Bryan LaHair and Ian Stewart hit solo homers - a major outburst for the power-challenged Chicago Cubs - and Jeff Samardzija pitched into the eighth inning on Wednesday night for a 3-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

The Cubs opened the rain-shortened series with only their third multihomer game of the season.Nike Free 3.0 They managed only nine home runs in April, the fewest in the majors. LaHair's shot off Bronson Arroyo (1-1) gave him six overall.

Samardzija (3-1) allowed three hits in 7 2-3 innings and contained Jay Bruce,tiger shoes holding the NL's player of the week to a harmless double. Carlos Marmol retired all three batters in the ninth for his second save in four chances, finishing off the combined three-hitter.

The Cubs have had only six save opportunities this season, underscoring their early struggles.

It was the second straight impressive start for Samardzija, who spent much of the last four seasons in the bullpen. In his last outing May 24, he struck out a career-high nine Cardinals in 6 2-3 innings of a win.

His fastball was still regularly hitting 96 mph in the eighth inning Wednesday,asics tiger shoes when he left after giving up a two-out walk. He threw 94 pitches, 60 of them strikes, and fanned seven.

Bruce went 10 for 21 last week with homers in four straight games. He needed a homer on Wednesday to tie the club record - Ted Kluszewski, Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn all homered in five straight.

Bruce flied out, grounded out and doubled.

LaHair led off the second inning with his sixth of the season off Arroyo,ken griffey shoes who gave up a club-record 46 homers last season when he pitched with mononucleosis and a sore lower back. He's been better so far, giving up only two homers in his four previous starts.

Manager Dusty Baker said before the game that Arroyo has been bothered by a sore lower back again.asics tiger Arroyo got an extra day to rest when Tuesday night's series opener was postponed because of rain.

Stewart homered in the fourth inning, matching the Cubs' season high for homers in one game. They put together three singles for another run in the sixth off Arroyo,cheap asics tiger the run scoring on Geovany Soto's hit. Arroyo gave up nine hits and a walk in six innings, throwing 99 pitches.

The Reds scored in the fourth when Brandon Phillips got caught in a rundown and extended it long enough to let Joey Votto cross home plate.

NOTES: The final game of the series will feature two starting pitchers celebrating their birthdays.cheap Nike Free 3.0 The Cubs plan to activate RHP Ryan Dempster from the 15-day DL, where he's been letting his strained right thigh heal. Dempster turns 35 on Thursday. Cincinnati will start Homer Bailey, who turns 26. ... Tuesday's rainout will likely be made up as part of a doubleheader on Saturday, Aug. 18 during the Cubs' only other visit. ... Arroyo picked Starlin Castro off second base in the first inning. ... Cubs 2B Blake DeWitt made a diving stop and flip to second base to start a slick double play in the fifth. ... The Reds signed former Cubs and A's reliever Michael Wuertz to a minor league deal. He's working out at the team's spring training complex in Arizona.

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Cubs' series opener vs Reds postponed

A rainout provided some valuable rest for the Chicago Cubs' bullpen.

The opener of a series between the Cubs and Cincinnati Reds was postponed on Tuesday because several lines of thunderstorms moved through the area. The game wasn't immediately rescheduled.

The rainout was more beneficial to the Cubs, who arrived in town early Tuesday after a 6-4 loss in Philadelphia. The unexpected day off gave their bullpen a chance to regroup and get a little healthier. Manager Dale Sveum said after the postponement that reliever Scott Maine became sick again and wouldn't have been available to pitch.

"So we would have been a little bit short," Sveum said.

It was the first postponement for both teams this season and the sixth overall at Great American Ball Park, which opened in 2003. A storm moved in during batting practice, followed by another line of storms. The game was called 2 hours, 13 minutes after the originally scheduled start, with more rain expected.

The NL Central rivals are scheduled to play a night game on Wednesday and a day game on Thursday that completes the series. They have one more series in Cincinnati from Aug. 17-19, when they would likely make up the rainout.

The Reds decided to keep their rotation on turn, pushing everyone back one day. Cincinnati's Bronson Arroyo will start on Wednesday against Jeff Samardzija. Chicago made one change in its pitching plans, moving left-hander Paul Maholm back from Wednesday to Friday against the Dodgers.

