The Cubs fell to the Giants, but the White Sox are on a roll. more ›

Pirates 3, Cubs 1 more ›

The firing of Jim Hendry seems to have lit a fire under the Cubs, and Alex Rios overcomes his slump. more ›

The Cubs and Sox had a rare simultaneous day off yesterday as they both traveled, the Cubs to the Pacific Northwest where they'll open up a series against the Seattle Mariners tonight (9:10 p.m., CSN +) and the Sox back home where they'll open up a new homestand on a hot streak against the equally hot, NL East-leading Atlanta Braves (7:10 p.m., CSN). Meanwhile, All-Star voting continues online and neither the Cubs or the Sox have a shot at getting a player into the starting lineup. In fact, the Sox have no players among the AL's leading vote-getters though at least Paul Konerko (.296/17/51) has a good shot at being named as a reserve. As for the Cubs, Alfonso Soriano (.270/10/35) ranks a distant 11th place in outfielder voting; whether or not he makes the squad is up in the air and it's questionable how Carlos Silva's recent struggles (two straight losses) will affect his odds at making the team even though his 8-0 start was the team's lone bright spot in the first half of 2010. At 8-2 and with a 3.01 ERA, Silva is still the bright spot of the starting rotation and just one more win will probably be enough to send him to Anaheim. more ›

A pair of young baseball fans spar over their favorite team: Cubs or Sox? more ›

Blackhawks Hold Off Blues more ›

It was a dramatic win on Friday night for the Blackhawks as they beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in a shoot-out. The Devils took an early 1-0 lead in the first, but it would be the only goal Antti Niemi would allow all night. After going the entire night scoreless, the 'Hawks caught a break with less than 30 seconds left when a Kris Versteeg shot deflected off the skate of New Jersey's Mike Mottau and past Devils goalie Martin Brodeur - thanks to a little nudge on Mottau from Jonathan Toews - to tie the game at 1-1. Once the game went to shoot-out, it was once again Toews who would play an important part, scoring the only goal for either team and Niemi was only forced to make one save in the shoot-out to clinch the victory. Overall Niemi had 32 saves on the night. It was also the first NHL game in a little over nine years without a penalty. With the win, the 'Hawks are three points away from clinching their first division title since 1993 and are three points back of San Jose for first place in the Western Conference. Next up is an Easter afternoon affair against the Calgary Flames (2 p.m., WGN). more ›

Derrick Rose predicted the Bulls would make the playoffs where they would play doormat to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs. Those hopes took a shot last night when the Bulls hung tough but got burnt by the Phoenix Suns 111-105. Despite falling behind by double-digits in the first quarter, the Bulls fought back to take a halftime lead and a back-and-forth affair ensued in the second half. The Bulls actually led by four with under five minutes to play, but Phoenix hit clutch shots to finish the game on an 18-8 run and slide past the Bulls. Derrick Rose had 23 points to lead the Bulls' starters, but the bench also put in a great effort with 23 points from Ronald Murray, a 12-10 from Joakim Noah, and 12 points from Jannero Pargo. The Bulls are 1.5 games back of Toronto for that final playoff spot with eight games left to play. Next up is a trip to DC on Friday to take on the Wizards (6 p.m., CSN). more ›

If there was one cure for the slumping Bulls, it was the hapless New Jersey Nets; the Bulls bounced back from Thursday's beating at the hand of the Heat to crush the Nets 106-83. While Derrick Rose (7 points) and Kirk Hinrich (3 points) were quiet, Jannero Pargo led the Bulls with 27 points and Taj Gibson added 22. The Bulls were up early and started the second quarter on an 11-0 run from which the Nets wouldn't recover. The win leaves the Bulls 1.5 games back of Toronto for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with 10 games left on the calendar. Next up is a trip to Detroit this evening to take on the Pistons (5 p.m., CSN) more ›

