Daryle Ward was so sure he would play in the majors that he practiced his signature as a kid. He may get a few autograph requests after his latest big hit.

Ward delivered a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs rallied again to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 Sunday after the anticipated showdown between Carlos Zambrano and Randy Johnson got wiped out.

“I love the game of baseball,” Ward said. “It’s something I knew that I was going to do when I was about 3 years old.”

Carlos Marmol (1-0) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Kerry Wood pitched the ninth to earn his seventh save in 10 chances and finish off Chicago’s three-game sweep of the NL West leaders.

Heavy rain and temperatures in the mid-40s delayed the start of the game by 58 minutes, and Zambrano and Johnson were spectators when it finally began. By the time the game ended, the Cubs had used another late rally to beat Arizona, the team that swept them in the playoffs last year.

Reed Johnson tied it at 4 with a two-run homer off Juan Cruz with one out in the seventh after Mike Fontenot walked. Cruz then walked Ryan Theriot before Tony Pena (0-1) got Derrek Lee to hit into a double play, but the Cubs struck again in the eighth.

Pena intentionally walked pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano to load the bases with one out and set the stage for Ward, who drove the ball to right-center to make it 6-4.

“Well, I’m not going to let Soriano beat us right there,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve got to have a chance for a double-play ball and we’ve got (Ward) hitting (.174) up there. That’s really not that tough of a decision.”

Ward also tied it with a pinch-hit RBI single in Chicago’s 7-2 victory over Arizona on Saturday.

Most days, Ward follows a heavy regimen of stretches and massages in case he gets called.

“Sometimes, you’re a little bit lazy and say, ‘I don’t want to do it,”’ said Ward, third among active players with 74 pinch hits. “But you have to. I feel like I’m making a good example for some of the younger guys that are playing on the bench. They do some of the same things I do, and it’s been working for all of us.”

It’s a lot of effort for about a minute of activity.

“Was it even a minute?” he asked on Sunday.

No one was sure, exactly. They just knew his timing was perfect, as was Reed Johnson’s.

Stuck in a 4-for-34 slump over the previous 11 games, he drove his first homer through a driving wind about halfway up the bleachers.

“The last week or so, we really haven’t been playing that well so I think this was a good confidence boost,” said Johnson, signed to a one-year deal in late March after Toronto released him.

Arizona’s Edgar Gonzalez was in line to get the win until Johnson went deep.

Recently booted from the rotation, Gonzalez allowed two runs and five hits before being lifted for a pinch hitter in the sixth. One of those hits was a solo homer by Lee that gave Chicago a 2-1 lead in the third.

Cubs starter Sean Gallagher carried the lead into the fifth but couldn’t make it out of the inning. Reliever Chad Fox wasn’t much help, either, walking in two runs that inning.

Gallagher allowed four runs and five hits over 4 1-3 innings in his first major league start and likely will get another one against Pittsburgh this week. The 22-year-old right-hander had made two appearances this season after posting an 8.59 ERA in eight relief outings while splitting time between the majors and minors last year.

If the Cubs caught a break by missing Randy Johnson, who’s 12-0 against them, it was tough to tell.

Lee’s homer aside, they did little against Gonzalez.

“He did a pretty good job of keeping the ball down and got a lot of groundballs,” Arizona catcher Miguel Montero said. “He got ahead in the count, which I thought was a big key for him.”

Joe Crede’s cool approach helped the Chicago White Sox end a long night with a victory and hand New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain his first major league defeat.

Crede lined an RBI single to center to score Carlos Quentin in the bottom of the ninth as Chicago beat New York 7-6 and avoided a three-game sweep.

“I think the biggest thing is to be able to control your emotions out there. The crowd is getting into it, especially when there is a guy on base in scoring position, and you have a chance for the base hit to win it,” Crede said after his hit set off a wild celebration at U.S. Cellular Field.

“You just go up there and try not to do too much and you know I’ve faced Chamberlain only twice so far, once being yesterday, and you kind of go through in the back of your head what kind of pitches he has and what they do,” Crede added. “You try to figure out what you need to do to try to go out there and just get a base hit.”

And Crede, who’s earned a reputation for getting clutch hits during his career, got a 1-2 pitch from the hard-throwing 22-year-old right-hander and delivered.

Chamberlain had given up just three earned runs in 32 innings over 26 regular-season appearances since being called up last year. He gave up one earned run in 19 outings in 2007.

