PITTSBURGH—The White Sox are finding a way to focus the attention away from constantly feuding manager Ozzie Guillen and general manager Kenny Williams. Namely, win some games.Gordon Beckham drove in three runs and the White Sox spoiled former first-round draft pick Brad Lincoln’s first start at home, beating Pittsburgh 6-4 Tuesday and extending the last-place Pirates’ losing streak to nine games.Ramon Castro doubled in a run while reaching base four consecutive times and the White Sox bullpen pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings following Freddy Garcia’s uneven start. The Sox won their fifth in six games and sixth in eight games.Williams is making his first road trip of the season, and Guillen said the two — who often disagree over personnel matters and other issues, including the recent drafting of Guillen’s son — had a constructive talk during the flight to Pittsburgh.The Pirates, losers of 10 of 11 and 15 of 18, have plenty of problems while they’re stuck in their longest losing streak since they also dropped nine straight from Aug. 28-Sept. 5. Maybe that’s why they’re calling up top prospect Pedro Alvarez, a third baseman and the No. 2 pick in the June 2008 draft, for Wednesday night’s game.Andrew McCutchen tried to provide one, matching his career high with three stolen bases and getting three hits and a walk. Ahead 5-4, the Sox were so preoccupied with McCutchen after he singled in the seventh, reliever Matt Thornton made 14 pickoff throws to first in a span of two batters to try to prevent him from stealing second — which McCutchen eventually did, although he didn’t score.The Pirates tied it at 4 in the fifth after McCutchen singled in a run before stealing second and third on successive pitches and coming home on Ryan Doumit’s two-out single. Lincoln (0-1) followed up a 7-5 Pirates loss to Washington in his major league debut on Wednesday by again allowing five runs in six innings. The Pirates’ top pick in 2006 twice created runs by walking the leadoff batter, and he walked three overall, hit two batters and allowed six hits.Sox starter Freddy Garcia (7-3) was only slightly more effective – he gave up eight hits and four runs in 5 2/3 innings — but won his fourth in a run when Beckham singled in the go-ahead run in the sixth.In the second, Castro’s double preceded the light-hitting Beckham’s RBI grounder that tied it at 2. Beckham, who came in batting .204, followed Castro’s leadoff walk with a run-scoring double in fourth and scored on Juan Pierre’s perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt to make it 4-2.The suicide squeeze is rarely seen these days, which might be why the unconventional Guillen called for it.Bobby Jenks finished up in the ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities despite giving up McCutchen’s third hit in as many at-bats. Thornton and J.J. Putz pitched a scoreless inning each, and Sergio Santos struck out Neil Walker in the sixth with runners on second and third.Alex Rios’ run-scoring single gave the White Sox an insurance run in the top of the ninth after reliever Octavio Dotel walked Juan Pierre, then threw wildly for a two-base error on a pickoff attempt.

NOTES—Former White Sox reliever D.J. Carrasco struck out three during two scoreless relief innings….Steelers coach Mike Tomlin attended, wearing a Pirates jersey…..The White Sox are 5-2 in interleague play, the Pirates are 0-4.

