ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Greg Maddux is turning back the clock for a team missing its offensive star and two of its best pitchers.
The four-time NL Cy Young Award winner, who turned 40 earlier this month, threw seven scoreless innings on Sunday to help the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3. He has won his first four starts for the first time in his career, to go with a miniscule 0.99 ERA.
Maddux's big start is helping rescue a team that doesn't have Derrek Lee, Mark Prior or Kerry Wood.
"It's just amazing what he does because he's not throwing 94, 93 mph," outfielder Juan Pierre said. "You watch Greg Maddux, that's an art."
Maddux (4-0) held the Cardinals to five hits and also singled and scored, helping the Cubs avert a three-game sweep and win for the first time in three games since losing Lee for at least two months with a broken wrist. This is the first 4-0 start for Maddux since 2000 with the Braves when he needed six starts, and it's his first four-game winning streak since July 17-Aug. 7, 2004.
All month, Maddux has insisted that he's doing nothing different and not trying to fill the void.
"I wish I could explain it," Maddux said. "Personally, I'm just getting ready to pitch like I always have, I'm just catching a lot of breaks.
"Sometimes you catch a few breaks in this game, and right now I am."
Jacque Jones hit his second homer, and second against the Cardinals, leading off the fourth against Jason Marquis (3-1).
Aramis Ramirez, who entered the game in a 3-for-18 slump, hit a two-run shot into the visitor's bullpen beyond the left-field wall in the fifth.
Todd Walker batted in Lee's third slot for the third straight game and had two hits and three RBIs to raise his average to .408 for the Cubs, who completed a 5-4 road trip.
"It's nice to get a win without Derrek," Walker said. "We can start believing we can do it."
Albert Pujols, who had six RBIs the first two games of the series and entered with the major-league lead in homers (11) and RBIs (26), was 0-for-4.
Maddux, the only 40-plus right-handed starter in the major leagues, struck out four and his only walk came to the first batter he faced, David Eckstein. He threw a season-high 93 pitches and lowered his ERA 34 points, mastering the Cardinals for the second time.
"He's not coming with heat; he's never coming with heat," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's coming with a lot of intelligence and a great feel for pitching."
In two starts against the Cardinals, he's 2-0 and has given up one run on nine hits in 13 1/3 innings. Since turning 40 on April 14, he's surrendered one run on eight hits in 15 innings.
Marquis struggled for the first time in four starts this season while facing Maddux, his old mentor from the Braves. He left after the first three batters reached in the seventh, one on his fielding error on Pierre's sacrifice bunt and gave up seven runs -- four earned, and seven hits.
"I don't know if I struggled all day, I just got away from my game plan and left a few pitches up in the zone," Marquis said. "Some days the mistakes are going be hit out and some days you get away with them."
All four of Marquis' career starts against the Cubs have come against Maddux. He's 1-2 with a 3.90 ERA.
Pierre doubled to lead off the third, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Walker's infield hit to give the Cubs the lead and Jones' homer in the fourth made it 2-0.
Pierre reached on second baseman Aaron Miles' fielding error on a routine grounder to start the fifth, leading to Ramirez' homer and a pair of unearned runs that put Chicago ahead 4-0.
The Cubs extended the lead to 7-0 in the seventh on Ronny Cedeno's RBI double and Walker's two-run single.
St. Louis got a run in the eighth on Hector Luna's RBI double off Roberto Novoa.
Gary Bennett's two-run double in the ninth ended Ryan Dempster's run of 32 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. Dempster, who has converted 23 straight saves, last gave up an earned run on Aug. 12, 2005, at home against the Cardinals in a streak that lasted 31 1/3 innings.
Notes: Cardinals reliever Brad Thompson had to make a quick jump to his side to avoid getting hit by a bat when Michael Barrett lost his grip while striking out in the seventh. ... The Cardinals haven't swept the Cubs at home since 2002. ... The Cardinals have sold out all nine games at new Busch Stadium, including paid attendance of 41,373 on Sunday.