Chicago's biggest problem during an 8-15 April was its lack of offense. The Cubs are last in the majors with only nine homers, five of them by Bryan LaHair. Alfonso Soriano batted .237 with no homers and two doubles in April.

Told that Soriano was hopeful he'd start hitting once the calendar changed, Sveum said, "The calendar?"

He wasn't thinking about the monthly calendar, but the 2012 calendar.

"I've got to find another job then," Sveum said, laughing.

Jay Bruce, the National League's player of the week, had to sit and watch for another day - this time, because of raindrops. His manager hopes he doesn't cool off.

Bruce is one homer shy of matching a Reds record, but had to limit himself to batting practice instead of trying to hit one out for the fifth game in a row - something he wouldn't mind taking a swing at.

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"Uh, sure, why not?" Bruce said. "But I'm not trying to think about any of that kind of stuff. It's great. I'd like to extend this week for as long as I can and be consistent, really."

Like the Cubs, the Reds struggled to hit in April, but have started to find their stride lately. Bruce has led the way, going 10 for 21 in six games last week with four homers. He has homered in four consecutive games, one shy of the club record shared by Ted Kluszewski, Johnny Bench, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn.

The Reds were off on Monday, when Bruce was chosen as the NL's player of the week. He got another day of rest because of the rain.

Bruce had career highs with 32 homers and 97 RBIs last season. He was the NL's player of the month in May last year, when he batted .342 with 12 homers and 33 RBIs. He's known for staying hot for several weeks at a time, then going into a deep slump.

"I've had this before," Bruce said. "It's not this (type) of week that's the problem. If I have a problem, it's the other weeks. I'm just trying to minimize that."

Manager Dusty Baker pointed out that the Cubs are likely to pitch Bruce carefully during their series.

"Sometimes a player who's hot tends to cool off the next series because of how you pitch `em," Baker said.

NOTES: Baker said INF Miguel Cairo, on the disabled list since April 17 with a strained left hamstring, is expected to start a minor league rehab assignment this week. ... The rainout means RHP Homer Bailey will wind up pitching on his 26th birthday Thursday. Bailey has allowed only three earned runs in his last two starts, covering 13 1-3 innings. ... The Cubs expect to activate RHP Ryan Dempster off the DL to start Thursday's game. Dempster has been sidelined by a strained right thigh. ... The Reds won't have to face Maholm, who beat them 6-1 on April 21 at Wrigley Field and has won his last two starts.

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When I was in Peoria recently, Ken Griffey Jr. told me the story of his former Reds' teammate, Aaron Harang, to illustrate what he perceives as the utter meaningless of mid-spring results.

"One day, I watched Aaron Harang get his ass handed to him. But I also watched what he was doing. He threw a fastball up and away, curve up and away, slider. He threw all his pitches up and away. Then he went to the inside part of the plate, then he went down. He worked the corners. He didn't care about his ERA and what they were doing. That wasn't what he was worried about. We may have felt like that, because we were chasing the balls they were blasting.

"I asked him, 'What were you thinking, what was going on?' He said, 'I was just working spots.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'Think about what I did to such and such.' Then I started going through all the batters and what he was doing, and I said, 'Never mind,' and walked away."

The upshot is that Harang went on that year to 16-11 and lead the National League in strikeouts (216) and complete games (six). That leads into Professor Griffey's main point about spring stats being particularly unrevealing -- not exactly groundbreaking, but meaningful coming from someone who has been in 20-plus spring trainings. Jamie Moyer was another one who would use early spring games to work on certain pitches, often getting blasted in the process. But by the end of camp, he would be sharp and ready to go.

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More from Griffey on the topic, speaking about eight days ago:

"At some point in spring, you just don't play well, and then you get that second wind. At some point, everybody is going to play bad. Then all of a sudden, it's close to the end of spring training, and you say, 'All right, let's go.' "

Perhaps that moment has come for Griffey, who had two doubles in Tuesday's game. That raised his Cactus League average to .240 -- not that spring batting average or team record has any bearing whatsoever, he said.

