I’m sure the roar of a full gym this Thanksgiving will take my breath away. It’s hard to even imagine a state championship game in Champaign.

Those things will come in time. Right now I’m thankful for the Riverside-Brookfield Summer Shootout. R-B basketball coach Mike Reingruber has turned the area’s traditional summer high school team event into a major live period event. It’s a must-stop for colleges all around the country.

It was nice to see college head coaches like Brad Underwood and Juwan Howard in the gym. It’s been two years since they had a chance to watch a local kid play in person.

But that’s not what today was about for most of us. It was a chance for Chicago’s basketball community to reconnect after a difficult year.

So much was different. Nick Irvin was decked out in Western Illinois’ purple with an Adidas logo on his shirt. The former Morgan Park coach is a college assistant now. Paris Parham, now a DePaul assistant, introduced me to new DePaul coach Tony Stubblefield.

Highly-successful junior college coach Steve Christiansen recently left Triton to take an assistant job at NIU. Gary Decesare is back in town, this time as the coach at De Le Salle.

Familiar faces in new places. It’s been a long time since everyone was together.

Two significant faces were missing. Donnie Kirksey, who coached everywhere and knew everyone, and Bogan coach Arthur Goodwin both died this year. I also thought of Howard Moore, who is still dealing with the aftermath of the horrific car crash his family suffered in 2019.

Moore was one of the men I always sat down and talked with at length at Riverside-Brookfield. His smile and kindness was a bright spot on what could occasionally be a challenging day.

That wasn’t the case this year. All the petty disputes and grudges that pop up and linger from season to season are gone now. Basketball spent the year on the back burner.

All that will be back soon enough. Friday at Riverside-Brookfield felt like the first day back at the office for the basketball community. It was just good to be there, heartwarming to see everyone and appreciate how special Chicago basketball is and what an important place it holds in so many of our lives.

So on to the basketball. Some tidbits from the day:

-Remember the name Antonio Munoz. The Young freshman was kinda dazzling in games against Bolingbrook and Joliet West. Muoz blocked shots, dunked and generally flew all over the court. It was the most significant freshman debut I’ve seen at Riverside-Brookfield in awhile.

-DePaul Prep is going to be just fine. The Rams lost their entire starting lineup but have totally reloaded. Big man Dylan Arnett looks like he could be a force this season. Alex Guitierrez is solid and 6-5 sophomore Payton Kamin is very promising. Senior Trevon Thomas was one of the real eye-openers of the day. He could be a top-tier player next season.

-Start the hype on Glenbard West. Everyone was there in the gym watching the Hilltoppers dominate Simeon in the first half.

-Downers Grove South is one of those teams that seems to always catch my eye at R-B. That was the case again this year. Senior guard Jaylen Montgomery is a stylish scorer, Harold Dismukes can shoot it and 6-7 senior Pat Laurich was a difference-maker.

-New Trier snuck up on everyone last season. That won’t be the case in November. The Trevians are for real. They are talented and play with fire. Jackson Munro, a 6-8 senior, is already a well-known name in recruiting circles. Senior Noah Shannon dazzled in the second half of a win against St. Rita.

-Hillcrest has reloaded, which will not surprise anyone. As usual the Hawks have a bevy of 6-6 and 6-7 athletic trees. The name to keep an eye on is sophomore Isaiah Green. He was very impressive and will be on college radars soon.

-Why aren’t more people talking about Deandre Craig? He’s clearly one of the best guards in the state. Mount Carmel isn’t a traditional basketball powerhouse, but that’s no excuse for the lack of excitement around him.

-Jeremy Fears Jr. was sitting next to the Joliet West bench. That was a tantalizing, frustrating sight for Joliet West fans. The nationally-ranked junior is expected to remain at La Lumiere this season. But his brother, freshman Jeremiah Fears, debuted for the Tigers. The younger Fears has the same confidence and swagger as his older brother. He helped keep Joliet West competitive against Young in the final game of the night.

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On Sunday, the Cubs will play their 81st game and reach the year’s halfway point. Getting through that much of the season successfully has been a mental and physical balancing act for manager David Ross and his players.

It’s a lot of juggling getting players back in their rhythm after an injury and deciding how best to handle guys who are struggling.

“You try to communicate as best as you can and talk to them and make sure how they’re feeling and where they’re at in their headspace,” Ross said. “We have those conversations and try to figure out the best way to set them up for success and give them all sorts of time to work on things.”

Those conversations vary from player to player. Ross errs on the side of talking to them a lot about how they’re feeling, but being a father has helped him know when to back off.

“When they start telling me to shut up or rolling their eyes, I kind of treat it like my kids. I usually pause then,” Ross joked.

Players have to figure out how to manage their own workloads, too, and a day off can feel like either a momentum killer or a reset.

“It’s a constant battle of deciding when you get those off days or when you’re down,” Ian Happ said. “How much work to do and how much to give yourself a mental lull and a physical break.”

When Happ is in a good stretch and gets a day off, he likes to keep his pregame routine exactly the same so he won’t feel like he’s lost momentum. Getting back in the flow after an injury can be a different story.

