Cuts » s game against Spain is a little hard to figure out.

NEW YORK -- Brad Brach picked up Austin Romines bat behind home plate and slammed it to the turf. On the verge of moving into position to clinch no worse than a tiebreaker game for a playoff berth, the Baltimore Orioles let the opportunity slip away.Tomorrow is what weve been playing the whole season for anyway, Matt Wieters said after Baltimore wasted a three-run lead Saturday in a deflating 7-3 loss to the New York Yankees. It shouldnt be hard to get ready for a game tomorrow.Fittingly in this season of alternating promise and frustration, game No. 162 will be needed to determine the Orioles fate.They had a 3-0, fifth-inning lead against an already eliminated opponent and an 81.5 percent probability of winning the game, according to Fangraphs. A victory plus a loss by Toronto or Detroit later Saturday would have clinched a wild-card berth.New York closed with a run each in the fifth and sixth, and Tyler Austin tied the score in the seventh when he drove Wade Mileys slider into the Yankees bullpen in right center. Romine then dumped Brachs slider over a drawn-in infield and into short left for a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth, and Brett Gardner followed with a two-run double against Oliver Drake.It seemed like we were in control there for six innings, and all of a sudden you look at the scoreboard and its tied, Brach said.Baltimore dropped into a tie with Toronto for the ALs two wild cards at 88-73, with Detroit 1 1/2 games behind at 86-74. Seattle was eliminated Saturday night with a 9-8, 10-inning loss to Oakland.Brach planned to watch the other games on television.Not Orioles manager Buck Showalter.Ill find something else to do. Maybe even sleep, he said. Theres an interesting thought.Despite Saturdays disappointment, Baltimore could clinch with a victory over the Yankees on Sunday.Mark Trumbo tied his season high with four hits, and the Orioles built a 3-0 lead against Luis Severino on Michael Bourns two-run single in the second and Manny Machados 37th home run. Machados third-inning, opposite-field drive to right ended an 0-for-17 slide.Austin sparked the comeback with an RBI single in the fifth and a home run in the seventh around Chase Headleys run-scoring double in the sixth.With the score 3-all, Brach (10-4) relieved with one out in the eighth and walked pinch-hitter Jacoby Ellsbury. Headley doubled again, just past the glove of diving first baseman Chris Davis and down the right-field line.When things are going bad, its whats going to happen, Brach said. Chase just placed it right. Sometimes its better to place it right than hit it hard.Brach walked Ronald Torreyes with two outs, Drake relieved and Gardner doubled to left. Brach was charged with a season-high four runs, and the All-Star setup man has allowed 13 hits and five walks over 12 1/3 innings since the start of September,Its almost impossible to continue at the level he was pitching for about three-fourths of the season, Showalter said.Tyler Clippard (2-3) pitched a perfect eighth, and Dellin Betances struck out the side after an infield hit in the ninth. The Yankees stopped the Orioles three-game winning streak and sent them to their second loss in eight games.Wieters planned to focus on the other contenders before getting ready for Sunday.Ill watch `em, he said. It would have been nice watching them with the win today.THE EXTRA MILEYComing off an 11-strikeout win over Arizona, Miley fanned nine, walked one and allowed nine hits in six-plus innings.Just a couple of mistakes I made later in the game, he said.Austin fell behind 1-2 in the seventh and worked the count full before the fateful slider.Kind of spun over the middle of the plate, Miley said. He hammered it.EXPANDED ROSTERSShowalter is not a fan of the expansion of active rosters from 25 to 40 from Sept. 1 on, which allows streams of pinch hitters and relief pitchers.This convoluted thing called September, youre just picking your poison, he said, pointing out the Yankees had Gary Sanchez, Brian McCann, Didi Gregorius and Ellsbury on their bench. Its why guys on the field shake their head about the way it is now.STUBBORN MULE?Showalter talked about how his wife had bought a pair of miniature donkeys.She says now she has three jackasses, he cracked.UP NEXTRHP Kevin Gausman (8-12) is scheduled to start Sunday for Baltimore. RHP Luis Cessa (4-3) is slated to pitch for New York. Air Max Scontate Donne . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. Scarpe Air Max 97 Scontate .C. -- After a listless first half, the Washington Wizards used a big third quarter run to beat the Charlotte Bobcats Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Wizards used a 17-0 run in the third quarter to take control of what had been a close game and beat the Bobcats 97-83 on Tuesday night. http://www.airmaxitaliascarpe.it/scarpe-air-max-180-scontate.html .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Scarpe Air Max 360 Scontate . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Air Max 95 Nere Scontate . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. RIO DE JANEIRO -- So much is expected of them, mainly because there is so much talent.For a while during these Olympics, though, it seemed like the U.S. mens basketball team was stuck in some kind of Olympic time warp, complete with a maritime theme.Maybe theres something about staying on boats that brings out the worst in U.S. basketball.Or maybe this team just needed a good kick in the rear to finally get going.Two wins from the gold medal most everyone assumed was a lock going into the games, there is still work to be done. Spain awaits on Friday, and theres a possible rematch with Australia for the gold medal final.But theres now a bit of swagger back in the step, a few more smiles on the faces of players. Some even seemed a bit giddy after the team found a groove of sorts in a blowout win Wednesday over Argentina in the quarterfinals.Turns out playing hard isnt that hard after all.For us its about effort, Paul George said. Weve got talent. We have to match it with effort.Without it, these guys could lose -- Friday, or Sunday.And though they say they realize that, for reasons no one seems quite able to explain, that effort was lacking in three previous games, all of which the U.S. barely won. Some went so far as to suggest that the laid back approach of this team mirrored the lifestyle aboard the luxury cruise ship the players are staying on, much like the team in the disastrous 2004 games in Athens that lost three games and went home with the bronze.It might just be, though, that this team was badly missing some leaders.Still is, since Kobe Bryant is retired and LeBron James is resting comfortably back in the states. Gold medals in Beijing and London testify to the fact no one dared not to play hard with those two in charge.Bryant had once been plotting to be here, before finally deciding that his retirement should be permanent. James decided to sit this one out, understandable after leading Cleveland to an emotionally draining NBA title.Every time I watch `em I wish I was out there, James said in an interview Thursday with ESPN. I did not retire from Team USA. I just did not play this summer.The hope was that Kevin Durant or Carmelo Anthony -- the only players with previous Olympiic experience on the roster -- would fill their roles and blowouts of China and Venezuela to open the Olympics made it look like this was a team growing comfortable with each other.dddddddddddd.Then came a game where Australia banged the Americans around only to fall short in the final minutes. That was followed by 3-point wins over both Serbia and France.Even coach Mike Krzyzewski couldnt seem to get through to this team before something suddenly clicked against Argentina.Fear of embarrassment may have been a motivating factor. No one wanted to be known as the first U.S. mens basketball team to fail to win a medal of any type in the Olympics, though it certainly seemed a possibility.Guys took it personally coming into the game, Durant said.What that means going into Fridays game against Spain is a little hard to figure out. Oddsmakers make the Americans a 13-point favorite, but its a game they could lose if they dont bring consistent defensive pressure on the perimeter, something they just seemed to figure out how to do against Argentina.Playing defense usually means playing hard and playing as a team, and this team has had precious little time together. Though the idea behind Jerry Colangelos restructuring of the U.S. program was to make sure players had plenty of time to get to know each other before an Olympics, there are 10 newcomers here with only a few weeks of practice and play between them.That contrasts to the 2008 team where most of the players were together for three years and had 30 games with each other.In the end, though, desire usually trumps talent. And Spain will be a big test to see just how much desire is there.We played this team plenty of times in international competition so it will be who wants it more, to be honest, Durant said. We can talk about players and what we should do on defense or offense, but who wants it more?The answer will likely determine what color medal this team goes home with.----Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or http://twitter.com/timdahlberg ' ' '