Cubs, Ramirez Rally Past Phils If this is a "playoff preview" like some think, then Cubs fans have to be feeling pretty good. Despite falling behind 4-1, the Cubs rallied past the Phils 6-4, thanks to a big eight inning with a Mike Fontenot homer and an Aramis Ramirez grand slam. Ryan Dempster pitched six innings, giving up all four Phillies runs; Bob Howry pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Kerry Wood closed......

Cubs Sweep Pirates Now that's National League baseball. Behind a strong performance from Jason Marquis (seven innings, five hits, no runs, three K's), the Cubs topped the Pirates 2-0 to sweep the series. The Cubs played small ball in the seventh to score their runs: Reed Johnson scored on a Ronny Cedeno groundout and Mark DeRosa scored on a suicide squeeze by Henry Blanco. The Cubs finished the season series with Pittsburgh, going 14-4 against......

Cubs Rally Past Pirates In a score more appropriate for a Bears-Steelers defensive struggle, the Cubs outlasted the PIrates 14-9 in a game where effective pitching was nowhere to be found. Geovany Soto was the definite MVP of the game, knocking in seven runs and scoring three. Alfonso Soriano went three-for-six and scored twice. Carols "The Molar" Zambrano struggled in the first inning, giving up three runs. Overall, he gave up six runs in four......

Starting Thursday, Major League Baseball will begin using instant replay for some home run calls. For now, video will be used only on so-called "boundary calls," such as determining whether fly balls went over the fence, whether potential home runs were fair or foul and whether there was fan interference on potential home runs. The crew chief decides when to use the replay, when to reverse a call, and where to place runners. Lou, Ozzie,......

Cubs Take Series From Nats On the back of another Mark DeRosa home run and seven huge innings from Rich Harden, the Cubs took game three and the series from the Washington Nationals with a 6-1 victory. Harden struck out 11 en route to his ninth victory of the season. Geovany Soto and K-Fuk added two-run shots of their own as the Cubs hit the road for a three-game series in Pittsburgh to begin the......

Cubs Crush Nats A pair of Aramis Ramirez three-run homers and a strong outing from Ryan Dempster helped the Cubs cruise past the visiting Washington Nationals 9-2 on Saturday afternoon. Dempster gave up eight hits but allowed only one run in seven and a third innings of work to to tie his career-high with his 15th win of the season. Said Dempster, "The most I've ever won in my career is 15, and it's nice......

Cubs Slip to Reds In spite of a stellar outing for Ted Lilly (including a no-hitter through five innings), the Cubs weren't able to generate any offense as they fell to the Cincinnati Reds 2-1. Lilly gave up two runs over seven innings and struck out seven. Of course, more impressive was Reds' starter Bronson Arroyo, who only gave up one run and three hits. Said Lilly, ""I was throwing the ball pretty good. "I......

White Sox Pummel Mariners, Take Back First Place The Emotional Roller-Coaster That Is The 2008 Chicago White Sox™ continues: despite giving up three first inning runs, the White Sox overcame the shaky start to blast the visiting Seattle Mariners, 13-5, and climb back into first place. Mark Buehrle gave up all five runs on eleven hits in five and 2/3 innings of work, but got plenty of support from his offense to earn the win.......

Cubs Edged By Fish Sean Marshall was outdueled by Anibal Sanchez as the Cubs lost to the Marlins 2-1, ending their road winning streak at nine games. Henry Blanco's solo home run in the fourth was the only offense the Cubs mustered off of Sanchez. Not that Marshall was a slouch himself: he gave up only two runs and struck out eight in five innings. Hanley Ramirez provided an offensive spark for the Marlins right......

In the heat of a division race, with a pitching staff that's seen its ERA climb in each of the past four months, the last thing the White Sox needed was to lose a part of their starting rotation. In fact, the Sox were hoping to get back a key component of their rotation when Jose Contreras, who'd been out since July 13 because of elbow tendinitis, pitched Saturday night. Instead, they lost Contreras to......

Cubs Take Series From Cards Taking advantage of Cardinal miscues and a strong outing from Ryan Dempster, the Cubs took the final game of their series with the Cardinals, 6-2. Dempster gave up two runs on six hits over six and 2/3 innings. The Cubs offensive spark came in the sixth inning when a pair of Cardinal errors led to five runs as the Cubs tagged the Cards (still struggling) bullpen. Mark DeRosa and Ronny......

According to a new analysis from Forbes magazine, Cubs fans are the fourth most loyal in baseball, behind the Rangers, Red Sox and Braves. Loyalty here is measured as the relationship between winning percentage and attendance since 1991: "The faster that fans boosted attendance and the more hastily they abandoned poor performance indicated fans who were less loyal." Baseball's least-loyal? Angels fan. [Forbes]......

When Wrigley Field joined the 20th century and added lights to the stadium in 1988, part of the team's agreement with the city banned night games on Fridays or Saturdays. Now the Cubs want that ban lifted. The Cubs and the city originally agreed to 18 night games per season at the Friendly Confines. Later amendments have increased that total to 30, but the weekend ban remains in place. The Cubs claim that their desire......

The White Sox limp home after a 10-game road trip that most certainly did not end on a high note Sunday. The team lost 14-3 to the lowly Kansas City Royals, in a game that saw a bench clearing brawl and numerous ejections. With the bases loaded, Sox pitcher D.J. Carrasco hit the Royals' Miguel Olivo with a pitch, which the ump called intentional. That lead to the melee, and the ejection of both Carrasco......

Perhaps a few years later than initially expected, the White Sox are rumored to be acquiring Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. before today's trading, deadline according to FoxSports. The deal, in which the Sox will give up prospects, is supposedly awaiting Griffey's approval—he's a 10-and-5 player—before being officially announced. With the Sox in first place at the deadline, GM Ken Williams is looking to add the final pieces to ensure his team can compete through......