“I’m not perfect every night,” said Chamberlain, who was the subject of much attention this week when team co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said he should be starting instead of relieving. “I give up hits and that’s the way it’s going to be. I let my team down.”

Quentin doubled with one out off Chamberlain (1-1) and Crede lined a single to left-center to score him.

“He’ll be fine. He’ll bounce back. He’s given up a run before in his life,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Chamberlain.

Crede, who’s made a strong comeback after back surgery last season, has already hit two grand slams this season. He’s the guy the White Sox like to see when they need a big hit.

“We like our chances with Joe up. He’s done it all year,” White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “He’s done it his whole career. He was the right guy in the right spot.”

Bobby Jenks (1-0) got pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to ground into an inning-ending double play with two runners on in the top of the ninth to get the win in a game twice delayed by rain.

Trailing 6-3, the Yankees tied it when Melky Cabrera hit a two-out, two-run homer off Gavin Floyd in the sixth, and Morgan Ensberg delivered a two-out RBI single off Scott Linebrink in the seventh.

Ensberg started a third straight game in place of injured Yankees star Alex Rodrigez, who rejoined the team Thursday but again didn’t play because of a strained right quadriceps. Rodriguez had been in Miami where his wife gave birth to their second child.

Floyd worked before and after a 51-minute rain delay in the third inning, allowing five hits and five runs in six innings.

Yankees starter Phil Hughes is still looking for his first win after five starts. New York took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third before the delay but decided not to bring back Hughes, their promising 21-year-old right-hander. Hughes allowed just one hit in his brief two-inning stint while throwing 23 pitches.

The White Sox scored five in the fourth off reliever Ross Ohlendorf. Orlando Cabrera reached on an infield single, Jim Thome walked, Paul Konerko had an RBI single, Jermaine Dye delivered a run-scoring single that skipped past Ensberg at third and Pierzynski added an RBI double over Bobby Abreu’s head in right.

Quentin then grounded to Ensberg, whose throw to the plate couldn’t get the sliding Dye as Chicago went up 4-3. Alexei Ramirez hit a ball down the right-field line that Abreu couldn’t reach and the RBI double made it 5-3.

Facing LaTroy Hawkins in the fifth, Thome hit his 513th homer and moved into sole possession of 19th place on the career list, breaking a tie with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews. It gave Chicago a 6-3 lead.

Floyd had struggled with his control in the third, giving up a hit to Jason Giambi—who was batting .135—and walking Cabrera and Johnny Damon to load the bases. Giambi made a great slide around Pierzynski beating a strong throw from Dye, who caught Derek Jeter’s line drive in right field.

Abreu, who had a go-ahead grand slam in Tuesday night’s series opener, then doubled off the top of the left-field fence to drive in two, giving him 1,000 career RBIs.

In the sixth, Floyd gave up a two-out double to Giambi before Cabrera hit his fourth homer to cut Chicago’s lead to 6-5.

For one brief moment, a smile crossed Aramis Ramirez’s face when he learned the Chicago Cubs took the lead in the National League Central. Then, it disappeared.

The Cubs know how drastically fortunes can change, so they weren’t about to jump for joy over moving into first place on Sunday.

Ramirez tied a career high with four hits, including a two-run homer, in a 13-6 victory over Pittsburgh that gave Chicago its second three-game sweep of the Pirates this season.

Then, he had a question: “Did St. Louis win today?”

No, the Cardinals lost to San Francisco, so the Cubs took a half-game lead in the Central. Ramirez let out a smile and then it was gone.

“We still got, what, 150 games to go?” he said.

Actually, they have 144. But if Ramirez wants to prolong this season, well, so do the rest of his teammates

Chicago got big days from Ramirez and Ryan Theriot and won for the 11th time in 14 games. Theriot had four hits, scored three runs and drove in two. With Saturday’s 13-1 drubbing, this was the first time the Cubs scored 13 or more in back-to-back games since they did it against Florida and Atlanta on July 20-21, 2003.

Chicago banged out a season-high 18 hits, the most since it had 20 against Cincinnati last August 16, while sending Pittsburgh to its fifth straight loss. The win was Chicago’s ninth straight against the Pirates, matching the Cubs’ longest win streak against them since Sept. 5, 1938 to May 13, 1939.

“It feels great to be in first place,” starter Ryan Dempster said. “Now, the tough part is trying to stay there.”

