Nationals manager Manny Acta sure expects a lot from 23-year-old rookie John Lannan.

Consider Lannan had just thrown seven shutout innings in Washington’s 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Suday. What did Acta say? “I’ve seen him better.”

Lannan (2-2) pitched four-hit ball in matching a career high for innings and extending his scoreless innings streak to 19. He lowered his ERA to 2.64 as the Nationals bounced back from a 7-0 loss to the Cubs Saturday. The left-hander struck out three, walked four and didn’t allow a hit until Ronny Cedeno singled to start the fifth.

“I’ve seen him better, but he showed me a lot today by being able to make pitches when he had to,” Acta said. “He had the ability to make good pitches and not allow any runs. That shows a lot for a kid that age.”

The left-hander was making just his 11th career start and had to work out of some tough situations, especially when Chicago threatened in the fifth and sixth innings. But Lannan kept his poise and escaped trouble.

I’ve been taught (that) instead of going hard, to take a step back and really make quality pitches and not try to overpower somebody,” Lannan said. “You’ve got to forget what happened in the past. You’ve got to work hard on what you’ve got going on right now.”

Lannan also credited catcher Wil Nieves for helping him.

Nieves was behind the plate for Lannan’s three most recent starts, including seven shutout innings against the Braves on April 22.

“It just seems like I’ve been catching him for a long time,” Nieves said. “He just seems like he knows what he’s doing out there, and he’s confident.”

Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch each pitch a hitless inning to complete the shutout. Rauch finished for his fourth save.

Lilly (1-4), making his 200th start, gave up two runs on four hits in six innings, with most of his trouble coming in the second inning when Wily Mo Pena and Nieves had back-to-back RBI singles. Washington got only one hit the rest of the game.

Nick Johnson started the second-inning rally with a leadoff single. Lastings Milledge moved Johnson to second with a sacrifice, and Pena brought him in two batters later with a two-out single to left.

Pena went to second on the throw home and scored on Nieves’ single.

Chicago missed scoring chances in the fifth and sixth. The Cubs loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Ryan Theriot grounded into a double play.

They put runners at second and third with one out in the sixth, but Lannan then got Mark DeRosa and Cedeno to ground out. The Cubs put runners on in seven of the nine innings and stranded eight.

“We didn’t score many runs,” Chicago manager Lou Piniella said. “When you don’t score many runs, it really increases the other team’s chances of winning— and that’s exactly what happened here.”

The lovable losers’ 10,000th win was a memorable one, filled with blown leads, big hits, great catches and, lastly, high-fives all around.

The Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Ryan Theriot’s RBI single off Kip Wells with two outs in the 10th inning Wednesday night for their sixth straight win.

Chicago hasn’t won a World Series in a century, and truly significant wins in that time have been rare, but the current Cubs had fun being a part of this one.

“It was a tough first 10,000 wins,” Theriot said with a chuckle. “I hope the next 10,000 are easier.”

“Really, I didn’t remember a lot about the first 9,000,” cracked Kerry Wood, who got what Theriot termed “a cool benchmark” win as the Cubs improved to 15-6 for just the fourth time in the last 100 years.

Both teams blew ninth-inning leads with their closers, but it was the Rockies who ended up losing their fourth straight game when leading after seven innings.

Theriot’s single to right field scored pinch-runner Mike Fontenot from second base as the Cubs joined the Giants as the only franchises in major league history to reach 10,000 wins.

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect the 10th for his second save in as many chances.

Aramis Ramirez hit a two-run homer off struggling Colorado closer Manny Corpas with one out in the ninth to put the Cubs ahead 6-5, but Ryan Spilborghs tripled home the tying run off Wood with two outs in the bottom half.

Wood (2-0) struck out Clint Barmes to strand the winning run at third, then picked up the win when the Cubs rallied off Wells (1-1).

“We’ve been picking each other up all year,” Wood said. “That’s why we are in the position we’re in. It’s somebody different every night. … I don’t think we could predict the way we were going to be swinging the bats right now. I don’t think we have more than one guy in the lineup hitting under .300.”

And that’s Ramirez, who went 2-for-5 to raise his average to .287.

Corpas blew his second straight save and fourth in eight chances just hours after his manager gave him a vote of confidence. Last year, he converted 19-of-20 saves, then signed a big contract over the winter.

Clint Hurdle might be pondering a switch now, but he wasn’t ready to reveal anything just yet.

