GrobberNET

CLEVELAND—OK, so the Bears finished this worthless so-called Pre Season winless. But so did the Indianapolis Colts for example. Many key Bears did not play in this one, same for the Cleveland Browns.Montario Hardesty, whose career at Tennessee was slowed by knee injuries, hurt his left one in the second quarter of Thursday night’s 13-10 win over the Bears, a potentially major blow to the Browns’ running game.Fellow rookie Colt McCoy got his first pro start and went a perfect 13... (more...)

AMES—Alexander Robinson rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns and Iowa State beat Northern Illinois 27-10 Thursday night.Austen Arnaud added 265 yards passing and a TD run for the Cyclones (1-0), who raced out to a 17-0 halftime lead. Iowa State’s offense stalled much of the second half, but its new-look defense held the Huskies (0-1) to just 249 yards of offense.Robinson’s 63-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter put the Cyclones ahead 14-0. NIU pulled within 17-10 midway... (more...)

Kosuke Fukudome had three hits, including a go-ahead double, during a perfect day at the plate and the Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 on Wednesday to take two of three and a series from the team with Baseball’s worst record for the only time this season.Carlos Marmol escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and finished for his 25th save in 30 chances.Starter Tom Gorzelanny was knocked out in the third when Jose Tabata lined a shot off his right hand. The left-hander departed... (more...)

CLEVELAND—For the second straight game, Manny Ramirez watched from a few feet away as one of his new teammates hit a game-winning homer.He provided only a bloop a single in his debut but he was on deck when Paul Konerko hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to give the White Sox a 6-4 win and three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday.Ramirez’s debut with the White Sox was anything but a hit for seven innings. The Sox trailed 4-1 going into the eighth, but they rallied... (more...)

CLEVELAND—With Manny Ramirez standing in the on-deck circle ready to pinch-hit, A.J. Pierzynski connected for a tiebreaking, three-run homer off Frank Herrmann in the ninth inning to lift the White Sox to a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.Ramirez, who arrived earlier in the day to help the Sox playoff push, was poised to make his White Sox debut and bat for Brent Lillibridge before Pierzynski came through.He drove an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right field, and as he rounded... (more...)

CLEVELAND—As the herd of reporters and camera crews streamed into the White Sox clubhouse and headed toward manager Ozzie Guillen’s tiny office, one of the White Sox coaches wondered if the team’s newest player had arrived during extra innings. “Is Manny here?” he asked. Not yet. He’s on the way, though. Manny Ramirez is about to enter the middle of the lineup, and the White Sox are already swinging for the playoffs.Yet they still are four games in back of Minnesota,and... (more...)

Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs’ offense made Mike Quade’s managerial debut at Wrigley Field relatively easy. Zambrano allowed one unearned run in 5 1/3 innings and hit a two-run homer to lead the Cubs to a 14-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.Aramis Ramirez was 2 for 3 with four RBI to help Quade win his first game at Wrigley Field as manager.The Cubs scored seven times on seven hits in the fourth and were 7 for 7 to start the inning. They brought 11 batters to the plate... (more...)

CINCINNATI—Kosuke Fukudome’s homer tied it in the top of the eighth, but his throwing error in the bottom half of the inning helped Cincinnati rally for a 7-5 victory Sunday that completed the Reds’ season-long domination of the Cubs.The Reds took a five-game lead in the NL Central, their biggest edge since early in the 2002 season, when second-place St. Louis lost to Washington 4-2.Cincinnati won 12 of its 16 games against Chicago this season, its best showing since going 12-5... (more...)

Lovie Smith pretty much said it all when he admitted after this lackluster 14-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Soldier Field that the Bears “are not playing good football yet, but we will”. Well,the fans in attendance,who booed much of the night,did not leave convinced. The third NFL Exhibition game these days is always considered the most significant one of the four played. The Bears had the two best scoring chances in the opening period,but on the opening drive,Jay Cutler had a pass... (more...)

The pitching was pretty awful for the most part, but CC Sabathia became the majors’ first 18-game winner, Marcus Thames hit two of New York’s four homers and the Yankees beat the White Sox 12-9 on Saturday night.Eduardo Nunez hit his first career homer and drove in four runs for New York, which remained tied with Tampa Bay for the AL East lead. Nick Swisher connected for a two-run drive and Robinson Cano had three hits.Sabathia (18-5) struck out nine in seven innings, but allowed five... (more...)