Dempster (3-0) wasn’t feeling great after Pittsburgh scored three runs in the fifth to cut it to 5-3, but Chicago responded with five in the bottom half against reliever Franquelis Osoria. The Pirates committed two errors in the inning, and Ramirez capped the outburst with his fourth homer.

The four-hit game was Ramirez’s 18th and his first since Sept. 27 at Florida.

“I felt pretty good,” said Ramirez, who raised his average from .234 to .275. “I can’t say I’m right where I want to be because I only had (one) good day.”

At 12-6, the Cubs matched their best 18-game start since 2004. One reason is their patience at the plate. The Cubs walked seven times on Sunday after drawing 10 the previous day.

“We figure we should score runs,” Lee said. “We feel like this is what we’re capable of.”

Theriot is playing a big part, with a .338 average.

He singled in a run in the first to extend his hitting streak to seven and was 4-for-5. He doubled and scored in the third, and added an RBI double and scored again in the fourth to help Chicago build a 5-0 lead.

That was enough for Dempster, who was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth. He allowed five hits, walked two, struck out three and hit a batter in his shortest outing of the year.

It was a rough outing for Pittsburgh’s Zach Duke (0-1), who was 4-2 with a 2.01 ERA in nine previous starts against Chicago. This time, he allowed five runs and eight hits in four innings and his ERA climbed from 2.89 to 4.37. He walked two and hit two batters. Only 36 of his 69 pitches were strikes.

“You can’t overanalyze it too much,” he said. “You can get into a big downward spiral if you let yourself do that. I’m going to take this one for what it is and bounce back next time.”

The Cubs scratched Kosuke Fukudome from their lineup because of a small cyst above his right eye—a condition that manager Lou Piniella said is not serious while calling it “only a one-day thing.”

The Tigers have the worst record in the major leagues, and Detroit manager Jim Leyland couldn’t contain himself anymore.

Following Sunday’s 11-0 loss to the Chicago White Sox, Leyland was heard screaming in the clubhouse before reporters were allowed inside. He wouldn’t comment on the rant, but the manager said it wasn’t just about the loss.

“There was one thing that sticks out to me right now that’s going on, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Leyland said, without revealing the issue.

Joe Crede and Paul Konerko hit grand slams to back Javier Vazquez’s strong start. Konerko’s homer came in the third off Kenny Rogers and Crede’s grand slam, his second this season, came in the fifth against Zach Miner as the White Sox won for the fifth time in six games over Detroit, the preseason favorite to win the AL Central.

“We got Detroit at the right time,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “Those guys are going to wake up sooner or later. They have unbelievable talent.”

Chicago has a 5 1/2 -game lead in the division over the Tigers. The White Sox have outscored Detroit 46-12 this season, despite the Tigers adding slugging third baseman Miguel Cabrera to an already powerful lineup.

“Where we’re at makes sense because that’s the way we’ve played,” Leyland said. “It’s not surprising that we’re 2-10. We’ve been shut out four times. … I didn’t think we’d get shut out four times all year, to be honest with you.”

Detroit has been shutout out twice as many time as any other major league team—one more time than they were blanked all of last year.

“We’re just in a funk,” Leyland said. “Can I get them out of the funk? No, I don’t think so. They have to get themselves out of it.”

It was the third time the White Sox have hit two grand slams in one game. The previous time Chicago did it was May 19, 1996, when Darren Lewis and Robin Ventura homered at Detroit. The first time was Sept. 4, 1995, when Ventura hit two grand slams in a game at Texas.

“It was kind of wild,” Konerko said. “You don’t see many grand slams, and especially with the weather. The weather was kind of brutal out there.”

On a cold and windy day, Rogers (0-3) gave up seven runs, seven hits and four walks in four-plus innings. He once again pitched with no run support; the Tigers haven’t scored a run in his three starts this season. Not that he helped much.

“We’re not a very good team right now,” Rogers said. “We’re as bad a team as there is right now in every facet, myself as much as anyone. I’m supposed to be consistent and I was very uncomfortable out there and inconsistent.”

Chicago has started to erase the bad taste from last season with its strong start, and Crede is part of the reason why. The third baseman is hitting .341 with four homers and 15 RBIs, with most of his production coming in the last week. He had to work himself into shape in spring training after missing much of last season with back surgery.

“He’s Joe,” Guillen said. “We’re lucky enough to have Joe back. Last year we missed him a lot. We missed his bat and his glove. You see his RBIs, but he also had RBIs in the field, saving runs with his defense.”

