Chicago Sports

The National

The venerable indie rockers had their 2006 performance at Pitchfork Music Festival on the brain as they closed out Night One of this year’s edition. Dedicating a performance of their early days track “Mr. November” to the throwback occasion, it was a moment mired in nostalgia for many in the crowd as 2006 was also the very first year this homegrown Chicago event was fully sanctioned and operated by the music media group.

“It’s good to be back,” singer Matt Berninger exclaimed, adding how much the band had missed playing the park, commenting on the “cool vibe” that has become the festival’s aesthetic year after year.

Though they relied on the orchestral greatness of some of their most beloved tracks like “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” “Don’t Swallow The Cap” “Fake Empire” and “Slow Show,” The National didn’t stay stuck in the past too long as they also brought forth their latest material with a rollout of their new song “Ice Machines,” a downtempo slow burn that comfortably fits in their wheelhouse.

The group’s calm output was perhaps a little too somber at times for this headlining set — and a purposely glitchy light show and video feed didn’t help revive things. But focusing on the moments of beauty like the perfect placement of a live horn section and the band’s endearing musical chemistry (most members are brothers after all) made this set another one for the memory bank.

Tierra Whack

The unrelenting onslaught of showers Friday evening essentially rained on the parade that Tierra Whack was eager to bring to her anticipated set, which offered a smattering of her trifecta of EPs released in December, “Rap?,” “Pop?,” and “R&B?,” and of course her gatecrashing debut “Whack World,” that Pitchfork itself bestowed with a “best new music” honor in 2018.

“I really wanna move around but I don’t want to lose my life,” the Philly rapper joked as she tip-toed around the growing puddles on the Red Stage, her usual high energy halted by the soggy mess. Even her hype DJ had her cables crossed by the weather, cutting short a spin of Outkast that eventually led to a crowd singalong before being fixed.

Fans appeared downtrodden at first too, taking a while to get warmed up, leading Whack to ask if anyone in the crowd had a birthday in her best effort to try to connect. Though it didn’t take long to get people moving as the natural born performer ripped into gold like “Pet Cemetery,” the epitome of the short-and-sweet quick hits she’s known for — as well as her style icon status that was on full display, her colorful persona the rainbow the fest truly needed.

Dawn Richard

As a former personality on the reality series “Making The Band” and a member of R&B group Danity Kane, Dawn Richard is no stranger to the spectacle that often comes with the territory of a great pop show — and she delivered the goods without hesitation in her primetime spot at Pitchfork.

Dressed in a sparkling, crisp white ensemble that looked like a designer take on a spacesuit, and accessorized with an inexplicably long mane of hair that quickly became its own prop, Richard looked like a Vegas showgirl from the future. And her performance felt otherworldly too, the singer a strong purveyor of future-soul who, with the assistance of matching dancers in lit-up face masks and a voluminous live band, ripped through originals and some surprisingly reimagined covers like The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt.

In all, the feel of Richard’s set took on the aura of her latest album, “Second Line” (named one of the best of 2021 by multiple critics), created in homage to the traditional processionals in her hometown of New Orleans. A banner moment was a performance of new track “Voodoo (Outermission)” that showed off Richard’s impeccable vocal range, imbuing so much emotion with every note that you believed the singer when she said, “Music saved me, it’s why I’m still here.”

Spiritualized

There are so many members now touring with Spiritualized that you’d have to almost believe it’s become something of a musical cult, if not even evident in the way their brand of psychedelic space rock can so easily transfix listeners with no control of giving their being to the sound.

The large ensemble — led by total showman Jason Pierce, with support from the mesmerizing guitarist/harmonica player Doggen Foster, a trio of backup vocalists and a sweeping band of nuanced professionals — is a master class in instrumental precision who somehow created a wall of sound in the middle of a muddy park field. The whole affair was a total team effort, aided by long outros and experimental interplay that gave an air of being a fly on the wall in one very special jam session.

While hypnotic orbs floated behind them, further aiding in the en masse trance, the English troupe didn’t miss a beat moving swiftly from the long-weaving track “Hey Jane” into the sweet splendor of oldie and goodie ‘Shine A Light,” which still may be one of the prettiest songs ever written.

Thirty years after their debut, Spiritualized continues to appeal to its rabid fanbase and find new converts and their performance at Pitchfork is a testimony to that continued longevity.