After playing one of their better games in beating the White Sox 1-0 Sunday, the Cubs turned in a complete stinker Tuesday in a game that would have been better had it been rained out.Rajai Davis and Kevin Kouzmanoff had three hits apiece, and the Oakland Athletics took advantage of four errors in a 9-5 victory over the Cubs on a rainy Tuesday night.Davis drove in two runs. Kouzmanoff extended his career-high hitting streak to 15. And the Athletics rebounded from a three-game sweep at San Francisco, taking this one after a 1-hour, 41-minute delay at the start.They had plenty of help from the Cubs.Three-time Gold Glove first baseman Derrek Lee committed back-to-back errors in a four-run fourth and right fielder Tyler Colvin added two more in a three-run seventh that broke open the game, making it 8-4.Trevor Cahill (6-2) got the win despite allowing four runs and six hits over 5 2-3 innings, improving to 5-0 in his last six starts. He left after an RBI double to Chad Tracy that made it 5-3, and Jerry Blevins then gave up a run-scoring single to Koyie Hill that pulled the Cubs within one.The Athletics regained control against Jeff Stevens in the seventh, although Colvin didn’t help matters.He let a single by Kevin Kouzmanoff get past him, putting runners on second and third with none out before Jack Cust walked to load the bases. Mark Ellis grounded into a double play, forcing the runner at the plate, but the Athletics got some more big breaks to pad their lead.Stevens threw a wild pitch, allowing Kouzmanoff to score. Then, Pennington drove in Cust on a triple to deep right and scored when Colvin overthrew the cutoff man to make it 8-4.Lee’s errors in the fourth didn’t help a shaky Carlos Zambrano (2-5), who gave up five runs – two earned – in six innings.The A’s already had a run in on Mark Ellis’ bases-loaded single in the fourth when Lee had his lapses. With one out, Lee came in on Trevor Cahill’s roller and booted the ball, allowing Cust to score from third, and things were about to get worse. Lee dropped the throw after shortstop Starlin Castro fielded Davis’ chopper toward the middle, as Ellis and Pennington scored to make it 4-0.Fans showered Lee with boos, then cheered sarcastically when he caught the throw from Ryan Theriot on Suzuki’s inning-ending grounder to second.The Cubs got run-scoring singles by Zambrano and Castro to cut it to 4-2 in the fifth, but Theriot got caught off second trying to steal third before Byrd grounded into a force to end it.The sloppy game came on the heels of one of the most memorable at Wrigley Field.On Sunday, the Cubs’ Ted Lilly took a no-hitter into the ninth and the White Sox’s Gavin Floyd matched him for 6 2-3 innings.

NOTES—The A’s acquired OF Conor Jackson from Arizona for minor league closer Sam Demel. The also reinstated Suzuki from the bereavement list and optioned OF Matt Carson to Triple-A Sacramento. … The Cubs activated John Grabow from the 15-day disabled list and optioned RHP Mitch Atkins to Triple-A Iowa.

 

NOTES—Attendance was 40,397….Bears QB Jay Cutler was the 7th inning guest conductor.

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Both the Cubs and White Sox came into this first Cross Town meeting of the season with similar records(bad)and with the Blackhawks being honored with a parade at the same time,the fans at sold out Wrigley Field were quite apathetic. The White Sox bats woke up against slumping Randy Wells, while A.J. Pierzybski and Alex Rios each had four hits and homered and Jake Peavy overcame an early long ball as the Sox won their third straight 10-5 over the Cubs. Unhappy Lou Piniella had gone into a 4 minuted diatribe before the game during his meeting with the media about his unhappiness with some reporters who criticised his handling of things such as Tyler Colvin. Piniella called out Sox Broadcaster Steve Stone in particular.The four hits tied a season high for Rios and set one for Pierzynski, who also drove in a season-best three runs. The White Sox, meanwhile, matched their longest win streak. Pierzynski raised his average to .237 on a muggy afternoon in which he singled in a run during a two-run first, doubled home another in a three-run fifth off Wells and homered off Jeff Stevens in the seventh. He is 10 for 19 in his past four games against the Cubs — all White Sox wins.He becomes a 10-and-five player on Monday, meaning he’ll have the right to waive any trade, and Pierzynski made two things clear. He wants to stay with the White Sox, and he’s had that date circled.Rios capped a four-run eighth against James Russell with a two-run drive that made it 10-2, after Carlos Quentin went deep leading off while batting for Peavy (5-5).That was plenty for the former NL Cy Young Award winner, who had dropped three of four starts. He has pitched better lately, allowing two runs and six hits over seven innings in each of his past two starts.He did give up Alfonso Soriano’s 300th homer — a two-run shot that tied it at 2 in the second — but came away with his 100th career win.Paul Konerko had two hits, including the tiebreaking two-run double in the fifth, and drove in two while scoring twice. Wells (3-5) is 0-5 with a 6.47 ERA in his past eight starts after allowing five runs and 10 hits in five innings. He has not won since beating Arizona on April 30.Guillen acknowledged tension with GM Kenny Williams and said the relationship needs to improve if they’re going to keep working together. That comment came on the heels of a Chicago Sun-Times report that the two nearly came to blows this week after the organization drafted the manager’s son Ozney in the 22nd round. Piniella snapped at critics before the game, calling out Stone for questioning his handling of Colvin. Fans also drowned out the national anthem, just as they do before hockey games at the United Center, but the cheers turned to boos when the BP Crosstown Cup was presented behind home plate before the game — a loud message to the embattled oil company and title sponsor of the series.The White Sox wasted little time jumping on Wells, who allowed run-scoring singles by Andruw Jones and Pierzynski in another rough first inning.That follows a recent pattern that includes a loss to St. Louis on May 28 in which he failed to retire a batter and another against Houston on Sunday when he gave up three runs in the first. Soriano became the second Cub in three days to reach 300 homers, joining Derrek Lee, when he lined a two-run shot over the center-field wall in the second, after Marlon Byrd got hit, for his 10th homer and his first in 44 at-bats. The home run was Soriano’s third and seventh hit in 17 at-bats against Peavy, but a rough outing for Wells led to another loss for the Cubs.