Vazquez (2-1) won his second straight start, scattering five hits in seven innings while striking out nine without a walk.

Trailing 1-0 in the third, Rogers walked Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera reached on an infield single. Jim Thome walked and Konerko took an 0-1 fastball to center for a 405-foot homer, his first grand slam since Aug. 3, 2004, and the seventh of his career.

“It’s a credit to the guys in front of us that were getting on base,” Konerko said. “In my case, Orlando hustled down the line, drawing a bad throw to get on base and then Jimmy has a heck of an at-bat and draws a walk. It’s all those little things where it didn’t look like it was going anywhere and then, bang, grand slam.”

Rogers didn’t make it out of the fifth, getting pulled for Miner after Cabrera’s double and Thome’s bloop single. Konerko struck out, Jermaine Dye hit an RBI double and A.J. Pierzynski was intentionally walked. Thome scored on a wild pitch and Miner walked Carlos Quentin to set up Crede’s sixth grand slam, a 393-foot shot to left.

Crede had hit two grand slams in a season once before.

“High school, senior year,” he said of his days at Fatima High School in Westphalia, Mo. “I can’t recall a time since A-ball that I’ve started out feeling this good, this early.”

Not so for the Tigers. On Thome’s single in the fifth, Cabrera tripped on the third base umpire’s foot and missed a chance for an easy catch.

“That tells you how bad it’s been going for us,” Leyland said. “He stepped on the umpire’s foot and slipped.”

After needing the equivalent of three games merely to win twice in Pittsburgh, what a relief this regulation game was to the Chicago Cubs. Almost as big as the relief Jon Lieber gave them.

Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot hit two-run homers in Chicago’s five-run sixth inning and the Cubs finished off a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh, winning 7-3 Thursday night to run their winning streak to five games.

Soto had three extra-base hits, including two doubles, among his second career four-hit game, and Derrek Lee also drove in two runs despite not getting a hit as the Cubs won their sixth in a row over the Pirates dating to last season.

Lieber (2-1) got the decision by pitching 4 1-3 scoreless relief innings after starter Rich Hill needed 72 pitches to get through three innings, allowing three runs and three hits and walking four. Lieber pitched 7 1-3 scoreless relief innings in the series, three of them during a 10-8, 12-inning win Monday in the Pirates’ home opener.

“Without Lieber, we really would have had problems,” manager Lou Piniella said. “We were looking for innings. … (Hill) was all over the place. There was no use keeping him in there. It wasn’t going to get any better.”

The Cubs certainly didn’t need to look for innings earlier in the series.

After going 12 and 15 innings to win the first two games—the first time in 81 years they’ve needed that many innings to win consecutive road games—the Cubs won this with one big inning against the pitching-thin Pirates, who dropped their fifth in six games.

“I’m glad it didn’t go (extra innings),” said Soto, who went 8-of-17 while catching all 36 innings in the series—apparently with no effect on his offense.

The Cubs withstood two Pirates homer-driven comebacks to win 6-4 in 15 innings on Wednesday night.

“I think any situation like that, if anybody can go in there and do that, it’s definitely huge,” Lieber, a converted starter, said of propping up the bullpen. “You want to give those guys a break down there, especially after last night’s ballgame.”

Soto had a chance to hit for the cycle, but he didn’t think of trying to stretch a double into a triple in the seventh. He grounded out in the ninth.

“I already hit my one (triple) for the year. I’ll take them if they come, but I don’t want to get greedy,” Soto said. “I’m not a triple-type guy.”

After emptying their bullpen in consecutive games, the Pirates needed a lot of innings from starter Matt Morris (0-1), who lasted seven but gave up 11 hits and seven runs, four earned.

“I tried to avoid thinking about that all day—the obvious thing is (to think), ‘I’ve got to go 8, I’ve got to go 9, I’ve got to go 7, whatever it is,’ and as soon as you start thinking like that, you can barely get out of the first,” Morris said.

Morris led 3-2 going into the sixth, but quickly fell behind when Kosuke Fukudome walked and Soto followed with a drive into the center field shrubbery for his second homer.

“I had the game in front of me but, all of a sudden, the home run just changed everything and it snowballed,” Morris said.

Morris might have gotten out of the inning with only two runs scoring, but Ryan Theriot, who had singled, was safe at third on a steal attempt when third baseman Jose Bautista dropped Ronny Paulino’s throw that arrived well ahead of the runner.