“I’ll talk to the player first,” he said. “I need to think things through, talk to the people I need to talk to, have a conversation, and when we make a decision we’ll let you guys know right away.”

The Rockies have a proven alternative in $5 million set-up man Brian Fuentes, who lost his closer job to Corpas last summer when he blew four straight saves just after he was voted to his third straight All-Star Game.

Asked about the possibility of losing his job, Corpas said it’s up to the manager, that he’s just in a funk and has no faith in his slider, which is what he left up and over the plate to Ramirez when he was trying to get him to chase a pitch off the plate.

Before the game, Hurdle was adamant he wasn’t going to juggle his bullpen like he did his infield a night earlier, when slumping shortstop Troy Tulowitzki didn’t start.

Tulowitzki returned to the lineup Wednesday night but was moved from second in the batting order to seventh. He broke out of a 1-for-19 slump with a three-run homer that capped a five-run rally and erased Chicago’s 3-0 lead in the sixth.

“I definitely took some better swings tonight. We came out on the losing end, that’s the main thing. It’s still bothersome,” Tulowitzki said.

Barmes homered off starter Rich Hill leading off the sixth, and Michael Wuertz came in after Hill walked the next batter. Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins hit back-to-back singles off Wuertz, making it 3-2.

One out later, Jon Lieber came in to face Tulowitzki. With the crowd chanting “Tulo!” the slumping shortstop sent a 1-1 slider over the left-field wall for his first homer of the season.

The Cubs pulled to 5-4 in the seventh when Taylor Buchholz surrendered an RBI single to Ramirez.

The Cubs took a 3-0 lead on Mark DeRosa’s sacrifice fly, Geovany Soto’s solo homer and Ramirez’s RBI double, all off Franklin Morales, who allowed three earned runs on eight hits in six innings.

Hill surrendered two earned runs on three hits in five innings.

“It’s obviously tough any time you lose leads late,” Tulowitzki said. “It makes it extra tough. I remember we went through a stretch last year where we did the same kind of thing and ended up all right. At least we know we can still be OK.”

A day after Ronny Cedeno told reporters the Chicago Cubs are “thinking about the World Series,” he recanted.

“I’m going to take it back,” Cedeno said. “I go too fast.”

Cedeno swung as if he wants to help the Cubs get there, hitting a grand slam and driving in five runs in surging Chicago’s 8-1 win over the New York Mets on Tuesday for its 13th victory in 16 games.

Ted Lilly won for the first time in five starts, helping the Cubs to their best start over 20 games since the days of Don Kessinger and Rick Reuschel.

The Cubs, who a season ago started 7-13, had 14 hits and improved to 14-6, their best record at this point since 1975.

Cedeno, who almost was cut at the end of spring training, has started the past two games with Ryan Theriot, the usual shortstop, out because of back pain.

Cedeno drove in Chicago’s first run in a three-run fourth, then hit his first career grand slam in the eighth against Jorge Sosa for a 7-1 lead. Cedeno, who has 10 RBIs in his past four games, also had a key hit in Monday night’s win — which led to the giddy talk of a World Series, something the Cubs have not won in 100 years.

Ronny Cedeno found out 30 minutes before the first pitch he’d be starting instead of sitting. Felix Pie, who has spent more time in the batting cage than on the field recently, entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth.

After Carlos Zambrano and Aramis Ramirez helped the Cubs take a precarious one-run lead after seven innings, it was reserves Cedeno and Pie who sparked a five-run eighth as Chicago beat the New York Mets 7-1 on Monday night.

Cedeno started a key double play in the sixth and had a two-out, bases-loaded single in the eighth off reliever Aaron Heilman. Light-hitting Pie followed with a three-run homer off Jorge Sosa to ice Chicago’s 12th win in 15 games.

“I was not supposed to play today, but after they told me I put myself mentally in the game,” said Cedeno, who played when starting shortstop Ryan Theriot was a late scratch with a sore back.

“I’m so happy for Felix.”

Pie, who was batting .143 entering the game, has been spending most of his time restructuring his batting stroke with manager Lou Piniella offering advice. The Cubs even called in minor league hitting instructor Dave Keller on Monday to work with him.

“In my mind, I remember Lou telling me to go through with the front foot,” Pie said. “One swing, but tomorrow I’m going to start and I’ll see tomorrow. This is a good feeling, something in my life I’ll never forget.”

Zambrano (3-1) allowed five hits and a run with two walks and four strikeouts. Chicago’s ace was backed by four double plays, including one in the sixth started by Cedeno against Jose Reyes that doused a big inning for the Mets.

