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A man was critically wounded after two gunmen opened fire Thursday night inside a restaurant in West Garfield Park.

Just after 10 p.m., two males entered the restaurant in the 500 block of South Kostner Avenue and began shooting, striking the 31-year-old in the back, shoulder and buttocks, Chicago police said.

He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, police said

The gunman fled the scene, according to police.

There was no one in custody.

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Chicago Bears offensive guard Cody Whitehair is happy with the direction team is going in

Some Chicago Bears players went a little too hard in drills during the team’s recent OTAs. Bears offensive guard Cody Whitehair said on Wednesday the potent practices were needed with the team’s youth and “high expectations.”

“It’s intense, don’t get me wrong. But you know this team is young and we kind of need that intense practice and expectation from the group,” he said. Intense practices are good for the Bears in the long run, Whitehair said. Whitehair believes the Bears are headed in the right direction with players working hard.

The Bears’ intense practices caused the team to have to forfeit Tuesday’s OTA after being found to violate the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement. Bears players were warned in a team meeting they needed to stay up and have less contact during drills but did not alter this practice enough. Head coach Matt Eberflus told the media Wednesday the Bears have done a better job since at practicing in compliance.

Overall, players have done a nice job staying up during drills, Whitehair said, but sometimes players fall to the ground during practice in the physical game that is football. Of players staying on their feet during the Bears OTA, “That’s tough to do. It’s our job to fire off the ball,” Whitehair said.

Bears offensive linemen are competing for starting jobs

New combinations of offensive lineman being tried during practice aren’t a surprise to Whitehair. The six-year veteran said those positions change constantly with injuries and other variables. Currently, the Bears are looking at who will start on an offensive line that gave up 58 sacks last season. The new regime wants to make changes to that group this season.

The Bears reportedly shook up the offensive tackle position in OTA’s this week. Rookie Braxton Jones is being seen at starting left tackle, with Larry Borom at right. Teven Jenkins is with the second team at right tackle. Jenkins went to right tackle, with Borom going to the left side for voluntary minicamp.

“The one thing they have been apparent with us is they’re going to play the best five,” Whitehair said. Whitehair relishes the fight. “That’s what we want. We want that competition,” he said. “We want, you know, to bring out the best in every player.” Bears’ offensive lineman have responded to the challenge well, he said. The effort has been there with the group.

Part of the change this season has been for the line to get slimmer. Whitehair lost about 10-pounds this offseason. “It’s been pretty easy for me. You know, I wasn’t too-too heavy I guess, if you will, Whitehair said, “But it’s been pretty smooth.”

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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On a beautiful afternoon for baseball, it seemed a lovely time for a victory over one of baseball’s best teams, with a series victory on the line as well.

The Sox were well positioned to do just that with a 4-0 lead and Dylan Cease getting swings and misses and breezing through four scoreless innings against the Dodgers at Guaranteed Rate Field.

But then, bad defense by third baseman Jake Burger happened. Some big Dodgers hits happened. An odd decision by manager Tony La Russa backfired.

The result was a maddening 11-9 loss dropping the Sox to 26-29 on a sunkissed afternoon after before 25,482 fans, many of whom were gone by the last couple of innings.

All was well when Josh Harrison had tripled and scored on Danny Mendick’s infield groundout, halting Dodgers lefty Tyler Anderson’s scoreless innings streak at 28. Three more runs came on AJ Pollock’s RBI ground-rule double, Adam Engel getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Harrison’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.

But the Dodgers pounced when Burger mishandled Austin Barnes’ sharply hit potential double-play grounder that would have ended the fifth with no runs. After Cease struck out Mookie Betts, three consecutive hits — Freddie Freeman’s two run double, Trea Turner’s infield single at Burger and Max Muncy’s two-run double — scored five runs. On the Turner single, Burger held his ground playing a high bounce instead of charging and Turner beat his throw.

Reliever Matt Foster’s wild pitch scored the sixth run of the inning, all of which were unearned. Cease gave up six runs on six hits, all of the runs unearned and all of them during an inning in which he was asked to throw an almost preposterous 45 pitches, hiking his total to a career high 110.

Burger got one run back with his fourth homer in 12 games in the bottom of the fifth.

Then, in the sixth the Dodgers plated four more runs, three of them on Max Muncy’s three-run homer against left-hander Bennett Sousa. Muncy was rankled by manager Tony La Russa’s decision to intentionally walk the right-handed hitting Trea Turner with a 1-2 count when a wild pitch left first base open.

