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As the Cubs try to pull themselves out of their latest abyss, there are painful reminders that the smallest shortcomings can prove costly.

Such was the case during a 2-1, 11-inning loss Saturday to the Mets in the first game of a split doubleheader, and a 4-3, 10-inning defeat in the second game extended their losing streak to nine games. They are now 3-11 in extra innings.

In the first game, right-hander Marcus Stroman and five relievers held the Mets to four hits, but the strong pitching was negated by a lack of clutch hitting and an inability to make contact in late-inning situations.

The worst example came in the 10th, when pinch runner Nelson Velazquez stole third base with no outs. But Mets reliever Adam Ottavino struck out Patrick Wisdom and P.J. Higgins before third baseman Eduardo Escobar robbed Christopher Morel of a game-winning hit with a diving stop to end the threat.

After the Mets took the lead in the 11th, Morel stole third after Rafael Ortega and Willson Contreras struck out. But he was left stranded when Ian Happ grounded out to end the game.

In the second game, Yan Gomes hit an RBI double in the second and a run-scoring single in the fourth against three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer. Morel added an RBI single in the 10th, but Frank Schwindel grounded into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded.

”We’re going to find a way to win,” manager David Ross said of the last game before the All-Star break Sunday.

During their skid, the Cubs have lost seven of their nine games by two runs or fewer. That frustration is heightened by the fact they’re batting .221 with runners in scoring position.

”That’s it,” Ross said in summing up the 10th inning of the first game. ”You’ve got a 3-1 count [on Wisdom], a man at third with nobody out. You’ve got to get that run in to win the game. We’ve got to figure out a way. That’s been our Achilles heel.

”We’re in ballgames; we keep pointing to that. But [we’re not] figuring out a way to win, having the [good] at-bat, using the whole field, making contact. We’re getting guys at third consistently. We’ve done a nice job of putting ourselves in a spot to get runners in scoring position. We’re not very good now getting runners in from third with less than two outs.”

An RBI single by Schwindel with two outs in the fourth accounted for the Cubs’ lone run in Game 1. Higgins hit a leadoff double in the fifth but was left stranded. The Cubs put the go-ahead runner at second in the seventh, but Morel grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Ross was relegated to watching the final nine innings of Game 1 from a television after he was ejected for the second consecutive game for arguing balls and strikes. Plate umpire Ramon DeJesus tossed him after the second.

”There were two balls to [Higgins] that were balls, and I was just saying, ‘Hey, that should have been 2-0,’ ” Ross said. ”He threw me out. I didn’t cuss or didn’t say anything derogatory.”

The Cubs’ lack of hitting overshadowed an encouraging performance from Stroman in his second start since returning from the 10-day injured list with a strained right shoulder.

Stroman was booed by a large contingent of Mets fans in pregame introductions, but he silenced them with 4 1/3 innings of one-hit ball before being pulled with his pitch count at 83.

”It’s no different to me,” Stroman said of facing the Mets for the first time since departing via free agency. ”I know a lot of fans kind of hyped it up, but it’s the same mentality for me going into each and every game.”

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The Fire could’ve allowed their season to end after squandering a two-goal lead to the Crew. After what happened and the long playoff odds, it wouldn’t have been surprising if that match broke this year’s Fire.

Instead, they’ve won their next two matches, including Saturday’s 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders.

“We just did not want to lose this game tonight,” coach Ezra Hendrickson said. “I’m so proud of the players because it’s so easy throughout this year, this first six-seven months to just give up, but they never did. They never, ever gave up.”

Of course, the Fire still have miles to go before recovering from their 10-game winless streak and making the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They’ll have to win more regularly on the road and consistently string together solid performances.

Yet with 13 games left, the Fire are three points out of seventh place and have a chance, which is a lot more than most would’ve expected in the wake of the debacle against the Crew. And perhaps the Fire’s response is partially due to a lengthy team meeting they held before Wednesday’s 2-0 victory over Toronto FC.