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The problem with July is, well, it stinks. For sports, that is. We’d invite you to try to name a worse month on the U.S. sports calendar, but we already know you can’t. There’s baseball, plus a little of this, maybe some of that and, hang on, did we mention baseball? Google “worst month on the U.S. sports calendar,” and you’ll find July dismissed here and there as “the least exciting month,” “the most uneventful month by a country mile” and “your chance to take a break from sports and recharge.”

July stinks, is the point.

The day after baseball’s All-Star Game is often singled out as the very worst day for sports, and that’s because there’s more action in a sloths’ mosh pit. There’s certainly no baseball being played, though, let’s face it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing if you’re a Cubs fan. But we’re still talking about a monthlong slog here, not a one-day blip.

When your old pal worked at national sports magazines in his pre-newspaper days, July would loom and the 1,000-yard stares would begin setting in.

“Think we’ll make it to football season?”

“I’m not writing about NASCAR, you do it.”

“I wonder if the nuclear plant is hiring.”

But here in Chicago, this July is kind of wild. It’s certainly very weird. Too disconcerting to be dead, too improbable to be ignored and too sonorous for the snooze alarm.

Our teams — most of them, anyway — are up to all sorts of strange business and busyness. Like the Cubs, for example, who seem not to understand how much they’re risking by not only losing night after ignominious night, but also by waving their money in fans’ faces instead of putting it into the product on the field. As a gaudy ballpark sportsbook gets shoehorned into gaudy Rickettsville, the filthy-rich Cubs are preparing to trade, as has become their custom, everybody who’s anybody, with Jed Hoyer in the role of glorified used-car salesman.

“Congrats on the All-Star honors, Willson Contreras and Ian Happ. Now what’s it going to take to put you fellas in a couple of shiny contenders?”

The spasmodic White Sox, meanwhile, stagger two steps backward, as they did in the first two games in Cleveland on their current, hugely important road trip, then they lurch two steps forward, as they did in the last two games against the Guardians. In the end, the Sox always seem to be right back where they started, often having done a bunch of foolish and sloppy things in getting there. They ebb and they flow, usually in the same week, and it’s both stultifying and fascinating. They are a .500 machine — and the longer that persists, the more inflamed Sox fans get. There’s a lot of anger here, and it’s perfectly understandable.

And the Blackhawks? They’re trading everybody, too. Quick, somebody stop Kyle Davidson before he tries to ship Contreras to Calgary. It was a gut punch when new general manager Davidson — who’s clearly intent on making his mark — moved terrific scorer Alex DeBrincat and also momentous, if less jarring, when he did likewise with 2019 first-round pick Kirby Dach. Letting Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome disappear into the mist is only going to make the Hawks worse in the short term, and then there are the giant shoes that have yet to drop: What the heck is happening with franchise greats Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, not to mention $76 million veteran Seth Jones? It’s dizzying to think about.

At least the Bears are moving on up. Wait, correction: moving on out. Aren’t they still bound for Arlington Heights? Just saying, it seems like an inevitability — unless, of course, they stay put on the lakefront in a stadium that eventually becomes the world’s largest set of Russian tea dolls. A 1920s-style coliseum with a spaceship on top of it and an ultramodern dome heaved on top of the spaceship? Wouldn’t a circus tent be cheaper and more apt? In summary: Bears fans don’t know if the team has a real quarterback, don’t know if it has a real coach, don’t know if it has a real general manager and don’t know where it’s going to play. Other than that, everything’s perfect.

These are supposed to be the dog days on the sports calendar. Steamy, slow, languid. But who can keep up?

Our college sports scene is bonkers, too, and nothing is even in season. Every time we turn around, Illinois’ basketball team has landed another prime-time player via the transfer portal or more traditional recruiting. The Illini could win a national championship soon, or this method of roster building — birds sit on rhinos’ backs longer than some Illini players stick around nowadays — could blow up in coach Brad Underwood’s face

Craziest of all is college football, which we’ll get into more if and when we begin to comprehend what the hell is going on. It seems to be along these lines: If you aren’t moving to the Southeastern Conference or the Big Ten, you aren’t surviving for long. And if you are in one of those leagues, it’s going to require more fundraising for football than ever to even have a chance to be competitive. What does this mean for Illinois and Northwestern? And for Notre Dame, still an independent?

It means the ground is shaking. Take a break? Recharge? Maybe next year.

