CHICAGO -- Kyle Schwarber signed a baseball for Campbell Faulkner, and Faulkner gave Schwarber a green wristband. Twin acts of kindness, and a friendship was born.The slugger with the big Ohio heart, and the sunny boy with a life-threatening illness. A bond that made each of them better.Some 1,700 miles away from Wrigley Field, Faulkner and his family are soaking up every moment of Schwarbers comeback from a major knee injury. The 10-year-old Faulkner -- If you ask him, hes two hands, his mother Carrie says -- stays up to watch his buddy in the World Series, and Schwarber proudly wears his Campbells Crew wristband while he tries to help the Chicago Cubs to their first championship since 1908.Hes a kid who can always put a smile on my face, Schwarber said.Faulkner has a rare mitochondrial disease. His body doesnt know how to use food and oxygen properly.Doctors knew something was wrong with Faulkner just days after he was born. The youngest of Carrie and Shane Faulkners four children never cried and was never hungry.On Day 4, he was labeled failure to thrive, Carrie Faulkner said. He got his first feeding tube in his stomach when he was 4, and a second tube at 7.On the outside he looks perfect, Carrie Faulkner told The Associated Press in a phone interview. On the inside, its just a train wreck, its a disaster in there.So when Carrie Faulkner heard about what Schwarber said after one of the biggest games of his life, she just lost it. Moments after Schwarber hit two RBI singles in Chicagos 5-1 victory over Cleveland in Game 2 on Wednesday night, he was asked about his green wristband, and the son of a retired Ohio police chief jumped on the question like a belt-high fastball.Yeah, Campbell Faulkner, hes a kid that I met down in Arizona. Hes got a rare genetic disease, and I met him my first spring training, Schwarber said. Really young, smart kid, and hes just always got a big smile on his face.Schwarber kept right on going.We stay in contact through email. Hes a smart kid, man, he said. The kids, I think, got an IQ of like a college kid for being so young. That tells you how smart he is. And thats a person you want to look up to right there.A day later, Carrie Faulkner was still floored.I dont even have words, she said Thursday. I have tears. ... Oh my heavens what an amazing man to think of my son at that moment.For Campbell, it was no big deal. After all, theyre friends. It made me feel good, and I knew that he was thinking of me, he said.Faulkner and Schwarber met last year during spring training. Faulkner was a guest of an organization called Steves Dream, which provides tickets to Cubs spring training games to families.The Faulkners were tailgating when Schwarber stopped and signed a ball for Campbell, who returned the favor with the wristband that made Schwarber a member of Campbells Crew -- a support group for Faulkner with its own Facebook page and Twitter feed .Schwarber promised to wear the green band, and the connection only grew from there. Schwarber got Faulkner his own Dinger Bat. They exchanged autographed pictures and started emailing each other.Hell just give me, like, support, and hell say hes praying for me, Faulkner said.Faulkner was at Chase Field in April when Schwarber got hurt in an outfield collision with Dexter Fowler, spraining his ankle and tearing two ligaments in his left knee. He was ruled out for the year, just three games into the season.A crestfallen Faulkner was quiet when he got home. He took his hat off, put it in his lap and prayed. Then he sent an email to Schwarber pointing out he had a lot of doctors and offering to help the slugger get in touch with them.Campbell literally went into protective mode to take care of Kyle, Carrie Faulkner said.And thats when that one fleeting moment in the heat of spring training returned to Schwarber in a major way. As Schwarber embarked on the long, difficult process of rehabbing a major injury, he found inspiration in the example of his precocious friend in Arizona.It means a lot, Schwarber told the AP. I wasnt going through near as much time as what that kids going through his whole life right now. That just gives me that extra motivation going through this rehab that I still have to go through after the season.Schwarber made it back quicker than anyone expected, surprising everyone with the Cubs. Following an encouraging checkup on Oct. 17 in Dallas, he was cleared to hit. He spent a few days in the Arizona Fall League, enough time for a short visit with Faulkner, before rejoining the NL champions in time for the World Series.He is still not cleared to play the field, making him a pinch hitter for the next three games. But he took the news in stride.Not disappointing at all, a smiling Schwarber said. It was a long shot at the most.It was an answer Faulkner would have loved.You look up to him, Schwarber said as he walked behind home plate at Wrigley. Hes a great role model and definitely lives life to the fullest.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenapCorey Seager Dodgers Jersey . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. Cody Bellinger Womens Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.ladodgersprostore.us/ . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. Corey Seager Jersey . Thats not a comment on the suspension that banished the Portland Winterhawks general manager and coach from his Western Hockey League teams bench for most of the 2012-13 season. Max Muncy Dodgers Jersey . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. Western Australia 6 for 268 (Voges 90*, Marsh 70, Kingston 3-44) beat Tasmania 8 for 267 (Doolan 93, Michael 89, Agar 2-46) by four wicketsScorecard Western Australia beat Tasmania by four wickets in Sydney to pip New South Wales and move to third place in the Matador Cup points table. Captain Adam Voges scored his third fifty of the campaign, an unbeaten 90, as he saw his team through in a 268-run chase.Voges decision to put Tasmania in seemed vindicated when Jason Behrendorff, the left-arm fast bowler, and part-time offspinner Ashton Turner, accounted for both the openers wickets, while also keeping things.Tasmania were 36 for 2 at the end of the 12th over, when Alex Doolan joined Dom Michael to lift them out. The pair put on 148, before Michael was dismissed for 89 in the 39th over.Tasmania struggled to get a move on, as the next 8.2 overs fetched only 39 runs with the loss of four wickets, including Doolan for 93 and James Faulkner for 13. However, a late flourish by Beau Webster and Xavier Doherty, where they took 27 runs ooff Andrew Tye in the 49th over, saw Tasmania finish on 267 for 8.dddddddddddd Tye ended with 2 for 83 as a result. Ashton Agar was the pick of the bowlers, with 2 for 46.Western Australia started with a 58-run opening stand between Hilton Cartwright and Shaun Marsh. Medium-pacer Hamish Kingston removed Cartwright and quickly followed it with Cameron Bancrofts wicket to reduce Western Australia to 64 for 2. But Marsh, who scored 70, and Voges steadied the innings with a 69-run stand for the third wicket.Tasmania managed to take four more wickets in the game, but couldnt do so regularly as Voges took his team along steadily. The defining partnership was the 71 he added for the sixth wicket with Turner, who scored 42 off 30 deliveries, which took them to within 20 runs of victory. Kingston broke that partnership as well, but his 3 for 44 wasnt good enough, as Western Australia won with 9 balls to spare. ' ' '