Chicago Sports

Maybe what has been missing for the 2022 White Sox is a team-wide home run ritual. Think: the Padres’ “Swagg” chain, the Red Sox’ laundry cart or the Blue Jays’ “Barrio” jacket. Watching the Jays’ jacket-clad Raimel Tapia strut the length of the dugout Monday after homering at Guaranteed Rate Field — his teammates admiring him giddily — it was impossible not to appreciate the swagger.

Just spitballing here, but perhaps a Sox player who puts one in the seats could get a bucket of giardiniera poured over his head? Would sport peppers be better? There’s always an au jus or mustard bath to consider.

The point is, the Sox need something — especially when it comes to protecting their home turf. Last year’s team was 53-28 on the South Side, the best home record in the American League. The Sox began the current homestand with a 13-17 mark at home, third-worst in the AL. Want to point to an area in need of major improvement? Might as well start right here.

“The bottom line is we like playing at home,” manager Tony La Russa said, “and hopefully that will be a first-half stat that becomes dramatically different from here to the end.”

The Sox responded to Tapia’s long ball with three of their own and won the series opener against the Jays 8-7, but it never should’ve been that close. Lance Lynn looked good on the mound, Tim Anderson came off the injured list hitting like always, Andrew Vaughn kept swinging like an All-Star and the Sox built an 8-2 lead. Blowing all of it and losing would’ve been catastrophic, the biggest gut punch in a season full of them — again, especially at home — for a division favorite that gets lightheaded and passes out every time it sniffs .500.

The Sox won the first two home series of the season, against the Mariners and Rays, and that was still the entire list before the Jays came calling. Dropping an ugly series to the Royals in April was a sign of things to come. The Sox were toyed with by the Yankees in losing three of four and being outscored 32-15. They were clubbed mercilessly by the Red Sox, twice giving up 16 runs. They lost a rubber match to the Dodgers after La Russa’s truly embarrassing two-strike intentional walk to Max Muncy. They lost twice to the Rangers in extra innings, gagging on a 5-0 lead in the first of those games as “Fire Tony!” chants came from the crowd.

“Let’s be honest,” closer Liam Hendriks said, “I think we’re all surprised that it’s only a few games under .500 with how much we’ve sucked here at home.”

And that’s putting it nicely.

“Too many times when you try to explain something, it sounds like an excuse,” La Russa said. “But in those 30 games that we’ve played here, it was tougher to win than in some of the road-trip games. So the effort was there, but we came up short.”

There’s still time for the Sox, of course, just as there was for La Russa’s last World Series team, the 2011 Cardinals. They were essentially a .500 home team into September and didn’t really heat up — home or away — until the last three weeks of the regular season before winning it all. What does that have to do with these Sox? Probably nothing, but it’s a thought to hold on to in case it helps get you through the night.

More recently, the 2021 World Series-winning Braves demonstrated that home records don’t necessarily mean a whole lot. Of their modest total of 88 regular-season wins, only 42 came in Atlanta. The Braves’ .525 home winning percentage ranked 10th in the National League and 19th-best in the majors. What does that have to do with these Sox? Probably nothing, but there you have it.

Somebody probably should start tearing open a bunch of jars of giardiniera.

“It’s just a different year, so of course the numbers are going to be different,” Anderson said. “They’re not always going to be the same. They’re not going to always be better.”

But, honestly, they couldn’t be much worse. Especially on the heels of last season — have we mentioned that 53-28 home record? — it just wasn’t supposed to be this way.

“I know experts have to pick who’s going to do [what], but they’re just guessing,” La Russa said. “They don’t know. There are too many dynamics.

“All I know is, if you’re good enough and you stay strong in your heart, your guts and your mind, you can be in contention. And that’s what we believe.”

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PITTSBURGH – Initial polls are in, with good news for Cubs catcher Willson Contreras.

Major League baseball released its first update on All-Star voting Tuesday, and Contreras leads National League catchers with 801,630 votes. He’s already put some space between him and the Braves’ Travis d’Arnaud (471,921) at No. 2 in the race, and the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina (454,685) at No. 3.

Contreras is already a two-time All-Star. And this year, his numbers are generally on par or slightly better than they were at this point, 67 games into the season, in his All-Star 2017 and 2018 seasons. He also leads the Cubs in on-base percentage (.393) and slugging (.524).

It’s well documented how much Contreras has improved his framing in recent years. And he’d taken a more prominent mentorship role on this young Cubs team this season.

Voting for Phase 1 closes on June 30, and the top two vote-getters in each position – and top six outfielders – advance to Phase 2.