"It doesn't. Because it's not about spring. Everyone says, 'Oh, they've lost all their games, they're going to be terrible.' No. They could be working on things. It ain't about ERA, it ain't about batting average. It's not about any of that stuff that people look at. It's about getting your work in for the season.

"You could be working on something in here and try to apply it in the game, but people at the game say, 'You suck. Your batting average is this. You're not hitting the ball. You're not driving the ball.' No. You're trying to make a slight adjustment, improve yourself. If you're trying to make a ballclub, it's a little different. But when you've established yourself and have a track record, that's how you do it."

It's always fascinating to watch the veterans step up their game in the final days of spring training -- at about the same time that the early-camp phenoms often start to fade. It's just about that time.

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Ken Griffey Jr. was driving through the nation's heartland on the second day of his journey away from baseball life and toward his family in Florida. And the Mariners' now-retired slugger felt liberated.

His own father could sense that.

"One thing I noticed yesterday when I talked to him while he was driving home, he sounds very happy. It was kind of a relief," Ken Griffey Sr. said Friday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Dayton, Ohio, where he is in his first season as a hitting coach for the Class-A Dayton Dragons. "The biggest relief was him getting to go home and be with his family."

Senior, himself a former major league star with Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" of the 1970s and beyond, said Junior's pride was wounded when Seattle benched the slumping .184-hitter for most of his final two weeks.

The elder Griffey spoke to his son Thursday night as he drove through Kansas City. He believes that pride was part of the reason baseball's active leading slugger with 630 home runs and former AL MVP abruptly walked away from baseball in the middle of his 22nd season.

"He's got a lot of personal pride, OK? And you sit there and not get a chance to play and a week or 10 days go by ... what kind of contribution can you give a team when you are not playing?" the elder Griffey said.

"He's just not going to sit there. He's got a lot of personal pride. He thought he could still contribute. ... I mean, he doesn't have to prove anything to anybody."

Griffey started just once in his last 15 days with the Mariners. Manager Don Wakamatsu said Thursday it was "extremely" difficult to not write Griffey's name in the lineup.

But Wakamatsu also had to find production from his offense and particularly from the designated hitter spot, where Griffey had no home runs this season.

Seattle had expectations of its first postseason since 2001 this spring but was sinking while its anemic offense wasted great pitching. The Mariners were 12 games under .500 and 8 1/2 games out of first place in the AL West late last month, in danger of making the remainder of the season meaningless.

Five-time All-Star Mike Sweeney took over the primary DH duty and hit six home runs in 11 games while Griffey sat. Seattle entered Friday's series opener against the Angels six games out and on a three-game winning streak.

"Going into spring training, he figured he would get 300 at-bats, something of that nature - 300-400 at-bats," Griffey Sr. said.

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But Junior's surgically repaired knee was not as good as he thought it was. His swing looked slow. When he didn't produce into late May, he didn't play and became far less of the clubhouse presence he was in his return to Seattle last year.

His father said Griffey "seems to be happy with how he handled" his exit: a quiet departure with only a short press release left behind.

"He didn't want no whoo-de-doo. He'd rather be quiet. That's the way he's always been," Senior said. "To me, he told the Mariners, that's all he needed to do."

Griffey's agent, Brian Goldberg, was expecting to talk to Mariners president Chuck Armstrong on Friday about a possible date when Junior could return this season for a retirement ceremony in Seattle, something the team also wants.

Goldberg and Armstrong were also expected to explore a long-term role for Griffey that would begin in the near future with the team with which he broke into the majors as a teenager in 1989 and with which he became a star.

Goldberg said he doesn't envision Griffey being in uniform daily as a coach, "at least not initially."

Neither does Junior's dad.

"He could probably make a pretty good coach, but I don't know that he wants to," said Senior, who still cherishes having been a Mariners teammate of his son's in 1990 and '91. "Probably a consultant with the team, I could see him doing that."

His father said Griffey "loves to give opinions" but would hate to be away from his family as a full-time coach during the season.

Senior lives five minutes from Junior, in Winter Gardens, Fla. Now, dad's the one gone from home, while his son waits for him to come home after baseball season.

"Yeah, now I'll be seeing him all the time," his father said with a hearty laugh.