Hendrickson said they talked about the points they’ve thrown away this season, and how the Fire could be 12 or 15 points better if not for those miscues.

“They weren’t going to stop fighting,” Hendrickson said.

“We were so disappointed and we knew we had to change something,” said captain Rafael Czichos, who scored the game’s lone goal in the 23rd minute. “I think we have enough quality to play good soccer, and I think we’ve been showing it a lot this year already, that we have a good team.

“[Losing the Columbus match] was mentally really, really difficult for us and I think we got together as a team and I think the last two games showed that we are learning.”

The Fire hope they won’t have to learn how to play without Gaston Gimenez for too long. The Fire designated player left in the 37th minute with a hamstring injury. Unfortunately for the Fire, they were also without Jhon Duran (left ankle) after his two-goal breakthrough Wednesday.

Still, the Fire held off the Sounders, who have struggled since winning the CONCACAF Champions League in May but were on the attack for much of the second half. Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina recorded his ninth shutout, and perhaps his biggest save came when he turned away Jordan Morris in the 88th minute.

Slonina, though, was already looking ahead to the Fire’s match Saturday in Vancouver.

“Obviously, we’re right there now,” Slonina said. “The playoffs are… we can make it. I believe in this team, I believe in the coaching staff and the belief they instill in us, so I think if we just keep plugging away in training and believing and having that confidence of how we played, I think that we’ll be in good shape for Vancouver this weekend.”

NOTE: Per reports, Slonina has reached an agreement on personal terms with English Premier League club Chelsea.

“There’s a lot of talk going around, but I think the main focus is on Vancouver this weekend,” Slonina said when asked about the reports. “I think that’s the most important. Just staying focused and staying locked in and doing what I can day-to-day to make sure I’m prepared for training the next day. I think that’s the most important.”

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Former Chicago Bears WR Brandon Marshall took a shot at the team’s ownership

In a recent interview with the podcast show “Pardon My Take” former Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall took a shot at the owners for the way they handle team operations.  The Bears had a reputation for being notoriously cheap in the way they paid their players.  Over the last decade however, they’ve done more to pay players in free agency and paying their own players they developed as draft picks.

In other aspects of their organization the Bears have managed to keep from spending money within the development of the team.  Marshall alluded to this in his interview stating, “like a mom and pop like a little pizza place and that’s how the Chicago Bears are run.”

The Bears were known to have below average facilities up until former coach John Fox came in and encouraged the Bears to upgrade Halas Hall.  They finally did that under Ryan Pace’s regime, completing them in 2019.

This upgrade in facilities was not a part of Marshall’s time in Chicago.  The Bears did a lot to upgrade in the last few years and are moving towards building a better stadium.  All that being said however it does make you wonder what else the Bears don’t do or are behind on as a result of their small business mentality.

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By Brian Sandalow

For the Sun-Times

Fire sporting director Georg Heitz’s contract is up at the end of the season, and owner Joe Mansueto isn’t itching to make a change atop the soccer side of the club.

During an interview Friday with the Sun-Times, Mansueto said he’s just starting to talk to Heitz about his future but would like the Fire executive to stay next year.

“I’m a fan of Georg’s,” Mansueto said a day before the Fire beat the Seattle Sounders 1-0. “I get along very well with him. He’s a very strong soccer mind, very knowledgeable about the game, a smart guy, experienced. I think really talented at discovering young talent. You look at Jhon Duran… or it’s any of the signings. [Rafael] Czichos, Federico Navarro, bringing on Chris Mueller [and] Jairo Torres.”

Duran missed Saturday due to a left ankle issue and was unable to build off his two-goal breakthrough Wednesday against Toronto. Facing the Sounders, who in May became the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League, the Fire took a 1-0 lead in the 23rd when Czichos’ header off a Navarro pass beat Seattle goalie Stefan Cleveland.