Reyes later made an error to start the five-run Cubs’ eighth inning in what turned into a tough night.

“It’s never easy to hit against Zambrano,” said Reyes, who offered no excuse on the error. “The ball just came out of my glove. The play was right there. It should have been an easy out. It’s a routine ground ball.”

With the Cubs leading 2-0 in the sixth, New York’s Endy Chavez hit a leadoff double and easily made third when Maine bunted and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto threw late to third, putting runners at the corners with no outs

But Reyes grounded to Cedeno, who stepped on the bag and was able to barely double up the speedy Reyes with his throw to first as New York’s first run scored. Luis Castillo then beat out an infield single and stole second, and David Wright walked before Zambrano got Carlos Beltran on a fly to left.

Reyes fumbled Lee’s grounder to the start the bottom of the eighth. Heilman hit Ramirez with a pitch and Kosuke Fukudome singled to cap a 10-pitch at-bat and load the bases. Mark DeRosa struck out and Soto popped up, but Cedeno delivered a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch before Pie homered.

“One pitch away from getting out of the inning. Unfortunately, I didn’t make that pitch,” Heilman said. “He (Cedeno) kept fouling off good pitches and then I made a mistake.”

Ramirez, who raised his average Sunday from .234 to .275 with four hits, homered to left-center after Lee led off the fourth with a single off John Maine (1-2). Ramirez, who has five homers, has reached base in all 19 of the Cubs’ games.

Carlos Marmol pitched the eighth and Kerry Wood the ninth for the Cubs.

Maine gave up five hits and two runs in six innings with two walks and a season-high six strikeouts. Zambrano improved to 4-1 against the Mets, while Maine dropped to 0-3 in his career against the Cubs

One of Dusty Baker’s first questions as he got ready to manage again at Wrigley Field was this: Which way is the wind blowing?

After four years as manager of the Cubs, Baker knows how it can affect the game.

“The first thing you do when you get here, you check the wind,” he said.

It was blowing out Tuesday, and the Chicago Cubs hit three homers to beat their former manager and his Cincinnati Reds 9-5 on a blustery night.

Baker got the Cubs within five outs of the World Series five years ago, but after a last-place finish in 2006, his contract was not renewed.

He got an earful from the crowd at Wrigley Field that booed him loudly when he changed pitchers in the seventh and eighth innings. It was something he expected.

“Sooner or later you’re going to get booed. So, what the heck?” he said before the game.

The win might have come with a price for the Cubs. Leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano never came to bat after hurting his right calf when he used his unique hop to catch Ken Griffey’s first-inning fly ball.

It was initially called a strain, but Soriano was having an MRI on Tuesday night and manager Lou Piniella said he didn’t know how long his star will be out.

“It’ll probably be a while,” Piniella said. “If he’s out an extended period, it will hurt us.”

Lee’s fifth homer of the season—and fifth of his career against the Reds’ Aaron Harang—was a long drive to left-center on a night with the wind blowing out at 19 mph and gusts up to 26 mph. Mark DeRosa and Ryan Theriot also connected for the Cubs.

“We talked about it today in batting practice. There were not too many balls left today when we got done,” said DeRosa, who moved from second base to left field to replace Soriano. “All you had to do was get it up in the air.”

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 595th homer, and Joey Votto added a solo shot in the ninth for the Reds, who lost their fourth straight.

“With the wind blowing out you try to minimize the damage as much as you can,” winning pitcher Ryan Dempster said.

Harang (1-2) took his first career loss at Wrigley Field, where he was 4-0 in eight previous appearances. Harang gave up eight hits and five runs in six innings and fell to 8-4 lifetime against the Cubs.

“It was tough to get loose. It was one of those days where you go out there and you just don’t have it,” Harang said. “You get out there and it’s cold, your nose gets running.”

Closer-turned-starter Dempster (2-0) gave up five hits and four runs in six-plus innings. He left during the seventh when the Reds loaded the bases with no outs but scored only one run, thanks to stellar defensive plays by Fontenot at second and Lee at first.

The Reds grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when Dempster walked Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn before Edwin Encarnacion, batting only .179, lined an RBI single over DeRosa’s head in left. DeRosa had moved to left from second when Fontenot replaced Soriano in the order.

The Cubs went ahead in the bottom half as Kosuke Fukudome singled and DeRosa homered to left.

