Matt Clement

LaTroy Hawkins entered Monday night's game against the New York Mets in the eighth inning instead of the ninth, returning to his former job as setup man. But no matter what role Hawkins finds himself in, trouble seems to follow. After the Cubs rallied...

After his spring-training earned-run average soared to 11.20 a couple of weeks ago, Ryan Dempster jokingly challenged anyone to find a baseball card of his with any spring statistics on the back. But after Dempster was knocked out in the fourth inning of...

Manager Dusty Baker mentioned in the spring that Cubs fans were so anxious that they wanted to fast-forward the season to the playoffs. Last Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, Cubs players held a team meeting to decide how to divide the postseason shares....

In keeping with a season that defies explanation, the Cubs did things backward in Monday's doubleheader at Pro Player Stadium. They won the game you might have thought they were going to lose and lost a game they were supposed to win. After knocking...

The Cubs have three 30-homer hitters in their lineup, but it was leadoff man Corey Patterson who supplied the power Tuesday night. Patterson smacked a pair of home runs, the first of which tied the game in the eighth inning and the second of which won it...

Dusty Baker is renowned as a manager who always has his players' backs. But when a team makes as many glaring mistakes as the Cubs did Sunday, even Baker has a difficult time biting his lip. After an 11-1 loss to Florida, which featured two misguided...

Matt Clement never has missed a start in his six seasons with San Diego, Florida and the Cubs, but an injury to his right shoulder and upper back suddenly makes him a question mark for the stretch run. Clement was removed in the third inning of Tuesday...

If the Cubs are to successfully tiptoe through the minefields that exist in the schedule the final month of the season, the five starters in the pitching rotation may have to carry more of the load than expected. But some of them appear to be up to the...

Most experts have given the Cubs the edge in the National League wild-card race because of their starting pitching. They might want to start rethinking their "expert" status after the Houston Astros jumped on another Cubs starter Sunday in a 10-3 rout at...

The first round of the Cubs-Astros showdown at Wrigley Field on Thursday was hot, sticky and brouhaha-free. No one was hit. No one was stared down. No one was ejected. No warnings were given. Whether the 8-3 Cubs' victory was the calm before the storm...

The Wrigley Field vines are turning colors earlier than usual, the kids are getting ready to go back to school and the Cubs finally are starting to get their act together. It's beginning to look a lot like summer's end in 2003, when a late-season push...

Dusty Baker had exhausted virtually every managerial ploy he could muster--a team meeting, a rearranged batting order and a greater resolve to remain calm under pressure. "We're all taught not to panic," the Cubs manager said. "There is a thin line...