Even before William Ligue Jr. ran onto the field at Comiskey Park and attacked a Royals coach, Cubs fans have tried to pin the undeserving "violent" label as a negative stereotype of Sox fans [Ed.'s note: It probably has something to do with incidents like this]. Never mind that Ligue admitted to actually being a Cubs fan... or that it was outside Wrigley Field that a fan was shot and killed [Ed's note: Touché, Lipsman].......

We told you earlier about the big brawl down in Peoria last night. And now there's video. It look like it's been filmed by the kids from Cloverfield, so watch at your own risk if you get motion sickness. In a related note, President Bush is visiting Peoria today, and being a former baseball owner, we're wondering if he'll weigh in on the mess.......

The Peoria Chiefs — the Cubs' Class A Midwest League affiliate — took part in a major league bench clearing brawl Thursday night (video here) with the Dayton Dragons. Fifteen players and both managers were ejected from the game as a result of the melee and one fan was taken to the hospital after being hit by a ball thrown by pitcher Julio Castillo. He'd been aiming for the Dayton dugout. Guess we know why......

The Tribune is reporting that longtime newspaperman, historian, Baseball Hall-of-Famer and Chicago native Jerome Holtzman has passed away over the weekend from a major stroke at the age of 82. Born on December 11, 1926, Mr. Holtzman began his career as a copyboy at the Chicago Daily News. He eventually wrote for every major local daily published in this city before retiring from the Tribune in 1999 to become the official historian for Major League......

Lord, the All Star Break has seemed almost as tortuously long as the All Star Game itself. But we're finally back to ball as both the Sox and Cubs hit the field tonight for the first time since Sunday. While both teams stand at the top of their division, most national attention will be focused on the Cubs as they try to snap their century-long title drought. We shudder at the number of times the......

We know plenty of people whose devotion to the Cubs borders on the religious. So maybe it's not that surprising that there's a new way to show fandom: being interred in a Cubs mausoleum. Beyond the Vines, a Cubs-themed final resting place to be constructed in Bohemian National Cemetery, will include a stained-glass replica of the Wrigley scoreboard and is the first sports-devoted tomb in the United States. There are only 280 urn-spots available though,......

Carlos Zambrano remained in demigod form in Wednesday's 5-1 whipping of the Cincinnati Reds at Wrigley. Zambrano, who has a 0.64 ERA in his last two outings, allowed one hit, one run and no walks in eight innings to earn his 10th win of the season. That's 10 wins before the All-Star break, not to mention (though we're mentioning it) a stint on the DL that caused him to miss a few starts. With the......

Broom sales are booming in Chicago for the second straight week after the White Sox completed the three-game sweep of the Cubs at U.S. Cellular Field this weekend, a week after the Cubs did the same thing at Wrigley. The fireworks began early on Friday afternoon, when Nick Swisher's grand slam capped a seven-run third inning as the Sox demolished the Cubs 10-3 in the series opener. In Saturday's contest, the Sox jumped out......

The fight between longtime Bridgeport staple Jimbo's lounge and landlords Ray and Donna DeGrazia took an unexpected twist when recent court filings indicated that the DeGrazias had reached an oral agreement to replace Jimbo's with a John Barleycorn. Barleycorn owner Sam Sanchez eventually backed out of the deal due to the continuing court battles and twists involving Jimbo's protracted eviction, which even owners Jimbo and Joyce Levato admitted is ultimately an academic conclusion. Still,......

Ozzie Guillen didn't like Wrigley Field before. He certainly doesn't like it any better today after his White Sox dropped all three games to the Cubs in the first installment of the crosstown showdown. Aramis Ramirez helped the Cubs come from behind to win 4-3, with two home runs that included the ninth-inning walk-off. The Cubs didn't wait until the end of the game to take a lead on Saturday, jumping out to an......

Are you excited for this weekend, baseball fans? Chicagoist is! This afternoon, the Cubs and White Sox play the first of three games at Wrigley Field, and fans across our fine city are showing their team pride -- no bandwagon jumpers here. And for the first time since interleague play began, both of our teams enter the Red Line rivalry in first place in their respective divisions. Will we be watching a preview of......

Did that old goat curse claim itself another victim? Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano left last night's game in the seventh inning after feeling discomfort in his shoulder. Zambrano will fly back to Chicago for an MRI this morning to determine whether there's any damage or not. There is some thought that the pain might be associated with a stiff neck that began bothering Z about a month ago. Since that time, he's just 2-2 with......

This afternoon, the Cubs and San Diego Padres face off in the final Hall of Fame Game -- an exhibition held annually since 1940 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York. MLB President and Chief Operating Officer Bob DuPuy explained the reason for ending the game: Given the complexities of the Major League schedule and all its inherent challenges, it has become increasingly difficult in recent years to find a suitable date and make the......

Alfonso Soriano's roller coaster season took another plunge on yesterday when Atlanta Brave Jeff Bennett's 0-2 pitch hit the Cubs outfielder in the hand, breaking it. Soriano left the game and was taken to Northwestern Hospital, where x-rays revealed a "minimally displaced fracture of the left fourth metacarpal." [Ed note: Metacarpals are the bones that make up your palm. The...non-finger portion of your hand.] At the time of the injury, Soriano was leading the team......

Photo by Joshua Mellin Wrigley Field is in better condition than everyone thought. Now that the state buying the stadium is off the table, other possible buyers have been sent documents about the property. From the Trib: Sources indicated the books make no specific representation as to the condition of Wrigley Field and the work that needs to be done, even though the urgency of major capital expenditures on repairs and improvements was front......