While the Blackhawks officially clinched a playoff spot last night, there wasn't much to celebrate after the team was throttled 8-3 by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 'Hawks found themselves down 2-0 at the first intermission but a Kris Vertseeg goal put them back in it at 2-1. Things would quickly slide downhill from there, however. The Blue Jackets unleashed a barrage, scoring six straight goals, four through the end of the second period and two to start the third. When the 'Hawks put through goals - a Kopecky power play goal and Burrish's first goal of the season - it was far too little, far too late. Cristobal Huet had a rough night in net, allowing seven of the Blue Jackets' goals; Antti Niemi allowed one goal in less than six minutes on ice. The 'Hawks, now a point behind San Jose for the top spot in the West, will seek revenge when Columbus comes to the United Center Sunday evening (6 p.m., WGN). more ›

Just days after blowing a two-goal lead (twice!) in a shoot-out loss to the Phoenix Coyotes, the Blackhawks got revenge by shutting the Coyotes out 2-0 last night. It was a big win for the 'Hawks: they managed to snap Phoenix's nine-game winning streak and the win also put them alone on top of the Western Conference by one point over San Jose. Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa both scored goals in the first half of the second period and excellent goaltending by Antti Niemi (28 saves) secured the win. The 'Hawks now hit the road to Columbus for a match-up tomorrow evening (6 p.m., CSN+). more ›

For the first time in a month, the Bulls have won consecutive games thanks to a 98-88 victory over the Houston Rockets. It was a close-fought game for the first half before the Bulls went on a 16-3 run in the third to extend their lead to 72-59. But the Rockets fought their way back into the game and Coach Vinny earned his first career ejection after storming the court to argue a foul call. In spite of a double-digit Bulls lead in the fourth, the Rockets cut that lead to just three with a little over a minute. Then Kirk Hinrich hit a clutch three and the Bulls nailed free throws down the stretch to clench the victory. Derrick Rose had an outstanding night on the floor, scoring 27 points (along with 8 assists and 7 rebounds). Ronald Murray had 18 off the bench and Joakim Noah continued to see limited action in his gradual return. At 33-37, the Bulls are still 2.5 games behind the Bobcats for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Next up, the Bulls host the Heat on Thursday night (7 p.m., CSN/TNT). more ›

Rejoice, Bulls fans. Not only did both Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah return to action last night, but the Bulls also managed to snap their 10-game losing streak, beating up on the Philadelphia 76ers 98-84. The Bulls took the lead just over 3 minutes into the game and never trailed after that on their way to their first victory since February 26. Rose started and led the team with 23 points while Noah saw limited time off the bench for seven points and four rebounds. The Bulls will see if they can start a new winning streak tomorrow night when they host Houston (7 p.m., WCIU). more ›

It was a bruising night for the Blackhawks as, for the second time in a week, they lost a player to a hard - and shady - hit and then lost the game, falling to the Anaheim Ducks 4-2. The Ducks struck first just over four minutes in but Brent Seabrook answered for the 'Hawks to tie the game at 1-1. Early in the second, Seabrook got knocked out of the game when former Blackhawk James Wisniewski hit Seabrook high and hard, a retaliation for a hard hit Seabrook had just put on the Ducks' Corey Perry. The Ducks took a 2-1 lead on a short-handed goal in the second only to have Marian Hossa answer early in the third to tie the game. But the Ducks caught a break when an awful no-call on what should have been interference - as Corey checked Brent Sopol from behind while a deflected puck hung in the air - led to the Ducks' go-ahead goal. The Ducks would rub salt in the wound with an empty net goal in the final minute of the game. Corey Crawford saw his first action of the season in goal, giving up three goals and making 32 saves in the losing effort. The Blackhawks will try to recollect themselves in time to face the Kings tonight (9:30 p.m., CSN). more ›

