Chris Stynes

Maybe the worst-case scenario has run its course with the Cubs. Todd Hundley almost was thrown out at the plate advancing from second base on Alex Gonzalez's double off the right-field scoreboard. He had gone back to tag up, then had to hustle to keep...

Sammy Sosa no longer can make his head swivel like a bobblehead doll—at least not since he experienced sharp pain in the back of his neck that forced him to leave in the eighth inning of last Saturday's game at Arizona and to miss Sunday's game. Sosa,...

Imagine the shock for an Atlanta Braves fan who spent the winter abroad without giving his favorite team a second thought. Hey, that isn't Tom Glavine in a New York Mets uniform, is it? And what's the deal with Kevin Millwood wearing that Phillies cap?...

The Cubs have disintegrated into a $75 million homecoming opponent. The Brewers are only so happy to host them for two more games this weekend. Milwaukee is 4-0 against the Cubs and 9-29 against the rest of baseball. And the Cubs are now almost as bad...

For entertainment value alone, there may be no pitcher in baseball more fun to watch than Carlos Zambrano. Whether he's pacing the mound, talking into his glove or throwing down his bat after a strikeout, Zambrano typically is more wired than Silicon...

You never will hear Kerry Wood complain about the unbalanced schedule. If Wood had his way, the Cubs would face the Reds 117 times, not the 17 times this season's schedule dictates. The 24-year-old right-hander improved to 6-0 lifetime against...

Sammy Sosa chafed at suggestions over the weekend that he needed a day off to break out of his 6-for-35 slump since the All-Star break. "I don't need people to worry about me," he said. "I've been at the top of my game for many, many years and I know how...

The record book doesn't have to be rewritten. It still says the last time the St. Louis Cardinals concluded a four-game sweep in Chicago was May 29, 1921. Cubs shortstop Alex Gonzalez made sure of that Sunday when his eighth-inning bloop single brought...

Pitting Randy Johnson against the Cubs is like hosting a demolition derby with a Mack truck and a tricycle. And that's when the Cubs have Sammy Sosa in the lineup. On a day Sosa flew back to Chicago because of a neck injury, the word mismatch doesn't...

Sammy Sosa found the ideal fuel Sunday to get the Cubs off to New York in good spirits. In his last at-bat in Cinergy Field, which will be replaced by a new park next year, Sosa broke a scoreless game with a 421-foot, three-run homer, his 46th of the...

Cubs manager Bruce Kimm planned to remove Matt Clement when he visited the mound in the ninth inning of Saturday's game. But Kimm quickly realized he would have had to pry the ball from Clement's right hand. "I'm not a psychologist," Kimm said, "and I...

Now that some of the shining stars of the Cubs' farm system (Patterson, Cruz, Hill and Zambrano) have reached the majors to be quickly followed by Choi, Prior and Kelton, what is the state of the Cubs' farm system? Are there many, if any, other...