Midwest

New Cubs shortstop Cesar Izturis injured his hamstring early in Monday's 6-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies and will likely hit the DL. If Neifi Perez hadn't been traded over the weekend to the Detroit Tigers, he would have gone in at shortstop and Ronny Cedeno would have to stayed at second. Instead, Cedeno moved to short and Ryan Theriot came in at second.

Pat Burrell and the Phillies defeated the Cubs 6-3 Tuesday, and Cubs starter Ryan O'Malley left after 4 2/3 innings with a strained elbow.

The White Sox are happy to have Minnesota in their rearview mirror, and not just because it's a flat, frigid land populated by flat, frigid people.

Nearing the end of a season that has alternated between meaningless and annoying, the Cubs had a chance to do something important: Shut the St. Louis Cardinals out in Chicago. Before the weekend series, the Cardinals were 0-10 in the city, swept twice by the Cubs and once by the White Sox. But as the Cubs usually do when the games actually matter, they came unglued.

With their team's lead in the AL Central dwindling daily, Detroit Tigers fans will probably not react well to the acquisition of Neifi Perez, say city officials.

WGN-TV Meteorologist Tom Skilling thought he was in for the mother of all weather reports when he rushed out of the Weather Center in a panic late Thursday night, thinking severe weather was coming from the West.

After getting shellacked 10-4 in Wednesday night's game for their second straight loss, the Chicago White Sox had to be thinking, "Just who the hell are these Royals players and where have they been all season?"