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There have been a few good moments.

Marko Simonovic’s 27-point, 13-rebound showcase, and rookie Dalen Terry putting up 14 points and five rebounds in a comeback victory against the Raptors. Then there has been Terry’s overall in-your-face demeanor on the court.

So, yes, there have been some nice stories during this Summer League for the Bulls.

But help?

Actual on-court, crunch-time help in a big late-March Eastern Conference showdown?

That likely won’t be coming from the Summer League roster.

And, frankly, Zach LaVine is fine with that.

When LaVine sat down with executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley to discuss the future and why he should stay a Bull for $215 million over the next five years, the two-time All-Star knew the current core would be leaned on to carry the load.

That means LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic remain the “Big Three,” and Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso headline an important supporting cast buttressed by the additions of Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic.

“I mean, obviously [last season] was tough because we started off so good, and we could see the ceiling and the goal of the team in the first half of the season,” LaVine said. “But injuries happen, and you want to see a full roster and a full team all the way through. I think we had some key additions already, adding guys like Goran and Drummond, so I think it’s gonna be good. As long as guys stay healthy, I think that’s the biggest thing for any team. We get to go back at it again.”

But the five teams in front of the Bulls in the conference aren’t about to simply cede their territory.

The Celtics added Malcolm Brogdon, the 76ers grabbed P.J. Tucker and the Bucks kept their core together.

“People are going to move every year, and there’s still a lot of movement that I think can happen during the offseason,” LaVine said of the new-look landscape. “It’s just teams trying to get better and better, and I think we’re trying to do the same thing, as well. We made some additions but pretty much have the same core of guys intact and want to run it back.

“I think that’s what AK and Marc were going to go after and really see what this team is like when whole and healthy.

”I’m fine with it. I understood how good we were in the first half of the year, but we’ve got to put two halves together and really go after it. I’m excited for the competition.”

That sounds good, but will the Bulls even be fully healthy?

Karnisovas spoke on ESPN during theSummer League win Tuesday against Toronto and was asked about Ball’s left-knee rehab.

Like Eversley said a few weeks ago, there was optimism that the knee was improving and guarded optimism about Ball being ready for the start of training camp.

No wonder Dragic was added. He could prove to be a key insurance policy.

“[Ball is] progressing,” Karnisovas said. “That’s as much as I can say.

”He’s getting better. Probably not at the speed that we would like. But he’s getting better.

“Hopefully, he’s going to be ready for training camp. That’s just our hope.”

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In the wake of the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal, the Blackhawks vowed to scrub their organization of anyone involved in the 2010 cover-up.

Less than a year later, it turns out the Hawks are scrubbing the entire organization. This is a comprehensive teardown.

The state and composition of the franchise come October, when a bleak 2022-23 season will begin, will be virtually unrecognizable from any previous version of the franchise, even from just a year or two before.

On the ice, Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, Brandon Hagel, Marc-Andre Fleury, Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik, Calvin de Haan and others have been jettisoned. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews almost certainly will be gone within a year, if not sooner. They’re the only two of the Hawks’ top seven forward point producers from last season still on the team.

In fact, Kane, Toews and Connor Murphy are the only three players from the 2019-20 Hawks roster still on the team.

Off the ice, Stan Bowman, Al MacIsaac, Ryan Stewart, Mark Kelley, Jeremy Colliton, Marc Crawford, Pat Foley and plenty more are gone, even if most cases are for the better. Eddie Olczyk, arguably the man most associated with the Hawks across generations, is still without a contract.

Even on the business side, changes are rampant. The Hawks have made significant layoffs this summer, according to several sources. Many of those who remain have been repurposed or reassigned in restructured departments.

If not for their trademarked name and perhaps “Chelsea Dagger,” the present-day Hawks could hardly be described as the Hawks.

The teardown has been prompted in part by financial implications. The Hawks remain an immensely valuable franchise, valued in December by Forbes at $1.4 billion — fourth-highest in the NHL. But like everyone, they’ve struggled because of COVID-19. The Hawks’ operating income was $41 million in the red in 2021, Forbes estimated.

As the pandemic fades, leaguewide income is generally stabilizing and increasing again. The Hawks, however, will have to deal with an awful on-ice product for the next few years denting ticket sales and TV viewership. Reducing the cost of 84% of their season-ticket packages for next season, some by significant margins, will help keep seats occupied — but it’ll certainly affect the team’s revenue.