This year, the most popular player in each league after Phase 1 automatically claims a starting spot in the All-Star Game. Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (1,512,368) and Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts (1,446,050) are on pace to claim those Phase 2 byes.

Cubs trade Stout

The Cubs announced Tuesday that they’d traded left-hander Eric Stout to the Pirates for a cash consideration. The Cubs designated Stout for assignment last week to clear a spot on the roster for Adrian Sampson, another multi-inning reliever.

Before being DFA’d, Stout provided that length for the Cubs in two games against the Padres, allowing a total of two runs in 3 2/3 innings.

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Eleven of the Bears’ training camp practices at Halas Hall will be open to the public, the team said Tuesday.

Players will report July 26 and the first open-to-the-public practice will be two days later. The practices open to the public will be on July 28-30, Aug. 2-3, Aug 5, Aug. 7, Aug. 10-11, Aug. 15 and Aug. 20. All Halas Hall practices will begin at 10 a.m. and end about two hours later.

Fans who attend must have mobile tickets, which are free and available starting Thursday at 10 a.m. at ChicagoBears.com/camp. Fans are limited to four tickets per day. While last season featured a ticket lottery, this year will be first-come, first-served. There will be free parking at Hawthorn Mall; ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft will not be allowed to drop off near the team facility at Halas Hall.

The Bears will once again hold “Family Fest” at Soldier Field. That practice starts at 10:35 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9.

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The Bears rounded out their football staff in anticipation of the start of training camp next month, announcing eight new hires.

Head coach Matt Eberflus named Sean Magee his new chief of staff. Magee was an associate athletic director for football at Michigan the last five years, working under former Bears quarterback Jim Harbaugh. Magee is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who was once deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Blair Hitchcock was named sports nutrition director and AJ Lamb a sports scientist. They’ll work under high performance director Brent Salazar.

General manager Ryan Poles hired three scouts. Reese Hicks, the West Coast scout, worked the last four years with the Falcons. Tom Bradway, the Northeast scout, spent the last three years with the Raiders. Ryan Cavanaugh, the Midwest scout, spent 12 years with the Texans before serving as Ohio State’s college scouting coordinator last season.

Poles brought over Krithi Chandrakasan as football analytics director. He worked with Poles for three seasons in Kansas City, spending last season as the team’s senior data scientist. Ryan Hubley was named football systems developer.

The Bears broke for the summer last week and will return for the first training camp practice July 27.

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One week after he was carted off a Halas Hall backfield with what appeared to be a left knee injury, Bears guard Dakota Dozier was put on injured reserve Tuesday.

Signed to a one-year contract in March, Dozier was rotating at the right guard position with Sam Mustipher during offseason practices. Rookie Zach Thomas, a San Diego State tackle the Bears moved inside, saw playing time at guard over the final two days of mandatory minicamp.

In seven NFL seasons, Dozier had started 27 games — and appeared in 49 more — for the Jets and Vikings.

The Bears offensive line remains in flux, with center Lucas Patrick and left guard Cody Whitehair the only players guaranteed to start at their positions. The Bears have been cycling three tackles through two starting spots: second-year players Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins and rookie Braxton Jones. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Bears found another veteran who could play guard –be it before the start of training camp next month or when teams make their final cuts in early September.

The Bears used their open roster spot to sign cornerback Jayson Stanley, who played at Georgia and appeared in eight games for the Seahawks in 2020. He’s bounced around practice squads both before and since.

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It took no time for Tim Anderson to make his presence felt.

Back in uniform for the first time since straining his groin on May 29, Anderson lined a single to center leading off the first inning for the White Sox in their 8-7 win over the Blue Jays Monday night at Guaranteed Rate Field. Andrew Vaughn followed with a double against Jose Berrios, and the Sox’ home stand was off and running with Anderson dashing from first to home.

“He’s the spark plug of all spark plugs,” Vaughn said. “The man can flat-out hit and he gets on base dang near all the time.”

Sox hitters followed Anderson’s lead. Vaughn had four hits including a home run, Josh Harrison hit his first homer of the season and Luis Robert launched a 436-foot homer, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Vaughn, who raised his average to .330, has reached safely 20 times in his last 34 plate appearances.

It was good to have Anderson, the Sox’ top hitter, shortstop and energy source back from a groin injury suffered against the Cubs on May 29.

“I want to be careful of putting too much pressureon him, but he thrives on it. It’s important that he knows how important he is. That’s what he’s earned. We’re better because he’s here.”

Anderson’s teammates have been saying that while he was gone. They lost their first four games, three of them to the Jays in Toronto, and were 8-10 without him. The Sox were 123-89 since 2020 with Anderson in the lineup and 36-38 without.

