Spieleecke » at-bat here.Matheny said he thinks Holliday wants to con

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Skies and pools both darkened Wednesday as the sun-splashed Olympics in Rio de Janeiro gave way to gray clouds and murky green waters.The Rio Games were drenched in rain and continued questions about why the diving well and water polo pools look so much like neglected aquariums.The first American male basketball player to appear in four Olympics, Carmelo Anthony passed LeBron James as the national teams most prolific scorer. The U.S. mens basketball team needed every one of his 31 points as they got their first good test in fending off Australia 98-88.Katie Ledeckys strong final leg helped the U.S. women win the 4x200 freestyle relay over silver medalist Australia.Brazil finally found its scoring touch in the mens soccer tournament at the Olympics, the host country advancing to the quarterfinals by beating Denmark 4-0 and avoiding an embarrassing elimination in front of the home fans. Brazil plays Colombia in Sao Paulo on Saturday.The third day of the mens water polo tournament began in green-tinged water, though not nearly as dark as the neighboring diving pool at the aquatics center. It was crystal blue the day before.Water quality has been a major issue surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but in the ocean and lagoons, not pools.A decrease in the alkaline level in the diving well Tuesday afternoon led to the green color, organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said. He added that the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming is being affected in the same way but we expect the color to be back to blue very shortly.Rio organizers insisted the athletes werent at risk in the green pools.They were on the waters and slippery roadways, though.Strong winds rattled palm trees along the coast and whipped up waves on the scenic lagoon where rowing was postponed for a full day for the second time this week. With winds too blustery, rowers packed up their oars for the day as cyclists hit slick roads on skinny time-trial bikes unsuited to harsh weather conditions.Under dark skies, the cyclists faced lashing rain and wind on the time-trial course along Rios southern coast. The conditions might have cost Ellen van Dijk of the Netherlands a medal. She slid off the road and got tangled in weeds before finishing fourth.American Kristin Armstrong won the race.With the cooler weather, away went the bare skin and out came the full leggings and long-sleeve shirts in beach volleyball as temperatures dipped into the lower 60s after sunset, the coldest night yet.Other highlights from Day 5 at the Rio Games:SWIMMING SHOCKER : Kazakhstan has its first Olympic swimming medal, and its golden. Dmitriy Balandin pulled off a stunning upset in the mens 200-meter breaststroke, winning from the eighth lane to put his central Asian country on the swimming medal stand for the first time. Yosuhiro Koseki of Japan went out fast and was more than a second under world-record pace at the final turn but faded to fifth. Josh Prenot of the United States claimed silver and Anton Chupkov of Russia landed the bronze.EBNER ELIMINATED : Nate Ebner, the safety for the New England Patriots who took a break from training camp to fulfill his Olympic dream, sprinted from almost halfway to score a try in the right corner against Fiji to make it 24-19, piling the pressure on Madison Hughes. But the U.S. captain and goal kicker missed the conversion from out wide, leaving the margin at five. Less than that and the Americans would have advanced.ROWING AT RISK : Twenty-two races, including the first two medal races, were postponed in the regatta but international rowing federation director Matt Smith said theres still room on the schedule without having to resort to drastic measures -- even if competition is also called off Thursday.LIFES A BEACH : The American beach volleyball team of Jake Gibb and Casey Patterson were eliminated from the Olympics on a tiebreaker. Thats the first U.S mens team to fail to advance out of pool play since the 2004 Athens Games. On the womens side, April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings defeated Switzerland and boisterously celebrated after the match. But the Americans lost a set -- something that has happened only once to Walsh Jennings in the last three Olympics.---AP Summer Games website: http://summergames.ap.org---Follow AP Sports Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton Oakland Athletics Store . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Stitched Athletics Jerseys .C. -- Al Jefferson joked that he feels he can score from anywhere on the court. https://www.cheapathleticsonline.com/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Athletics Jerseys China . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Cheap Athletics Jerseys . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. ST. LOUIS -- In what was billed as a largely ceremonial pinch-hitting appearance, Matt Holliday hit a home run Friday night.The St. Louis Cardinals activated the outfielder before playing the Pittsburgh Pirates so that fans at Busch Stadium could bid the seven-time All-Star goodbye in one of the final three regular-season games.Holliday was greeted with a loud standing ovation from an announced crowd of 43,070, but that was nothing compared to the greeting after he hit reliever?Zach Phillips third pitch to him over the right-field wall. It was the first pinch-hit home run of Hollidays 13-year major league career.Cardinals players also greeted Holliday with a standing ovation, and he was mobbed in the dugout before coming out for a curtain call.The Cardinals went on to win 7-0.I still have chills, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. To watch how the fans responded, we had a great crowd tonight, and every one of them made that extremely special for him. And how he responded, thats, yeah, amazing. Very special night.General manager John Mozeliak said before the game that he spoke with Holliday earlier this week and informed him the odds of the team picking up his $17 million option for 2017 were low.Most people who have options and they ask me in season, I simply tell them, Look, well deal with that when the time comes. In his case, I feel hes earned the type of respect and had the type of career here that he had that right, Mozeliak said.The Cardinals said Holliday was too emotional to meet with reporters before the game, but he released a statement through the team that read, in part: It has been an honor to play in front of such great fans and for such a historic organization. I can honestly say it has been a dream come true. While Im disappointed this could be it here in St. Louis, I understand that it might be time to move on.Holliday, 36, expressed his love and admiration for Matheny, former manager Tony La Russa and the coaches with whom he worked.The most emotional part of this is my teammates andd the relationships Ive built with some of these guys over the years, particularly,?Adam [Wainwright] and Yadi [Molina], to be considered part of the core with two of the finest human beings Ive ever known, Holliday said.dddddddddddd.Holliday had faced live pitching just once since he was hit by a pitch in July, which required surgery on his thumb.Its been tough for him because he wants to be back, Wainwright said. Each time he went out and hit batting practice, his thumb would swell up, and nobody wants to have surgery and then have it swell up. I think he just wanted to get out there and play, help the team win. Hes a great hitter, one of the best hitters of this generation. Hes been a great Cardinal, but I know he did not want to sit on the bench and not get another at-bat here.Matheny said he thinks Holliday wants to continue playing beyond this season. Holliday entered Friday batting .247, the lowest average of his career, but the home run Friday gave him 20 for the sixth time in his past seven seasons.I dont think theres a question about that, at least in conversations weve had, Matheny said.The Cardinals acquired Holliday from the Oakland Athletics in 2009, then signed him to a seven-year, $120 million extension the following offseason. Over nearly 1,000 games with the Cardinals entering Friday, Holliday had collected a .292/.379/.493 line.Once the Cardinals decline his option in November, he will get a $1 million buyout.Hollidays extension is viewed as one of the few multiyear free-agent deals in which the player lived up to it throughout its length.Very rare, especially a deal of that length. I feel grateful, Mozeliak said. As I mentioned, Ive always admired him as a player, even before we traded for him, thought he was one of those gritty, hard-working individuals. But getting to know him, getting to see how he is as a person, Ive gained tremendous respect for him. ' ' '