For six years, Chrissy Metz has been a familiar face on TV screens, best known as the incredibly authentic, complicated, heart-tugging character Kate Pearson on the breakout NBC hit “This Is Us.” But what some may not know is — in a quirk she shares with Mandy Moore, who played her on-screen mom Rebecca — music was Metz’s first love before acting.

“I always loved [singing] but didn’t always feel comfortable doing it in front of people, so I’d make mixtapes and record songs in my bedroom,” she recalled during a recent conversation, adding that joining her middle school’s choir made her fall in love with music in a way she never thought possible. “Anyone who knows me knows that I believe everything is a song. I’m singing constantly. It’s probably obnoxious, but it comes from love.”

Of course, there have been hints of Metz’s talents during her run on “This Is Us,” where music was a big part of Kate and Rebecca’s mother-daughter relationship, like the time Kate sang an emotive version of “Landslide” during her first big break on stage as Rebecca sat in the crowd beaming, or when she sang “Time After Time” during Rebecca’s funeral toward the show’s end.

Though Metz’s talent manager didn’t really encourage the music side, wanting Metz to focus on acting, she doesn’t regret it. “I really I think being on ‘This Is Us’ and being able to be so vulnerable and exposed every single day helped me to realize I just want to sing and want to share myself and my experiences. It’s been a long journey for me, but it’s also been healing.”

With the award-winning series having wrapped in late May, Metz has time to focus on her real-life music endeavors and currently is on a seven-date run at City Winery venues across the country, including Chicago’s on Tuesday.

She’s preparing to release her debut country album for EMI Nashville. Though no formal release date has been announced, Metz has given tastes of the material with a few singles. There’s the singer-songwriter gold of “Girl Go,” about chasing after your dreams but remembering who you are, the pensive ballad “Talking to God” and the soul-pop-country mashup “Feel Good.”

Talking about her writing style on the album, Metz shared, “It’s definitely about love and loss and very introspective and reflective.” There’s some deep diving into her own relationships like that with her boyfriend, songwriter Bradley Collins, or the song “Daddy’s Girl,” which speaks to the complicated bond with her estranged father. When Metz was a child, he was in the Navy and stationed in Florida and Japan, which initially introduced Metz to a wide range of international music styles. She added that Motown and country were also often playing in her home.

“What I realized in the process of therapy and journaling was that I am more like my father than I’d care to admit. And it helped me to realize more of where he was coming from and to understand and forgive him more,” Metz said, getting emotional.

Her innate sense of storytelling and the lessons of processing her own chapters were also explored in her 2018 New York Times best-seller, “This Is Me,” that she has said takes readers on a journey of self-acceptance and becoming the people we are meant to be. In it, she talks of her divorce, her move to L.A. from Florida and the near heart attack she had on her 30th birthday that changed her life.

Metz also joked about another pivotal moment in her life: auditioning for “American Idol.” Though she did not make the cut, the actress knows her long journey back to music was meant to give her a stop along the way on “This Is Us,” as the show reaffirmed to her how healing art can be.

“I don’t think there’s a subject that we didn’t touch. And what we all have discovered in making the show, and during that particular time in our culture and society, is that we are so much more alike than we are different,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from, who your parents are, your status, any of that. We are humans just trying to live life on life’s terms and there’s no handbook.”

Metz has been touched by the real-life stories she’s heard of that mirrored Kate Pearson’s character arc. “I never thought I’d meet a girl who told me she watched the Super Bowl with her father’s ashes like Kate did. … I also met a little boy on an airplane, he was 10 or 11 years old and he was heading to an eating disorder clinic. I could cry thinking of it,” she recalled. “He said, ‘You helped me realize that I’m worth saving and loving.’ It was then I knew this is so much more than an acting job and just trying to pay your bills. The show was much more special than I think anyone thought it was going to be.”

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MILWAUKEE – Cubs manager David Ross saw an opportunity to, as he put it, “go for the game early.” The move backfired in the Cubs’ 9-7 loss to the Brewers on Sunday at American Family Field.

“Sometimes that happens,” he said.

It happened in the fourth inning. Cubs starter Adrian Sampson had allowed one run in three frames, on Hunter Renfroe’s third-inning RBI double. Sampson had given up some hard contact, but he – and a strong defensive effort behind him – limited the damage. To open the fourth inning, Sampson induced a ground-out from Keston Hiura.

With the bottom of the lineup coming up, and the Cubs holding onto a 2-1 lead, Ross walked to the mound to make a pitching change.

“It was shorter than I would have liked it to be,” Sampson said. “But it doesn’t matter how long you’re out there, it’s just one pitch at a time until Rossy comes out there and takes the ball from you.”

He confirmed that he was surprised he didn’t get a longer leash.

“I would say that if I threw 150 pitches, though,” he said.

Asked about his thought process in that moment, Ross cited the hard contact, traffic on the bases – Sampson allowed five hits – and Sampson’s high pitch count each inning. He’d thrown 61 pitches by the time Ross pulled him

“It just looked like he was working really hard,” Ross said, “and I had both lefties down there ready to go in that heavy left-handed lineup. And if they would have pinch-hit for that, then we could have circled back to the right.”