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One of the oldest standing competitions in professional sports is set for this Saturday (11:15AM PDT) when Wembley Stadium hosts the FA Cup Final of Chelsea v. Liverpool. These two teams have battled past six rounds of qualifying play, five rounds of proper play, quarterfinals, and semifinals since November of last year to reach this one-legged championship. Through much adversity in the final months of the Premier League, both Chelsea and Liverpool have fallen out of Title contention, but expect both teams to come out guns-blazing for the FA Cup final.

The unique format of the FA Cup featuring single-elimination with no seeds, completely random drawings, and replay rules makes it one for tradition and always exciting. Teams from all levels of English Association Football are invited to play, with top Premier League teams rarely missing out. Up until the 1990s, draws would require a mandatory replay until a team won outright. Now though, first replays are decided by extra time and if tied still, by penalty shootout. However, replays are no longer held for the semifinals or final match.

One of the long-standing aspects of the FA Cup is that lower-ranked teams upset opponents from a higher division. Making for newsworthy debacles, it’s always fun to watch a top-rated Premier League team fall to a lower team, unless, of course, they happen to be your team.

Due to the unpredictable schedule of the FA Cup tournament, only a handful of clubs have ever complete a League & Cup Double, by winning the League Cup and the FA Cup. Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have all made impressive runs, but none compare to Manchester United‘s three doubles in one decade (1990s) to highlight their dominance in the modern era. And only three clubs have ever won consecutive FA cups, Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, and Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish has proclaimed the importance of Cups like the FA and the Carling Cup, while most of the league seems preoccupied with the Premier League title race. Liverpool, who came away with a victory in February against Cardiff City in the Carling Cup Final on penalties, looks to attack a lively Chelsea squad that has come off a streak of late after a mid-season slump that lead to the firing of Andre Villas-Boas. While Chelsea gets a break from the stresses of the UEFA Champions League Final in a few weeks, their fans will revel in this game to reclaim some clout.

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After bringing a team to unfounded levels of success through the last four years, Josep Pep Guardiola will step down as FC Barcelona boss at the end of the season when his contract expires in just a few weeks. Pep’s decision comes after one of the most impressive streaks of titles in modern history, including last year’s UEFA Champions League title over Manchester United.

Barcelona fans around the world are likely bummed to see him go, as many club patrons hoped to retain him as a Sir Alex Ferguson, life-long championship coach. His assistant, Tito Vilanova, will succeed him temporarily. The decision comes as a shock to many, whether fans of Barca or not. Pep’s last four years have brought the very capable club into the spotlight and then some, which likens his step-down to a head of state not running for reelection he would surely win in a landslide.

A lot of speculation arose when Chelsea fired Andre Villas Boas midway through the season, that they might solicit the 41-year-old. Other rumors have surfaced that the Milan teams is seeking Guardiola, but Pep seems to need a break.

After winning three La Liga titles in four years, along with two UEFA Champions League titles, Pep has done more than bring an extraordinarily talented roster to fame. In Spain and Barcelona in particular, where fans seem to own the club and soccer is more than a game, expectations on both the players and the coaches bring stress to enormously high levels.

Though desperate owners from teams lacking the restored order and dynasty that Pep brought to Barcelona will try their best, expect him to take a vacation from coaching. Though he will probably return in the next few years to prove himself as a world-class coach, he explained his need for a break in the immediate future: “I have given everything and I have nothing left and need to recharge my batteries. The demands have been great and I have not been able to rest much. I have to recover and the only way I can do that is by distancing myself. Otherwise, we would have ended up damaging each other.”

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This will prove to be a massive fixture for both teams. As the Gunners welcome City to the Emirates, it will all be on the line. For the Manchester club, the win will keep them in the title race. For Arsenal, a win would keep the team afloat in the race for fourth that increasingly looks as if it will come down to the wire.

Either Arsenal, Chelsea, or Tottenham will miss the Champions’ League next year. Currently Chelsea sits five points below the other London clubs, but an Arsenal loss could slice that lead to just two. Similarly, Manchester City is currently five points behind league leaders, Manchester United, and their loss could open that lead to eight points. If that occurred, we might as well just hand the trophy over to United.

