MILWAUKEE — After a rough couple of starts, this was one memorable victory for Ryan Dempster.Dempster struck out eight in seven crisp innings, earning his 100th career win and helping the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1-0 on Saturday night.Dempster (13-10) was coming off a pair of shaky starts, both double-digit losses for the Cubs. He allowed seven runs over three innings in a 14-7 loss to Pittsburgh on Aug. 31 and yielded seven runs — three earned — over 4 2/3 innings in a 18-5 drubbing by the New York Mets last Sunday.Dempster allowed three hits and walked two, improving to 15-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 22 career starts against the Brewers. The right-hander retired 21 of the first 26 batters on his way to his 50th victory with the Cubs who improved to 6-2 at Miller Park this season.Xavier Nady homered for the Cubs, who got an outstanding outing from Carlos Zambrano in a 4-0 victory in the series opener Friday night.Randy Wolf (11-11) pitched eight innings for Milwaukee, yielding four hits and one walk. The left-hander is 4-2 with a 3.07 ERA in nine starts since he was roughed up at Pittsburgh on July 21, yielding 12 runs and 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings.His only mistake was the 0-1 curveball out over the plate that Nady hit for his sixth homer in the seventh inning, banging the drive off the left-field foul pole.Milwaukee put runners on first and second in the eighth before Andrew Cashner struck out Ryan Braun for the second out. Sean Marshall then came in and fanned Prince Fielder to end the inning.Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth for his 30th save in 35 chances.Casey McGehee reached on an infield single in the fourth, Wolf had a base hit in the fifth and Alcides Escobar singled in the seventh for Milwaukee’s only hits. Dempster is 4-0 with a 2.23 ERA in five starts against Milwaukee this season. He has won his last four road starts for the first time since a career-high five in a row for the Marlins in 2001.Asked if there was something about Milwaukee that he liked, he said jokingly, “The brats are awesome. I enjoy this field. I enjoy the atmosphere here in the clubhouse. It’s a great mound to throw off of. For whatever reason I have had some success here.” Brewers manager Ken Macha said Dempster gave his hitters trouble all night.Dempster made his major league debut with Florida in 1998 and also has played for the Cincinnati Reds. He also had 87 saves for the Cubs from 2004-07.

NOTES—Brewers vice president of communications Tyler Barnes said the team was unable to determine who stuffed a fake press release critical of Cubs general manager Jim Hendry into the game notes in the press box before Friday night’s game. … Aramis Ramirez missed his fifth consecutive game with a sore right quad and remains day to day. … Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin, assistant general manager Gord Ash and Macha met before the game. Macha said that his contract status was not on the agenda.

MILWAUKEE—Carlos Zambrano pitched three-hit ball into the ninth inning and drove in a run, leading the Cubs to a 4-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.Zambrano (8-6) had three hits as he won his fifth straight decision since returning to the rotation Aug. 9 after serving a suspension for a dugout outburst in June. He pitched three games out of the bullpen before resuming his starting duties. Zambrano tied a season high with nine strikeouts and walked three in 8 2/3 innings. The right-hander has 32 strikeouts and 10 walks in his last four starts.He was in control the whole game, retiring 13 straight batters until Ryan Braun lined a single to left field with two outs in the ninth inning.Prince Fielder followed with a groundball that Cubs shortstop Starlin Casto botched for an error. Closer Carlos Marmol was brought in and got Casey McGehee to fly out to right field on his first pitch to end the game. It was Marmol’s’s 29th save in 34 chances.Dave Bush (7-12) pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits for the Brewers.The Cubs grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning. After Darwin Barney and Zambrano singled, Kosuke Fukudome hit a grounder to Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks, whose throw to second was wide, allowing Barney to score. Castro hit a sacrifice fly to score Zambrano who helped himself in the fifth inning. After Blake DeWitt walked and Barney singled, Zambrano lined a single to center to score DeWitt and increase the Cubs lead to 3-0.Barney scored on a throwing error in the eighth inning after Zambrano beat out a grounder for his third hit to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead.

NOTES— Brewers vice president of communications Tyler Barnes said the team was investigating who put a fake press release critical of Cubs general manager Jim Hendry in the press box before the game.Here is a list of fake headlines in this bogus release:                                     

“Why I signed Milton Bradley!”