With their top four players out of the lineup, the Bulls fell to Memphis 104-97, their eighth-straight loss. The Bulls were still missing the injured Derrick Rose, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah, as well as the suspended Kirk Hinrich, so the likes of Acie Law and Ronald Murray started instead. But both played well, Murray leading the team with 25 and Law scoring 18 while Hakim Warrick scored 22 off the bench. While the Bulls got out to an early lead with a three-guard lineup and kept things close through most of the first half, the Grizzlies extended their lead out to 25 points late in the third quarter. And, yet, the short-handed Bulls managed to fight back, outscoring the Grizzlies 34-9 and cut the lead to just 4 with 3:39 left in the game. But from there the comeback fell short as Memphis held off the Chicago rally and held on for the win. The Bulls, who were the sixth seed in the East when the losing streak started, are now ninth in the conference, on the outside of the playoffs looking in. It won't get any easier for the Bulls, who travel to Dallas to take on the Mavericks tonight (7:30 p.m., CSN). more ›

Blackhawks Lose Game, Campbell more ›

The Blackhawks saw an opportunity to pick up another win pass them by as they fell in the closing seconds to Philadelphia 3-2 yesterday. After a scoreless first two periods, the Flyers struck first in the third to take a 1-0 lead but Kris Versteeg netted a power-play goal to tie the game up. Later in the third, Hossa, who had an assist on Versteeg's goal, scored himself to give the 'Hawks the 2-1 lead. But with just over two minutes left, the Flyers scored again and Chris Pronger slipped one just past Cristobal Huet in the final seconds to give the Flyers the victory. There's no rest, though, as the 'Hawks take to the ice early tomorrow for a brunchtime match-up against the Washington Caps (11:30 a.m., NBC). more ›

• Illinois may have managed to slip into the NCAA Tournament thanks to yesterday's 58-54 victory over No. 18 Wisconsin in the Big 10 tournament quarterfinals. Mike Tisdale led the Illini with 21 points as Illinois held off a Badger rally. With Illinois leading by 16 with less than seven minutes to go, Wisconsin managed to trim the lead to just two with 30 seconds left but Illinois hung on for the win. Next up for the Illini is No. 7 Ohio State in the semifinals (12:40 p.m., CBS).
• Northwestern's odds at reaching the NCAA Tournament took a big hit with last night's 69-61 Big 10 quarterfinal loss to No. 5 Purdue. At 20-13, the Wildcats are likely looking at an NIT invite. John Shurna had 16 and Drew Crawford scored 15 for the Wildcats.
• Notre Dame missed a last-second shot and fell to No. 6 West Virginia 53-51 in the Big East semifinals. Ben Hansbrough scored 17 for the Irish and Luke Harangody scored 10. In spite of the loss, the Irish figure to make it into the Field of 65 for next week.

The Bulls' free-fall continues and now - adding injury to insult - they may be without star Derrick Rose for a spell. The Orlando Magic had little trouble handing the Bulls their sixth-straight loss 111-82. With Luol Deng and Joakim Noah already out with injuries, Derrick Rose hurt his left wrist late in the first quarter after a collision with Orlando's Dwight Howard; he'll have an MRI on the wrist today to determine how serious the injury is. With their top three players hurt, then, James Johnson led the Bulls with 13 points, though they didn't put up much of a fight, down 65-33 at the half. The Bulls try to regroup tonight in Miami (6:30 p.m., WGN). more ›

The Blackhawks got out to a 2-0 lead over main rival the Detroit Red Wings but a huge five-goal second period from the Wings proved enough to down the 'Hawks by a 5-4 final. First period goals from Duncan Keith and Andrew Ladd gave the 'Hawks an early 2-0 lead. But it all fell apart in the second when Detroit lit Chicago - and Cristobal Huet - up with four goals in the first 10:30 of the period. Huet was pulled in favor of Antti Niemi, who gave up the fifth Detroit goal late in the second. The 'Hawks tried to fight back as Ladd added two more goals in the second - his first hat trick - but it wasn't enough as Detroit held on for the win. The loss means the 'Hawks relinquish first place in the Western Conference to San Jose; they'll try to bounce back Wednesday against the L.A. Kings (7:30 p.m., CSN). more ›

