I’ve Got The Hippy Shakes

During the 63rd minute of the Fire’s game Saturday against the Galaxy, striker Kacper Przybylko was sprung by a pass from midfielder Gaston Gimenez. With winger Stanislav Ivanov to his left and only Galaxy goalkeeper Jonathan Bond to beat, Przybylko tried to go around the goalie but was unable to get off a shot or a pass before Bond claimed the ball and ended the threat.

That moment in the 0-0 tie was a microcosm of the Fire’s offensive woes, which have gotten worse without midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri. They aren’t creating many chances and aren’t converting when they are.

”We’re happy that we kept the clean sheet again,” captain Rafael Czichos said after the game. ”But we have to work on our game [on] offense.”

Entering their game Saturday at Minnesota United, the Fire have been shut out five times, including the last two with Shaqiri out with a calf injury, plus the game April 2 during which he went down. While they’ve established themselves as perhaps the best defensive team in Major League Soccer by allowing a league-low two goals, their MLS-worst five goals have prevented them from converting that stinginess into victories.

Beyond the scarcity of goals, the Fire (2-1-4, 10 points) aren’t doing much to trouble opponents. According to FBref, the game against the Galaxy — in which they registered 0.4 expected goals — was the sixth time the Fire have come in under two in the stat that measures the quality of chances and the likelihood they’ll produce a goal. And in the two full games Shaqiri has missed, the Fire have generated 0.8 expected goals combined.

”It’s about patience and just making sure that the guys continue to believe in themselves, believe in the people that we have here currently, the people who are on the pitch, because we have what it takes to score some goals,” coach Ezra Hendrickson said Saturday. ”It’s just a matter of doing that and just being a little bit more clinical, having a little bit more quality in the final third. But that will come. That’s an easy fix.”

How well the fixes work remains to be seen. And the issues go beyond the absence of Shaqiri, whose four full matches saw the Fire average only 1.4 expected goals.

Przybylko’s two goals came in one game and he missed a penalty during the Fire’s shootout loss to Union Omaha in the US Open Cup, Ivanov’s impact has been minimal and hyped prospect Jhon Duran has struggled to earn minutes. Young attacker Brian Gutierrez showed flashes before he was suspended for the Galaxy game after picking up two yellow cards during the Fire’s 1-0 loss April 9 at Orlando City.

The Fire hope the attack picks up when Shaqiri returns to full fitness and reaches another level when winger Jairo Torres arrives in May. But if the offense doesn’t click then, the Fire’s strong defensive mindset will go only so far.

”Well, it’d be nice to get Shaq back on the pitch,” Hendrickson said. ”We have some reinforcements coming. Torres will be here in a couple of weeks, [so] that will also help. But I think we have the players now to be better on the attack.”

Read More

I consider Google.com and Baseball-Reference.com two of the greatest websites ever created.

I recently Googled Liz Sheridan, the actress who played Jerry Seinfeld’s mom on ”Seinfeld.” I’m constantly learning things through obituaries and quizzes like this that I find. Ms. Sheridan died recently, and I learned that, when she was young, her childhood nickname was “Dizzy” and that she had a hot and heavy romance with the yet-to-be-discovered actor James Dean. One time, when they were traveling, they met a catcher from the Pirates. It was then that she realized that if she and Dean were to marry, she would be “Dizzy Dean,” just like the pitcher.

One more thing: If you’re Googling Cubs reliever Keegan Thompson, who recently (and oddly) was suspended, he shouldn’t be confused with Kenan Thompson of ”Saturday Night Live” or Keegan-Michael Key, who co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central’s sketch series ”Key & Peele.”

Have some fun with the quiz, and no Googling the answers.

1. Doctor, doctor, give me the news, I’ve got a bad case of pulled muscles. In the White Sox’ first week of the season, three players headed to the injured list with ouchies. One had a strained abdomen, one had a strained oblique and one had a strained hamstring. Which player had which injury?

a. AJ Pollock strained his …

b. Lucas Giolito strained his …

c. Yoan Moncada strained his …

2. Who was the last Chicago player to wear Jackie Robinson’s iconic No. 42?

a. Ron Kittle

b. Bruce Sutter

c. Glenallen Hill

d. Scott Ruffcorn

3. The Dodgers recently had their home opener. Dodger Stadium opened on April 10, 1962, and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this season. Only Boston’s Fenway Park (1912) and Chicago’s Wrigley Field (1914) are older. Entering this season, the home team was 2,757-1,989 (.581) at Dodger Stadium. Entering this season, which Chicago team had a better home record?

a. The Cubs

b. The White Sox

c. The same (within 20 wins)

4. I was thinking about how the new Chicago -favorite, Seiya Suzuki, started this season, and it got me wondering: Which Cub had the longest -hitting streak to start a season?