“It feels great to be one person, and they think that highly of me, to be able to slide in one spot and do that much damage,” Anderson said before the game.

Anderson’s return, coupled with right-hander Lance Lynn’s formidable mound presence, added a double-edged sharpness that’s been absent without them. Lynn, who barked at third base coach Joe McEwing in the dugout in Detroit in his first start of the season Tuesday, was yelling to no one in particular and pumping fists after inning-ending strikeouts.

“I feel like we [feed off] Lynn big time,” Vaughn said. “It’s huge. That energy, emotion, drive is going to push everybody and lift everybody up.”

Lynn allowed five runs but only three earned in five-plus innings, throwing 99 pitches. Third baseman Jake Burger made his sixth error in front of Raimel Tapia’s homer in the second and an error on catcher Reese McGwire on Anderson’s high relay throw in the sixth set up an RBI groundout for the Jays’ fifth run.

Lynn struck out five and should have had six when umpire Ramon DeJesus called ball four on a 3-2 pitch to Vladimir Guerrero in the sixth that had all of the plate, leaving Lynn biting on his his glove. Hernandez followed with an RBI double.

“It’s always pitching on the South Side,” Lynn said, “especially in the Southside jerseys. The offense came to play tonight and we made some plays defensively, too.”

Harrison, who is 12-for-35 in June after an awful April and May, laid out for a diving stop and made two other nice plays at second base.

The Sox got their seventh and eighth runs in the fifth on McGuire’s RBI groundout and Adam Engel’s RBI single. McGuire, who singled in the third against the team that traded him in spring training, has an 11-game hitting streak.

Reynaldo Lopez struck out three in two innings of scoreless relief of Lynn and Kendall Graveman pitched a scoreless eighth working against the heart of the Jays lineup.

“To me, one of the stars is Reynaldo Lopez,” said La Russa. “No bigger star than him.”

Cavan Biggio’s two-run homer against Joe Kelly pitched the ninth made it a one-run game, but the Sox beat the Jays for the first time this season and kept a good thing going after going 4-2 on a road trip in Detroit and Houston.

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PITTSBURGH – Cubs right-hander Caleb Kilian stood on the top step of the visitors’ dugout at PNC Park on Monday afternoon, staring out over the freshly damp field. He’d found a quiet moment between pregame rain showers and his first road start in the major leagues.

Kilian’s time in the majors came sooner than the Cubs planned, sparked by a rash of injuries to the rotation. So, his continued development has moved to a bigger stage, and it’s already come with its rough patches.

In the Cubs’ 12-1 loss to the Pirates on Monday, Ross pulled Kilian one out into the third inning.The rookie had given up seven runs, five earned. And for the second straight outing, he’d issued five walks.

“We’ve got to give this kid a little bit of runway before we start changing too many things,” Cubs manager David Ross said before the game.

He referenced Kilian’s debut, against the Cardinals early this month, when he retired the first nine batters he faced. Ross compared that to Kilian’s second start, when he struggled to find a feel for his secondary pitches and threw mostly fastballs.

“Last one, not so clean and lack of command, which is not who he’s been,” Ross said Monday afternoon. “So, you’ve got to try to throw that outlier out and get back to work. We’ll see today, and the more information we gather at this level and what he looks like, then we’ll be able to assess and continue to work start to start. But right now I don’t want him to change too much.”

In between starts, Ross said, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy focused with Kilian on the consistency of his delivery.

That work, however, didn’t immediately translate into results Monday.

Kilian’s first inning held promise. He got ahead of Pirates leadoff hitter Ke’Bryan Hayes with a pair of called strikes, a fastball followed by a curve ball. Kilian went on to strike out Hayes on a 2-2 count.

He induced a flyout, although well struck, on a first pitch to Bryan Reynolds. And though Kilian got behind in the count to Jack Suwinski – a sign of things to come – the right-hander battled for a strikeout to end a quick first inning.

In each of his next two frames, Kilian walked the first two batters he faced. And those walks exacerbated the Cubs’ defensive mistakes. In turn, those defensive mistakes created longer innings for a young pitcher trying to bounce back from a rough last outing.

In the second inning, second baseman Jonathan Villar bobbled a ground ball that could have become a double play. Instead, it loaded the bases with no outs. A single and sacrifice fly brought the Pirates’ first two runs across the plate.

In the third inning, a hard chopper hit off first baseman Alfonso Rivas’ glove for a single, again loading the bases with no outs. This time, a wild pitch and a double brought in four more runs. And right-hander Alec Mills replaced Kilian.

