The wind whipping out on a warm afternoon, the Chicago Cubs found the perfect conditions to pad their home run total and maintain their lead in the NL Central.

“It was a good day to hit. But you can’t blame the wind. You still got to hit the ball,” said Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who connected on a pair of three-run homers to lead a wild 13-8 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

“You can’t look up there,” Ramirez said of the wind gusting to 21 mph that was moving the flags. “If you try to hit home runs, I guarantee you won’t hit them.”

Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto also homered for the Cubs, who overcame a shaky performance from starter Jason Marquis to send the Pirates to their seventh straight loss.

Chicago, with eight games remaining, remained 1 1/2 games in front of Milwaukee in the division. The Brewers beat Atlanta 4-1 on Friday night.

With Tony Romo again playing like a Pro Bowler, the Dallas Cowboys have established one of the top offenses in the league.

Rex Grossman and the Chicago Bears offense are stumbling, but the team’s vaunted defense looks as stingy as ever.

The Cowboys look to continue their impressive start when they visit Chicago on Sunday night in an early matchup of two of the NFC’s top teams.

After defeating the New York Giants 45-35 in its season opener, Dallas beat Miami 37-20 last Sunday. The Cowboys (2-0) lead the league with 82 points, their highest total after two games since 1971 (91).

Neither of Dallas’ first two wins came against teams which had winning records last season, leaving this contest as easily its biggest test to date.

The defending NFC champion Bears (1-1) have allowed the fourth-fewest points in the league (24) and the fifth-fewest yards (544).

They defeated Kansas City 20-10 in their home opener last Sunday for their 13th win in 15 regular-season games at Soldier Field, holding 12 of those opponents to 10 or fewer points.

Chicago’s rush defense has proven to be especially tough, shutting down the league’s top two rushers from last season. The Bears held the Chiefs’ Larry Johnson to 55 yards on 16 attempts after limiting reigning league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson to 25 yards on 17 carries in their season-opening 14-3 loss at San Diego.

In his first major league start, Bennett allowed one run in 5 2-3 innings against his former team, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night.

Milwaukee, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 1982, slipped to 1 1/2 games behind the NL Central-leading Cubs, who were idle. The Brewers have nine games left, one fewer than Chicago.

The Braves also have nine games left, and they closed to 4 1/2 games of the East lead when the New York Mets lost to the Florida 8-7 in 10 innings. Several players and coaches hung around the clubhouse to cheer on the Marlins.

“We still have a chance to make the playoffs. This was real important,” Bennett said. “I’ve been on several teams in the minors that put on a run at the end of the season and did well. With as much pop as we have in our lineup, you can’t count us out.”

Alfonso Soriano got the Cubs started with his swing and saved them with his arm Wednesday night as Chicago reclaimed first place in the NL Central with another dramatic victory.Soriano hit a leadoff home run and made a great throw to preser

ve a tie in the top of the eighth. The Cubs then scored a strange, go-ahead run in the bottom half of the inning after Ken Griffey Jr. was injured to beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2.

The victory, coupled with Houston’s 5-4 win over Milwaukee, gave the Cubs a one-game lead.

“If ever there was a must game for us this year, truthfully this was it,” manager Lou Piniella said.

Alfonso Soriano and rookie Geovany Soto each hit solo homers and starter Ted Lilly was effective despite not earning the win for the Cubs, who entered the game in a virtual tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead

Pushing for the playoffs, Cubs manager Lou Piniella went with some risky strategy by calling on ace Carlos Zambrano to pitch on three days’ rest, hoping to shape his rotation for the rest of the season.The results Tuesday night were not encouraging for Chicago, which plans to bring back Ted Lilly on short rest Wednesday.

Zambrano was — in Piniella’s words — “fidgety” in the first three innings as the Cubs fell in a hole and then fell out of first place after a 5-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds and their ace right-hander Aaron Harang.

