CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox will see several familiar faces when they open a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.Catchers A.J. Pierzynski and Tyler Flowers and infielder Gordon Beckham return to U.S. Cellular Field with the Braves to face their former team.It will be a fun experience, Flowers said. Ill see a lot of friends. A lot of the guys, Ive stayed in touch with, but I havent seen them in person in a while, so a little bit of that. Coaches and staff, some people that have definitely helped me along the way. It will be nice to have some handshakes and hugs and all that, and then strap it up and play ball and try to get some hits off (Chris) Sale and (Jose) Quintana.After the cheerful reunion, the Braves get to face Sale (14-2, 2.93 ERA), who leads the majors in victories and was named an All-Star for the fifth consecutive year. Sale is trying to become the first American League starter since the Blue Jays David Wells in 2000 to reach 15 victories before the All-Star break.Flowers downplayed having any edge as a hitter after catching Sale.Theres really no advantage, Flowers said. Its a completely different perspective standing sideways and looking to your left than squatting down and looking straight ahead. Plus, I called every pitch for those guys, so theres no telling what theyll throw now with different guys.Then Flowers offered some insight.For a guy like Sale, youve got to be ready for anything that you can touch out over the plate, Flowers said. He can vary his speeds and put pitches at different spots any time. Youve just got to hope for a mistake out over the plate and hope that youre ready for it. Thats how it is against all the aces in the league.Flowers played for the White Sox from 2009-15, while Pierzynski helped the team win the 2005 World Series during his 2005-2012 stint, and Beckham was with the team for parts of seven seasons.Flowers is hitting .249 with six home runs in 51 games. Pierzynski is batting .201 in 54 games. And Beckham came off the disabled list Thursday. He hit .284 before he went on the DL June 2 for a strained left hamstring.Now they play for the team with the worst record in the majors (29-57). The Braves snapped a four-game losing streak by beating the Chicago Cubs 4-3 in 11 innings early Friday morning in a rain-delayed game that made up an April 30 rainout. Flowers drove in the winning run in the 11th.Even though the record is not very good, weve had a lot of fun, some success, and a lot of growth as a whole -- particularly the pitching staff, Flowers said. That was a big part of coming here was to help their younger staff to develop.The White Sox (44-41) have won five straight series and seven of their last 10 games. They will face Braves starting right-hander Matt Wisler (3-8, 4.16 ERA), who has allowed 10 runs and struck out 21 in his last25 1/3 innings.The pitchings been great, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said.Offensively, weve been getting it. Everybody seems to be contributing in one way or another, and its nice. Were playing better baseball, its that simple.The teams last met in 2013.Cheap Warriors Jerseys China . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. DeMarcus Cousins Jersey . 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The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.ATLANTA -- Four Georgia-based jet pilots who buzzed Bank of America Stadium, home of the?Carolina Panthers, are restricted from flight duty while the incident is reviewed, U.S. Air Force officials said.The Panthers?were practicing Monday when the A-10 Warthog attack jets swooped low, alarming some inside and outside the stadium.Its unclear whether the pilots of the A-10C Thunderbolt IIs, based at Moody Air Force Base in south Georgia, will face consequences for their actions.As professional airmen we take aviation safety very seriously, Air Force Col. Thomas Kunkel said in a statement to The Associated Press.The team was most certainly caught off guard, as players wondered what was happening, coach Ron Rivera said. But it was pretty awesome to see, he added.Workers in nearby office buildings criticized the flyby on social media.However, it turns out the pilots had requested permission for a flyover from the tower.Specifically, the Federal Aviation Administration is looking into reports that the pilots made a low-altitude pass over Bank of America Stadium after air traffic controllers approved the pilots request to fly over the venue, the FAA said in a statement Thursday.The statements released by the Air Force and FAA include no indications that the pattern was full or that a negative to the pilots request was in order. But that doesnt mean rules werent broken in this particular engagement.As we look into the circumstances of this inncident, we are working with the FAA to ensure both civil and military aviation instructions were complied with, Kunkel said.ddddddddddddSome Air Force pilots do flyovers at NFL games, but the Panthers had no knowledge of any practice flyovers, team spokesman Steven Drummond said.While much of the social media reaction saw the flyover as a circus stunt, the team didnt appear to take offense.I like the fact that they waved at us as they went over, Rivera said.The pilots from the Georgia base were conducting routine navigation training from Charlotte to Moody and were not participating in the Air Forces partnership with the NFL to provide flyovers, Kunkels statement said.The planes had taken off from Charlotte Douglas International Airport moments before flying over the stadium, Air Force officials said. They are part of the 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, which is near Valdosta, Georgia.The aircraft are used to support troops on the ground -- and are sometimes known by their nickname Warthogs, according to descriptions from Moody.Their maneuverability and capability for short takeoffs and landings help them operate near front lines in battle. The planes can carry a variety of bombs, missiles, rockets and guns to defeat a wide variety of targets on the ground, including tanks, officials said. ' ' '