NOTES—The game was delayed 21 minutes at the start due to the threat of rain….Soriano is the 127th major leaguer to hit 300 home runs, Lee had been # 126 earlier in the week in Milwaukee….Konerko has a 16-game hitting streak at Wrigley Field dating to 2004.

43-year-old Omar Vizquel homered for the first time in nearly a year and also had a suicide-squeeze bunt in support of John Danks, who pitched seven innings of one-hit ball as the White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 3-0 Thursday.The White Sox thought they’d have one of baseball’s best rotations: Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, Freddy Garcia and Danks. But their starters went into this week’s series against Detroit with an AL-worst 5.28 ERA.Floyd, Garcia and Danks then combined to allow only four runs to Detroit, and the White Sox won the last two games of the series — only their fourth winning streak of any kind all season.The Sox are 26-33, four games behind the second-place Tigers and well back of AL Central-leading Minnesota.During an expletive-filled postgame rant after the Tigers got held to three hits, manager Jim Leyland said White Sox starters couldn’t have gotten on a roll without significant help from Detroit’s flailing batters.Ticking off the names of Floyd, Garcia and Danks, Leyland said, “You’ve got to hit somebody.They’re good pitchers, don’t misunderstand me. But three straight days, inning after inning, day after day,” he said. “I’m not upset with anybody, I’m just stating fact.”

The Tigers were 24-17 and tied for first place on May 20 but are 6-12 since.Max Scherzer (2-6) pitched well for the Tigers — three runs on five hits in 7 1/3 innings — but allowed homers to Vizquel and A.J. Pierzynski and earned his manager’s ire by failing to execute a pitchout on Vizquel’s sixth-inning squeeze.Vizquel’s first home run since last Aug. 7 also was his 2,724th hit, tying Roberto Alomar for 54th on the career list.One of the best shortstops ever, Vizquel had been a seldom-used utility infielder this season until third baseman Mark Teahen broke his finger two weeks ago. Vizquel was batting .196 on May 29 but is hitting .344 with eight RBI in nine games since Teahen’s injury.Danks (5-5) walked four and struck out four. Carlos Guillen’s second-inning single was the only hit he allowed.He was helped by the absence of Tigers slugger Magglio Ordonez, who is batting .609 in 23 at-bats against the left-hander. Ordonez, who has a .336 career average against the White Sox, missed the three-game series with a sore left side.Sergio Santos relieved to start the eighth with a 2-0 lead and gave up Gerald Laird’s single before walking Austin Jackson and Johnny Damon with one out. Ryan Raburn, Ordonez’s replacement, hit a foul pop and Miguel Cabrera struck out chasing a low, 3-2 changeup.Cabrera entered the game batting .343 with 53 RBI and 18 homers — including 10 in his last 16 games.Pierzynski homered on Scherzer’s first pitch of the eighth.Bobby Jenks worked the ninth inning for his 10th save.

NOTES—The White Sox open a three-game series Friday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Jake Peavy, who wanted to be traded to the Cubs before agreeing to come to the White Sox last year, starts the opener…..Detroit fell to 13-14 in AL Central games, meaning only the Twins have a winning record within the division…..Gordon Beckham doubled and eventually scored on Vizquel’s squeeze. It was the second straight game with a double after going 112 consecutive at-bats without an extra-base hit.

MILWAUKEE—When a player has the speed of Milwaukee‘s Carlos Gomez, just about anything is possible. Even a walk-off bunt.Gomez raced all the way from first to third on Craig Counsell’s sacrifice, then kept heading home on a wild throw to give the Milwaukee Brewers a 5-4 victory over the Cubs in 10 innings Thursday.The unorthodox win wasn’t anything new to Counsell, who said he has seen it happen before.The Brewers took two out of three games from their NL Central rivals, a tough finish to a trying road trip for the Cubs.After 10 games on the road, including a pair of trips to Pittsburgh because of a rainout, the Cubs now return to Wrigley Field to face the White Sox in a three-game series beginning Friday.Milwaukee’s Corey C. Hart hit his NL-leading 16th homer in the second inning — ignoring the roar of the Navy Blue Angels, who are in the area for a weekend air show and were flying over Miller Park.Xavier Nady, filling in on a day off for Derrek Lee, hit a two-run homer.John B. Axford (3-1) pitched the 10th for the win.Gomez pinch-hit and drew a leadoff walk from Bob Howry (1-1). Counsell followed with the bunt and the speedy Gomez rounded second base and just kept going as Nady caught the ball at first base.Nady’s frantic throw to third sailed wild, allowing Gomez to score.In hindsight, Nady said he should have held the ball.The walk to Gomez proved costly, one of nine walks issued by Cubs pitchers.Cubs starter Ryan Dempster turned in his shortest outing of the season, allowing three runs and walking five in 5 1/3 innings. He came into Thursday’s game with 13 career wins over the Brewers, including four straight.Brewers starter Dave Bush went six innings, giving up four runs and six hits. He added an RBI single in the fourth.With the Cubs leading 4-3 and two outs in the sixth, rookie shortstop Starlin Castro made a costly throwing error on Jim Edmonds’ fairly routine ground ball. Reliever Tom Gorzelanny walked Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder, and manager Lou Piniella brought in Jeff Stevens to face Ryan J. Braun.Braun, who was 0 for 10 in the series to that point, briefly called time as the Blue Angels jets once again roared overhead. Stevens then walked him, scoring a run and tying it at 4.Was it the Cubs’ sloppiest game of the year? Marlon Byrd, who was 3 for 4, said the errors are a byproduct of aggressive play.

NOTES—Cubs radio announcer Ron Santo felt ill before the game and went home instead of calling Thursday’s game, according to a team spokesman…..Castro has made eight errors in 31 games this season…..Edmonds made a surprising appearance as the Brewers’ leadoff hitter.

                        

NOTES—About a thousand Hawk Fans who got tickets for this historic game,hung around and celebrated from behind the dasher boards on both sides of the rink….Toews is the Hawks first ever Conn Smythe winner…..The Hawks outshot the Flyers 41-24…..This was the Hawks first ever win at Wachovia Center and their first in Philadelphia since 1996(at the Spectrum).

LES

MILWAUKEE—Lou Piniella called a few hitters in at different points on Wednesday afternoon to try to help the Cubs break out of its offensive funk. Derrek Lee? There was no need for a pep talk for the veteran slugger.Lee hit his 300th homer, 

Marlon Byrd and Geovany Soto each connected twice and the Cubs showed some surprising pop to power past the Milwaukee Brewers 9-4 on Wednesday night.The five homers marked the Cubs biggest outburst this season and were more than the Cubs hit in the previous nine games combined. Chicago has not had a winning streak of longer than four games this season.All the offense helped starter Carlos Zambrano (2-4) earn his first win since returning to the rotation and overshadowed the fact that he wasn’t very sharp again. It was his first victory since April 10.Byrd hit a two-run homer in the first inning, Soto led off with a shot in the second and the Cubs smacked three more in the fifth off Wolf (4-6) when Lee hit his 300th, Byrd followed with another and Soto capped it with a two-run drive that made it 8-3.Zambrano, the $91.5 million right-hander who spent five weeks in the bullpen until Friday’s loss to Houston, pitched five innings and allowed two hits, but was wild.He walked five and hit a batter with a pitch, getting into trouble in the fourth leading 3-1 after consecutive walks to Jim Edmonds and Corey Hart with one out.After George Kottaras popped up for the second out, Wolf hit a double to the wall in center field, tying the game 3-all and just missing a homer.The Cubs answered in the fifth, hitting the most home runs off a Brewers starter since 2002 when Andrew Lorraine allowed that many in his only start for Milwaukee.After Wolf got the first out of the inning, Jeff Baker singled and Lee hit his shot off the facade of the second deck in left field. The first high-five when he got to the dugout came from Piniella.Byrd followed Lee’s at-bat with his second shot to make it 6-3. Wolf got the second out, but left after Alfonso Soriano walked and Soto hit another homer to put the Northsiders ahead 8-3. Baker tacked on an RBI ground-rule double in the ninth.Ryan Braun, who had an RBI groundout in the first, hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to cut it to 8-4, but the Brewers otherwise squandered that opportunity after loading the bases with no outs against reliever James Russell when Andrew Cashner got the Cubs out of the jam.Lee joined Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ron Cey, Andre Dawson and Sammy Sosa as the only players to hit their 300th homer in a Cubs uniform.But the 34-year-old slugger might not wait long for someone to join him on the list. Soriano has 299 career homers.

NOTES—Career saves leader Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect eighth to lower his ERA to 10.42…..Brewers C Gregg Zaun said he would have season-ending right shoulder surgery on Tuesday. He signed a one-year contract in the offseason and hit .265 with two homers and 14 RBI in 28 games. …..Cubs 3B Aramis Ramirez (left thumb) was placed on the 15-day disabled list and said he would rest until his hand felt better. He hopes to return in two weeks, but wouldn’t commit to it. Ramirez is hitting .168 with five homers and 22 RBI.

Hours after White Sox general manager Kenny Williams spoke about the need to make changes, he saw something new — a rare offensive outburst by his team.Ramon Castro and Brent Lillibridge hit three-run homers and the Sox, after critical comments by Williams, routed the Detroit Tigers 15-3 on Wednesday night.The White Sox finished with 16 hits in their highest-scoring game of the season and improved to 25-33. They began the day with the second-worst batting average in the AL at .241. Before the game, Williams said: “Some changes need to take place. I don’t know what and I don’t know when but some changes need to take place.” Castro connected in a seven-run fourth inning and Lillibridge’s pinch-hit shot came in a seven-run eighth. Alexei Ramirez also hit a home run and Omar Vizquel had three hits and drove in three runs.Vizquel passed Lou Gehrig for 55th place on the all-time career hits list. Vizquel has 2,723 lifetime hits, two more than Gehrig.Freddy Garcia (6-3) improved to 18-6 lifetime against the Tigers. He allowed three runs and scattered seven hits. Miguel Cabrera hit a solo shot in the sixth inning for the Tigers and Brennan Boesch hit a home run in his second successive game.After going 17-9 in 2006, Garcia won only a total of five games the next three seasons and needed surgery on his right shoulder.But Garcia, who came out of spring training as the No. 5 starter, has become the most consistent pitcher in the rotation.Rick Porcello (4-6) allowed a season-high eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start of the season.After the game, Tigers manager Jim Leyland was concerned about Porcello.The announced crowd of 21,959 was keeping close tabs of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. The crowd cheered after every Blackhawks goal and several hundred fans stayed after the game to watch on the videoboard as the Hawks won the title in overtime.Trailing 1-0, Ramirez tied the game in the third inning with a leadoff home run. It was his sixth of the season.The White Sox scored a season-high seven runs and had eight hits in the fourth inning.Castro and Pierre had RBI singles in the eighth inning and Vizquel added a two-run double.

NOTES—Magglio Ordonez was out of the Detroit lineup for the second successive game with soreness in his left side…..Gordon Beckham ended a streak of 112 at-bats without an extra-base hit with a double…..After the game, the Tigers placed pitcher Ryan Perry on the disabled list retroactive to June 7 with right shoulder tendinitis. Leyland said they will be purchasing the contract of pitcher Enrique Gonzalez from Triple-A Toledo on Thursday.