Kilian at least mixed in his secondary pitches more than his last start, one he said “didn’t feel normal at all.” On Monday, Kilian threw 22 cutters and nine curveballs, accounting for half his pitches.

The Cubs are counting on consistent work with the big-league pitching coaches to pay dividends for Kilian’s development while the team is short on starting options.

The Cubs’ next off day isn’t for another week. Right-hander Marcus Stroman (right shoulder inflammation) is on track to be the first of three starters to return from the 15-day IL. He’s expected to throw a bullpen in the next few days.

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White Sox general manager Rick Hahn spent a lot of time talking about injuries when he met with reporters before the White Sox played the Blue Jays Monday. Of course he did — injuries have blazed a careening trail through the Sox roster, the latest Yoan Moncada going on the injured list Monday for the second time this season.

The hamstring is the third physical issue Moncada has been saddled by this season. He strained his oblique on the last day of spring training and was out until May 9. A sore quad limited his time since then. Through all of it, Moncada has struggled to find his hitting stroke, batting .179.230.292.

Moncada joins a long list of Sox players on the IL: Pitchers Kyle Crick (right elbow inflammation), Liam Hendriks (right forearm strain) and left-handers Aaron Bummer (strained left lat) and Garrett Crochet (Tommy John surgery), catcher Yasmani Grandal (lower back spasms) and outfielder Eloy Jim?nez (right hamstring tendon tear).

“A mild strain has the risk of turning into something more serious if we aren’t careful,” Hahn said, so it’s more time for Jake Burger at third base until Moncada is eligible to come back for a road trip in Anaheim and San Francisco next week.

“The way he can help us the most is to be healthy when he gets back, not play at less than his best,” Hahn said.

Hahn said the Sox rank 11th among teams hardest hit by injuries. What gives?

“The training has never been more sophisticated than it has been at this time, in terms of our ability to monitor every movement a player makes during the game much less the stuff we do in the gym and the continued monitoring of their range of motion, strength, flexibility, etc,” Hahn said.

“So we have more information than we ever had before. Does that mean that we are properly training them? When you have the amount of injuries you see in baseball right now, it’s something every team has to look at with a critical eye. More information is usually considered good but it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re all doing the right practices.”

Kopech’s knee

Michael Kopech, who threw 75 pitches over five innings in a 4-3 loss to the Astros Sunday, is not on the IL but is dealing with right knee soreness that will be watched.

“He didn’t feel perfect with the knee yesterday,” Hahn said. “He still felt a little something there, which is understandable. Each time out it’s going to become less and less and he’s going to be able to ideally pitch through it without further incident.”

Grandal and Bummer

Grandal (low back) “has responded very well to treatment and will be ramping up his baseball activities in the next couple of days,” Hahn said. “We don’t have a timeframe on him just yet, but this weekend was good, productive. We’re trending in the right way with him as well.

Hahn said Bummer’s recovery process is going to be slower than first thought.

“So far everything is trending the right way, but we don’t have him just yet on a throwing program until he’s 100 percent asymptomatic in that lat,” Hahn said. “That’s the kind of thing you can’t mess around with.”

Eloy back at it

Eloy Jimenez (hamstring) re-starts his injury rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte Tuesday. Jimenez, who was injured April 23, will ease into it as a designated hitter at the outset.

Mendick sits — for now

Danny Mendick, who batted .277 with two homers and 11 RBI in 17 games since Tim Anderson went on the injured list, got a rest Monday with Anderson back from the IL and Josh Harrison playing second base.

But Mendick might play second Tuesday, manager Tony La Russa said, but he’ll also spell Anderson as Anderson paces himself coming off the IL.

“We’re all going to watch Tim carefully in the games, with the heat,” La Russa said. “Definitely going to not disregard what Danny did.”

Mendick is batting .290/.338/.435/.773 in his last 18 games. Harrison was batting .208/.283/.300 through Sunday.

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PITTSBURGH – The Cubs made good use of the extra roster flexibility Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association granted at the start of the season. It helped them weather a spike of injuries, which has hit their rotation especially hard lately.

On Monday, however, the 13-pitcher roster limit went into effect. The Cubs optioned right-hander Adrian Sampson to Triple-A Iowa to comply, and they recalled outfielder Nelson Vel?zquez.

Sampson threw 4 2/3 shutout innings against the Braves on Sunday, after Kyle Hendricks’ short start in a 6-0 loss.

“The conversation with Sampson was extremely difficult,” Cubs manager Davis Ross said Monday. “The guy goes out there and saves your bullpen, saves the team, allows us to reset that bullpen with probably one the better performances I’ve seen him have and one of the better performances out of our bullpen.

