be as good as I can be in the mountains. Thats going to be my focus.In a remarkable piece of showmanship on the final stage in Paris, the riders will race

OAKLAND, Calif. -- It took about four months, along with injuries to some key starters, for Kendall Graveman to evolve from a pitcher at the back end of the Athletics rotation to the anchor of manager Bob Melvins staff.He certainly looked the part against one of the best-hitting teams in baseball, relying heavily on a nasty sinker and an even more effective cut fastball.Graveman pitched seven strong innings, Billy Butler hit a tiebreaking single in the sixth and Oakland beat Baltimore 3-2 on Monday night despite another home run from Orioles slugger Manny Machado.He was kind of splitting the plate with the sinker and cutter today, Melvin said. When he has both those working, he can use both sides of the plate and it can be effective against any team.Stephen Vogt homered, scored twice and had two RBI for the As. Butler added two hits.Machado, who homered in his first three at-bats Sunday, belted his 26th of the season off As reliever Ryan Dull with two outs in the eighth.It wasnt enough to prevent the Orioles from falling into a first-place tie with Toronto in the AL East. The Blue Jays beat Tampa Bay 7-5 earlier Monday.Vogt homered leading off the fourth against starter Kevin Gausman (3-9), walked and scored the go-ahead run in the sixth and added an RBI single in the seventh.Adam Jones had three hits for the Orioles.We wanted to give Kevin some breathing room, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. We saw a lot of groundballs. We knew (Graveman) was on top of his pitching, and he was.Oakland scored three runs total while getting swept in a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs last weekend and didnt get much going against Baltimore, either.Graveman (8-7) and two relievers made three runs hold up.Oaklands best pitcher over the past two months, Graveman allowed one run and six hits with four strikeouts.The second and third time through we started mixing in some of the breaking balls that I havent thrown in the past four or five weeks, Graveman said. I thought that really got hitters off and it kind of got us some early strikes.Dull retired three batters and Ryan Madson worked the ninth for his 23rd save.Gausman pitched well but is winless in 12 road starts this season. He struck out six and allowed two runs over six innings.THE GOOD AND BADAs center fielder Coco Crisp made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Mike Trout of extra bases in the second. The following inning, Crisp and right fielder Danny Valencia appeared to have trouble communicating on Hyun-Soon Kims one-out fly ball that landed just in front of both of them for a single that loaded the bases, one batter before Machado drove in a run. Dannys just starting to play some right field, Melvin said. It might have had something to do with it there.TRAINERS ROOMOrioles: Steve Pearce received a cortisone shot in his right forearm that Showalter hopes will prevent the newly acquired outfielder from having to go on the DL. Pearce has been bothered by a flexor mass strain for the past few days.Athletics: An MRI on RHP Sonny Grays right forearm revealed some inflammation and light fluid buildup but he wont require surgery, Melvin said. ... INF Jed Lowrie (bunion) will see a foot specialist later this week. ... LHP Ross Detwiler will be called up from the minors Wednesday to make his As debut. The left-hander was acquired from Cleveland in a July 17 trade.UP NEXTOrioles: LHP Wade Miley (7-9) makes his second start since getting traded by Seattle. Miley left his Baltimore debut after taking a line drive off his left calf in the fifth inning.Athletics: RHP Zach Neal (1-1) will come out of the bullpen to make his second career start. Neal has not allowed a run in three relief appearances since July 21.Adidas Shoes NZ . 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. Wholesale Adidas Shoes NZ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. http://www.wholesalestansmithnz.com/ . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Cheap Stan Smith NZ Outlet . First off, the fans ripped the Cubbies introduction of a fuzzy new kid-friendly mascot named "Clark". Wholesale Stan Smith NZ From China . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary.PARIS -- For the first time in 25 years, all five mountain ranges of continental France will be featured in next years Tour de France, in a stretched-out endurance test of racing that smiles on the climbing strengths of defending champion Chris Froome and his Colombian rival, Nairo Quintana.In their quest to keep the 113-year-old race young, Tour organizers have again unearthed fresh challenges from the geography of France for the three-week slog, with new climbs and, on stage 18, an unprecedented mountain-top finish on the punishing Col dIzoard high in the Alps -- a rocky, hostile and lunar terrain that could be the final big battleground for the winners check of 500,000 euros ($550,000).Thats going to be one of the really decisive stages, said Froome, the race winner for Team Sky in 2013, 2015 and again this year.Before that, on stage 12 in the Pyrenees, the Tour climbs to the Peyragudes ski station where parts of the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies were filmed in 1997.From its July 1 start in Dusseldorf, Germany, to the July 23 finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the 3,516-kilometer (2,185-mile) route will wind over climbs in the Vosges, Jura, Massif Central, Pyrenees and Alps. Not since the Tour of 1992 have organizers made riders take on all five mountain ranges.It looks hard, said Australian rider Richie Porte, who finished fifth for the BMC Racing team this year.The toughest climbs -- graded two, one and unclassified on cyclings rising scale of difficulty -- will be slightly fewer next year: 23 in total compared to 28 this year and 25 in both 2015 and 2014. But they will be scattered across a 14 day-spread, rather than being concentrated in two blocks in the Alps and Pyrenees, and will include six especially teeth-grindingly steep ascents. The Col du Grand Colombier in the Jura has 22-percent gradients. Riders will have to arrive at the Tour in good climbing form, and maintain that strength, to compete for the title.With just three mountain-top finishes, including the Izoard, that are so often decisive on the Tour, title contenders like Froome may have to also race hard on other terrains to shake off their rivals.Its definitely going to be a climbers race from what I can tell, Froome, who was at the route unveiling in Paris, told cyclingnews.com. Its very light on time-trial kilometres but thats all part of the race and thats something Im going to have to focus my training on, being the best I can be on the climbs.Certaainly, from my first reaction there were quite a few stages going up over 2,000 metres.ddddddddddddThe Izoard goes up to 2,300 metres; thats going to be an absolute beast of a stage. Initial feelings are that its going to be a race that is won or lost in the mountains. Of course, its the Tour and anything can happen so we have to be ready for all eventualities.Just five days in, the 198 riders will face the relatively short but very sharp shock of climbing to the Planche des Belles Filles ski station in the Vosges, with leg-searing 20-percent gradients, in eastern France.The first big shake-up, Porte said.With little time for riders to catch their breath, the Tour then swings south for more climbs on stages eight and nine in the Jura, before crossing France to the west.The peloton will spend one very long day -- 214 kilometers (133 miles) -- followed by one short one -- 100 kilometers (62 miles) -- in the Pyrenees. The race then heads north again to the Massif Central range, where climbs and possible strong winds up high could catch out unwitting riders on stage 15 to Le Puy-en-Velay, part of it on roads so off the beaten track that they dont appear on some maps.The sort of stage where we can hope for unusual things to happen, said race director Thierry Gouvenou, who helped draw up the route.Two individual time trials -- the first over 13 kilometers (8 miles) on day one in Dusseldorf; the last, over 23 kilometers (14 miles), on the penultimate stage in Marseille -- will bookend the Tour before the finish in Paris but promise to be too short to be decisive in the overall outcome.Its very light on time trials, so, for sure, the race is going to be won or lost depending on what happens in the mountains, said Froome, who named two-time runner-up Quintana first among his list of expected rivals. Im going to have to be as good as I can be in the mountains. Thats going to be my focus.In a remarkable piece of showmanship on the final stage in Paris, the riders will race through the iconic Grand Palais, a giant steel-and-glass structure built for the worlds fair in 1900, on their way to the sprint finish on the Champs-Elysees, with the aim of highlighting one of the sites that could be used for Olympic events if Paris wins its bid to host the 2024 Games.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '