Doug Davis pitched into the eighth inning in easily his best start of the season and the Cubs began a rare series against the New York Yankees with a 3-1 victory on Friday.Aramis Ramirez hit a pair of RBI singles and made a couple nice plays in the field for the Northsiders, who have won four of five after dropping a season-high 14 games under .500. Starlin Castro doubled twice and is batting .458 (11 for 24) in the last six games.A season-high crowd of 42,219 packed Wrigley Field for the Bronx Bombers’ first trip to the neighborhood ballpark in eight years. There was a smattering of “Let’s go Yankees!” chants but the mostly red-and-blue clad fans were firmly behind the Cubs on a sunny, breezy afternoon.It was a homecoming of sorts for Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who was born in Peoria, went to college at nearby Northwestern and rooted for the Cubs when he was a kid. He also played six seasons for the Cubs during two stints with the club that drafted him in 1986.Girardi and the Yankees rolled into town coming off a three-game sweep against AL champion Texas and winners of six of seven overall. But they were never able to solve Davis, who entered with an 0-5 record and a 5.90 ERA in six starts this season.Robinson Cano and Eduardo Nunez had the Yankees’ only hits off Davis before Nick Swisher doubled with one out in the eighth to chase the left-hander.Davis (1-5) received a thunderous ovation as he left the mound following his longest start since he pitched eight innings in a 5-2 victory for Arizona at Wrigley Field on Oct. 4, 2009.Sean Marshall struck out Curtis Granderson before Mark Teixeira lined an RBI single into center field to trim the lead to 3-1. Mike Quade then went to closer Carlos Marmol, who struck out Alex Rodriguez to end the inning and closed it out for his 14th save.Marmol got a boost in the ninth when defensive replacement Reed Johnson made an outstanding sliding catch along the left-field line to take away an extra-base hit away from Cano. The Yankees went on to put runners on first and second, but Marmol struck out pinch-hitter Chris Dickerson to end the game.Freddy Garcia (5-6) shook off a slow start and worked seven solid innings for the Yankees, allowing three runs and six hits. The right-hander struck out three and walked two.The Cubs got to Garcia for two in the first and one in the third. Ramirez had an run-scoring single in each inning, and Castro doubled in Kosuke Fukudome in the first.Ramirez also made one of his best plays in the field, charging in to barehand Russell Martin’s slow roller to third before making a strong throw to first.

NOTES—The game was delayed for a couple minutes before the third inning. There appeared to be a problem with glare coming off an object near the batter’s eye in center field. … Former Yankees manager Joe Torre, now an executive with Major League Baseball, was on the field before the game and spent some time with Girardi and Quade. Torre’s right arm was in a sling after undergoing rotator cuff surgery. … Girardi said he might give regular designated hitter Posada a start at first base during New York’s six-game trip to Chicago and Cincinnati. Posada was batting .457 (16 for 35) in his last nine games heading into Friday, and Girardi is hoping he can stay sharp during the stint at NL parks. … Seth Myers, the head writer of “Saturday Night Live,” led the singing of “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch.

Kosuke Fukudome had three hits and broke it open with a three-run homer, Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Pena also went deep, and the Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 12-7 on Thursday.Fukudome singled and scored in the first, hit an RBI triple and scored in the second, and delivered the big blow in the sixth when he connected off reliever Daniel Herrera to make it a four-run game.Pena put the Cubs ahead 6-5 with a leadoff homer against Zack Greinke (6-2) in the third. Soriano added a two-run shot in the seventh off Sergio Mitre, making it 11-5. Starlin Castro had three hits and the Cubs took three of four from the NL Central leaders.That’s quite a turn for a team that came into this series with 11 losses in 13 games, but the Cubs got plenty of help in this one.Milwaukee’s Rickie Weeks got thrown out twice trying to stretch singles into doubles, and Greinke simply struggled from the start after going 6-0 in his previous seven starts.The 2009 AL Cy Young winner allowed a season-high eight runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings and took his first loss since his Milwaukee debut against Atlanta on May 4, even though he struck out 10 and walked two.The Brewers got two-run homers from Ryan Braun and George Kattaras off Matt Garza in the first two innings, but the Cubs answered each time.They scored two against Greinke in the first and three more in the second, with three of those five runs coming on a passed ball, a wild pitch and an error, and things didn’t get any better for Greinke after that.He served up Pena’s 10th homer in the third after Casey McGehee tied it at 5 in the top half and left with runners on second and third in the sixth after striking out a pinch-hitting Reed Johnson.Herrera came in and Fukudome quickly gave the Cubs some breathing room when he drove a 1-2 pitch to the right-field seats for his third home run. That made it 9-5 and helped Garza (3-6) pick up a win even though he was far from dominant.After missing three starts because of a bone bruise on his right elbow and then dropping two straight, he tied a season-high by allowing five runs over six innings.

NOTES—Cubs manager Mike Quade wasn’t exactly shedding tears over New York’s Derek Jeter missing this weekend’s series. The Yankees are making their second regular-season trip to Wrigley Field, but they won’t have their captain. Six hits shy of 3,000, Jeter is sidelined by a strained right calf. “I’m like every other baseball guy. I don’t want this guy coming here getting his 3,000th hit,” Quade said. … Greinke was the third Cy Young winner to face the Cubs in seven days, along with Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. … Manager Ron Roenicke said the Brewers sent LHP Zach Braddock to Triple-A after Wednesday’s game because of some punctuality issues. He was showing up at the ballpark on time, but was late going out for pregame warmups. “Zach’s a good guy and works hard, he’s trying to manage his stuff,” Roenicke said. “You need him to go somewhere he can get everything right. Once he gets everything right … he’s throwing the ball good so we’d like to see him back.” Braddock has spent time on the DL this season because of a sleep disorder.

MINNEAPOLIS—Nick Blackburn pitched eight shutout innings for the Minnesota Twins, and Michael Cuddyer’s home run was enough to beat Mark Buehrle and the Chicago White Sox 1-0 on Thursday.Buehrle was beaten despite giving up just three hits over seven innings, and the White Sox fell to 0-4 this year against their primary division rival — scoring a total of three runs in the process.Blackburn (6-4) matched his career high by winning his sixth straight decision, coming over his past nine starts. He scattered seven hits with one walk and one strikeout, continuing a remarkable run this month by the Twins rotation. Minnesota has won 11 of its past 13 games.Matt Capps, making his first appearance in eight days, pitched the ninth for his ninth save in 14 attempts this season. He gave up a one-out single to Adam Dunn, but Gordon Beckham and pinch hitter Omar Vizquel each struck out to end the game.Buehrle (6-5) has pitched exceptionally well over his last eight starts since the beginning of May, surrendering only 17 runs in 55 innings for a 2.78 ERA. He’s 5-2 in that span, thanks to this hard-luck second loss. Buehrle walked two, hit one batter and struck out three.All it took was one big swing from the surging Cuddyer, who leads the Twins with 10 home runs, double the amount of the next-closest teammate. He sent Buehrle’s pitch into the White Sox bullpen beyond left-center field leading off the second inning, and Blackburn held that up.Cuddyer has been a streaky hitter in his career but also can be a dangerous opponent for left-hander pitchers, as Buehrle has learned. Cuddyer is now batting .344 — 33 for 96 — with three homers and 11 RBI against Buehrle.Mimicking Carl Pavano’s complete game the night before, Blackburn kept the White Sox guessing and kept the ball on the ground all afternoon.The right-hander induced a pair of double plays and could’ve had a third, but Tsuyoshi Nishioka committed an error by bobbling a bouncing ball hit by Paul Konerko in the sixth before he could start to turn two. Nishioka was plenty busy at shortstop, showing exceptional range — if a weak arm — and nearly making a highlight-reel play by stopping Carlos Quentin’s grounder deep in the hole and throwing accurately to first.Quentin beat the ball to the base for a two-out single in the eighth, and Konerko followed by ripping one up the middle. But Blackburn retired A.J. Pierzynski on a lazy fly to center, ending another threat.Blackburn recovered from Nishioka’s mistake and from his own, in the second when he threw the ball away trying to double up Pierzynski after snaring a line drive near his neck hit by Alex Rios. With runners at second and third and one out, Blackburn retired Dunn on a fly ball to left field that was too shallow for Konerko to score.Dunn, stuck in a season-long slump, hit himself on the right side of the helmet as he reached first. Beckham followed with a groundout.Nishioka made his Target Field debut after missing more than two months due to a broken lower left leg. He went 1 for 4 with two strikeouts.

NOTES—The White Sox won’t have a DH this weekend during their series at Arizona, but manager Ozzie Guillen said he’ll play Dunn once or twice, at 1B or perhaps LF. Despite a batting average barely above .180, Guillen said he likes the way Dunn has been swinging and is seeing progress. As for his defense? “He’s better than what people think. Obviously he’s not a Gold Glover, but he’s going out there and he knows what to do,” Guillen said. … The Twins will send RHP Joe Nathan to Triple-A Rochester this weekend to continue his rehab from a strained forearm.

1995-96 BULLS CHOSEN AS GREATEST NBA TEAM OF ALL TIME
June 16 – In celebration of its 125th anniversary, in 2011, Sporting News is settling the score on the Great Sports Debates. This month’s debate puts to rest the argument of the NBA’s greatest teams of all time, with SN asking an All-Star panel of current and former coaches, players, executives and journalists to cast their votes. Led by Michael Jordan, the 1995-96 NBA champion Chicago Bulls earned the No. 1 spot. They won 72 regular-season games, the most all time, led the league with 105.2 points per game and were tops in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency.

Phil Jackson assistant Jim Cleamons said about the ’95-96 Bulls, “That team refused to lose. It was like, ‘Hey, we’re not supposed to lose.’ It hurt them every time they lost a game. That 72-10 record was their stamp on their quality of work and what they thought of each other.”

The NBA champion 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, a team that won a record 33 straight games on the backs of Jerry West, Gail Goodrich and Wilt Chamberlain, are No. 2. The 1986-87 Lakers championship team, featuring No. 1 overall draft picks Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mychal Thompson and James Worthy, is No. 3. Led by Larry Bird and four other future Hall of Famers, the 1985-86 Boston Celtics were NBA champions and make the list at No. 4. Anchored by Bill Russell, the NBA champion 1964-65 Celtics featured eight future Hall of Famers and ranks No. 5.

Coming in at No. 6 through 10: the 1966-67 76ers, 1982-83 76ers, 1970-71 Bucks, 1991-92 Bulls and 1988-89 Pistons.

The June 20 issue of Sporting News Magazine features Michael Jordan on the cover and is available on newsstands now. In addition to the NBA’s greatest teams, it also includes an NBA draft preview, a look into MLB’s fiercest rivalry, Reds vs. Cardinals, and a coaches survey about college football’s biggest issues.

Ten Greatest NBA Teams of All Time
1. 1995-96 CHICAGO BULLS
2. 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers
3. 1986-87 Los Angeles Lakers
4. 1985-86 Boston Celtics
5. 1964-65 Boston Celtics
6. 1966-67 Philadelphia 76ers
7. 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers
8. 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks
9. 1991-92 CHICAGO BULLS
10. 1988-89 Detroit Pistons

The Milwaukee Brewers were looking for a spark, and Rickie Weeks was there to provide it.Weeks homered and doubled twice as the Brewers beat the Cubs 9-5 on a wet Wednesday night to take sole possession of the NL Central lead. Milwaukee moved one game ahead of St. Louis in the division on a night when heavy rain delayed the start by 1 hour, 42 minutes. Weeks gave the Brewers the kick at the top of the order and the rest of the lineup followed his lead. Ryan Braun doubled twice, singled and scored three runs for the Brewers. Corey Hart also had three hits. Hart, Casey McGehee, Yuniesky Betancourt and Jonathan Lucroy all drove in two runs. After wasting terrific starts by Randy Wolf and Yovani Gallardo while losing the first two games of this series by one run, Milwaukee overcame a shaky effort by Chris Narveson (4-4).The Brewers stopped a two-game losing streak, their longest since they ended a seven-game slide in early May. They had gone a team-record 35 games without consecutive losses before this mini-skid.In the process, they jumped from a fifth-place tie to the top of the division and were coming off an impressive weekend sweep of the Cardinals. Now, they will try to salvage a four-game split against a team that had dropped 11 of 13 before taking the first two.Narveson lasted just 5 1/3 innings, giving up a solo homer to Jeff Baker in the first and a three-run drive to Reed Johnson in the fifth. He was nowhere near as impressive as he was on Friday, when he threw eight scoreless innings against St. Louis but he got the win, anyway. The Cubs still haven’t won more than two straight, and they came up short again with a chance finally to get to three in a row. They insist they are capable, that they will go on a run at some point.Zambrano (5-4) simply didn’t have it and fell to 1-3 in his last eight starts. Big Z got tagged for five runs and nine hits in six innings, before the returning Alfonso Soriano batted for him in the sixth. The Brewers staked Narveson to a 5-1 lead by scoring two in the fourth and three with two out in the fifth. A two-run double by McGehee and Hart’s double off third baseman Aramis Ramirez’s glove made it a four-run game, but the Cubs got nearly all of it back in the bottom half. Narveson started it by walking Zambrano and Starlin Castro. Johnson then made it a one-run game when he homered to the last row of the bleachers in left field, a fan reaching up and catching the ball using his cap. But that’s as close as Chicago got. Betancourt made it a three-run game with a two-run bases-loaded single off Chris Carpenter in the seventh, and Weeks increased it to 8-4 with a solo homer onto Waveland Ave off John Grabow in the eighth. McGehee gained some redemption after committing two early errors. The double in the fifth stopped a 6-for-54 skid.

MINNEAPOLIS—Carl Pavano kept up his recent surge with a complete-game six-hitter for the Minnesota Twins in a 4-1 victory over the White Sox on Wednesday night.Pavano (4-5) walked three, struck out five and recorded six one-pitch outs against the free-swinging White Sox, who had won nine of their previous 13 games. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 1.44 ERA over his last three starts, and the Twins have won 10 of their last 12 games. Delmon Young’s two-run single capped a three-run second inning against Gavin Floyd (6-6), who also went the distance. Pavano drew a loud cheer when he walked out for the ninth, and Juan Pierre led off with an infield single and Alexei Ramirez followed with a double. He struck out Carlos Quentin and made a quick grab of Paul Konerko’s right-back-at-him line drive before A.J. Pierzynski grounded out to end the game.The series opener was wiped out by heavy rain and a thunderstorm on Tuesday, pushing starts back by one day for Floyd and Pavano. Batting practice was cut short by a downpour before this game, too, but the sky cleared and a rainbow appeared above the ballpark to set the stage for a beautiful — if a bit cool — early summer evening.That’s the kind of break the Twins have been enjoying lately, in contrast to all the injuries and struggles they endured in the first two months of the season. The second inning brought more tangible examples of that good luck. Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla hit one-out doubles down the line that bounced in the same place along the padded facade of the seating sections in foul territory, Revere’s to left and Casilla’s to right. Both players are fast, but the perfect carom allowed them both to easily advance — and Revere to score. Michael Cuddyer followed with a walk, and he and Casilla pulled off a double steal. Young then stretched the lead to 3-0 with his high-bouncing single out of the reach of the shortstop Ramirez, who might have been closer to the base for a potentially routine double play had the Twins not moved up on the steals. The Twins stole five bases — a career-high three by Cuddyer — and twice bunted for singles, the kind of scrappy approach they strayed from last season — the style that has long drawn the respect and annoyance of manager Ozzie Guillen of the rival White Sox. Floyd, who fell to 4-9 in his career against the Twins with a 5.10 ERA, pitched his first complete game this season. He gave up an RBI double to Danny Valencia in the eighth that padded the home team’s lead. Floyd walked two and struck out six, allowing 11 hits. Starting pitching isn’t the problem for the White Sox. Konerko is still playing at an All-Star level, but the prize addition to this year’s team, Adam Dunn, has disappointed so far. Alex Rios, another expensive, important part of the lineup, has been in a season-long slump, too.Dunn drilled a leadoff double in the third inning, but Pavano deftly recovered with three straight groundouts to strand the big slugger on base. Starting pitching isn’t a problem for the Twins, either. Their rotation has a 2.24 ERA in June.

NOTES—Jake Peavy is scheduled to start Thursday for Triple-A Charlotte on a rehab assignment for his strained right groin. Guillen said Peavy would be evaluated after that game to determine his readiness to rejoin the team — or if he needs another turn. “It’s up to how he feels, how many pitches he throws, how hard it was for him to go through it,” Guillen said. … Asked what he needs most if the White Sox turn into buyers at the trade deadline, Guillen said, “I need Rios and Dunn to start hitting.” … Rare occurrence: Each team hit into a 3-6-1 double play, Valencia in the third inning and Dunn in the fifth. … Jim Thome (strained left quadriceps) is close to facing live pitching on his rehab assignment for the Twins. With road games against NL teams next week and no DH, the Twins could wait a bit to take him off the DL. Manager Ron Gardenhire, though, said he likes being able to use Thome as a late-inning pinch hitter, too. … Casilla is batting .391 (25 for 64) at Target Field this season.