a. Ron Santo

b. Glenn Beckert

c. Vance Law

d. Bryan LaHair

5. Hall of Famer “Goose” Gossage pitched for both the White Sox and Cubs. He wasn’t born with the first name of “Goose.” What is his real first name?

a. Grant

b. Pigeon

c. Richard

d. August

6. One formula for success in baseball is winning games, winning series, winning weeks and winning months. In 2021, the White Sox posted a winning percentage of .500-plus in all six months of the season. It marked the first time they did that since what season?

a. 2008

b. 2005

c. 1963

d. 1959

7. The brilliant first game of the season by Clayton Kershaw got me thinking about perfect games. Felix Hernandez threw baseball’s last perfect game. In this question, you have a chance to get four correct answers (I’m a glass-half-full kind guy). Did each of these major inventions launch before or after Felix’s perfecto?

a. The iPod

b. Netflix

c. Facebook

d. The self-emptying Roomba

8. Robert Lamm, the keyboard player and singer for “Chicago,” wrote “25 or 6 to 4,” with the title referring to the time of day: either 3:35 a.m. (25 to 4) or 3:34 a.m. (26 to 4). I always viewed it as 25 or “624.” With that in mind, which is the only franchise with a team that ended a season with a winning percentage of .624?

a. Cubs

b. White Sox

c. Giants

d. Braves

9. Everybody knows that Wrigley Field is the second-oldest MLB ballpark (honestly, how many times must I repeat that?). It was one of seven parks that hosted a game on Opening Day this season. Four of them are below. List them in order from oldest to newest.

a. Kauffman Stadium

b. Chase Field

c. Angel Stadium

d. Busch Stadium

ANSWERS

1. Fortunately, the Quiz Master strained nothing coming up with this question. Here are the injured Sox: Lucas Giolito (strained abdomen), Yoan Moncada (strained oblique) and AJ Pollock (strained hamstring).

2. The Cubs have gone 2,489-2,265 (.524) at Wrigley, and the Sox have gone 2,545-2,186 (.538) in their stadia.

3. Each of the players named wore No. 42 in Chicago. The last player to wear No. 42 for the Cubs was Glenallen Hill in 1993. But the last player to wear No. 42 for the Sox was Scott Ruffcorn in 1996. Robinson played 93 games at Wrigley Field and hit .295 (99-for-336) with 22 doubles, seven triples, five homers and 43 RBI.

4. In 1988, Vance Law had hits in the Cubs’ first 16 games of the season.

5. Gossage’s real first name is Richard (his family called him Rick), and scouts referred to him as Rich. A spring-training roommate, Tom Bradley, thought he looked like a goose when he peered in for signs, and the nickname was born.

6. In 1963, the White Sox finished 94-68, in second place in the American League, 10 1/2 games behind the Yankees. There were no divisions, no wild cards — just golf.

7. On Aug. 15, 2012, Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez pitched the 23rd and most recent perfect game in MLB history. The iPod launched in 2010. Netflix launched in 1997 and started streaming movies in 2007. Facebook became a primary source of misinformation for hundreds of millions of people around the globe starting in 2004. In 2018, iRobot released the Roomba i7+ — the first robotic vacuum that “frees customers from every aspect of vacuuming, from start to finish, for weeks at a time,” claimed the company’s CEO.

8. Since 1901, two teams have finished with a winning percentage of .624. Each won the National League pennant, and each lost the World Series to the Yankees: the 1951 New York Giants and the 1962 San Francisco Giants.

9. Angel Stadium (1966), Kauffman Stadium (1973), Chase Field (1998) and Busch Stadium (2006).

Read More

Long, long ago — before the Bucks crushed the Bulls in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series — we wondered aloud which team will make it to Round 2 if Bucks star Khris Middleton is to miss the rest of the series with a knee injury.

The expectation is that Middleton will miss at least that much time after an awkward slip in Game 2. And the expectation among voters in this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — is that the Bulls are going to take advantage of this development and advance.

“Hey, Milwaukee, your next celebration is Summerfest,” @RonaldVoigt4 commented. “Going down!”

Only a small majority, though — about 55% — picked the Bulls to upset the champs.

“A week from now, the Bulls will be making tee times,” @JohnDou62217055 wrote. “Go Bucks!”

We also had polls on White Sox sluggers and their quiet early-season bats and — you know you love him — Cubs newcomer Seiya Suzuki and his exciting potential. On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: If Bucks All-Star Khris Middleton is unable to play against the Bulls, which team will win this best-of-seven first-round series?

Upshot: One week ago, only 15.3% of voters picked the Bulls in this series. A clutch win in Game 2 and some bad luck for Middleton added up to a dramatic swing. But do the Bulls really have enough in their arsenal to offset the greatness of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo? He’s still playing, in case you didn’t know.

Poll No. 2: Which slow-starting White Sox slugger will heat up first?