The biggest reason for the teardown, however, is that new general manager Kyle Davidson inherited a disaster of a hockey team. He had few options other than to rebuild.

The group Bowman assembled and expected to be a playoff contender in 2021-22 turned out to be one of the league’s worst. Even worse, it was crammed up against the salary cap, giving the Hawks no leverage at a time when cap space is more valuable than ever.

But worst of all, the prospect pipeline was direly lacking in talent. Bowman and Kelley had not only drafted inefficiently for years, but they traded away most of their draft successes in ill-advised, nearsighted moves. Every first-round pick Bowman made either didn’t sign with the Hawks, didn’t pan out as an NHL player or was traded early in his career. In January, shortly after Davidson’s takeover, the Hawks’ prospect pool was ranked 25th in the NHL by The Athletic.

So Davidson, without exactly saying such, decided to basically start over. That decision wasn’t completely clear or certain during his first few months, but it is now.

DeBrincat, Dach and Hagel were realistically the only assets he had that were valuable enough to get first-round picks in return. Considering most teams’ salary-cap situations, the Hawks wouldn’t get that much for Kane, Toews and Seth Jones because of their massive contracts, even if they requested trades and waived their no-movement clauses. Just look at the Golden Knights trading Max Pacioretty to the Hurricanes on Wednesday for literally nothing.

Davidson’s managing hasn’t been perfect. No GM’s is. It would’ve been nice to get more for DeBrincat. It would’ve been nice to see Strome, Kubalik and de Haan turned into assets, even small ones, at the trade deadline in March. Some of the Hawks’ 11 new draft picks won’t turn into anything. Davidson will inevitably make more mistakes in the future, too, and take heat for them.

And this process will only get worse before it gets better.

The Red Wings are a good example. They largely bled their organization dry while hanging on too long to the remnants of their dynasty era before finally tearing it down in 2016. Six years later, they’re on an upward trajectory with plenty of young stars and excitement, but they’ve yet to even return to the playoffs.

This is the path the Hawks have chosen, though, and they’ve done so with plenty of logic supporting their decision, even if their approach of eschewing nuance and empathy in favor of absolute destruction has rubbed some the wrong way.

So what’s the correct reaction to it all?

Is it outrage over the ruthlessness of the teardown, the good people and players sacrificed in the mess, the slaphappy embrace of tanking, the lack of respect for fans who spend and have spent thousands of dollars through their fandom?

Is it relief and optimism that there’s finally a firm plan and vision moving forward, that those who made unforgivable decisions in 2010 have been ousted, that fans will hopefully be able to enjoy another Hawks ascension over the next decade?

Or is it ambivalence because the Hawks are no longer relevant and because there are plenty of other things to spend life caring about?

At the moment, equally sized groups of onlookers — Hawks fans, hockey fans, Chicagoans and more — fit into each of those three buckets. Over time, as the teardown gradually evolves into a buildup, the franchise’s leadership is counting on the majority eventually trickling into the second group.

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As a first-time NFL general manager at 36, Ryan Poles knew he’d be challenged by episodes that would test his leadership abilities.

After 13 years with the Chiefs, he was prepared for the scouting, evaluating and organizing. Draft picks, trades and other roster decisions were responsibilities he’d worked his entire career to learn how to manage.

But finding out your presumed No. 1 free-agent acquisition didn’t pass the physical? Getting a call from a player who tells you he’s just been arrested?

Those are the kinds of curveballs you figure you’ll eventually see, but Poles has had more than his share in his first six months as the Bears’ GM:

A three-year, $40.5 million deal with free-agent defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi fell apart when Ogunjobi failed his physical. He was coming off surgery after injuring his foot in the Bengals’ wild-card playoff game against the Raiders.Wide receiver Byron Pringle, who signed a one-year, $4.125 million contract in free agency, was arrested April 23 in Florida on charges of reckless driving and driving with a suspended license.Free-agent linebacker Matt Adams (one-year, $1.047 million contract in free agency) was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor firearms possession June 24 in downtown Chicago.Wide receiver David Moore (one-year, $1.035 million contract in free agency) was arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful carrying of weapons when he was found with three pistols and marijuana edibles in his car at a Taco Bell drive-thru, according to NFL.com.In an unexpected move that became public July 1, Poles fired LaMar “Soup” Campbell, vice president of player engagement, who was part of the five-person search committee that hired him.

To cynical fans who are reflexively skeptical after witnessing just four Bears playoff victories in the last 31 seasons (only three teams have fewer in that span), those are red flags that don’t bode well for Poles. When former GM Ryan Pace was hired in 2015, his first red flag was the signing of defensive end Ray McDonald that March — with the blessing of the McCaskey family — despite McDonald being under investigation for suspected sexual assault. The Bears released McDonald in May after he was arrested and charged with domestic violence and child endangerment.

That was an embarrassing episode for Pace and the McCaskeys, but it was more of a blip than a harbinger of the bad things to come. Under Pace, the Bears went from 3-13 in Pace’s first season under coach John Fox to 12-4 and the NFC North title under coach Matt Nagy in 2018. Pace’s misses on Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky were the big reasons the Bears were unable to sustain that initial success. Signing the 30-year-old McDonald was a roll of the dice to stay relevant during a rebuild.

And, just the same, the mishaps in the opening months of the Poles regime could end up becoming the trials of a rookie GM more than an indicator that Poles wasn’t the right guy for the job.

The Ogunjobi miss bears watching, especially after the Steelers signed him to a one-year contract in June. Poles took a chance on an injured player — something rebuilding GMs are more prone to do — and learned an early lesson.

The three arrests are problematic, especially because Poles has a history with Pringle with the Chiefs and coach Matt Eberflus has a history with Adams with the Colts. But in the context of NFL transgressions, none of the charges crosses into the more dangerous territory of domestic violence or sexual assault, which are clearly fireable offenses.

It remains to be seen how Poles responds to the Adams and Moore arrests. (He called Pringle’s arrest a “disappointment” but vouched for Pringle’s character; “It’s not a reflection of who he is at all,” he said.)

And he has some explaining to do on the firing of Campbell — a well-respected confidant to many players. Did the arrests have any impact on the decision to fire Campbell? And, if not, why did he wait until July to make that move?

On the other hand, that Poles has the authority to fire someone who had a hand in hiring him is a good sign at Halas Hall. The Bears need a football authority figure more than anything — someone who will rule on his own accord rather than be guided by George McCaskey and team president Ted Phillips.

The Bears’ best hope is that Poles grows into that overarching authority role. And if some manageable rookie mistakes are the price they have to pay, it might just be worth it.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Two down. Maybe two more to go.

After taking the first two games of a make-or-break kind of series against the Twins by a total of 14 runs, the White Sox, finally at the .500 mark after a 6-2 victory against the AL Central Division leaders Friday night, can fancy the idea of finishing off the first half with a really big sweep.

It will take wins Saturday and Sunday with Lance Lynn and Dylan Cease pitching, but you know it’s what everyone is thinking after Adam Engel and Tim Anderson homered and four relievers followed Michael Kopech with scoreless relief Friday as the Sox stretched their winning streak to four and reached .500 for the first time since May 29.

The Sox have won six of eight and trail the Twins by three games. They suffered a big blow losing Luis Robert in the second inning because of of lightheadedness after Robert drew a walk and scored in a two-run first.

But Engel, Robert’s replacement in center, lined a three-run homer in the seventh against right-hander Griffin Jax to turn a one-run lead into four. The Sox also got a tiebreaking homer from Anderson and a quick strike of two runs in the first.

This time they scored again first against left-hander Devin Smeltzer, who was pulled after three innings. Smeltzer gave up two runs on five hits and two walks — the Sox left three runners in scoring position against him — and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was probably noting the Sox’ .288/.345/.459 hitting line against lefties when he pulled him.

Anderson’s homer against righty Emilio Vargas broke a 2-all tie in the fourth, and Anderson’s leaping catch on the first base side of second helped Kopech finish with a perfect fifth, his only 1-2-3 inning.

The good news from Kopech was that his fastball velocity sat in the 94-96 mph range, up a couple of ticks from his recent starts. He entered with a worrisome 6.15 ERA over his previous five starts, and he labored through five innings with four walks and five hits allowed while striking out two and getting just three swings and misses on 90 pitches (54 for strikes). But Kopech, who has been pitching with some right knee soreness, will take four scoreless innings into a needed All-Star break.

“He’s probably being careful about planting and pushing off,” La Russa said. “And that’s something to pay attention to because if that alters your delivery that’s where you could have [issues. The pitching coaches] had some real good sessions with him. I think we’re on top of it. But you can pitch with that if you can move the ball around and command it.”