“You walk a guy on 1-2, f– you b–,” Muncy said after crossing home plate, turning his head in the direction of the Sox dugout.

A night after the Dodgers radio broadcast team questioned La Russa’s lineup with struggling switch-hitter Leury Garcia in the leadoff spot, it seemed everyone from the Dodgers camp was on the manager’s case.

When the inning was over, the Sox trailed 10-5.

Two four-pitch walks by lefty Alex Vesia, infield singles by Pollock and Yasmani Grandal and a throwing error by Vesia scored two in the eighth and got the Sox within three runs with two runners in scoring position with no out. But Vesi struck out Adam Engel and Harrison and right fielder Mookie Betts ran down Mendick’s drive to right center.

Trailing 11-7 in the ninth, the Sox scored two on a wild pitch by Daniel Hudson and Pollock’s RBI single, but with the winning run at the plate, Grandal fouled out and pinch hitter Gavin Sheets struck out.

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The game of musical chairs among NFL announcers is over. Drew Brees was left standing, and an extra chair remains conspicuously off to the side awaiting Tom Brady.

The top teams at each network are in place for next season after a chaotic offseason. The last time we saw such broadcaster movement was 1994, when Fox outbid CBS for the NFC package and took many of the network’s announcers with it.

Troy Aikman was the first to switch teams, leaving Fox for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” booth. Fox then let Joe Buck out of the last year of his contract so he could join his longtime broadcast partner at ESPN, where Buck’s wife, Michelle Beisner-Buck, is an NFL reporter.

Meanwhile, Al Michaels was expected to become the voice of Amazon’s new “Thursday Night Football” package once his NBC contract expired, but he seemed to be waiting to see where others landed. Aikman was an Amazon target, but when he joined ESPN, Amazon turned to ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit. Once Buck’s move became official, Michaels officially joined Amazon.

Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen move up to replace Buck and Aikman as Fox’s top team, but the network sent the industry into a tizzy with the announcement that quarterback Tom Brady would join Burkhardt whenever he’s done playing. Fox will air the Super Bowl this season, with Burkhardt and Olsen on the call. Will Brady be in the booth when Fox airs it again in two seasons?

Elsewhere, Mike Tirico finally takes over for Michaels on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” But his former “Football Night in America” studio partner Brees is out after one year. It was believed that Brees eventually would join Tirico, but the network reupped with Cris Collinsworth. Brees had a poor showing as the analyst on a playoff game last season, but NBC had been talking with Collinsworth before that.

The only No. 1 booth unchanged is at CBS, where Jim Nantz and Tony Romo return. Of course, it was CBS that started all this maneuvering and negotiating when it gave Romo a reported 10-year, $180 million contract just before the pandemic took hold in 2020. His first contract with the network was for three years and $9 million, but he became such a phenomenon that ESPN pursued him and drove up his price.

So one could argue that ESPN is the real reason behind all this. The network’s inability to find a suitable “MNF” booth and the abuse it took in media circles forced it to take drastic measures, thus skyrocketing the market for top NFL announcers. Of course, with networks combining to pay the NFL $110 billion over 11 years starting in 2023, what’s $10 million to $20 million between friends?

Here’s a closer look at each network’s top NFL booth:

Amazon Prime Video

Al Michaels & Kirk Herbstreit

This crew gives Amazon instant credibility. Compare it to Apple, which has been criticized for its inexperienced announcing teams in the streamer’s first season airing MLB games. Amazon won’t have that problem. Michaels is the best NFL announcer of all time. In the few NFL games Herbstreit has called, viewers would’ve thought he’d been calling them for years. He’s still ESPN’s lead college football analyst, so his life will be busier. But with his work ethic, Herbstreit should be able to handle the load.

CBS

Jim Nantz & Tony Romo

Romo’s stock has fallen a bit since he burst onto the scene as a rookie analyst, predicting plays and speaking with a youthful enthusiasm. He still can be very good, as he was at the end of the Bills-Chiefs playoff game last season. But he also can be very bad, as he was a week later at the end of the Bengals-Chiefs AFC title game. It seems that the same enthusiasm that makes Romo endearing can come back to bite him with rushed judgments and wrong analysis. Expect Nantz to continue working with his pupil.

