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PHOENIX—Ryan Dempster tossed two perfect innings in his spring debut and the Cubs beat the Oakland Athletics 10-3 on Monday.Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez each drove in a run for the Cubs. Ryan Theriot had two hits, walked once and scored twice.Brett Anderson pitched 1 2-3 scoreless innings and Kurt Suzuki homered for the A’s. Anderson allowed one hit, walked two and struck out three.The Cubs scored seven runs in the seventh, sending 11 hitters to the plate. Mike Fontenot drove in two... (more...)

GLENDALE—A pair of center fielders made their spring training debuts on the field Monday, but it was Alex Rios who had the better day.Rios, who has been in the White Sox lineup only once this spring because of a sore right shoulder, went 2 for 2 with a mammoth home run to deep center field in the Sox 5-4 loss to a Seattle Mariners split squad.Rios said his shoulder injury has not affected his swing.Franklin Gutierrez, the Mariners’ everyday center fielder in 2009 who signed a $20.5 million... (more...)

***Don’t look now,but the hated Detroit Red Wings have gotten healthy and not only look like they will make the playoffs after a mediocre first 4 1/2 months of the season,but against the Blackhawks Sunday,they looked like their ‘old’ selves. After the Hawks look a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, the Wings dropped the big one on Cristobal Huet and the Hawks–five goals in the second period. Heut left after giving up four, then Antti Niemi yielded Pavel Datsuyk’s... (more...)

The Blackhawks golie controversary continues. Not even a hat trick by Andrew Ladd could sidetrack the Detroit Red Wings.Pavel Datsyuk capped a five-goal second period and Detroit rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Blackhawks on Sunday.Ladd’s first goal of the game gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead in the first period, but Detroit took charge in the second before Ladd added two more goals in the final period.Brian Rafalski started the surge with a power play goal 4:12 into the second to cut the lead... (more...)

LAKE FOREST—Ot was a landmark day for the Bears who are notede for never going “hog wild” in a free agent market. Remember? Bears President Ted Phillips said a couple of weeks ago that the Bears would not be doing as such. But the signing of free agents Julius Peppers(DE from Carolina),RB Chester Taylor(from Minnesota)and TE Brandon Manumaleuna(away from San Diego)could be called hog wild for sure. The Bears had a rare chance to do stuff like this on the first day of the new NFL... (more...)

  The Blackhawks had no trouble with Olympic gold medal-winning goalie Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks.Andrew Ladd, Duncan Keith, Troy Brouwer, Kris Versteeg and Jordan Hendry scored first-period goals to chase Luongo in the Blackhawks’ 6-3 victory Friday.Marian Hossa added a goal and assist, and Jonathan Toews had two assists to help the Hawks win for the sixth time in seven games and pull into a first-place tie with San Jose in the Western Conference.Keith and Toews, along with... (more...)

***So the pariah named Milton Bradley is blaming CHICAGO for his lousy 2009 season with the Cubs. Is he blaming the group Chicago? The Hancock Building? Perhaps the Vines at Wrigley Field? No, he is blaming everything and everyone EXCEPT the man he sees in the mirror. Bradley was suspended for the final two weeks last season for his “last straw” outburst. When told he was suspended,the Cubs players all applauded! ***He Milton, perhaps it was the media’s fault that you couldn’t... (more...)

  Zach Randolph scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.More important, the Memphis Grizzlies rallied from a big first-half deficit to beat the Bulls 105-96 on Thursday night. Randolph figured to show up in some highlights anyway, considering he helped his team rally from 17 down in the second quarter before tying it in the third. The Grizzlies finally took control with an 8-0 run late in the fourth that gave them a 97-90 lead.O.J. Mayo scored 10 of his 20 points in the final quarter, and Rudy... (more...)

TEMPE—A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-run homer to highlight a three-run third inning, and Los Angeles catcher Mike Napoli also homered as the White Sox and Angels played to a 4-4 tie Thursday before the Cactus League opener for both teams was called after nine innings.John Danks played his first professional game with brother Jordan Danks, who started in right field, and worked two scoreless innings in his first spring start. Jordan Danks went 0 for 2 with a walk. He was caught stealing in the... (more...)

 MESA—Randy Wells pitched two perfect innings, Derrek Lee homered and Marlon Byrd also homered in his first game with the Cubs, leading to a 9-3 victory over the Oakland A’s on Thursday.Wells, coming off a surprising rookie season in which he went 12-10 and had the NL’s 10th-best ERA (3.05), struck out two and didn’t let the ball out of the infield.Byrd, who signed a three-year contract to play center field for the Cubs after getting 20 homers and 89 RBIs for Texas last... (more...)