Griffey’s homer was a two-run shot to center off Dempster and it gave the Reds a 3-2 lead in the third. The Reds’ star is sixth on the career list. No. 5 is Sammy Sosa with 609.

The Reds had a big inning brewing in the seventh after Paul Bako singled and pinch-hitter Scott Hatteberg walked to finish Dempster. Reliever Carlos Marmol fielded Corey Patterson’s bunt and threw high and late to second, a fielder’s choice that loaded the bases with no outs.

But Fontenot made a great diving stab behind second on Jeff Keppinger’s grounder up the middle, flipping to shortstop Theriot covering for the forceout as a run scored. Lee then grabbed Griffey’s hard grounder and started a 3-6-3 double play.

“D-Lee made a great play on that double play to stop the game from being tied,” Baker said.

The Cubs made it 7-4 in the bottom half when Lee singled, Aramis Ramirez hit an RBI double and DeRosa a run-scoring single off reliever Jared Burton. Theriot hit a two-run shot, his first of the season, off Todd Coffey in the eighth

Greg Smith’s pitches gave the Chicago White Sox plenty of trouble. The rookie’s move to first had them leaning the wrong way, too.

“I’ve been able to use it a lot, really. I don’t try to pick a guy off. If he gets picked off, fantastic,” Smith said Monday night after earning his first major league win by pitching the Oakland Athletics to a 2-1 victory.

“When I was with the Diamondbacks, they were really big on shutting down the running game,” said the left-hander, who came to Oakland in the deal that sent Dan Haren to Arizona. “That’s what I’ve incorporated and every so often I’ll pick a guy off.”

Making his second big league appearance, Smith (1-0) gave up one run and six hits over seven innings on another cold night at U.S. Cellular Field, where the gametime temperature was 42 degrees. And he outpitched Mark Buehrle to get the win.

Smith was able to thwart former Athletic Nick Swisher’s third-inning steal attempt by making a quick throw to first and catching him leaving early. And in the seventh, he caught Jermaine Dye leaning at first after Dye started the inning with a single.

“It wouldn’t appear that was his second time out in a major league uniform on the mound like that,” Oakland manager Bob Geren said. “He does a nice job controlling the running game. We saw that a lot in Arizona. That’s part of his total game. He’s difficult to run on and he throws strikes. That’s a good combination.”

Kurt Suzuki went 4-for-4 for the A’s, who are 6-1 on their first road trip of the season. They improved to 9-5 overall for their best start through 14 games since opening 10-4 in 1992.

They closed out their latest win when Huston Street got through a shaky ninth to pick up his fourth save in five chances.

He allowed a one-out single to Dye and threw a wild pitch that allowed pinch-runner Brian Anderson to move to second. Street hit A.J. Pierzynski with a pitch before striking out Carlos Quentin and getting Joe Crede on a comebacker to end it.

Swisher, traded to the White Sox from the A’s in January, had two singles and a walk against Smith while playing against his former team for the first time.

After Swisher’s one-out single in the sixth, Orlando Cabrera followed with a single to left and Swisher dashed to third, just beating Emil Brown’s throw with a headfirst slide. Jim Thome’s RBI grounder cut Oakland’s lead to 2-1.

“It was fun seeing some of the guys,” Swisher said. “It was a little different to go out and play against them.”

Chicago entered the game with the highest-scoring offense in the AL and had put up 11 runs against Detroit on Sunday with bases-loaded homers by Paul Konerko and Crede.

“They’ve been swinging good. I saw the two grand slams yesterday,” Smith said.

Buehrle (1-1), who hadn’t pitched in eight days because of a rainout and a decision to give him an extra day of rest, gave up nine hits in seven innings while his career mark against Oakland dropped to 3-10.

The A’s bunched singles by Mike Sweeney, Brown and Suzuki in the fourth for their first run, ending a stretch of 22 straight scoreless innings by the White Sox that included back-to-back shutouts of Detroit on Saturday and Sunday

Sweeney doubled in the sixth and Brown followed with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.

“Smith went out and pitched a great game. Somebody we’d never seen before,” Swisher said. “He had great command of his changeup. We had a couple of good chances to tie the game or maybe move ahead. It just didn’t happen. We’ve been playing good baseball. … Our sticks didn’t come around.”

Carlos Zambrano’s hustle—not his pitching or bat—paid off in a rare appearance off the bench.

Second baseman Chase Utley’s throwing error on Zambrano’s grounder allowed Ronny Cedeno to score the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

Jayson Werth and Eric Bruntlett hit solo homers for the Phillies. Mark DeRosa had a disputed solo shot for the Cubs.