ESPN/ABC

Joe Buck & Troy Aikman

The last “MNF” booth to stick for more than two seasons was the Tirico-Jon Gruden pairing from 2009 to 2015. Then the revolving door began spinning. Unable to assemble a stable crew of its own, ESPN poached Fox’s. Buck and Aikman have worked together for 20 seasons. After being unfairly criticized by viewers seemingly from the start, Buck has seen much less vitriol of late. Aikman delivers strong analysis and opinions. He also has shown an entertaining wry wit. Of these five No. 1 pairings, they’re No. 1.

Fox

Kevin Burkhardt & Greg Olsen

Olsen isn’t merely a placeholder for Brady. He’s very good, and Burkhardt believes he’s going to be a star. If Brady plays for another three years, Olsen will call two Super Bowls in that span. Olsen could set himself up for a top job at another network, or maybe Brady never sees the inside of a booth and Olsen keeps the job. This year is proof that anything can happen. Burkhardt is as solid as they come, and he has developed an excellent rapport with Olsen.

NBC

Mike Tirico & Cris Collinsworth

Tirico is a pro. He sets the scene, provides context and is as sharp as a tack. He has worked with Collinsworth many times already filling in for Michaels. Collinsworth is a great analyst, but sometimes you hear what coaches want you to hear through him. “SNF” has the biggest change in sideline reporters, with Melissa Stark replacing Michele Tafoya, who left to pursue other interests. Stark, who works for NFL Network, was the sideline reporter on “MNF” from 2000 to ’02.

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BALTIMORE – Returning to New York brings mixed emotions for Cubs outfielder Clint Frazier. On the one hand, he’s heading back to the site where his major-league career began. He and his fiancee plan on wedding band shopping while in town because it’s also where he proposed.

On the other hand, when the Cubs kick off a three-game series at Yankee Stadium this weekend, Frazier is set to face the team that released him less than seven months ago, his relationship with the organization marked by mistrust by the end of his Yankees tenure.

“It’ll be good to see some of my former teammates,” Frazier said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “They’re doing great over there. So, I’m excited to see them and catch up with them.”

Later he added: “A lot of it is hard to really look at and understand where it went wrong at times.”

The Cubs signed Frazier in December, on the eve of the lockout.

“I think it’s always nice to have a fresh start, fresh face,” Cubs manager David Ross said in the spring. “Seems like he’s in a great place, he’s in a great mood, working on a lot of things.”

Frazier agreed with the value of a change of scenery.

His Cubs tenure so far hasn’t gone quite as planned. After carrying a hot bat through much of spring training, Frazier had a slow start to the regular season. Then, an appendectomy landed him on the injured list for over a month .

“I think everyone’s excited to see what he can do,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said when the Cubs activated Frazier from the IL a couple weeks ago.

Frazier, getting inconsistent playing time as the right-handed hitter in a right-field platoon since returning, found his rhythm in a home stand against division rivals Milwaukee and St. Louis, going 5-for-15 with five walks.

“I’ve been feeling really good at the plate,” he said. “I’m really hoping I can get some more at-bats here soon. Because I want to play.”

The Cubs outfield picture, however, could get more crowded in the coming days with right fielder Seiya Suzuki’s return possible in the Yankees series.

If there’s one thing Frazier carried with him from his Yankees tenure to now, he said, it’s patience.

“I didn’t play super consistently a lot in New York,” he said. “And it’s kind of trending that way here, where I’m having to be ready in the high-leverage situations in the eighth inning, pinch hitting off guys who are throwing 1,000 miles per hour.”

Frazier never reached the 70-game mark in a season with the Yankees. And though he debuted in July 2017, he’s still arbitration-eligible for the next two years.

In Frazier’s last season with the organization, the Yankees placed him on the IL in July with what they initially called vertigo, a diagnosis Frazier disputes and the team later described as a possible vision issue.

Frazier now says he believes he was battling another concussion – Frazier missed most of the 2018 season with lingering concussion symptoms – which he tried to play through, deciding not to disclose his suspicion to the Yankees for fear it wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Frazier, who was batting .186 in 66 games last year, finished the season on the 60-day IL. The Yankees released him in November.

“I like it here,” he said of the Cubs organization. “Certainly don’t miss some of the things over there. And I’m really enjoying the way that this clubhouse has maneuvered. It seems like there’s a lot of guys in here that are just accepting of everyone. And it’s been really good for me.”

