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  When Lucas Harrell woke up in the morning, he was preparing to make a start for Triple-A Charlotte. He ended the day with his first major league victory.Harrell pitched six strong innings in his major league debut, Dayan Viciedo had three hits, and the White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-1 Friday night to get their 12th straight win at home.Harrell’s morning started with a call from White Sox director of player development Buddy Bell informing him of the news.Gordon Beckham also had two... (more...)

DENVER—Leading 5-2, the Colorado Rockies were looking for an insurance run with two outs in the eighth. Fourteen batters later they were comfortably ahead.Carlos Gonzalez, Ian Stewart and Dexter Fowler homered and Colorado used a record-setting 12-run eighth inning to rout the sinking out of sight Cubs 17-2 on Friday night. “I’d never seen an inning like that,” Cubs manager Lou Piniella said. “We had two outs and two strikes on a hitter and they score 12 runs. I’d... (more...)

  The Rush will open the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs with a National Conference semifinal game against the Milwaukee Iron next weekend at U.S.Cellular Arena(former Milwakee Arena) since the Bradley Center is under renovation and not available. The playoff matchup was determined after the Iowa Barnstormers defeated the Arizona Rattlers 67-47 Friday night in Phoenix. Arizona’s loss gives the Rush and Rattlers identical 10-6 records at the close of the regular season. Since the Rush swept... (more...)

SEATTLE—The Seattle Storm showed the Sky how much they have improved since a rare loss two months ago at Allstate Arena.Swin Cash had 16 points to lead five players in double figures as the Storm beat the Sky 80-60 Friday night for their 13th consecutive win.Lauren Jackson added 14 points, Svetlana Abrosimova had 13, Sue Bird 11 and Camille Little 10 for Seattle (22-2). Bird also had eight assists as the Storm, who have already clinched the Western Conference title, improved to 13-0 at home.The... (more...)

  Seven weeks ago, the — White Sox wondered if they’d ever stop losing. These days, they’re playing as if the winning will never end — especially at home.Ramon Castro homered twice and Paul Konerko went deep for the fourth straight game Thursday night, leading the Sox to its 11th consecutive home victory, 9-5 over the Seattle Mariners.Since June 9, the AL Central-leading White Sox are 33-11 overall and 18-1 at home. Before the surge, they were 24-33 and 9½ games behind Minnesota.... (more...)

   　  Bobby Jenks just overpowered the heart of Seattle’s lineup, firing fastball after fastball into A.J. Pierzynski’s mitt as the crowd roared.Just another fun night at home for the White Sox. Alex Rios hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning, Jenks struck out the side for an electric save and the slugging White Sox rallied to beat the Mariners 6-5 on Wednesday night for their 10th straight win at U.S. Cellular Field. Gordon Beckham, Paul Konerko and Alexei Ramirez went... (more...)

HOUSTON—Cub killer Carlos Lee hit two home runs, including the go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, and the Astros went on to an 8-1 win over the Cubs.Bagwell, the former Houston All-Star, was named hitting coach July 11 after Sean Berry was fired. Lee is hitting .239 this season with 14 home runs and 52 RBI and Wednesday was his first multihomer game in almost three years.The game was tied at 1 before Lee connected for his 13th homer of the year, a two-run shot to left field. His second one,... (more...)

HOUSTON —Brett Myers pitched a complete game, Lance Berkman hit his first grand slam since 2008 and the Houston Astros beat the Cubs 6-1 on Tuesday night.It is the 10th career complete game for Myers (8-6) and his first since May. He allowed four hits and struck out a career high-tying 12 batters.Berkman’s fifth career grand slam came in Houston’s six-run seventh inning with the team leading 2-0. The shot, his first since Aug. 12, 2008, sailed over the bullpen and landed in the... (more...)

　 Alexei Ramirez, Andruw Jones and Paul Konerko homered, powering Gavin Floyd and the White Sox to an 11-0 victory over the woeful Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Ramirez finished with three hits and three RBI and Jones also drove in three for the White Sox, who led 8-0 after three innings. A.J. Pierzynski hit a two-out, two-run single in a four-run first against Ryan Rowland-Smith.Ramirez, who also singled in a run in the first, is 8 for 12 with five RBI in his last three games, including six... (more...)

INDIANAPOLIS—Briann January had 15 points and made several key plays in the fourth quarter to lead the Fever to a 78-74 win over the Sky on Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory.After starting three of four games to begin the season before suffering a knee injury, January was reinserted into the starting lineup in the Fever’s last game, a 78-73 win over Washington. She had a season-high 19 points and eight assists against the Mystics.Tamika Catchings finished Tuesday night... (more...)