festive as it was Thursday, but it will be interesting to

NEW YORK -- For most of the season, the offense was under-whelming for the New York Yankees.Recently, the offense has picked up and because it has, the Yankees are in the midst of a race for a wild card spot in the American League.After two extremely productive showings at the plate, the Yankees will attempt to have another and inch closer in the race Sunday in the finale of a three-game series with the Baltimore Orioles.In the two games, the Yankees have put up some big numbers. They have 27 runs, are hitting .429 and are 14-for-27 with runners in scoring position in this series.The productivity continued Saturday with a 13-5 win when rookie Gary Sanchez reached 11 home runs faster than any player. Sanchez did it in his 23rd game when he connected off Dylan Bundy in the fourth inning.Its unbelievable, Yankees shortstop Starlin Castro said. I think that he is impressive. Its fun to watch. Every time he goes to the plate, we feel like something is going to happen in a good way and its really fun to watch.Castro also homered and had four hits, while every starter had a hit and five had multiple hit games.Because of the energized offense featuring Sanchez in the middle of the lineup, the Yankees are 2 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot.They were 5 1/2 games out on Aug. 1 after completing a sell-off that netted 11 prospects and led many to believe the season was over.I told you we were here to win games and I really liked some of the things we did bringing up some of the young kids, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.I thought they could help us. I know that obviously we traded our leading RBI and home run guy and two really good relievers. But I still felt there was enough talent in that room to win and we need to continue to do it.While the Yankees seem to be gaining momentum with each win, things seem to be slipping away from the Orioles, especially on the mound.After allowing 18 hits in consecutive games for the first time since August 1993 and 13 runs in consecutive games for the first time since May 2011, the Orioles have a 4.52 ERA, which an offense with 202 home runs cant compensate for.Baltimore has lost eight of its last 12 games since Aug. 15, when it last held any share of first place. The Orioles have allowed eight runs in five of their last nine games and have an 8.23 ERA since Aug. 17.Whats going on right now doesnt surprise anybody, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. Theyre all challenging times and our guys always respond well.The Orioles had the offense by hitting five home runs. Chris Davis homered twice and Mark Trumbo added his 39th, but it was hardly enough since Baltimore continued struggling on the mound.Its just not going for us, Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado said. Nothing really, really to it. Just not getting any hits, clean hits. Just out-hitting us. Theyre doing what they need to be doing, and were not. Nothings falling for us. No excuses.The Orioles also wont make any excuses if they have to attempt to avoid a sweep without Adam Jones. Jones grounded out to third to start Fridays game and was pulled with a left hamstring strain in the second inning.Jones did not start Saturday and is unlikely to play Sunday.The Yankees began this series by starting two rookies, Luis Cessa and Chad Green. Another young pitcher was originally scheduled to go, but the Yankees announced CC Sabathia would start Sunday and Michael Pineda would go Monday in Kansas City.Sabathias numbers against Baltimore might have something to do with it and the fact that he is coming off a solid seven-inning performance in Seattle when he allowed a run and three hits Monday.He pitched 12 scoreless innings in Baltimore May 4 and June 5, and Sabathia allowed four runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings July 21 while opposing Chris Tillman.Sabathia is 19-8 with a 3.33 ERA in 36 career starts against Baltimore. With the Yankees, he is 14-8 with a 3.67 ERA in 27 starts and at Yankee Stadium, he is 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in nine starts.Sabathia also has done well against Baltimores top hitters. Jones is 19-for-75 (.253), Machado is 11-for-43 (.256), Davis is 8-for-39 (.205), Matt Wieters is 7-for-43 (.163) and Trumbo is 6-for-25 (.240).This season those players are a combined 3-for-33 against Sabathia.After the sub-par results from Yovani Gallardo and Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman starts for the Orioles.Gausman is 0-9 with a 5.32 ERA in 13 outings away from Baltimore but one of the right-handers best road starts was a 2-1 loss in New York when he allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.In three starts against the Yankees, the Orioles have scored six runs for him, and Gausman has allowed three runs in 20 2/3 innings.Gausmans numbers against the Yankees reflect his recent performance as he is 3-2 with a 3.03 ERA in his last five starts. Gausman last pitched during Tuesdays 8-1 win against Washington and allowed six hits in six scoreless innings.Denny McLain Jersey . 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Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea.RIO DE JANEIRO -- American volleyball player Taylor Sander said he didnt really notice the crowd noise Thursday night during his teams match against Brazil because he was in a zone, and when youre in the zone, you dont really notice that kind of stuff.If so, he was in a zone that included earplugs, noise-canceling headphones and the worlds largest cone of silence because it was virtually impossible not to notice Thursdays boisterous crowd. It was so loud you probably could have heard back in the United States, even if you had Beyoncé playing at a full 11 on your earbuds.Whereas other venues have often been half-full at these Olympics, the Maracanazinho volleyball arena swelled with fans who were tossing large beach balls around, swaying to the music, waving national flags, roaring for their team and shouting their Brazil chant again and again and again and again. Heck, they even were bouncing to the old hit YMCA at one point. Granted, their chants of YMCA werent quite as loud as other things they shouted, but it is a 40-year-old song in English, after all.It was crazy, wild, incredible and just so fun, U.S player Erik Shoji said. We took it that we were the underdogs and we knew the fans would be against us because we were playing Brazil. But its crazy and its loud and its fun and it just helps give us energy out there. The noise just fires us up. Its the hardest thing in the word to play in a silent gym.There are some great atmospheres out there in the world, but Brazilian fans are really knowledgeable. Tonight was just a fun match and you could see they had a lot of fun out there.Well, the Brazilian fans had some fun, but they certainly did not go home quite as happy as when they arrived (especially considering the traffic jam outside the arena). Thats because the U.S. team, which had lost its first two matches here, upset the top-ranked Brazilians 3-1. The Americans won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-23, lost the third 20-25 wwith a slightly sluggish performance, then dominated in the fourth to win 25-20.ddddddddddddEvidently, the fans did fire up the Americans, even if some players were in the zone.Thats what we needed tonight, coach John Speraw said. Its the Olympic Games and we hadnt been playing very well. In order to get a win against a great team, we had to fight for every point.In addition to the huge Brazilian crowd, there were some U.S. fans in the stands as well, holding up their flags and backing their country. But when they started a U-S-A! U-S-A! chant, the Brazilian fans quickly booed them into silence.It was a little hostile but great, Matt Anderson said. Brazil is a great place to play volleyball. The fans are so intense. They understand the game, so they know whats happening. There is so much emotion. You get it from the fans, you get it from the players, you get it from the other team, you get it from the coaches. Our caches are so animated. Theyre loud because they have to be loud [to be heard]. And it just creates a lot of energy.Now 1-2 and in fifth place in Pool A of the preliminary round, the U.S. takes on second-place France on Saturday. The atmosphere probably wont be as festive as it was Thursday, but it will be interesting to see how the Brazilian fans react to the American players after watching them beat their own country.Last year came here to play and it was situation that if we won a certain way, Brazil was out of the tournament, but if we lost they were still in it. We won and knocked them out, Anderson said. Brazil has always cheered for us -- except when we play them, of course, -- but ever since then, theyve been against us.Still, as Anderson and Shoji said, if they do get booed, everything will be fine ... just so long as they are booed loud enough to get fired up, even inside the zone. ' ' '