Despite playing the last 53-plus minutes without Gaston Gimenez after he left in the 37th minute with an injury, the Fire held off the Sounders. Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina recorded his ninth shutout, and perhaps his biggest save came when he turned away Jordan Morris in the 88th minute.

With the win against a franchise seen as the league’s standard bearer, the Fire finished a three-game homestand with six points and kept their playoff chances alive. Yet considering the money Heitz has spent on Xherdan Shaqiri and others to build the roster, the Fire should probably be in a better position.

According to data released in May by the MLS Players Association, the Fire own the fifth-highest payroll in the league but aren’t near that level in the standings. Mansueto sees the disparity but hasn’t given up on this group.

“Certainly, our standing in the table doesn’t reflect the size of the payroll, but I would point out the season’s not over,” Mansueto said. “Let’s let the season play out. We still have [13] games left, so there’s still a lot of the season to go. The story’s not over yet for this year. I’m still optimistic we’ll make the playoffs.”

Rallying to make the playoffs for the first time under his ownership and Heitz’s management would represent a reward for the Fire opening the checkbook.

“Over time, [payroll and results] should line up, that there’s a world market for soccer talent and if you want to get players of a certain caliber they cost a certain amount of money,” Mansueto said. “I guess it also shows our ambitions. We want to have a top soccer club here in Chicago, so we’re willing to invest. At the same time, we need to get the most for our money, and so there may be little blips where that doesn’t line up perfectly when you line them up on a graph, but over time it should.”

If the Fire get closer to making those two line up, they can still make something of 2022 despite a 10-game winless streak that effectively canceled out their strong start. Mansueto bemoaned some of the preventable errors that created that skid, but sees “a lot of good” in this team and is a big fan of coach Ezra Hendrickson.

“I admit much of the season has been frustrating,” Mansueto said. “I don’t think anyone is happy with our standing in the table, but I feel like we’re starting to hit our stride.”

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An off-duty Palos Hills police officer shot a man who allegedly opened fire during a family reunion Saturday evening at a South Holland park.

The officer, who was attending the gathering at Maicach Park in the south suburb, began shooting after seeing the alleged gunman fire multiple shots following an earlier domestic dispute at the party, a spokeswoman for the village said.

The dispute occurred between the alleged gunman and his current and former girlfriends at the park, the spokeswoman said. The man and his current girlfriend left, but allegedly returned later.

The alleged gunman was the only person shot and was taken to a hospital for treatment, the spokeswoman said. His condition wasn’t immediately available.

There were “about 50 people gathered for a family reunion,” said Andriana Foster, who was at the park with her children when the shooting happened.

“We all got purple T-shirts on and they’re fighting each other,” she said.

Foster said she heard at least 10 “rapid-fire” shots.

“By the time I heard [gunshots] I was near the field and I started running,” she added. “I was running toward my kids to try to get them to safety.”

A woman who identified herself as Katie-Marie and said she had lived in South Holland for 26 years, was pumping gas nearby when she heard the gunfire “clear as day.”

“Once upon a time, it was very rare that you would hear about a shooting in this area,” she said.

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The Cubs’ bullpen has earned a well-deserved break.

The starters’ struggles to pitch deep into games had forced the relievers to produce 386 1/3 innings through the first game of the Cubs’ doubleheader Saturday against the Mets — the most by any National League bullpen.

Five relievers, led by left-hander Brandon Hughes and right-hander David Robertson, threw 6 2/3 innings in a 2-1, 11-inning loss in Game 1.

Hughes, who joined the Cubs on May 17, has been pitching in more high-leverage situations recently. He hasn’t allowed a run in seven of his last eight appearances, including Saturday, when he struck out four and allowed one hit in 1 2/3 innings.

”I think he’s earned that,” manager David Ross said. ”We’ve used him a lot. There are times when we’ve faced certain teams that are heavy right-handed that he may not show up quite as much. But [against] a heavy left-handed lineup [the Mets] had in there [and] the Dodgers at times, we’ve used him a lot.”