“Why I released Casey McGehee only to see him hit 20 home runs and drive in nearly 100 runs for a division rival!”

“Why I hired former Pittsburgh general manager Dave Littlefield, the man who helped make the Pirates what they are today, as my special assistant!”

“How I botched the recall of Micah Hoffpauir from our minor league team in Iow by losing track of the number of days that he was in the minors!”

“Why I signed players to long-term contracts with limited trade options!”…..

Aramis Ramirez missed his fourth straight game with a sore right quad. He is day to day…..Prior to the game, the Brewers recalled RHP Mark Rogers from Double-A Huntsville. The 2004 draft pick made his major league debut pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

A.J. Pierzynski hit a go-ahead, two-run double with two out in the eighth inning and the White Sox rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 on Friday night. The Sox stopped a three-game slide and pulled within five games of AL Central-leading Minnesota, which lost 2-0 at Cleveland.J.J. Putz (7-5) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to get the win and rookie Chris Sale worked the ninth for his second save.Willie Bloomquist hit a pair of RBI doubles and Bruce Chen pitched seven solid innings to help the Royals build a 3-1 lead. Chen allowed one run – Brent Morel’s first career homer – and four hits.The White Sox rallied against Robinson Tejada (3-4), taking advantage when Alexei Ramirez reached on a one-out error by shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt. Alex Rios followed with an RBI double to get them within one. Tejada got Paul Konerko to pop up for the second out, but Manny Ramirez walked in his first home game with the White Sox to put runners on first and second. Pierzynski then doubled to right-center to score Rios and pinch-runner Brent Lillibridge.

After almost two years of fans calling for his dismissal, the Chicago Sky announce today the resignation of Steven Key as the team’s General Manager and Head Coach.

“I enjoyed and appreciated my time with the Chicago Sky. Now is the right time for me and my family to move on to new opportunities,” said Key. “I wish the Sky athletes and franchise much success in the future.”

Steven Key has been with the Sky since its inaugural season in 2006,but they are still the only exisiting Franchise that has never made the WNBA Playoffs. He served as assistant coach in seasons 2006 and 2007. Key became the General Manager and Head Coach in April of 2008. For the last three seasons (2008, 2009, 2010) he compiled a record of 42 and 60 which included a franchise high of 16 wins in 2009.

“We thank Steven for all of his efforts and accomplishments in helping to develop this young franchise,” said Sky Owner Michael Alter. “We wish him all the best in his new endeavors.”

Key is a very personable guy,but this season in which the Sky finished last in the Eastern Conference while the third year Atlanta Dream not only made the postseason for the second straight year,but the WNBA Finals,and the fact that the popular alltime franchise leading scorer Candice Dupree was dealt to Phoenix in a three-way trade,and that former #1 draft choice Christie Toliver was unloaded to L.A., likely were the last straw. Fans have been called for Key’s removal since early last year,but even though the Sky blew a an 18 point halftime lead in the season finale to Detroit(all they needed was a win to make the playoffs)and lost big to be eliminated, the Sky gave him a new two year contract prior to this season.

LES

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RUSH HIRES AFL VET GENE NUDO AS PRESIDENT/GM

DETROIT — Johnny Damon had a season-high four hits and scored two runs, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the Sothsiders 6-3 Thursday and handing the White Sox their third straight loss.The White Sox fell six games behind idle Minnesota in the AL Central, their largest deficit since June 17.Detroit has won six of eight to get back above .500 for the first time since July 31.Rick Porcello (9-11) gave up three runs on four hits and no walks in eight innings to win his fourth straight start. Ryan Perry pitched the ninth for his second save.Gavin Floyd (10-12) allowed six runs over six innings. He gave up 13 hits, all of which were singles. Alex Rios hit a two-run homer in the fourth. The Tigers didn’t hit one over the fence, or even in a gap, but methodically found holes to score twice in the first, two more in the third, one in the fourth and a sixth run in the seventh inning.Floyd became the first pitcher to give up 13 hits — without an extra-base hit — since James Baldwin did it on Aug. 29, 2001, pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Colorado Rockies.Damon had his first of four hits in the first as Detroit took a 2-0 lead.Ryan Raburn and Jhonny Peralta each had two RBI as the Tigers won for the ninth time in 10 games at Comerica Park, where they are 46-26. The Tigers trail the Twins by 12 1/2 games in large part because they’re 19 games under .500 on the road.