“But he’s probably down for three days, can’t use him. And we’re cutting down a pitcher. So at this moment in time, we cannot afford to be short with no off days coming up.”

The Cubs are in the middle of a stretch of 17 games without a break on the schedule. Their next off day is set for next Monday.

To address injury concerns coming out of a short spring training, MLB and the players association agreed to expand rosters for the first month of the season and twice pushed back the implementation of the 13-pitcher limit.

The Cubs still have three starting pitchers on the 15-day IL with soft tissue injuries: right-hander Marcus Stroman (right shoulder inflammation) and lefties Drew Smyly (right oblique strain) and Wade Miley (left shoulder strain).

“The thing about going down to 13 pitchers is we need six, seven innings out of [our starters],” Ross said. “Go a little bit deeper so you don’t have to go down [to the bullpen for] four or five guys. The more the starters can give us length, the better off we’re going to be.”

Ross expects to use Vel?zquez to exploit matchups. Since the Cubs designated Clint Frazier for assignment a little over a week ago – he’s since cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A – and with Seiya Suzuki on the IL, the Cubs haven’t had a go-to right-handed bat in right field.

“He’ll probably make sense some against lefties, pinch hit,” Ross said. “Kind of the role that Frazier had while he was here.”

Vel?zquez, though better known for his power, hit a single in each game he played against the Brewers last month, when he made his MLB debut.

“During those three or four days,” Vel?zquez said of his first call-up, “I just talked with the guys, like [Jason] Heyward and [Willson] Contreras, and asked them what they do, or what they try to feel when they’re hitting. And they explained to me, ‘The most important thing to hit is, be on time. If you’re on time, you’ll be able to adjust your swing, no matter what pitch it is.'”

Newcomb clears waivers

Left-handed reliever Sean Newcomb cleared waivers, after the Cubs DFA’d him last week, and the club outrighted him to Triple-A. Newcomb has two days to accept the assignment or elect free agency.

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No. 2 hitters are on the rise in Major League Baseball, but the Cubs and White Sox find themselves at different points.

Led by Willson Contreras, Cubs second-spot hitters have a .795 OPS through Sunday, topping all positions in the lineup.

That’s right in line with trends in the majors. Second-place hitters lead baseball with a .776 OPS, while also leading in batting average (.266), on-base percentage (.339) and slugging percentage (.437).

Ten of the 30 major-league teams have their highest OPS at No. 2. That includes the Yankees (Aaron Judge has a 1.043 OPS and 22 of his majors-leading 25 home runs batting second) and the Angels (Mike Trout has a 1.143 OPS and 18 of his 21 homers hitting second).

Since moving into the second spot, Contreras has a .951 OPS in 142 plate appearances and eight of his 12 homers.

The injury-laden Sox have had to use a mix of No. 2 hitters, with Andrew Vaughn the best and most frequent, followed by Luis Robert and Yoan Moncada. The second-spot collection has a .670 OPS, fourth among Sox lineup spots.

Vaughn has hit well in the second spot with an .871 OPS in 122 plate appearances. Robert is at .727 in 70 plate appearances and Moncada at .458 in 52 plate appearances.

Since 2000, OPS by No. 2 hitters has been among the top three in the majors only six times before this season. All have been since 2015. Second-spot hitters were third with a .786 OPS in 2015, slid to fifth at .757 in 2016 and were third (.786) in 2017, third (.769) in 2018, second (.820) in 2019, third (.786) in 2020 and third (.776) last season.

In 2000-14, however, No. 2 hitters were fourth in OPS twice, fifth six times and sixth seven times.

Through most of baseball history, no one has worried much about power from the No. 2 spot. Conventional wisdom said second hitters were contact hitters who could advance a runner from second to third by hitting to the right side and could be counted on to get the bat on the ball and protect runners in a hit-and-run.

Nellie Fox, the American League Most Valuable Player for the pennant-winning 1959 Sox, was a classic No. 2 hitter with a career .288 batting average and .348 on-base percentage. No one fretted that he slugged only .363 for a .710 OPS.

Glenn Beckert of the 1960s Cubs had the traditional bat-on-ball skills with a .283 batting average, but his .663 OPS wouldn’t make him a No. 2 hitter in most modern lineups.

Except for the late innings of close games, giving up outs to move runners along is less valued than it was years ago. Runs matrices have shown us the result is fewer runs, with a better chance of scoring one run but a decreased chance of a multirun inning.

No. 2 hitters get the second-most plate appearances, behind leadoff men. Increasingly, teams are concluding it makes sense to give the extra plate appearances to high-production hitters.

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