Theriot scored on Reed Johnson’s single, and Fontenot made it 7-3 with a two-run, two-out drive into the right field seats, the third homer off Morris in two starts.

Prior to Wednesday’s game with the Twins, Ozzie Guillen was asked about umpire Phil Cuzzi and the fact that he’s been responsible for Guillen’s last two ejections. As usual, the White Sox manager pulled no punches.

“I don’t like that guy behind the plate,” Guillen said. “And I’m going to let him know. I don’t like him. He don’t like me, I don’t like him. It’s one reason is, if you don’t like me as a man and what I do, I respect that. But if you don’t like me, and all of a sudden you’re going to take it out on my players, you’re wrong. That’s unprofessional.

“And I just let him know I don’t like him the first day I see him, and I think he feels the same way about me. And we have to move on. Every time he’s behind the plate, we might have a problem. We might. We have. I think the last couple times behind the plate, we have a problem. And he tried to be smart with me, and I do what I have to do, and he does what he has to do. But I don’t like him, and he don’t like me. And I got a good sleep last night. I will spend all my money for him. I don’t care. But obviously, we don’t like each other.”

Back in the NBA, Kasib Powell gave the Miami Heat the type of effort they’ve lacked most of the season.

Powell scored a career-high 18 points, leading the Heat to a 95-88 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night that snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Ricky Davis and Chris Quinn each added 16 points as five players scored in double figures for the Heat, the day after coach Pat Riley was elected to the Hall of Fame.

“We got in such a habit of playing with talent only and thinking that talent was going to take care of the lack of effort,” Riley said. “These guys are just unadulterated. Effort is a big part of what our culture is.”

It was Powell’s first game back with the Heat after getting recalled from the NBA Development League and signing a contract for the remainder of the season. Powell was the MVP of the D-League.

“I didn’t know how much I was going to play today,” Powell said. “Any time I go out there, I want to be full of energy and bring a boost up.”

Powell also grabbed six rebounds and had three assists in 37 minutes as he returned to the Heat for the first time since scoring 15 points on March 31.

The Bulls fell to 30-47 and were officially eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoffs after making three consecutive appearances.

“We need to become a better defensive team,” Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. “The teams who usually compete for the NBA championship are almost always one of the best defensive teams in the league.”

There were high hopes for the Bulls this season after winning 49 games last season before falling to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“We’ve kind of lost our identity to what got us here,” Hinrich said. “We kind of lost our edge.”

Luol Deng led the Bulls with 25 points, 19 of which came in the first half. Ben Gordon and Joakim Noah each added 16 points.

Chicago was up by 11, its largest lead of the game, in the third quarter. But the Heat fought back to take a 60-59 lead, with back-to-back 3-pointers by Powell and Davis sparking a 12-0 run.

“We started the third quarter like we typically do, we weren’t ready,” Riley said. “We take a timeout and we just kept playing. We played extremely well.”

Miami took a 69-67 lead into the fourth quarter when Joel Anthony tipped in a miss by Quinn at the buzzer to end the third, drawing a smile from Quinn.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Quinn, who has scored in double figures six straight games. “Obviously, we haven’t had as many wins this year as we’d like, so any time you get out there and have success and winning, it’s a lot of fun.”

After Chris Duhon knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Heat lead to 76-73, the Heat went on an 8-0 to put the game out of reach. The Bulls were just 6-of-20 in the fourth quarter.

“They wanted it more and played a lot harder as a team,” Gordon said. “A lot of their guys are playing just to stay in the NBA, so they definitely had a higher level of intensity than we showed.”

A jumper by Davis cut the Bulls’ lead to 36-35 late in the first half, but the Bulls responded with a 9-2 run led by Deng, who scored seven points, including a three-point play.

As the inning unfolded, C.C. Sabathia felt as if he was watching a favorite movie, one with a dialogue he knows by heart and predictable ending.

“Not to sound cocky,” the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner said. “But I think everybody knew what was coming.”

Say this for the Cleveland Indians, they can do drama.

The defending AL Central champions won in familiar fashion at Progressive Field—their ballpark previously known as Jacobs Field—as Casey Blake hit a three-run double in the eighth inning Monday for a 10-8 opening win over the Chicago White Sox.

Blake’s shot off the wall against Octavio Dotel capped a 3-hour, 21-minute opener that featured five homers, controversial calls and unseasonably pleasant weather in a city finally thawed out from the snowiest March on record.