Cedeno walked leading off the 10th against Rudy Seanez (0-1) and Geovany Soto walked after Ryan Theriot’s sacrifice. Zambrano, a career .215 hitter with 12 homers, was called on to pinch-hit because the Cubs were out of position players.

The left-handed hitting Zambrano bounced a grounder to shortstop Bruntlett that should’ve been an inning-ending double play. However, first baseman Ryan Howard couldn’t scoop Utley’s poor throw to first and Cedeno scored.

The Phillies have committed 15 errors, second only to Pittsburgh.

Utley, who has four of the errors, may have rushed his throw because Zambrano busted it down the line.

“Z put the ball in play and he hustled,” DeRosa said. “That shows the character of this team.”

Zambrano, an 18-game winner last year, took the loss in the series opener on Friday.

Kerry Wood (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings and Bob Howry finished for his first save.

Utley doubled with two outs in the 10th. After Howard was intentionally walked, So Taguchi grounded out to end it.

Playing without shortstop Jimmy Rollins and center fielder Shane Victorino, the defending NL East champions missed a chance to go above .500 for the first time this season.

Rollins wasn’t in the starting lineup for the fifth straight game because of a sprained left ankle, but the 2007 NL MVP could return Tuesday. Victorino was placed on the disabled list with a calf injury, forcing manager Charlie Manuel to juggle his lineup. Geoff Jenkins batted leadoff for the first time in his 11-year career and Werth started in center for Victorino.

Manuel earned his first ejection of the season for arguing DeRosa’s homer off Jamie Moyer in the sixth that gave Chicago a 4-2 lead. DeRosa hit a high drive down the left-field line leading off the inning.

Third-base umpire Adrian Johnson called it fair, though replays showed the ball was just foul. Left fielder Pat Burrell immediately trotted in to state his case and Manuel ran out to express his opinion.

After the umpires refused to overturn the call following a brief meeting, Manuel continued arguing and was tossed.

“I thought it was foul,” Manuel said. “I saw the replay.”

Cubs manager Lou Piniella had a different view.

“It looked fair to me,” he said.

Told by reporters the ball was foul, Piniella replied: “Really? You mean the umpires were wrong?”

Cubs starter Jason Marquis gave up two runs and four hits in five innings. Marquis turned a two-run lead over to Michael Wuertz, who didn’t retire a batter in the sixth.

Bruntlett hit his first homer leading off. Carlos Ruiz and Jenkins followed with singles. Werth then chased Wuertz with an RBI single that tied it at 4. Sean Marshall entered to face Utley, who drove in Jenkins with a sacrifice fly that put the Phillies ahead 5-4.

The Cubs tied it at 5 on pinch-hitter Soto’s checked-swing RBI single off J.C. Romero in the eighth. Tom Gordon started the inning but ran into trouble with one out.

Moyer allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings.

“I’m not quite where I want to be,” Moyer said. “I’m getting there slowly.”

Jenkins was 2-for-6 in his new spot atop the batting order. Jenkins was mostly a middle-of-the-lineup hitter his first 10 seasons with Milwaukee and has hit sixth or seventh with the Phillies. He batted higher than third just twice— both in 1999—in 1,246 games.

Michigan has Notre Dame’s number on the football field. Not so the ice.

Calle Ridderwall punched the puck past freshman goalie Bryan Hogan 5:44 into overtime Thursday night, giving Notre Dame a 5-4 victory over the top-ranked Wolverines in the Frozen Four semifinals.

Ridderwall’s second goal of the night sent the Irish into a frenzied, pile-on celebration at center ice while the heavily favored Wolverines stood in stunned silence, dreams of their first championship in a decade dashed at the hands of the upstart Fighting Irish, of all teams.

Notre Dame (27-15-4) will face Boston College for the championship Saturday night at the Pepsi Center. The Eagles routed North Dakota 6-1 in the other semifinal to reach the title game for the third straight season.

The Fighting Irish are seeking their first national championship in hockey and the Eagles (24-11-8) are going for their third. They won in 1949 and 2001.

Notre Dame had never reached the Frozen Four before, while this was Michigan’s 23rd trip. The Irish jumped ahead 3-0 after one period only to watch the Wolverines storm back and force the first overtime at the Frozen Four since Minnesota beat Michigan 3-2 in the 2003 semifinals.

“There was no time I felt comfortable in that game,” said Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson, who led Lake Superior State to two national titles in the 1990s. “Even though we started off well … they’re just too explosive of a team.”

Before giving up the game-winner, Hogan had saved 18 of 19 shots after Billy Sauer, who was 30-4-3 this season with a 1.89 goals against average, got the hook from coach Red Berenson after the first period.

“He came in, he’s a freshman, he’s played what four or five games?” Chad Kolarik said. “He did a heck of a job. I just thanked him. He gave us seniors a chance. That’s all you can ask from your goalie.”

The Wolverines got back into it by scoring two goals 15 seconds apart midway through the second period. Kolarik scored from the slot against Jordan Pearce, and Matt Rust backhanded the puck past Pearce to make it 3-2.

Suddenly, the Wolverines looked everything like the team that’s been here so many times before and the Fighting Irish looked like the Frozen Four novices they are.

Kolarik tied it at 3 at 2:16 of the third period with a rebound goal after Aaron Palushaj hit the post on a power play.

The Irish regained the lead on Kevin Deeth’s goal at 11:30 on Notre Dame’s second shot of the third period, but the Wolverines tied it up again with 5:21 remaining on Carl Hagelin’s backhander.

Instead of having the momentum, however, the Wolverines were tentative in overtime and the Irish took the fight to them.

“We just said we have one overtime to get to play in a national championship game,” Fighting Irish center Mark Van Guilder said. “We realized that we just had to put the second and third period behind us and just move on.”

Both teams had several chances to score in overtime before Ridderwall slapped in the game-winner from the left side.

“I just took a quick shot,” Ridderwall said.

“I didn’t see it,” said Hogan.

Sauer, a Colorado Avalanche draft pick, also had a poor showing last year at the Pepsi Center, when he gave up seven goals on 26 shots during an 8-5 loss to North Dakota in the West Regional.

Just 5:42 into this game, Sauer surely was having flashbacks after giving up goals to Ridderwall and Van Guilder just 42 seconds apart.

“If we would have won, I probably wouldn’t have been too hard on myself,” said Sauer, who beat Notre Dame twice during the season. “But if it wouldn’t have been for my performance we would be playing on Saturday.”

He saved just six of the nine shots he faced Thursday night.

“He’s been our bread and butter goalie all year,” Berenson said. “I just didn’t like the way the game was going and Billy looked like he was fighting the puck. … We had to change the momentum in the game.”

Assisting on Michigan’s first goal was captain Kevin Porter, whose 33 goals and 30 assists this year have made him the favorite for the Hobey Baker award, hockey’s equivalent to the Heisman Trophy, on Friday night.

The Irish, however, largely neutralized Porter, who never even took a shot.

This was the biggest game in the 115-game series between the rivals who first squared off in 1921, about the time the schools’ football teams were building their storied rivalry, one which has been lopsided of late—Michigan routed Notre Dame 38-0 last fall.

Ridderwald, the first Swede to play at Notre Dame, said few people back home know about the Fighting Irish when it comes to hockey.

“Uh, not really. I mean, a few people know about it,” he said.

That could change Saturday night, not just overseas but here in football country, too.

Aramis Ramirez’s sacrifice fly scored the go-ahead run during a two-run 12th inning in which the Cubs didn’t have a hit off rookie Evan Meek, and Chicago rallied after squandering the huge lead to win the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener 10-8 Monday.

Former starter Jon Lieber (1-1) gave a depleted bullpen a big lift with three scoreless innings before Carlos Marmol finished up in the 12th for his first save since June 27, helping the Cubs win their third in a row.

Joe Crede appeared to be the Chicago White Sox’s forgotten man, but now that he’s healthy, he’s sending out reminders—like that loud one he delivered on Monday.

Crede hit a tiebreaking grand slam to cap a five-run seventh inning, and Chicago won its home opener 7-4 over the Minnesota Twins.

Coming off a weekend sweep at Detroit, Chicago has won five straight for the first time since Aug. 10-14, 2006. The White Sox have won six of their last seven home openers.

Crede, batting .393 with 10 RBIs, endured a back injury last season and trade rumors in the offseason. Last year, limited to 47 games because of his bad back, he hit .216 with 22 RBIs. With Josh Fields also available to play third, Chicago explored trade opportunities for Crede during much of the offseason.

“The biggest thing coming into this season was staying healthy,” said Crede, who struggled in spring training. “For me that was my main goal in the spring, was to be able to get out there and feel comfortable at the plate, feel comfortable on defense and No. 1 to stay healthy.”