"It's frustrating," he said. "It's not how we want to start it."
They were upset by the Australians, who won in 3 minutes, 11.00 seconds.
France took the silver in 3:11.14 and the U.S. team of Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Jason Lezak and Nathan Adrian earned the bronze in 3:11.96.
Sport stops
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren won a hard-fought German Grand Prix in Nuerburgring, fending off challenges from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber of Red Bull for his second victory of the season . . . Will Power won the Edmonton Indy, taking a bite out of the points lead of reigning series champion Dario Franchitti.
Uruguay won the Copa America soccer title for a record 15th time, beating Paraguay, 3-0, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Stacy May-Johnson hit a grand slam and Christi Orgeron had a three-run double in a 10-run fourth inning, and the United States advanced to the World Cup of Softball championship game by beating Great Britain, 10-0, in Oklahoma City.
Gilles Simon became the first Frenchman in 25 years to win the German Open, beating Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in Hamburg.