Starlin Castro provided the perfect remedy for a poor start by the Cubs.Castro had three hits, including a game-ending single in the 10th inning, and Chicago rallied past the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 on Tuesday night. The winning run capped a late comeback as Jeff Samardzija (5-2), the last of six Cubs pitchers, won his second straight game in relief. Castro looped a one-out single to right off Tim Dillard (1-1) to score Tony Campana from third in the 10th. Campana opened the 10th with a double off Dillard and moved to third on Kosuke Fukudome’s sacrifice, bringing up Castro.Trailing 4-1, the Cubs scored three times in the eighth off Milwaukee reliever Marco Estrada. Castro doubled home Fukudome, and Aramis Ramirez followed with his fifth homer, a two-run shot that tied it 4-all. The rally spoiled a strong effort by Milwaukee ace Yovani Gallardo, who allowed three hits and struck out a season-high 10 in seven innings.The Brewers, who lost the first game of the series 1-0 on Monday, dropped back-to-back games for the first time since a seven-game losing streak from April 30 to May 6. Milwaukee maintained a share of the NL Central lead as St. Louis lost 8-6 at Washington. The Brewers scored twice in the third inning, sending eight batters to the plate while leaving three on base.Rickie Weeks led off with a single and scored the first run on Ryan Braun’s base hit. The Brewers then loaded the bases and scored again when Casey McGehee grounded to shortstop for a fielder’s choice that brought home Nyjer Morgan. Starting pitcher Randy Wells then walked Corey Hart to load the bases again, but escaped the inning when Yuniesky Betancourt popped up in the infield and Jonathan Lucroy flied to left. Fielder’s one-out sacrifice fly in the fourth brought home Gallardo for a 3-0 lead. Geovany Soto’s seventh-inning solo home run broke up the shutout bid.

It appeared Darwin Barney was going to be out at home. Instead, he hit the plate, eluded a tag by backup catcher Jonathan Lucroy and scored the game’s only run in the eighth inning in the Cubs’ 1-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.With Barney at third with one out, Aramis Ramirez grounded to Brewers shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who promptly threw to Lucroy in an unsuccessful bid to tag Barney.The victory snapped the Cubs’ three-game skid in the start of a tough stretch that includes the Brewers series, three weekend games with the Yankees and a cross-town series with the White Sox next week.Cubs reliever Jeff Samardzija (4-2) worked one inning for the win, while Carlos Marmol picked up a save in the opener of a four-game series.Brewers reliever Kameron Loe (2-6) pitched one inning in the loss.Cubs starter Ryan Dempster had a no-decision in his 500th career game. He worked seven scoreless innings, gave up four hits while striking out seven and walking just one.Randy Wolf was nearly as effective for the Brewers. He allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings, struck out seven and walked none. Milwaukee had an early chance to score in the fourth inning. With Casey McGehee on first, Corey Hart send a drive to deep center in the fourth that on another day would have been a two-run homer. But increasingly stiff breezes from the North and Northeast helped keep the ball in the park.In the bottom of inning, the Cubs started to tag Wolf as Ramirez and Lou Montanez both sent deep flies to left that were caught.Leading off the fifth, Betancourt took a 1-2 pitch from Dempster and doubled off the left-field wall. He advanced to third on catcher Wil Nieves’ bunt but was caught in a rundown between third and home after an unsuccessful bunt attempt by Wolf,who then doubled down the right-field line on the next pitch, but was stranded when Rickie Weeks ended the inning with a grounder to first.Dempster was pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh and the Cubs had runners on first and second with one out, but left both stranded. The 34-year-old Dempster remained unbeaten in his last nine starts against Milwaukee. He’s 7-0 dating to July 2009.

NOTES—The Cubs placed Kerry Wood on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 9. Wood, 1-3 with a 2.25 ERA in 24 relief appearances, has had a lingering blister on his right index finger. He last pitched on June 8 in Cincinnati. The Cubs also activated infielder Jeff Baker from the 15-day disabled list….Milwaukee sent RHP Takashi Saito to Class A Wisconsin for a rehabilitation assignment Sunday….Third-base umpire Ed Rapuano left early with what was described as a non-medical emergency.

Brent Lillibridge helped make John Danks a winner with a homer-saving catch in the eighth inning, and the White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 3-2 on Saturday night.Lillibridge robbed Oakland’s Coco Crisp with a leaping catch above the wall. With Daric Barton on second and one out in the eighth, Crisp lofted a flyball deep to left-center. Lillibridge retreated to the wall, leaped and snared Crisp’s drive before it cleared the fence.That turned out to be the last batter Danks (2-8) faced. He allowed just four hits, struck out four and walked two in 7 2/3 innings. He won his second straight start after going winless in his first 11 starts to start the season.Lillibridge, an infielder in the minor leagues, has started at four different positions this season, including all three outfield spots. In addition to his defense, he’s hitting .273 with seven homers in 88 at-bats. He walked twice, stole a base and scored a run on Saturday.Ramon Castro hit his third homer of the season, a solo shot in the fourth. Alex Rios had two hits and a walk for the Sox, his third straight game with two hits.Athletics starter Gio Gonzalez (5-5) is winless in his last five starts. Oakland issued nine walks, has lost 11 of 12 games and fell to 1-2 under interim manager Bob Melvin.