He compares the experience of playing for the Yankees to playing for the White House.

“And you had to be a cookie-cutter version to be on that team” he said. “If not, then you were like a really bad distraction, it seemed like. So, I don’t miss being told how I had to look for the last five years.”

No longer under the Yankees’ infamous facial hair policy, Frazier has grown a short-cropped beard and wears a nose ring. It’s his own version of a fresh face.

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White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez is dealing with “normal leg soreness” and will be taken off his rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte, general manager Rick Hahn said Thursday.

Jimenez had surgery to repair a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee on April 26. He exited his first rehab assignment game on May 28 when he felt discomfort and has played in six games in 11 days since then, going 4-for-17 with no extra base hits.

Jimenez will be out at least five days, and Hahn said the hope is Jimenez restarts the 20-day rehab clock next week. It’s possible he won’t need all 20 days.

“Doing this move allows us to remove any of the time pressure from the original 20-day clock,” Hahn said.

Hahn would not characterize the Jimenez development as a setback. He said catcher Yasmani Grandal and Lance Lynn, who had similar surgeries, experienced the same type of soreness Jimenez is dealing with.

“It it’s not a new injury. It’s not a reaggravation,” Hahn said.

Wednesday would have been the 11th day of the rehab stint. The limit for injury rehab stints is 20 days.

The Sox (26-28) play the Dodgers Thursday afternoon, still looking to get a struggling offense untracked and have looked forward to getting Jimenez back to add some punch. A career .268/.314/.499 hitter with an .813 OPS, injuries have limited Jimenez to 55 games last season and 11 this season.

He was batting .222/.256/.333 with a .590 OPS when he tore his hamstring running out a ground ball in Minnesota.

Jimenez belted 31 homers as a rookie in 2019 but has hit only 25 since then. He played 55 of 60 games in the shortened 2020 season and won a Silver Slugger Award as the best offensive player at his position.

Lynn next week?

Lance Lynn texted La Russa that he “felt good” despite give up eight runs (seven earned) in three innings in what could have been his last rehab start for Charlotte Wednesday.

“He’s optimistic he’ll join us [next week],” La Russa said. “The thing now is to evaluate how he feels today and tomorrow before they make the final decision, but he was optimistic.”

*Hahn didn’t commit to a rehab assignment for shortstop Tim Anderson (groin) next week but that’s the hope.

“We’re not quite there yet, but he’s progressing real nice,” Hahn said.

Burger’s impact

Jake Burger has been a livesaver with his contribution in a lineup full of non-producers.

Burger is 10-for-36 with three homers, four doubles and 11 RBI over his last 10 games.

“He’s making a real statement, and normally if you prolong that, you find a way to get in there,” manager Tony La Russa said. “But, again, players can be distracted by their success, or the manager talking about [him.] But what you want him to do is concentrate on the day he plays for as long as he’s here. And if he keeps doing it, obviously you can’t ignore it. But, it’d be a mistake to start thinking long term, like ‘Maybe I should buy a house.’ He’s gotta concentrate on the moment.”

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NEW YORK – The Cubs and catcher Willson Contreras avoided arbitration before their Thursday hearing, bucking the club’s usual “file and trial” approach.

The two parties agreed to a $9.625 million salary for 2022, a Sun-Times source confirmed, splitting the difference between the figures each side filed in March.

“I think if we had the regular time that we’ve had in years before, we would probably work it out,” Contreras told the Sun-Times in spring. “But this year, there’s basically no time to negotiate anything.”

Instead, the Cubs made time and made an exception after the lockout pushed back the arbitration calendar, forcing hearings into the regular season. Usually arbitration hearings are held in February.

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Seven people were wounded, two fatally, in citywide gun violence Wednesday.

A man was found dead in an alley in Chatham hours after he was shot early Wednesday in the Chatham neighborhood.

The man, 43, was found with a gunshot wound to his head in the 7500 block of South Saint Lawrence Avenue at 6:25 a.m., Chicago police said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. There was a ShotSpotter notification of gunfire around 12:40 a.m., but the man was not found until later that morning, police said.

Late Wednesday, A woman was shot to death while riding in a car in Chatham on the South Side.

The 24-year-old was in the back seat when someone fired at the car around 11:50 p.m. in the 900 block of East 82nd Street, police said. She was shot in the head and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

In nonfatal attacks, a man was shot Wednesday morning in West Garfield Park home.