Entering play Sunday, left-handed batters were hitting just .188 against Cubs left-hander Sean Newcomb this season. And Brewers lefty batter Jace Peterson was coming up to bat next.

Ross called for Newcomb with one out in the fourth, and put together his worst outing of the season.

“I didn’t expect it to go that way, for sure,” Ross said. “He’s been throwing the ball well.”

Newcomb gave up three straight singles, and a two-run home run to Christian Yelich, before recording an out. Then, he walked Rowdy Tellez and got out of the inning when catcher Yan Gomes threw out Tellez attempting to steal.

To open the fifth inning, Newcomb issued a walk and gave up a two-run homer to Kolten Wong. Newcomb gave up six runs, a season high, in one inning pitched.

“The fact that he’s been dominating lefties pretty good, and I don’t think he got one [lefty] out, we’ll just look at if there’s something that he’s giving away,” Ross said.

Ross didn’t mention it, but pulling Sampson before the end of the fourth inning also guaranteed the Cubs could get a second replacement player in Toronto.

The Cubs will put Sampson and Steele on the restricted list for the Blue Jays series due to Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements for entry. Teams aren’t allowed replacement players for starters who go over the threshold in their previous start and aren’t lined up to start in the series.

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After watching eight innings of two-hit ball by his ace wasted and the tying and winning runs stranded in the ninth inning, manager Tony La Russa was pushed to a new depth following the White Sox’ fourth consecutive loss that put their American League playoff chances in deeper jeopardy.

“No, I just get angry,” La Russa replied tersely Sunday after being asked if he was frustrated after the Diamondbacks forged a 3-2 win to complete a three-game sweep. “I don’t like frustration, discouragement. That’s losercrap. It just seeps energy out of your body. I just get angry and want to do something about it.”

There might not be much La Russa can do except pray that his team suddenly becomes healthy and productive with 34 games left. Following a five-game winning streak that put them five games above .500 and one game out of first place in the AL Central, the Sox (63-65) have lost nine of 11 to dip two games under .500.

“Baseball is a game of consistency, and realistically we haven’t been as consistent as we should,” Josh Harrison said.

Cease pitched a career-high eight innings, but the Diamondbacks made the most of their three hits. Stone Garrett hit his first major league home run off Cease in the second, Sergio Alcantara hit a game-tying homer off Cease in the eighth.

Jake McCarthy hit a tie-breaking double with two out in the ninth off reliever Kendall Graveman, who dug a hole by walking two to set up the game-winning hit.

The offense, which scored three runs or fewer for the 65th time, missed a chance to at least tie the game when pinch-hitter Leury Garcia and Romy Gonzalez struck out after Elvis Andrus hit a double and pinch-hitter Eloy Jim?nez walked.

Unlike Saturday’s 10-5 loss, in which the Sox received boos before pregame introductions and a “SELL THE TEAM” sign popped up around the stadium during various junctions, a crowd of 29,781 showed their appreciation after Gavin Sheets hit a sacrifice fly and AJ Pollock hit a go-ahead single in the sixth.

But a scattering of boos surfaced after Gonzalez struck out.

“The frustration, anger, it’s going to be different emotions for people,” Harrison said of his teammates’ mood. “Needless to say, we’re not in a good spot as a whole.”

The offense, without a healthy Luis Robert (hand bruise) or Jimenez (right hamstring soreness), has fizzled like a sparkler. They managed three hits in the first five innings against finesse maven Zach Davies, won his last game on May 13 against the Cubs.

Robert’s pinch-running appearance eliminated any chance of being backdated on the 10-day injured list after injuring his hand Thursday, but he could return to the lineup Tuesday when the Sox open a three-game home series against the Royals.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal is expected to return from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte this week, but it might not matter unless the offense provides enough support.

Cease’s ERA stayed at 2.27 as he retired 17 consecutive batters after allowing his only walk to Alcantara in the second.

But he had no margin for error, as evidenced by Alcantara’s game-tying homer on what he said was a perfectly placed pitch.

“Losing is always disappointing,” Cease said. “I think it would be an issue if there wasn’t some anger and some disappointment. Like I said, we’ve got a lot of professionals here.”

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It’s time to put some respect on Ian Happ’s name

Ian Happ is, and always has been, a gamer.  It’s not just an opinion at this point, his stats back it up.

Compiled stats on Baseball-Reference shows Ian Happ has compiled workman-like stats over his 6 years in the bigs with The Cubs. He has compiled a career .250 BA, and an .806 OPS. Anything over an .800 OPS puts a player in high level company, and at 28 years old it seems Happer is coming into his prime.  He has an All-Star game under his belt, and recently set an MLB record that I still can’t really put my head around.

It’s very rare that a player plays his whole career with one franchise, and I don’t expect him to be one of the players that do. There are plenty of opinions on the path the Cubs should go as well.  Simply put though, Ian Happ is a player you can win with, which outside of having another year of control, is a big reason the Cubs probably chose to keep him around.

The season is winding down, so let’s drink some beers for Happer, and show him some love!

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