PITTSBURGH For the first time in three games, the Cubs didnt get a pair of RBIs from their starting pitcher. And that turned out to be the difference as Pittsburghs Francisco Liriano stymied the Cubs for seven innings in a 1-0 Pirates victory Wednesday night at PNC Park. Liriano (3-0) outdueled Cubs ace Jeff Samardzija, allowing just two hits and a walk in seven scoreless innings, retiring 16 of the final 18 batters he faced. It was the Cubs fourth loss in five games all one-run losses. The Cubs only threat against Liriano came in the third when … More...

Last winter, the Cubs made an aggressive run at the best closer in the National League right now. It was a tough choice, Jason Grilli said. But Grilli turned down a little bit more money to re-sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates instead of Theo Epsteins Cubs. The best center fielder in the league also is a guy Cubs brass identified as a possible long-term target once he reached free agency in a couple of years until Andrew McCutchen signed a six-year extension with the Pirates before last season. I didnt want to be anywhere else, McCutchen said Wednesday, before … More...

PITTSBURGH An already strong starting rotation that got better this week with the return of Matt Garza continues to be as Kerry Wood might say irrelevant, dude. Which makes this idea of forcing the front office to rethink its plans to blow up the roster in July, and add players instead, a pipe dream at this point. For Matt Garzas one-hit season debut for five innings Tuesday and ace Jeff Samardzijas seven dominant innings Wednesday, the Cubs have nothing but a pair of one-run losses to show for it in fact, exactly nothing in a 1-0 … More...

Following in the footsteps of the man who GMd the White Sox to a World Series title in 2005, Rick Hahn inherited a tall order when he took over as general manager for Ken Williams after last season. In 12 years with Williams as general manager and Hahn as his assistant the Sox won two division titles, finished second five times and had a winning record nine times. The Series title was the first for the franchise in 88 years. Following in the footsteps of Williams also means Hahn must tiptoe through a mess of a low-rated minor-league … More...

Jake Peavy knew Chris Sale was not in a good mood Wednesday. Its tough coming to the park on your start day and not pitching, Peavy said. Peavy knows. Two weeks ago, he missed a start because of a bad back. The competitive juices flow through the system like poison when competitors cant compete. Sale, the Sox prized 24-year-old left-hander, couldnt pitch Wednesday because of tendinitis in his left shoulder. The Sox say he will take his next turn Tuesday against the Cubs. I promise you its hurting him more than you know, Peavy said. It was tough for him … More...

Age took its toll on Brian Urlacher, but history will repair that damage and then some. You can make your reservations for Canton in 2018 right now. Urlacher will be there. He wasnt the best Bears linebacker of all time theres only one Dick Butkus. Urlacher arguably rates somewhere between Bill George and Mike Singletary in the pantheon of the Bears linebackers. But so what? Theodore Roosevelt is no Abraham Lincoln. But hes still on Mount Rushmore. And like Teddy Roosevelt, who was only a top-10 president when his visage was carved on Rushmore in the late 1930s, but … More...

When you think of the Bears, you think of middle linebackers. And when you think of middle linebackers, you think of Brian Urlacher. Or, you should. More...

Goodbye, Nate Robinson. Arrivederci, Marco Belinelli. Good luck, Rip Hamilton. Hardly knew you, Daequan Cook. Well see what the market calls for, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said repeatedly Thursday, one day after the Miami Heat sent the Bulls home for summer vacation by topping them 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals. What the market calls for is some painful losses in the backcourt, with Robinson, Belinelli and Cook all free agents and the Bulls holding a $5 million option on Hamilton that they have no intention of picking up. So whos in and whos out when it comes to the … More...

Having interviewed the man hundreds of times and gone to his hometown in southern Illinois to trek down the dirt roads he walked as a kid, to talk with the people hes known there for 60-plus years, to visit the rotting foundation of his boyhood home, to rummage through, among other old haunts, Dons Liquor Hut on Route 242 into McLeansboro, Ive come to this conclusion: Nobody can read Jerry Sloans mind. More...