“My first two or three innings I was too rushed. I have to be in control of that situation there, but I felt good,” Zambrano said.

“I mean I was trying not to make a mistake. Harang was good today. Somebody had to win.”

Mark DeRosa’s fifth straight hit was his biggest of the night. It capped a three-run, ninth-inning rally Monday night and kept the Chicago Cubs in first place.”It was huge. You look at the scoreboard and see 6-0 Milwaukee, you can’t quit in that situation. You got to keep fighting in front of your home fans,” DeRosa said after Chicago’s 7-6 victory.

With the Reds using a five-man infield, DeRosa grounded a single up the middle that went off closer David Weathers‘ glove. And when second baseman Brandon Phillips couldn’t come up with it, pinch-runner Sam Fuld raced in from third with the winning run.

Aramis Ramirez tied the game with a two-run triple earlier in the inning.

“My mind-set was to get something up and try to get it in the air, and I didn’t accomplish that task,” DeRosa said. “If David Weathers doesn’t get a glove on it, I think Fuld still has enough wheels to get home. So anything for the win. To be honest it didn’t matter how I got it done. It was a matter of getting it done.”

Every time he lines up for a return, Devin Hester believes a touchdown is just moments away.Who can argue?

Hester set the NFL record last season, and he’s off to a good start this year.

Hester scored on a 73-yard punt return in the second quarter and set up a field goal in the third with another long return to help the defending NFC champions beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10 on Sunday.

“If there’s not one returner who every time he touches the ball feels he can take it the distance, he doesn’t need to be out there,” Hester said. “I feel every time I get my hands on the ball it’s a touchdown.”

He was 20-for-34 with 160 yards and a touchdown, but was picked off twice after passing for 145 yards against the Chargers.

The fans let Grossman hear it in the fourth quarter, when Donnie Edwards intercepted him at the 43. The Chiefs (0-2) took over at the 25, but couldn’t cut into a 20-10 lead.

Minutes after blocking a 48-yard field goal by Dave Rayner, the Bears came up big again. With the ball on the 16, Charles Tillman deflected a pass intended for Sammie Parker in the end zone and Danieal Manning intercepted it.

Jason Marquis has come back to haunt his former team.Matt Murton hit a three-run homer, and Marquis allowed just one run while pitching into the seventh inning to lead the Chicago Cubs to a 4-2 win over the slumping St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

Marquis says he gets no special thrill out of beating St. Louis, where he won 14 games last season. But he was happy to drop the defending World Series champion Cardinals another game off the pace in the NL Central.

“Obviously it’s big because it slowly takes them out of the equation,” Marquis said of the Cardinals, who have lost 10 of 11 and fell seven games out of first. “But a win is a win.”

Geovany Soto had a career-high four hits for the Cubs, who took three of four games in the series and maintained their one-game lead over Milwaukee in the NL Central.

The Cubs had a chance to go for the throat Saturday night after coming back to beat St. Louis 3-2 in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

But a poor decision by third-base coach Mike Quade, a lazy throw by catcher Jason Kendall and an offensive letdown led to a 4-3 loss in the nightcap, leaving the Cubs a game ahead of Milwaukee and six ahead of the Cardinals after a long and draining day.

Michigan’s off the hook for now. It’s Notre Dame’s turn to face the critics alone.The Wolverines humbled the Fighting Irish 38-0 Saturday in an unprecedented matchup of major college football’s winningest programs — without a win or ranking between them.

Mike Hart ran for 187 yards on 35 carries and scored two touchdowns to back-up his guarantee of a victory, and freshman Ryan Mallett threw for three scores in a game that seemed over soon after it began.

“I like being in the spotlight. For the wrong reasons? No,” Hart said. “Hopefully, we’ll be in the spotlight for right reasons now.”

Michigan (1-2) avoided its first 0-3 start in seven decades, and handed the Irish their worst loss since beating them by the same score four years ago.