The news in Manchester these days revolves around Mario Balotelli, who continues to show glimpses of his amazing talent, but whose antics have forced manager Roberto Mancini to declare that he cannot trust the striker. Balotelli’s childish displays on and off the field lead us to wonder what role he will play in the match. Mancini has other weapons to utilize such as Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko. Perhaps this is a good match for Mario to watch from the bench, given the importance.

An interesting tidbit will also be the arrival of a plethora of ex-Arsenal players that will come with their new club. Samir Nasri should play a role, as should Gael Clichy and Kolo Toure. Arsenal certainly have missed all those players in recent times, especially as injuries have left them terribly short at positions such as left back.

This is definitely a match for the Gunners to step up to the challenge for. Theo Walcott has publicly expressed the team’s confidence ahead of the match, and there will surely be more talk as Sunday approaches. The match comes at a definite crossroads for Arsenal. They had won seven straight Premier League matches until they lost away to QPR last weekend.

The confidence expressed by Walcott was surely built up during that stretch, as many points were taken in the dying embers of matches. However, if they now lose two in a row, that nice feeling will be entirely lost. They worked very hard to close that ten point gap behind Tottenham in the short matter of a month and it would be a shame for them to give it all up again that easily.

Another matter of importance in this match displays the need for Arsenal to prove they can compete with the best. With the recent tear up the table, fans have been feeling as if they should be able to compete for the title next season. In order to truly feel that way, the team needs to show that they can beat the best. This is a game at home with about as full of a squad as they’ve had all season. If Arsenal cannot beat Manchester City here, they truly have no business talking about titles and the like.

Considering that Manchester City feels the same way, the match should be enthralling. Both teams need the points, so they will go for it. Man City has had the upper hand in recent encounters so it is now the time for the Gunners to rise up to the occasion. I predict a grand Arsenal win 2:1.

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In the light of Arsene Wenger receiving yet another touchline ban from the UEFA overlords, I feel it necessary to reflect on a few items that are deemed silly and childish regarding the entire process and punishment.

UEFA typically administers bans and fines in response to cries of outrage by managers in the wake of their defeats. For example, following Arsenal‘s exit from the Champions’ League last year, Wenger verbally reprimanded the referee who had dismissed Robin van Persie from the match against Barcelona. Van Persie had taken a shot after a whistle for offsides had been blown and received a second yellow card. The tie had about 30 minutes remaining and was well poised to be a dramatic and fascinating ending. Arsenal was reduced to 10 men and had lost their prolific striker to a ridiculous sending off.

Then Wenger had to give a post-match interview directly upon walking off the pitch. What do you think he’d say? He received a one match ban. This season, Wenger again felt the need to speak his mind after AC Milan flopped all over the pitch to nurse a slender lead in London. His charge this time resulted in a three match touchline ban, as if to say the man needed a sterner warning for questioning all that the eye could see in the heat of losing the year’s biggest encounter.

There are a few reasons that these bans upset me. First, his comments are correct. The referee in the Barcelona match should never set foot on a football pitch again. UEFA should be punishing these referees for their horrendous impacts on matches. Second, why must you insist on interviewing managers right after a match. We know that the football world loves the drama, but if you’re going to get so angry when someone speaks his mind, perhaps you should wait half an hour for the manager to cool off following a heart-wrenching defeat that he felt was wrongfully imposed upon him by a referee.

Then UEFA has the whole issue of the touchline ban itself. A manager will have to watch his team that he has assembled and coached and prepared for this match from the sideline, and he may not utter a word onto the pitch. And if he tries to perform his job, another ban! Excuse me, but isn’t this rather ridiculous. The manager has been hired to assist the lads on the pitch. And to strip this role of him because he has uttered a disagreement with your petty refs after they repeatedly screw teams over?

I think the pigheads up at UEFA need a spanking. My thinking is that they love it all. It’s all about the drama, it’s all about the controversy. It’s the same reason they won’t adopt replay technology. The controversy creates headlines, the headlines get people talking, the talking sparks interest, and the interest means more people tune in to watch, and that means more money for UEFA and the clubs involved. So I suppose I should just stop talking about it altogether now…

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