After blowing a 7-2 lead, the Indians loaded the bases in the eighth on two singles and a two-out walk before Blake’s clutch hit.

“It was not that big of a surprise,” said Sabathia, who made his fifth and potentially final opening day start for the Indians. “Nobody in this clubhouse was ever in doubt. We always have faith that somebody would come through and it was Casey—once again.”

They may not play in the Jake anymore, but everything else seemed in place for the Indians, who won 23 times in their final at-bat last season.

With the score 7-7, Kelly Shoppach and Jhonny Peralta opened the eighth with singles off Dotel (0-1), who bounced back and got two quick outs. Franklin Gutierrez, who hit a three-run homer in Cleveland’s seven-run second off Mark Buehrle, walked to load the bases.

Blake fell behind 1-2 in the count before lifting a shot high off the 19-foot-high wall in left, barely missing a grand slam but starting a new chapter of memories for Indians fans, who have resisted the ballpark’s new corporate moniker.

“I was begging for a homer,” said Blake, who batted just .190 with runners in scoring position last year.

Chicago’s Jim Thome hit a pair of two-run homers off Sabathia, who couldn’t protect a 7-2 lead but wound up with a no-decision. The lefty struck out seven in 5 1-3 innings.

The White Sox threatened in the ninth as Jermaine Dye homered off Joe Borowski, last year’s AL saves leader who once again had pulses racing before retiring Joe Crede on a foul pop to get the save for winner Rafael Betancourt.

The comeback didn’t comfort losing’s sting.

“There’s no such thing as a moral victory,” catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “To come back from 7-2 against C.C. is huge, but give them credit. They got the hits when they needed them and we didn’t.”

Consecutive, debatable went against the White Sox in the eighth, preventing them from going ahead.

Crede led off with a double but was held at third when he had to check up on Juan Uribe’s hard-hit double to left-center off Betancourt. After an intentional walk, Orlando Cabrera bounced to shortstop Jhonny Peralta, whose high throw home for a force pulled catcher Kelly Shoppach off the plate. Shoppach, though, managed to tag Crede as he slid by.

At least that’s the way Gerry Davis saw it.

“Nobody tagged me,” Crede said. “I didn’t feel anything. I went in and looked at the TV replay and he didn’t tag me.”

Thome then shattered his bat on a grounder to second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, who flipped to Peralta. After stepping on the bag for one out, Peralta was making his throw to first when he was grabbed on the left leg by a sliding Orlando Cabrera, who was called out for interference.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sprinted out of his dugout for the second time in minutes to protest another call that didn’t go Chicago’s way.

“The umpire was right,” Guillen said. “I went down and saw the replay.”

Gutierrez and Grady Sizemore homered off Mark Buehrle, who didn’t get out of the second and was disappointed with his first outing of ‘08.

“It doesn’t get much more embarrassing for a starting pitcher than that,” the left-hander said.

On their way to building a 7-2 lead, the Indians lost All-Star catcher Victor Martinez to a hamstring injury. Martinez, hurt in last year’s home opener, came up limping while running to second in Cleveland’s big inning, which he started with a base hit and ended with an RBI single.

Martinez was taken for an MRI exam following the game, and the Indians were hoping their best hitter wouldn’t miss much time.

For long stretches Thursday night, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was sure his Spartans were dogging it.

Looking flat and struggling to find a rhythm, No. 17 Michigan State trailed Illinois by as many as 10 points in the first half and had no answer for center Shaun Pruitt’s 6-foot-10 frame in the lane.

Turns out the Spartans weren’t flat, but ill. But they found a way to overcome Illinois and illness to get a road win, 59-51.

“We had some guys getting sick there during the game,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said, saying he only found out about problems with forward Raymar Morgan—the team’s top scorer this season—and guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers. He wasn’t sure just what was wrong.

“I don’t know,” Izzo said. “They’re all throwing up.”

What the ailing Morgan couldn’t provide, senior guard Drew Neitzel did. He overcame a slow start to score 17 points and lead the Spartans.

Illinois led most of the first half. But Michigan State (24-7, 12-5 Big Ten) took its first lead with 2:29 left in the first half on a layup by Neitzel, 31-29, and never trailed again.

“I thought we had a pretty good game out of Neitzel considering he was guarded by one of the best defensive players,” Izzo said, referring to Illinois guard Chester Frazier.