Upshot: “Fernando Tatis,” @RVictory2020 cracked, because some jokes never get old. We all assume the Sox are going to have plenty of offense that season, but we’ve seen early on just how nonexistent the attack can be when this enormously talented trio isn’t powering it. Of course, Sox fans have to worry about injuries, too. It’s never too soon for that.

Poll No. 3: Pick four words to describe Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki:

Upshot: Suzuki is the arly betting favorite for National League Rookie of the Year. Oh, and he’s also the best player Willson Contreras has ever played with. Wait, what? That’s what Contreras said the other day. Let’s face it: Everyone who has been watching the Cubs has some degree of Suzuki fever. As @KurtisArndt put it: “Glove. Speed. Patience. Power. Seiya is the too-early MVP!”

Read More

One person was injured in an extra-alarm fire early Saturday morning in Ravenswood on the North Side.

Firefighters responded to the blaze in the 5000 block of North Clark Street after 5 a.m.

A person injured in the fire was taken to Weiss Hospital in fair condition, fire officials said.

No further details were immediately available.

This is a developing story, check back for details.

Read More

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Blackhawks have blown 14 straight leads.

They failed to protect leads of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 against the Kings on

March 24. They squandered leads of 3-0 and 4-3 against the Golden Knights on March 26. They threw away leads of 4-0 and 5-4 against the -Sabres on March 28.

They lost an early 1-0 lead against the Coyotes on April 3 and an early 2-1 lead against the Stars on April 10. They let the Sharks rally back from deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 4-2 on April 14. They let a 2-1 lead against the Predators slip away last weekend. And they squandered a 3-1 lead against the Coyotes on Wednesday.

Spelling out all 14 instances is monotonous but underscores the point: Lead protection has been all but impossible over the last month.

The Hawks did win a few of those games (they’re 3-9-2 over the entire span) but only after letting their opponents rally to force overtime. Their last regulation win came March 23 against the Ducks, the first game after the trade deadline, and even that night, they blew leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before winning 4-2.

Interim coach Derek King has certainly noticed the trend, if not the exact number of times, and has talked frequently about the Hawks’ flawed mindset when operating in front.

“When we have the lead, we don’t realize that we don’t need to score a goal every shift we get,” King said Wednesday. “[When] we have a 3-1 lead, sometimes you need a ‘live to fight another day’ kind of attitude. You don’t have to make that extra play to see if we can get some offense going. That’s where we’re making mistakes, and that’s what has been costing us.”

The meltdowns against the Golden Knights and Sabres might still be contributing to the drought. Bad memories from those two games re-enter the Hawks’ minds whenever opponents start turning up the pressure.

But that’s not the only factor. As King said late last month, the Hawks also been afflicted by arrogance and loss of focus in those moments.

“I don’t know what they’re thinking when . . . they’re sniffing blood or sniffing points and they think they’re good enough to play that way,” he said angrily after the meltdown against the Sabres. “They’re not. There’s a few guys that can turn it on and take some chances and make some things happen. But the rest of them, they need to play a certain way to survive, to play in this league on a consistent basis. And when those guys start turning pucks over and not checking and missing assignments and stuff, then we’re in trouble.”

Digging into the numbers shows just how porous the Hawks’ situation defense has been. Between Nov. 6 — when King took over — and March 23, the Hawks allowed 25.4 scoring chances (per 60 even-strength minutes) when trailing, 28.0 scoring chances when tied, 30.8 scoring chances when ahead by one goal and 33.9 scoring chances when ahead by two or more goals. In other words, the more favorable the game situation, the worse their defense performed.

That’s not entirely surprising. The phenomenon is so common league-wide that it has a name: “score effects.” But it’s particularly pronounced with the Hawks, as evidenced by their NHL ranks in each situation. They’re 11th when trailing, 16th when tied, 20th when up by one and 28th when up by two or more.

And since March 24, their defensive woes have only worsened. They’ve allowed 27.0 scoring chances when trailing (1.6 more than before), 34.1 when tied (6.1 more than before), a whopping 40.5 when up by one (9.7 more than before) and 34.9 when up by two or more (1.0 more than before). Their NHL ranks in each situation are 18th, 27th, 30th and 24th, respectively.

“Maybe we get away from our game a little bit [when leading and] try to put more up on the board,” winger Alex DeBrincat said Wednesday. “But when we have a lead, we just need to play sound defense, not turn the puck over and hopefully we can get it in their zone — and then we can start playing offense. Those plays at the blue line can really change a game, so we’ve got to work on that.”

The data support the theory that the Hawks over-prioritize offense when protecting a lead. From Nov. 6 to March 23, they generated 24.1 scoring chances themselves (per 60 even-strength minutes) when up by one, which ranked 27th in the NHL. Since March 23, they’ve generated 27.7 scoring chances when up by one, which ranks 14th.

With only four games left in the season, starting with Saturday’s against the Sharks, the embarrassing trend is hardly worth outrage. But if King is brought back as permanent coach next season, fixing it is definitely something he’ll need to emphasize.

Read More