For the 16th straight game, the Giants held their opponents to under three runs but it didn't matter because they scored, well, none as the Cubs shutout San Francisco 2-0. Randy Wells scattered six hits and struck out six over 7.2 innings for his eighth win of the season and Carlos Marmol came in in the top of the eighth to get the Cubs out of a jam; Marmol slammed the door shut with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 34th save of the year. Offensively, the Cubs got a boost from Kosuke Fukudome who delivered a solo homer in the third and Koyie Hill scored on a wild pitch in the fifth. Interim manager Mike Quade said the Cubs, who are utilizing a large number of youngsters in the season's final month, still have something to play for: "The rally cry right now is, 'Look, we've got 12 left, and give everything we've got for 12. That's not just 22-year-olds [on the team] -- that's 30-year-olds as well. How you get that out of those guys I think depends on how you use them, and I think you'll get it out of them if you use them correctly." And right now, the Cubs are playing spoiler for the Giants who are locked in the throes of their own pennant race. The two teams square off once more this evening (6:05 p.m., CSN). more ›

There's an Emmylou Harris song that goes, "But one thing they don't tell you about the Blues/ When you got em/ You keep on falling cause there ain't no bottom." That must be about how the White Sox feel right now as they lost their eighth straight game and the shot at the playoffs seems as distance as the Cubs' right now after last night's 7-2 loss to Oakland. In fact, the loss officially eliminated the Sox from playoff contention last night, all hope of a once-in-a-million-years miracle comeback gone. Mark Buehrle gave up 11 hits and five runs over six innings pitched while reliever Lucas Harrell gave up two more. After the game, Ozzie reflected on the elimination: more ›

The Sox hoped a trip to the Left Coast would be the cure for their recent woes but it didn't cure much as starter Gavin Floyd left the game early and the A's would eventually break through for a 3-0 win. After only seven pitches in the first inning, Floyd left the game with tightness in his shoulder and Tony Pena came on for six scoreless innings of relief. But the A's finally notched a trio of runs in the eighth inning off of reliever Scott Linebrink while the Sox offense could only scatter four hits the entire game. Not that they didn't have their chances: they had runners in scoring position in the second, fifth, and sixth innings and even had the bases loaded in the fourth but couldn't push any runs across the plate. The loss drops the Sox to 11 games back of the Twins as their losing streak has now hit seven straight. Said Ozzie, "It was a late night last night. Today it was kind of flat. Today was kind of a lousy game. We had something going on on the bases, with two outs we strike out. If we have to make an excuse, hopefully that's an excuse for the way we played today." The Sox will try to pull out of their tailspin when Mark Buehrle takes the mound tonight (9:05 p.m., WGN). more ›

Sox Shutdown A's more ›

The Cubs did their best to rally from an early deficit last night but ultimately fell 6-5 as the Rockies took the game on a walk-off homer. Down 5-2 in the eighth, Derrek Lee belted a three-run homer to tie the game at 5-5. But in the bottom of the ninth, Sean Marshall gave up the winning homer to the Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez, who also completed the cycle with the game-winning homer. The loss came at a particularly cruel time for some Cubs, just hours after Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot were traded to the Dodgers. Said starter Tom Gorzelanny, "These are great teammates. To lose two guys like that, it's tough. To see them go, it's sad. I know they'll be able to go there and do good things for that team." Last night's game also saw the return of Carlos Zambrano who pitched a brief stint in the seventh inning. The Cubs, losers of four straight, try to salvage the series this afternoon when they send Carlo Silva to the mound (2:10 p.m., CSN). more ›

White Sox rookie Lucas Harrell, called up to replace the traded Daniel Hudson, got off to a shaky start - walking the bases loaded in the second inning - but shook off the first start jitters and paced the Sox to a 6-1 win over Oakland, extending the Sox' win streak to five games. The Sox also gave Harrell the offensive support he needed; tied 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth, the Sox batted around for three more runs thanks to RBI from A.J. Pierzynski, Andruw Jones, and Gordon Beckham. Paul Konerko and Beckham added runs later in the game as the Sox continued to cruise. Said the rookie Harrell of his debut: "It was definitely good once I got here, because it was kind of a long flight and the time I had between going to the airport and all the anticipation building up, I was excited." The Sox are excited, too, and John Danks keeps the wins coming tonight in game two of the weekend series (6:05 p.m., CSN). more ›

The Cubs battled back from an early hole but couldn't take advantage of men on base in a 4-3 extra-inning loss to the Cardinals, preventing a Cubs' sweep. The Cubs put the lead-off man on in each of the first five innings, giving themselves plenty of chances. But the team went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left a total of nine men on base for the whole game. Marlon Byrd knocked in a run for the Cubs in the fourth and the Cubs took the lead in the fifth thanks to RBI from Ryan Theriot and Starlin Castro but the Cards scored in the sixth off of Ryan Dempster (7 IP, 9H, 3ER, 4K) to tie it up. The Cubs still had chances, putting the winning run in scoring position in the ninth and again in the tenth, when they loaded the bases. But nothing came of it and the Cards scored off of reliever Brian Schlitter in the top of the 11th to take the lead for good. The Cubs stay in the NL Central even as they hit the road for Houston where they kick off a new series against the Astros tonight (7:05 p.m., CSN). more ›