NOTES—The Sox activated reliever J.J. Putz from the disabled list before the game. … The Tigers were without slugger Miguel Cabrera (left shoulder, biceps) for a second game in a row. … The White Soxare 28-32 against AL Central teams, Detroit is .500 in the division and the Twins are 38-19 against the White Sox, Tigers, Royals and Indians. … Tigers RHP Armando Galarraga says it will be “no big deal” to pitch for the first time since his near-perfect game with umpire Jim Joyce on the field Friday night against Baltimore.

Brett Myers makes his job sound so easy: Throw the ball, let the other team hit it at his fielders.Myers did more than that Wednesday night, striking out eight in seven crisp innings as the Houston Astros beat the listless Cubs 4-0.Myers has lasted at least six innings in all 29 of his starts — the longest streak in team history and longest in the majors since Curt Schilling’s run of 35 straight for Arizona in 2002. He also dropped his ERA to 2.91.Myers (11-7) allowed three hits and walked one, improving to 10-3 with a 2.21 ERA in 17 career games against the Cubs. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA in his last six starts overall.Surging Houston, which won for the 13th time in 17 games, took all five series against the Cubs this season.”Their lineup has changed a lot, without Derrek Lee and without [Aramis] Ramirez,” Myers said. Randy Wells (6-13) allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings for the Cubs.Myers retired the first 14 batters he faced. He got some help from his defense when second baseman Jeff Keppinger made a backhanded stop and a leaping throw to get Starlin Castro in the fourth inning.Geovany Soto walked with two outs in the fifth for the Cubs first baserunner and Alfonso Soriano followed with a single. But Myers got Darwin Barney to ground out to end the threat. Myers also worked out of a jam in the seventh, retiring two straight after the Cubs put runners on the corners with one out. He is 3-0 with a 1.21 ERA in four starts against the Northsiders this year.Fernando Abad, Matt Lindstrom, Tim Byrdak and Wilton Lopez combined to finish the five-hitter, Houston’s ninth shutout of the season.The Cubs finished a nine-game homestand with a 5-4 record and lost back-to-back games under Mike Quade for the first time. Quade took over when manager Lou Piniella retired on Aug. 23.The Cubs were shut out for the 10th time this season.Quintero hit an RBI single in the second and Hunter Pence connected in the third for his 23rd homer. Chris Johnson added an RBI single in the fifth and Keppinger drove in a run with a groundout in the sixth.After being benched the previous two games by Quade, Castro committed an error on Lee’s grounder to shortstop in the first inning. Quade sat Castro for his poor defensive play and not knowing how many outs there were during the seventh inning of Chicago’s 18-5 loss to the Mets on Sunday.

NOTES—Ramirez missed his third straight game with a sore right quad. He is day-to-day.

MINNEAPOLIS—The Minnesota Twins can’t seem to explain why they have so much success against Kansas City ace Zack Greinke. For whatever reason, they just seem to have Greinke’s number.If they keep playing the way they have been recently, it won’t be long before they have the White Sox’ number as well.Brian Duensing allowed one run and struck out seven over eight innings and the Twins continued an impressive run of success against Greinke with a 4-3 victory Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.Duensing (8-2) allowed six hits and dropped his ERA to 2.02. J.J. Hardy homered and Denard Span added a two-run triple for the Twins, who have won six straight games to take a 5½-game lead over the White Sox in the AL Central. “If you can beat Greinke, it’s a good win,” said Duensing, whose Twins went 8-1 on the homestand.Greinke (8-12) fell to 0-4 with an 8.18 ERA against the Twins this season. He allowed four runs and five hits with four strikeouts and three walks in eight innings.The Royals scored twice in the ninth off Matt Capps on a groundout from Brayan Pena and a single from Alex Gordon. But Capps got pinch-hitter Mitch Maier to fly out for his 11th save in 13 tries.