Hughes hasn’t walked a batter in his last seven appearances, which Ross credited to the work of the coaches in identifying and correcting a few flaws.

Happy trails for Brault

Left-hander Steven Brault gained some attention by singing the national anthem twice while pitching for the Pirates.

Brault also has the distinction of becoming the seventh left-handed reliever selected to the Cubs’ roster this season, a remarkable distinction because he missed the first three months after physical examination in March revealed a strained biceps that prevented him from pitching until July 4 with Triple-A Iowa.

”If you have any kind of positive attitude, you never want to pay attention to other people’s comings and goings,” Brault said in reference to the shuttling of left-handed relievers. ”I want to get here based on my merit, not someone doing poorly.”

Brault, 30, signed a minor-league contract in March after posting a 12-18 record and a 4.77 ERA in 107 games with the Pirates. He had held left-handed hitters to a .232 average.

One of the things Brault learned from pitching in the NL Central?

”Don’t give up five home runs in 2 2/3 innings at Wrigley Field; that’s probably a good one,” Brault said, referring to an 17-8 loss in which he allowed 10 runs on Sept. 13, 2019. ”Might as well get that one out of the way while we’re here.”

To make room for Brault on the roster, the Cubs optioned reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to Iowa. Reliever Matt Swarmer was designated for assignment, and reliever Anderson Espinoza was promoted as the 27th player for the doubleheader.

Crow-Armstrong doubles in Futures Game

Outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, one of the top prospects in the Cubs’ organization, went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored in the All-Star Futures Game at Dodger Stadium. He grounded out in his other at-bat.

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MINNEAPOLIS — The either-or scenario for the White Sox heading into the All-Star break is this: Win Sunday and take an important four-game series against the first-place Twins. Lose and call it a disappointing series split after winning the first two in convincing fashion.

Dylan Cease, the Sox’ most All-Star worthy pitching candidate, will oppose Twins right-hander Chris Archer, who is coming off the injured list.

The Twins worked over Sox starter Lance Lynn early in just the latest disappointing outing for the 2021 All-Star.

“It’s frustrating,” Lynn said.

Lynn gave up a homer to the first batter he faced, All-Star Luis Arraez, then watched Carlos Correa jack a two-run homer into the first deck in the third. After a bloop single by Byron Buxton and infield hit by Max Kepler following Correa’s bomb, Jorge Polanco hit a three-run homer to put the Sox behind 6-0.

“I put us in a hole early and we weren’t able to come back,” Lynn said.

The Sox got three against Dylan Bundy on Jose Abreu’s RBI groundout in the fourth and Andrew Vaughn’s two-run single in the sixth. They went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base in the last six innings, although manager Tony La Russa lauded his team’s fight to the last out against 100-mph fireballer Jhoan Duran, who pitched the eighth and ninth. Tim Anderson’s ground out with Adam Engel on base, a 10-pitch at-bat ended the game.

“I heard Tony say when Tim was up there, ‘that’s an All-Star at-bat,’ ” Vaughn said. “He’s fouling off pitches. Guy is throwing 100 mph with a 98 mph splitter. He was just battling.”

And with that, the focus shifted to Sunday.

“Now that today’s over, tomorrow’s the most important game that we’ve got,” Vaughn said.

Of equal importance for the Sox (45-46) is getting Lynn back to who he was when he was signed to a two-year, $38 million extension last July. Lynn retired eight batters in a row after Polanco’s homer, but designs on soaring into the break on a series sweep felt dashed. Now they need to win Sunday to return to .500, which is where they landed Friday for the first time since June 21 when they beat the Blue Jays at Guaranteed Rate. And as they did on June 22 and the three times before that when they reached .500, the Sox lost.

