The 21-year-old Wickham headed Sunderland into a 26th-minute lead --to add to the double he scored at Manchester City and his strike in last weekends win at Chelsea -- and then sealed the win with a late header. Cheap Basketball Shoes China . Pace had a career-high 10 sacks for Rex Ryans defence-- second only to Muhammad Wilkersons 10 1/2 -- in his sixth season with the Jets. The 33-year-old outside linebacker was an unrestricted free agent.The hoodie. The skirting of the rules. The dashing quarterback with the model wife.Oh, and all that winning.Theres no getting around it, the New England Patriots sure are annoying.The team everyone loves to hate just wont go away, claiming a spot in the AFC championship game for the ninth time in the last 14 years — a run that very well could be the most remarkable in NFL history.When the Patriots host Indianapolis on Sunday, essentially everyone outside of that little nook in the top right corner of the United States will be pulling against them.Some of that animosity is natural for any team that wins over and over again. The rest can be traced to the mood set by their hoodie-wearing coach, Bill Belichick, whos about as warm and fuzzy as a honey badger.Any city you go to, the people they dont like are usually New England because theyve been good for so long, Colts punter Pat McAfee said. You want to be the team thats not liked by other teams, because it means youve been good for a long time.Well, lets take a break from the hate and appreciate what the Patriots have accomplished since the opening of the 2001 season, when George W. Bush was just a few months into his first term as president and the horror of 9-11 was still 48 hours away.Fourteen straight winning seasons. Thirteen years with double-digit wins. Twelve playoff appearances. Five AFC championships. Three Super Bowl titles. The only perfect regular season since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule.Those feats would be impressive in any era, but they really stand out against the backdrop of salary caps and free agency.Simply put, the Patriots are the best franchise in all of football, maybe all of sports.Youre just excited for the opportunity to be able to do it, said Tom Brady, taking a break from lording over us that hes married to Gisele Bündchen and can cut his hair any way he likes and still look better than we do. Its hard to do and our team found a way to get there this year, so hopefully we can take advantage of the opportunity.If the Patriots go on to win their first Super Bowl in a decade, they should go down as the greatest dynasty of them all.If not, theyre still in the same ballpark as Vince Lombardis Green Bay Packers, Tom Landrys Dallas Cowboys, Chuck Nolls Pittsburgh Steelers and Bill Walshs San Francisco 49ers.Consider these numbers, provided by STATS:— The Patriots are tied for the fifth-longest stretch of winning seasons in NFL history. The Cowbboys have the longest run (20 in a row from 1966-85) but didnt have to deal with free agents or a cap, which have undoubtedly levelled the playing field.dddddddddddd In fact, only one team on the list with 14 or more (San Francisco, 16 straight from 1983-98) overlaps at all with this epoch in the pro game.— New England has missed the playoffs only twice in the last 14 years, both times edged out on tiebreakers. The 2008 team went 11-5 (with backup quarterback Matt Cassell running the offence, no less, after Brady went down with a season-ending injury) to become one of only two teams that failed to make the post-season with that many wins.— During its run of winning seasons, the only team to put together a streak even half as long was the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts, who ripped off nine straight from 2002-10. The Green Bay Packers, currently on a streak with six in a row and playing Seattle in the NFC title game, are next on the list.Granted, New England is a sneaky bunch, not afraid to bend the rules (or, in the case of Spygate, break them).But the primary reasons for the Patriots success are simple: They draft better than everyone else, they manage their roster better than everyone else, they game-plan better than everyone else, they coach better than everyone else.Colts quarterback Andrew Luck summed up what its like to go against New England.They do a great job of taking away your strengths, he said. They are not going to let you get easy yards, easy first downs, easy points. Every down is a chess match, a battle.Of course, dont expect the joyless Belichick to provide any perspective on what it all means.Right now, I dont really care about any of the other games — last week, last year, 10 years ago, whatever it was, Mr. Grumpy said this week. All our focus is on the Colts, and weve got to do a good job with our preparation for Indianapolis. Weve got to execute well and weve got to coach well and weve got to play well. Thats our challenge.OK, haters, we know what youre thinking.No way were going to appreciate a curmudgeon who gives answers like that.Well, swallow hard, take a deep breath, and repeat after me:The hoodie rules — no matter how annoying.___Paul Newberry is a national writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry@ap.org or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963___AP Sports Writer Howard Ulman in Boston and Michael Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report. ' ' '