Spartans center Drew Naymick added 12 points, including a pair of key second-half jump shots that helped bury Illinois.

The Illini (12-18, 4-13) were led by Pruitt’s 13 points and six rebounds.

The teams were tied 31-31 at the half, but the Spartans pulled away early in the second half. The 6-foot-10 Naymick hit back-to-back jump shots to open the half and build a 35-31 lead.

“That first five minutes of the second half was just a killer for us,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. “(Naymick) hits two in a row there, Neitzel gets a 3.

“Now it’s a seven-point run,” the exasperated Weber said, “and we’re chasing them.”

After trailing 23-13 with 9:25 left in the first half, the Spartans outscored the Illini 29-13 over the next 17:42.

Neitzel, who didn’t score for the first 6 1/2 minutes, found just enough scoring touch to drive Michigan State. He was a cool 5-of-13 from the field, but three of his field goals were from 3-point range.

Illinois closed within three points with just over seven minutes left in the game. But Neitzel drained a 3 less than 20 seconds later to open the Spartans’ lead back to six points.

The loss had a familiar refrain for Illinois.

The Illini have been a first-half team all season, and they’ve struggled to score in the second half of games.

On Thursday, Illinois was just 6-of-19 from the floor in the final 20 minutes.

“Like most of the season,” Weber said, “when you don’t shoot the ball well and don’t make free throws it hurts you.”

Neitzel had a hand in shutting down Illinois’ outside shooting, too. Illini point guard Demetri McCamey had just three points.

“They hit a couple tough shots in the first half but we did a pretty good job on them, especially in the second half,” Neitzel said.

Illinois forward Brian Randle, who Weber last week said he expected would miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, entered the game in the second half. The oft-injured senior finished with seven points in 10 minutes.

Michigan State will end the regular season Sunday at Ohio State before the Big Ten tournament starts next week.

The Illini close the regular season at home Saturday against Minnesota.

Rex Grossman signed a one-year contract Saturday with the Chicago Bears and will compete for the starting quarterback job.

Grossman, a 2003 first-round draft pick, started the Super Bowl for the Bears after an up-and-down season in 2006. He struggled again last year and was benched following the third game. He returned for five more games before injuring his left knee.

Grossman passed for 913 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for an 80.2 passer rating when he returned. In the first three games, his 45.2 rating with one TD and six interceptions contributed to the Bears’ 1-2 start.

“Rex has won a lot of football games for us around here,” coach Lovie Smith said. “You look at how he played at the end of the football season until he came up with that injury, he is playing good football.”

Grossman has started 30 games with 489 completions in 900 attempts (54.3 percent) for 5,907 yards with 31 touchdowns and 33 interceptions. His career passer rating is 70.9.

“We wanted him because we feel like he gives us the best opportunity to be the best team we can be going into this next season,” general manager Jerry Angelo said.

Angelo confirmed Grossman will battle Kyle Orton for the starting quarterback spot and that there could be two other quarterbacks on the roster next season. Angelo did not include veteran backup Brian Griese in those plans, and it’s possible Griese will be cut in early March before he is due a $300,000 roster bonus.

“It’s an open competition,” Smith said. “It’s not like we promised Rex a starting position, or any of the guys a starting position. They’re coming to Chicago because they feel good about competing for the starting job.”

Angelo said stabilizing the quarterback position is the team’s biggest priority, but Grossman’s contract doesn’t help much because he would be a free agent after the 2008 season without a contract extension.

“With one-year deals you’re not solving anything,” Angelo said. “You’re still in the hunt, so to speak. We certainly feel good about the people who are contending at the position, but it’s not solved yet.”

The Bears hope signing Grossman provides leverage to bring wide receiver Bernard Berrian back to the team. He becomes a free agent Friday.

“We’re using everything we possibly can,” Smith said. “Bernard has been a big part of what we’ve done. He’s come up through the ranks with us.

“We’d like to see him finish it at our place. Hopefully, signing guys like Rex will help.”

Agent Drew Rosenhaus said Saturday he expects Berrian and fellow client Lance Briggs to enter free agency rather than sign a contract with the Bears.

“I would say at this time I would project that those guys would at least get to free agency, or at least the beginning of it” Rosenhaus said at the NFL scouting combine. “But the Bears are going to be in the mix as we continue to talk with other teams.

“We’re going to have a good, healthy dialogue with them.”