“Get to .500 tomorrow, take a deep breath, see what the second half entails and make a push,” Lynn said. “We’re not in a terrible spot. We could be way worse with the way we’ve played. We’re not. So we have to get going.”

Lynn, meanwhile, has become a concern, heightening the Sox’ necessity to consider starting pitching additions before the trade deadline. With Michael Kopech’s innings being monitored as he navigates a hoped-for wire-to-wire pitching log as a starter, starting pitching could be underlined next to lefty relief pitching and a lefty bat for the second half.

Lynn (1-3, 7.50) allowed six runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out six and getting 14 swings and misses. The break is coming at the right time for him.

“I got to use this time to get things right,” said Lynn, who has made seven starts since being sidelined by knee surgery. “We’ve worked on some mechanical things. Physically I’m in a good spot to do the things I need to do. Now it’s finding that rhythm and going out and doing it.

“It’s time to take a deep breath of, ‘Hey, the first half is done. You got back, you’re here, you’re healthy and it’s time to go [bleeping] get it, to be honest. There’s no other way to say it. That’s where I’m at.”

Where are the Sox? In need of a win Sunday.

“Getting a win tomorrow, winning a series, there’s something tangible there,” La Russa said. We’ll go after it tomorrow.”

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Saturday is the dawn of a new day at Pitchfork Music Fest, and with it a new atmosphere.

With Friday’s rain-induced muddy mess dried up, attendees flocked to the grassy lawn of Union Park staking their spot for the day’s anticipated festivities including teenage punk rockers The Linda Lindas, reunited rockers Karate, and a double-dose of indie stars Japanese Breakfast and Mitski to close out the festivities.

A clear congregation of diehards amassed in equal lines for the band merchandise tent and the Chirp Record Fair picking up collectibles of their favorite acts of the day and very likely, the new artists they’ve discovered.

Here’s a look at the sights and sounds at Saturday’s Pitchfork. The festival concludes on Sunday.

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Summer League for the Chicago Bulls is well underway, and fans may have noticed some interesting numbers worn on the court.

The Chicago Bulls are one game away from wrapping up their 5-game Summer League season. If you have tuned in to any of the games this summer, you may have noticed some unique jersey numbers on several of the Bulls’ summer players.

A recent feature from Darnell Mayberry with the Athletic has the explanation you may have been looking for. Bulls Equipment Manager, Steve Pankow, is the man behind these numbers. Pankow, a Chicago Native, assigned the players numbers based on legendary members of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears. The skills and success of these former Bears may have become a source of inspiration for the players.

Mayberry pointed out why Makur Maker is wearing #72 and how the rest of the team got their Summer League numbers.

“Maker is playing the role of venerable defensive end Dan Hampton. Sindarius Thornwell is wearing Hall of Fame defensive lineman Richard Dent’s No. 95. Chicago native Javon Freeman-Liberty is sporting Mike Singletary’s No. 50. Sharpshooting guard Ethan Thompson is in quarterback Jim McMahon’s No. 9. Two-way contract forward Justin Lewis has No. 34, representing Pankow and his father’s favorite, Walter Payton”

At one point, Pankow had to explain his numbering system before the start of Summer League. Sindarius Thornwell (assigned Richard Dent’s #95) had asked if any other numbers were available. Pankow explained, “This man was a Super Bowl MVP in ’85, the last team to win a Super Bowl in this city.” That accolade alone was enough to sell Thornwell on the number system. You can view the competed Bulls Summer League Roster and the other uniform numbers here.

Summer League players who aren’t involved in Pankow’s number game include Dalen Terry and Marko Simonović. These two players have a spot on the Bulls’ regular-season roster and already have chosen their numbers. Terry has his own reasons for selecting #25. You can read more about it here. 

The Chicago Bulls play their fifth and final Summer League game on Saturday, July 16th. They will be looking to build upon their 3-1 record in a matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers at 6 pm CT on NBATV. Fans can view the remaining Summer League Schedule here

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