DETROIT—Jeremy Bonderman pitched eight strong innings and the Detroit Tigers beat the sloppy White Sox 5-1 on Wednesday.The Sox, trying to catch Minnesota in the AL Central, entered Tuesday’s game with a seven-game winning streak, but has been outscored 14-2 by the Tigers over the last two nights, including seven unearned runs. The four-game series ends with a day game on Thursday.Bonderman (8-9) picked up where Justin Verlander left off on Tuesday, allowing one run and three hits. The right-hander struck out eight and walked one.John Danks (13-10) pitched six innings for the White Sox, yielding five runs, two earned, and eight hits.Bonderman retired the first 10 batters of the game before Omar Vizquel broke the scoreless tie with his second homer of the season. Vizquel’s other homer also came against Detroit on June 10 against Max Scherzer.Detroit responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of third baseman Mark Teahen’s second error of the game. With a runner on first and one out, Casper Wells hit what looked like a routine double-play grounder, but Teahen threw the ball into right field.Jhonny Peralta then walked, loading the bases, and Brandon Inge hit a two-run single. After Don Kelly struck out, Alex Avila added a two-run double to center.In the top of the fifth, Bonderman threw a breaking ball that sailed well over the head of Andruw Jones and to the backstop. Danks’ first pitch in the bottom of the inning flew close to the head of Ryan Raburn, causing plate umpire Brian Gorman to warn both dugouts. Raburn doubled on the next pitch and later scored on Wells’ infield single.

NOTES—Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera (shoulder) sat out with tendinitis in his left shoulder and biceps. Cabrera, who has been dealing with the problem since early last week, left Tuesday’s game after six innings. … White Sox 2B Gordon Beckham (hand) missed his second straight game, but Manny Ramirez returned after leaving Tuesday’s game after being hit by two pitches. … Teahen has made 10 errors in 44 career games at third base against the Tigers. … The game took just 2 hours, 4 minutes.

Michael Bourn has been putting it all on display lately, whether it’s running the bases, hitting the ball hard down the line or backing up his pitcher on the defensive end.Bourn had three hits and three RBI, Brett Wallace hit his first career home run, and the Houston Astros beat the Cubs 7-3 on Tuesday night.Bourn also scored twice for the Astros who won for the 12th time in 16 games.Astros starter Nelson Figueroa (5-2) pitched five innings to earn the victory. He allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked three. Figueroa was backed by four scoreless innings from the Houston bullpen, which allowed only one hit.Cubs starter Carlos Silva (10-6), who made his first start since Aug. 1, was tagged for six runs on nine hits in five innings. In his previous start at Colorado, he left after recording only one out with an abnormal heart rate. Silva underwent a surgical procedure called cardiac ablation to correct the problem a week later. He returned after two rehab starts for Class A Peoria, but was far from regaining his stuff that helped him win his first eight decisions of the season.Silva said his heart felt fine.Tyler Colvin drove in two runs on two hits for the Cubs.Trailing 2-1 in the second inning, Wallace homered to tie the game. Tommy Manzella and Jason Castro followed with back-to-back singles. With two outs, Bourn hit a two-run double in the left-center gap to give the Astros a 4-2 lead.Leading 4-3 in the fifth, Bourn led off with a single and stole before scoring on Jeff Keppinger’s single. Hunter Pence followed with a double down the right-field line, scoring Keppinger from first without a throw.Bourn led off the game with a triple to right-center and scored on Keppinger’s RBI single.In the first inning, Kosuke Fukudome led off with a double and score on Marlon Byrd’s single. Byrd scored on Colvin’s fielder’s choice.Micah Hoffpauir walked in the third inning and scored on Colvin’s triple.Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro spent his second game on the bench after not knowing how many outs there were in the seventh inning of an 18-5 loss to the Mets. The rookie came into the game with the third best batting average in the National League at .317.Quade is unsure if he will play him on Wednesday night.

NOTES—Before the game, a statue of Hall of Famer Billy Williams was dedicated by the Cubs outside Wrigley Field on Tuesday….Williams was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife, Shirley. Also in attendance were former teammates Ernie Banks, Ferguson Jenkins, Ron Santo and Glenn Beckert. … Bourn also added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.