DALLAS (AP) -- SMU was close Monday to hiring former national coach of the year Matt Doherty to try reviving a men's basketball program that's gone 13 years without appearing in the NCAA tournament. The school's 18-member search committee, run by incoming athletic director Steve Orsini and retiring AD Jim Copeland, was meeting at 12:30 p.m. to finalize the move, according to a school official who wished to remain anonymous because the vote had yet to be taken. The vote was probably only a procedural move, with Orsini already scheduling a 2:30 p.m. news conference. Doherty, coming off a 15-13 season at Florida Atlantic, would replace Jimmy Tubbs, who was fired April 6 after two losing seasons and an internal investigation that uncovered NCAA violations. Doherty's current athletic director at Florida Atlantic told The Palm Beach Post that a deal with SMU was close. "I got the impression the terms were coming together for them, but I don't know for sure," Craig Angelos said. Various media reports had Doherty already accepting the offer. Doherty, who won a national championship as a player for North Carolina, broke into coaching with Notre Dame in 1999-2000. He took over the Tar Heels the next season and earned the coach of the year award from The Associated Press for going 26-7 and winning a share of the regular-season ACC title. North Carolina missed the NCAA field the next two years, and Doherty resigned under pressure in April 2003. He worked as a television analyst for two years, then spent this past season at Florida Atlantic. Doherty's high profile should be a boost for SMU, which hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 1993. Tubbs spent 12 years as an SMU assistant, then two at Oklahoma and was a popular pick when he was hired. His teams went 27-30, including 13-16 this past season, but school officials said the NCAA violations were the main reason he was fired.

MIAMI (AP) -- Miami forward Udonis Haslem will miss Monday's playoff game against the Chicago Bulls, serving a one-game suspension for throwing his mouthpiece toward referee Joey Crawford in the series opener.
Haslem will sit out Game 2 of the Heat's first-round series with the Bulls on Monday night. The NBA announced the sanction after the Heat's morning shootaround practice.
Haslem was unavailable for comment. Heat coach Pat Riley also declined comment after the morning practice, saying he was waiting for the NBA to publicly announce its decision.
"He's really down," said Jason Levien, Haslem's agent. "I think he really feels like he let the team down. He's disappointed in the league's call, but he's accepting of it. ... He'll be on pins and needles tonight, because if the Heat don't win he'll take that very personally."
Levien said Haslem learned of the decision around the time that Miami's morning practice ended.
Haslem was ejected with 4:11 left in the opening half of the Heat's 111-106 win in Game 1 on Saturday night. He wound up on the floor after jostling with three Bulls for an offensive rebound, and -- apparently incensed over no foul being called -- reached for his mouthpiece and threw it in Crawford's direction.
Crawford immediately signaled Haslem's ejection. Haslem apologized after the game, yet insisted that he was throwing the piece of plastic at the ground -- not with the intent of hitting Crawford.
While there now is clarity over Haslem's status, that of another Miami big man -- Alonzo Mourning -- remains unknown.
Mourning has missed Miami's last 15 games since tearing a calf muscle in an 82-73 loss at Detroit on March 22. He has been rehabilitating and said last week that the muscle was healed, but his strength and conditioning level weren't were they needed to be for him to return.
Mourning's status will be decided at game time, Riley said.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Kobe Bryant didn't score, the Phoenix Suns couldn't run.
Nothing was quite as it was supposed to be Sunday when the Suns escaped with a 107-102 victory over Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
"We certainly didn't play very well," said Suns point guard Steve Nash. "We look at that as a positive. We didn't play well and we found a way to win, and we've got a lot of improvement to make."
Tim Thomas had 22 points and a career playoff-high 15 rebounds for the Suns, who nearly succumbed to coach Phil Jackson's game plan of taking the small Phoenix lineup inside, then turning to Bryant to finish it off.
Thomas was sent home by the Chicago Bulls for what they thought was a bad attitude for most of this season, then released and signed by Phoenix on March 3. He made his first eight shots and finished 8-for-10, 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
"I was just aggressive on both ends," Thomas said.
Nash had 20 points, including a crucial 3-pointer with 1:07 to play, and 10 assists.
The Suns made 32 of 35 free throws, 8 for 8 by Nash.
