Samardzija aims to put an end to Cubs' slide

Cubs can't back Wood as skid reaches eight

Rizzo scores five runs, ties Iowa record

LaHair out of starting lineup, but enters in sixth

Hill working hard to learn new pitchers

Castillo lands on DL with sprained right MCL

Hall of Famer Jenkins to represent Cubs at Draft

Garza unable to stop Cubs' losing streak

Wells 'excited' for opportunity to help every day

Wood back for extended stay in rotation

Right-handed lineup gets more time to produce

Maholm off his game while Cubs blanked

Soriano producing despite pain in knee

Marmol, Clevenger set for rehab assignments

When it comes to baseball, there is no one way to celebrate the home team.

Long before he became GM of the Houston Astros — before he even worked in Major League Baseball — 45-year-old Jeff Luhnow performed several jobs that others would be satisfied to call careers. Engineer, management consultant, technology entrepreneur. Man of many hats, all of them fancy. On Tuesday, after a little more than five months as the second-most powerful man in the organization behind new owner Jim Crane, Luhnow changed jobs again — to ticket-taking usher at Minute Maid Park for a game against the Chicago Cubs. Sure, the Astros are outperforming most preseason expectations, but didn't Crane expect to have Luhnow running the show for at least a year or two? Actually, the job change isn't permanent, as Alyson Footer reports in her blog , it's part of a program the team is running called "Share the Experience." It's like "Undercover Boss" without the disguises and sneaking around. Luhnow even wore a name tag that said, "Jeff." (Along with a button that says, in English, "I speak Spanish." And he does. He was raised in Mexico City .) You might be wondering: Was his entire experience like the 30-second video snippet? Did every fan passing through the south Home Plate Entrance on their way to their seat fail to recognize Luhnow during his two-hour shift?

Despite losing 2-1 to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night for their eighth defeat in a row, the Chicago Cubs may have filled a black hole in their rotation.

Just over a week ago, the Chicago Cubs looked like they were starting to get their season turned around.

HOUSTON (AP) J.D. Martinez has had a bad month at the plate.

CHICAGO (AP) After a weekend of being overused, the Minnesota Twins got a night off courtesy of P.J. Walters.

HOUSTON (AP) Houston third baseman Chris Johnson has been ejected from Tuesday night's game with the Chicago Cubs after slamming his helmet on the ground and arguing a call at first base in the fourth inning.

Besides the L.A. teams, the Orioles and Nationals in the east have had unexpected results early on.

The Washington Nationals activated Chien-Ming Wang from the 15-day disabled list Tuesday. He is expected to pitch in relief.

CHICAGO (AP) Paul Konerko has returned to the lineup for the Chicago White Sox, four days after being hit in the face by a pitch.

The Juice is back for its fifth season of fun! Stop by each weekday for an ample serving of news from the action, plus great photos, stats and video highlights. Round 1 to the King: Felix Hernandez dominated the first of what we hope will be many matchups against Yu Darvish, freezing the mighty Texas Rangers lineup during a 6-1 victory Monday night at Safeco Field. . After giving up a combined 10 runs in his previous two starts, King Felix looked like his old self. He struck out seven batters while allowing six hits and walking two. Combined with a weekend sweep at Colorado, the Mariners have now won four straight games. Hernandez's lone blemish of the night came when he surrendered a homer to Mitch Moreland in the eighth inning, but the Mariners offense had provided more than enough insurance by then (and we know that's not always the case). Darvish was far from sharp, lasting only four innings while giving up four runs and walking a season-high six batters. It was the first time in his MLB career that he did not pitch into the sixth and he was denied a chance to become the majors' first seven-game winner. ''I was apologetic. I wasn't able to go deep in the game as a starter should,'' Darvish said through an interpreter. ''Giving up those runs with only four hits; overall the approach and substance wasn't that good.'' Dashing Dodgers : Don Mattingly says his Los Angeles squad owns simple momentum, a fact that's hard to argue. Chris Capuano won his sixth game of the season in a 6-1 victory over Arizona at Chase Field. Despite a recent rash of injuries, the Dodgers have won five straight and have put a good amount of distance between themselves and the rest of the NL West. The D-backs are now 10 1/2 games out of first place after winning the division in 2011. Meanwhile, only the Giants trail the Dodgers by single digits and they're still seven games back.  

There was no major lineup change for the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, and manager Dale Sveum cautioned reporters that there necessarily wasn't going to be one.

HOUSTON (AP) The way Bud Norris has been pitching lately, the Houston Astros figure scoring two runs will be enough when he's on the mound.

Arizona: 3B Josh Bell's contract was purchased from Class AAA Reno, and manager Kirk Gibson said he will get a chance to start regularly for a while. Bell, a former top prospect of the Dodgers, was hitting .381 with four homers and 30 RBI in 26 games after being acquired from Baltimore in late April. Bell has spent parts of two seasons in the majors with the Orioles. With Bell as the starter, 3B Ryan Roberts will assume a bench role and also could play some second base, Gibson said. ... 3B Cody Ransom, who hit . ...