Andrew Vaughn, who homered Thursday night, moved the ball around and found a hole between shortstop and third base for a two-run single in the first. It was just the kind of needed hit assistant hitting coach Howie Clark was talking about before the game. The Sox have searched for consistent run production all season.

“If you put too much into why this is happening or that is happening, sometimes you’re one ball going in the hole for a hit from something opening up,” Clark said.

“When guys think they’re going bad they’re never that far away. And when they’re going good they’re not that far from going the other direction, too. When the guys are swinging, it’s contagious. We’ve seen it go the other direction.”

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MINNEAPOLIS — Center fielder Luis Robert left the White Sox’ game against the Twins Friday with lightheadedness, the team said, leaving the team without its hottest hitter in its biggest series of the season.

Robert, who is day-to-day, was replaced by Adam Engel to start the bottom of the second inning at Target Field.

Robert was charged with an error in the first inning when Carlos Correa’s line drive skipped past him and went to the wall. Robert drifted back to catch Jose Miranda’s inning-ending fly out, reaching up to make the catch on a ball that appeared to sail on him.

Robert entered the game on a streak of three consecutive three-hit games, raising his batting line to .301/.332/.461. He hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in the Sox’ 12-2 win in the first game of the series Thursday, and walked and scored in the first inning Friday on Andrew Vaughn’s single, sliding home with the second run.

The Sox said Robert is day to day.

Pollock’s arm strength coming back

Outfielder AJ Pollock won a Gold Glove trophy in 2015 when he played for the Diamondbacks and was nominated for one in 2021 as a Dodger without the luxury of having a strong arm.

At 34, however, Pollock feels like he’s retrieving some arm strength probably lost after numerous problems withhis right elbow.

“I’m doing what I can, man,” Pollock said. “It’s getting there.”

A year after being drafted in the first round in 2009 by the Diamondbacks, Pollock fractured his right elbow diving for a ball. He fractured it again in 2016 sliding into home, and in 2019 had surgery to remove metal hardware that was inserted in the growth plate in 2016. There were infections in the plate area as well.

“The elbow wasn’t right for years,” Pollock said.

“But it’s weird, sometimes I think I have a squirt gun arm but I feel like I’m getting it back. Now it feels like I having something behind it for the first time in years.”

Pollock nailed the Twins’ Gio Urshela with a throw from left field on the fly Thursday, denying the tying run and completing a double play in a 12-2 win.

Eloy unlikely for Twins series

Eloy Jimenez hit in the cage but isn’t running yet, and isn’t expected to play until after the All-Star break.

Jimenez walked off the field after making a running catch in Cleveland Wednesday. It’s the same right leg soreness that paused his rehab assignment at Charlotte but he said he felt better the day after this time.

“I’m going to heal faster because I feel way better in my second day,” he said. “I’m already swinging.”

This and that

Yasmani Grandal caught Friday and homered for Triple-A Charlotte for the second time as he rehabs after going on the injured list with back spasms. Grandal was 8-for-17 nine walks in six injury rehab games between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte going in.

*Shortly after announcing that Jake Burger (hand) would begin a minor league rehab assignment at Charlotte Friday, the Sox said the rehab was on hold due to illness.

*Saturday’ game has an unusual 2 p.m. start, following the Twins’ honoring of 2022 Hall of Fame electee Jim Kaat. Kaat won 283 games in his career, including 45 with the Sox from 1973-75.

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A McHenry County judge on Friday increased bail for a man facing domestic violence charges and who also is accused of making threats against the upcoming North Coast Music Festival.

Judge David Gervais ordered 28-year-old Daniel Susma’s bail doubled — to $50,000 — during a court hearing after prosecutors filed a motion requesting the increase, according to the McHenry County state’s attorney’s office and court records.

Susma was investigated by the Algonquin Police Department and the FBI in Chicago after messages were posted on social media describing a shooting at the electronic music festival that included racial slurs and referenced violence, officials said.

The reported threat came after multiple high-profile mass shootings across the country, including in suburban Highland Park, where seven people were killed and dozens more wounded in a mass shooting on July 4 at the village’s Independence Day parade.

Organizers of the festival, scheduled for Sept. 2-4 in SeatGeek Stadium in suburban Bridgeview, tweeted a statement in response to the threats on Tuesday, saying organizers contacted law enforcement and “are handling it with the utmost seriousness.”