Neither the Cubs or the Sox had particularly awful seasons, but they weren't great and both teams were left on the outside of the playoff race looking in. Fitting, then, that some of their better performing players made distant blips in some post-season award voting. The Cubs' first basemen, Derek Lee - who had a monster year with 35 HR, 111RBI, and a .306 avg - finished ninth in the voting for this year's NL MVP, the highest finish in either league's voting for a Chicago player. The Cardinals' Albert Pujols was the unanimous winner. Last week, Sox infielder Gordon Beckham finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and the Cubs' Randy Wells finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. As the saying goes, wait til next year... more ›

The Cubs offense, impotent for so much of the 2009 season, took out its frustration on the lowly Pirates last night, smacking eight straight hits to start the game and give starter Ryan Dempster a 7-0 lead before he threw a single pitch; the Cubs won by a 9-4 final. Skipper Lou Piniella echoed the thoughts of most Cubs after the game when he asked, "Where's that first inning been all year?" Elias says the feat of opening a game with eight straight hits has been done five times before last night, once before by the Cubs (against, who else, the Pirates in 1973). Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, and Kosuke Fukudome each had two RBIs and Mighty Micah Hoffpauir had a homer in the fourth. Dempster surrendered all four Pirate runs over the course of his 6.1 innings in the winning effort while four pitchers from the bullpen - none of them Kevin Gregg - held the lead. The Cubs and Pirates finish their series with an 11:35 matinee today (CSN). more ›

On a gorgeous day like today, it's hard not to turn thoughts away from the hardwood action to action on the diamond. The 2009 Major League Baseball season begins two weeks from tonight and both the Sox and Cubs get underway two weeks from tomorrow. We've been watching old clips of games to get pumped (seriously, Benjy won't stop watching his 2005 World Series DVDs). But then we stumbled across some great treasures on YouTube. Enjoy some classic commercials and one seriously bad/awesome bonus video after the jump. more ›

While the current tumultuous economic climate has several Major League Baseball teams planning to offer discounted concession items and value deals to fans in the 2009 season, the Cubs and Sox are not among those teams. Instead, it appears as if the pair of Chicago teams will keep their concession prices right at 2008 levels. The Cubs use Levy Restaurants for their concessions; team spokesman Peter Chase said, ''We always have an ongoing dialogue about different promotions and offers for fans, but at this time we don't have a new discount program in effect." more ›

We're just a few hours from the Sox-Twins playoff game, so here's a little something for the Sox fans to get you pumped up. As if you needed something to get you excited. more ›

• It’s been a busy weekend for crime and violence, unfortunately. So busy that we’ve had a hard time keeping track of the shootings and stabbings. WBBM has a tally: two police-involved shootings and several fatalities.
• A woman was stabbed to death in Lincolnshire yesterday. It was the first murder for the affluent suburb in 20 years. [Trib] UPDATE: Lincolnshire police have named the husband of the victim as a "person of interest." [Trib]
• 8-year-olds are now being told to take cholesterol drugs to ward off future heart problems. What about eating right? [S-T]
• $1 million bond was set for the man charged in the fatal hit-and-run accident that took the life of a 78-year-old woman on the South Side last Wednesday night. [S-T]
• In more upbeat news, seven Cubs players have made it on to the Major League All-Star roster for the July 15 event. The White Sox have had two players named to the American League team. [WBBM]

Oof, we just had a second where we thought it was Friday. But it's not! It's only Thursday. Time for some things that are awesome. more ›

Major League Baseball's annual election results will be announced today, and a couple of former Chicago players hope to cross the magic threshold from paying customers to inductees in Cooperstown. Voted on by the Baseball Writers of America, players become eligible five years after retiring and must receive votes on 75 percent of ballots. more ›