Cubs Hold Off Cards more ›

The Sox took advantage of some Oakland mistakes to score and starter Mark Buehrle threw a complete game as the Sox bounced back from Wednesday's loss to Seattle and opened their series with Oakland with a 5-1 win. Carlos Quentin had two RBI despite not being crediting with a hit and A.J. Pierzynski added two more in the top of the ninth with a two-run single. The win moved the Sox to 4-4 since the break and they're 2.5 games up on Detroit and three games up on the Twins in the AL Central. The two teams square off again later this afternoon (3:10 p.m., FOX). more ›

Cubs Edge A's more ›

Sox Keep Winning more ›

Sox Best Bucs more ›

It was the Brett Anderson show at The Cell this afternoon as the Oakland starting pitcher stymied the White Sox lineup en route to a 7-0 Oakland victory. Anderson threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only six hits to the Sox. Meanwhile, Sox start Mark Buehrle gave up four runs in eight innings and Octavio Dotel gave up three more in the top of the ninth. There weren't really many highlights for the Sox in the course of the game as it was the eighth time the Sox were shut out this season. It was the Sox third-straight loss, all to Oakland; Cleveland comes to town for a weekend series starting tomorrow night. more ›

Cubs Hook Fish With Big Seventh more ›

Cubs Edged By Fish more ›

Ward Lifts Cubs Past Fish more ›

Late last year one of Belmont Avenue’s staple boutique shops, Tragically Hip, moved down the block. (Relax! It’s not gone!) Instead of being replaced with yet another trendy clothing store, we were surprised to see an entirely new idea move in. The space is now home to 20 Seconds, a store devoted to selling all the self-defense and survival gear any rape-fearing urbanite could possibly need. more ›

Even though Chicago (the band) haven't called the city home in close to forty years and their later focus on lite rock didn't end with the departure of Peter Cetera, there was a time when they could kill live. more ›

Sumei Hu, the Wisconsin woman who disappeared from O'Hare a few weeks ago, contacted her family to let them know she's OK. Police have ruled her disappearance a "voluntary absence," and say that Hu is "fine." more ›

CTA President Ron Huberman, quickly becoming our favorite public official, unveiled an epic improvement plan for the CTA yesterday. Whew! The 75-page .pdf outlines his plan, though questions like "where will this money come from" remain. more ›

We sometimes wonder how many people think seeing a dance performance will be something like out of The Big Lebowski. But considering the depth and versatility of the Chicago dance scene, finding a dance show really becomes a matter of how you prefer to be entertained, rather than expecting to be disappointed. more ›

Given that the team has gone a whole century without a World Series title, has repeatedly been bounced from the playoffs in quick fashion, and suffered some truly epic collapses (1969, 2003), surely there are countless Cubs fans with broken hearts. more ›

Delilah's held their annual vintage strong ale fest Saturday afternoon. As a beer lover, we could ask for nothing more. We had the opportunity to sample vintage barrel-aged selections from over 20 breweries. Many of the breweries represented brought different vintages of the same ales, which made for some interesting vertical tastings. Sierra Nevada came correct, with selections of their Bigfoot Barley Wine ranging from 1998 to present-day. more ›

Just squeaking in before the NBA's Thursday afternoon trading deadline, the Bulls made a big move by moving Big Ben. more ›

Ah, late February in Chicago. Cubs tickets go on sale today, there's a forecast for a high temperature above 35 degrees next week, and thousands of indie rock kids around Chicago will soon be shedding their parkas for high-priced hoodies bought from Wicker Park boutiques (tip: ours cost us $12 at Target!) for several worthwhile shows around the Chicago area. Lots of tickets go on sale this weekend. So, despite this crappy weather, there is, in the words of Spoon, "something to look forward to." more ›

When it's this cold and icy, the last thing we can imagine doing is sitting outside at a ball game. But spring will one day arrive, and we're sure some of you will want to spend time enjoying the nicer weather at Wrigley Field. more ›

Governor Blagojevich delivered his State of the State and budget address today. He wants to pass a capital bill based on privatizing the Illinois lottery, and says he has "three clear and achievable goals" for our state's economy: 1. "Invest in our infrastructure" 2. "Relief for families" and 3."Tax cuts for businesses." more ›

MeTV has been a not-so-guilty pleasure of ours for awhile. Its non-stop parade of vintage TV is a balm to our soul. In fact, we have a Sunday evening routine of sorts. If we're at home, at ten minutes before 5 we fix ourselves a dry martini, with two bleu-cheese stuffed olives, and settle down for back-to-back episodes of Night Gallery (occasionally continuing on for some Twilight Zone if we're feeling especially couch potatoey). more ›

From the Sunday Tribune: more men are dropping the razors and freeing their inner caveman. Citing celebrities such as George Clooney, who wore one in , men are finding it easier to let their facial hair grow out. TIME magazine, in an article on the latest beard "revolution", called the increased prevalence of beards "an act of rebellion" and that the men growing them are "trying to prove they are no corporate slave." more ›