"The Phoenix Suns set a record for fewest free throws in the league," Jackson said, "and here they have 35 free throws. This is a team we told our guys not to foul, and we end up sending them to the line 35 times. That was one of the things we didn't expect to happen."
Shawn Marion added 19 points, Boris Diaw 15 and Leandro Barbosa 15, nine in the fourth quarter.
Bryant, the NBA scoring champion with 35.4 points per game, scored 22 points -- little more than half the 42.5 he averaged against Phoenix in the regular season -- on 7-for-21 shooting, 1 for 6 3s. But Lamar Odom had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Luke Walton matched his career best in any NBA game with 19 points.
"Our game plan was to exploit the middle and do the things we wanted to, but he [Bryant] was still supposed to be a force over on that side of the offense," Jackson said. "I just felt he never really got in rhythm until the end, and we said `Just go after it."'
Even for Bryant, Jackson said, it's tough to turn it on after spending most of the game working the ball to others.
"He was a little more passive than usual," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He missed some shots that he normally makes."
But Bryant said he felt good about the series.
"It's just a matter of finding that groove," Bryant said. "We can really attack this team inside, and so that's what we're going to do. All I need is one jumper to go, and I'm hot."
After a 39-point first quarter, the Suns rarely got their trademark high-speed game in gear.
Trailing by as many as 14 in the second quarter and down 58-50 at the break, the Lakers used an uncharacteristically balanced attack and took advantage of the Suns' poor shooting to tie it at 75 after three quarters.
Sasha Vujacic's 3-pointer from the top of the key gave the Lakers their first lead since early in the first quarter, 80-79, with 10:01 to play. Thomas returned to the game and sank the Suns' first 3-pointer since the opening quarter to put Phoenix back ahead 82-80 9:25 from the finish.
Bryant missed four shots over the next 2 1/2 minutes and the Suns used free throws -- two by Nash and four by Barbosa -- to go up 88-82 with 6:21 left.
The Lakers scored six in a row to cut it to 98-95 with 2:12 remaining. Smush Parker, who had 15 points, missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer. Raja Bell missed a running 14-footer, but Diaw tipped the rebound to Nash, whose 3-pointer put Phoenix ahead 101-95 with 1:07 left.
Nash took the shot with his coach screaming to bring the ball outside to run out more clock.
"I didn't hear him. I wasn't going to listen to him anyways," Nash said. "We really kind of just struggled through the game, so when I saw that ball coming off to Boris I knew I was going to get a great look. I wasn't going to pass it up and pull it out and see what we got later. I was going to make it, and that's all there is to it."
Notes: Jackson lost Game 1 of the playoffs for the first time in his career. ... Vujacic made a bank shot from beyond midcourt at the first-quarter buzzer, but it was waved off by officials and replays confirmed the call. ... The Lakers were without Chris Mihm because of a sprained right ankle that sidelined him 17 of the last 18 regular-season games. ... The Suns' Brian Grant had a bad stomach and played the final three seconds of the first half only.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez's comments that women "don't belong in the dugout" drew criticism Sunday from Padres manager Bruce Bochy, who supported the female member of his training staff and said he was surprised it even came up.
Hernandez made the remarks during the second inning of New York's 8-1 victory in San Diego on Saturday night. Mike Piazza homered for the Padres and exchanged a high-five in the dugout with Kelly Calabrese, a full-time massage therapist for San Diego.
"Who is the girl in the dugout, with the long hair?" Hernandez said during the broadcast. "What's going on here? You have got to be kidding me. Only player personnel in the dugout."
Hernandez found out later in the broadcast that Calabrese has been with the Padres training staff since 2004, but stood by his comment that she didn't belong with the team during a game.
"I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout," Hernandez said.
Hernandez, a former Mets first baseman, then laughed and said: "You know I am only teasing. I love you gals out there -- always have."
Bochy said before San Diego's 7-4 win over New York on Sunday that he did not hear first hand what Hernandez said but was told about it and was not amused.
"Kelly is a part of this ballclub," Bochy said. "She's a part of the training staff. I don't know the actual comments, I just heard about it, but she's been here for a while and played a major role with this club in getting guys ready to play a ballgame."
"I didn't think gender was even an issue anymore," Bochy said.