Algonquin Deputy Chief Ryan Markham told the Sun-Times Friday that their joint investigation with the FBI into Susma’s alleged statements led them to determine “[Susma] was not a threat to the festival … and does not have the capacity to carry through” an attack.

Algonquin police were called about 10 p.m. Tuesday to a home in the village after a female relative reported Susma had struck her, grabbed her arm and put his hand over her nose and face, preventing her from breathing, Markham said.

Susma was subsequently charged with felony counts of aggravated battery and misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and ordered held on $25,000 bail.

If Susma posts the newly increased $5,000 bond — 10% of the $50,000 bail amount — and is released, he will be required to submit to GPS monitoring and 24-hour home confinement, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Susma remained in custody as of Friday, according to sheriff’s office records.

His next court date is set for Aug. 3.

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Pitchfork Music Festival got off to a sloshy slow start Friday as the rain poured down on Union Park with ponchos and the shelter of trees in high demand by the growing flock of attendees.

Though many still pushed through the showers, enjoying the chill sounds of afternoon performer Indigo De Souza, matching the overall breezy feel of the long independently run event.

Lines for food and merch were uncharacteristically slow for a festival though the options include some great local picks including Billy Goat Tavern, Goddess & Grocer, Donerman and Beat Kitchen, among others.

If the muddy terrain from today’s downpour is any indication, boots will necessary the rest of the weekend.

Here’s a look at some of the sights and sounds of Day 1 of the weekend festival in Union Park:

More to come …

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MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock won a Gold Glove trophy in 2015 when he played for the Diamondbacks and was nominated for one in 2021 as a Dodger without the luxury of having a strong arm.

At 34, however, Pollock feels like he’s retrieving some arm strength that was probably lost after numerous problems withhis right elbow.

“I’m doing what I can, man,” Pollock said. “It’s getting there.”

A year after being drafted in the first round in 2009 by the Diamondbacks, Pollock fractured his right elbow diving for a ball. He fractured it again in 2016 sliding into home, and in 2019 had surgery to remove metal hardware that was inserted in the growth plate in 2016. There were infections in the plate area as well.

“The elbow wasn’t right for years,” Pollock said.

“But it’s weird, sometimes I think I have a squirt gun arm but I feel like I’m getting it back.”

A night after making a running catch in right field and banging into the side wall in Cleveland, Pollock nailed the Twins’ Gio Urshela with a throw from left field on the fly, denying the tying run and completing a double play. Never mind that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli should have challenged the close call. Manager Tony La Russa opened his postgame interview lauding Pollock for making the defensive play of the game for the second night in a row.

“I’ve always been accurate to second and third but never felt like I had the strength to home,” Pollock said.

“Now it feels like I having something behind it for the first time in years.”

Eloy unlikely for Twins series

Eloy Jimenez hit in the cage but isn’t running yet, and isn’t expected to play until after the All-Star break. The only scenario La Russa sees him playing is pinch hitting “with two outs and the bases loaded.”

Jimenez walked off the field after making a running catch in Cleveland Wednesday. It’s the same soreness that paused his rehab assignment at Charlotte but he said he felt better the day after this time.

“I’m going to heal faster because I feel way better in my second day,” he said. “I’m already swinging.”

Zavala’s ABs ‘as good as anybody’s’

While Yasmani Grandal rehabs after going on the injured list with back spasms — he was 8-for-17 with a home run and nine walks in six injury rehab games between Double-A Birmingham and Triple-A Charlotte — Seby Zavala has shined catching in tandem with Reese McGuire, batting .303/.349/.474 with an .803 OPS and handling the defensive side and pitch calling without issue as well.

“He’s receiving well and throwing well, they’re not running too much on him,” La Russa said. “But offensively he’s had as good at-bats as anybody.”

Burger update

Shortly after announcing that Jake Burger (hand) would begin a minor league rehab assignment at Charlotte Friday, the Sox said the rehab was on hold due to illness.

Jim Kaat day

Saturday’ game has an unusual 2 p.m. start, following the Twins’ honoring of 2022 Hall of Fame electee Jim Kaat, whose uniform No. 36 will be retired. A two-time 20-game winner for the Sox, Kaat won 283 games in his career, including 45 with the Sox from 1973-75.

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