About 11:40 a.m., the 21-year-old was standing on the porch of a home in the 3800 block of West Maypole Avenue when he got into a verbal altercation with a suspect, police said. The suspect pulled out a gun and fired shots before fleeing in a car.

The man was shot and was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition, police said. Details on his injuries weren’t known.

At least four others were wounded in shootings across Chicago Wednesday.

Fifteen people were shot, one fatally, Tuesday in Chicago.

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The Los Angeles Dodger lineup was poised to bounce back, it did with four runs. That, however, wasn’t the reason the Chicago White Sox lost. Once again, the White Sox failed to help out their starting pitcher, scoring only one run in their 28th loss of the season.

The batting order has been the weak link of the White Sox all season. Against the Dodgers, the lineup looked hapless with Tony Gonsolin and the bullpen mowing down the batting order. Aside from Jake Burger hitting a home run in the sixth inning, the White Sox struggled to make hard contact, if any contact at all, mustering only four hits in the game.

Some of the issues for the White Sox seem like quick fixes. Likewise, some of the lineup woes are easy to shrug at, after all, things will average out when the season ends. However, some issues make it easy to question if this roster can succeed this season and if the runs will pile in at some point.

White Sox lack plate discipline and power

On the surface, the White Sox stolen base success looks like a good, even great attribute. The team has successfully stolen 27 bases in 29 attempts for a success rate that significantly adds value to the basepaths. However, it’s not a coincidence that the White Sox are attempting to earn runs by advancing without contact.

The White Sox team’s On-Base Percentage (OBP) as a team is .294, the fourth-worst in the MLB. Likewise, the team’s Slugging Percentage is .362 which is the sixth-worst in baseball. The lineup can make contact but is an aggressive swinging team with little power.

Granted, Eloy Jimenez has been out of the lineup for a significant number of weeks, and he provided power. Granted, Tim Anderson has recently been out of the lineup, and he is the on-base machine that gets things going. However, the White Sox as a collective lineup has struggled at the plate. They haven’t been waiting for their pitches and more so, aren’t drawing walks to pressure opposing pitchers. The team is last in the league in the walk category, with only 122 this season.

The Dodgers haven’t pitched superbly, not in this series but in the recent game, they didn’t need to. Instead, they just allowed the White Sox to defeat themselves, failing at the plate inning after inning. The Dodgers are a measuring stick and notably, a team that can expose the weaknesses, and two games in, they have done just that with the lineup.

No Anderson = no leadoff production

to be fair, the lineup is without their leadoff hitter in Anderson. The All-Star shortstop has been dealing with an injury and his absence has affected the entire batting order.

Anderson was the leadoff hitter for a White Sox batting order that otherwise struggled. Slashing .356/.393/.503 with 82 total bases, he’d not only get into scoring position but oftentimes singlehandedly drive in runs for the offense. Everything a team would want in a leadoff hitter, Anderson provided. Suddenly, the walks, hits, and power are all out of the lineup.

The recent game was a case in point to Anderson’s value and how much the White Sox miss him. Replacing Anderson at the leadoff spot in the batting order was Leury Garcia, who went 0-4 with three strikeouts. To put it lightly, the lineup was playing without production from the hitter that generally receives the most plate appearances.

White Sox need a jolt to the lineup

The New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves were treading water in the first half of last season. Both teams not only made moves at the deadline that kickstarted their seasons but propelled both teams to the playoffs, with the Braves winning the World Series.

Any team can take last year’s trade deadline to heart, specifically, the right moves can turn around the season. However, the Yankees and Braves particularly resurrected lineups that otherwise looked lost, like the one the White Sox possess currently. The Yankees acquired both Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo, adding plate discipline to an otherwise free-swinging lineup. The Braves added Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, and Eddie Rosario, bringing power to a lineup that lost it when Ronald Acuna went down.

To start the season, Rick Hahn is facing a similar issue. He needs to fix or even put the energy back into the lineup. Whether it’s rolling the dice on power hitters like Nelson Cruz or Jorge Soler, or making a move for Andrew Benintendi or Rougned Odor, the White Sox must add a jolt to this lineup. The batting order needs that piece that can allow everyone to thrive otherwise.

Make sure to check out our WHITE SOX forum for the latest on the team.

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