“It’s tough because sometimes you come back and you get to play every day, and sometimes the injury limits the amount of exposure you get,” Happ said. “Where the team is as far as how they’re competing, and how the other guys have been doing dictates that.”

Rare Friday night game

Friday afternoons at Wrigley Field are a staple of the Chicago summer, but when Ross was perusing the schedule during spring training, this Friday stood out to him as a time to buck the day baseball tradition.

Coming back from a night game against the Mets Thursday, Ross said he didn’t get to his house until 3:30 in the morning. A 1:20 start would have left about six hours until he and his players usually start arriving at the ballpark.

“It just helps the players in recovery,” Ross said of the move to a 7:05 start. “It’s really a player safety issue.”

Ross said he noticed the tough turnaround months ago and immediately started going through the proper channels in the Cubs organization to get city approval to play at night.

Injured making progress

Nico Hoerner (hamstring) did infield work again before Friday’s game and took batting practice. Ross said there is no clear plan yet for how Adbert Alzolay (blister) will return. The team has not decided yet whether a rehab start in the minors will be needed. Trevor Williams (appendicitis) threw a successful bullpen and will throw another in 3-4 days, and Matt Duffy (back) took a slight step back, but Ross reported that he’s resuming some baseball activities.

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Across his last nine starts, Davies had compiled a 1.86 ERA and allowed five total runs in his last five outings. Davies also had a 14 2/3 scoreless innings streak going since his rocky June 3 start against the Giants, but that was snapped Friday night.

In the third inning of the Cubs’ loss in the series opener against the Marlins, Davies gave up five runs.

After Jorge Alfaro’s leadoff single glanced off of Davies’ hip, Jon Berti singled and Jazz Chisholm walked to load the bases. Davies walked Starling Marte for the first run and then gave up a two-out grand slam to Adam Duvall for the other four of the inning.

Davies had pitched back-to-back quality starts this month, blanking the Padres on June 8 and the Cardinals on June 13.

“Getting ahead seemed to be a real factor,” manager David Ross said after Davies’ start against St. Louis. “The changeup seems to be devastating right now. I talk a lot about fastball command, but right now getting ahead with the fastball, knowing where that’s going when he wants to throw the fastball.”

Ross said after Davies’ last start that he was seeing better action on his fastball than earlier in the season. Davies said then that he felt like he was getting away with leaving his changeup up in the zone because hitters weren’t getting good swings on it.

“For me, the biggest thing is just disguising the changeup and fastball, being deceptive and seeing the way hitters approach the bat,” Davies said after his last start. “Trying to read their swing and trying to see what they’re trying to do in the bat gives me a little bit of an idea of what the next pitch is.”

But on Friday, it was changeups that Alfaro hit for a single and Duvall smacked into the outfield seats to give the Marlins a four-run lead in the third.

After his Sunday start against the Cardinals, Davies said that the key to sustaining his recent success would be watching how well his pitches moved and how well he could attack hitters. On Friday, he cruised through the first two innings on 20 pitches and then needed 24 to get out of the third.

Davies settled in four a couple of innings after the bumpy third inning and threw scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth before giving up a three-run homer to Berti in the sixth. Davies left the game after the sixth, having given up a career-high eight runs on seven hits while striking out two and walking three.

Given Kyle Hendricks’ return to form — after a rough April, eight of his last nine turns on the mound have been quality starts — and the return of Adbert Alzolay coming soon, having Davies pitching well would give the Cubs needed rotation depth.

Where their offense has a wins above replacement near the top third in baseball and the bullpen has the second-highest strikeout rate and lowest ERA, the starters have lagged behind. Their 4.57 ERA going into Friday was the twelfth-highest in baseball, and that mark will suffer after Davies’ eight-run night.

Joc Pederson had five home runs in June going into Friday’s game and added his sixth and seventh of the month in his first two at-bats. Pederson had exit velocities of 113.6 and 112.2 miles per hour Friday night for the highest he’s had since 2019. This was Pederson’s second multi-homer game of the season; he also hit two in Pittsburgh on May 25.

The Marlins’ Duvall had his ninth career multi-homer game Friday. Along with his third inning grand slam, Duvall hit a two-run shot off of Dan Winkler in the seventh to the left field bleachers.

Before Friday, the Cubs had lost just three games at Wrigley Field since May 1 after losing seven games at home in April.

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Smallwood, co-authored and edited several books on Black icons and was editor of N’digo for more than 30 years. He died June 11 from complications of cancer and COVID-19.

David Smallwood caught the journalism bug as a teen, writing for Black X-Press, the newspaper then published by his mentor, the late pioneering civil rights activist and journalist Lu Palmer.

That was from 1973 to 1975. At the same time, he was working his way up at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he worked from 1972-1977, starting as what was then called a “copyboy,” then moving to wire room clerk, library clerk, and finally, reporter.

It was the beginning of a prolific career. Mr. Smallwood would take his love of words to the Black press, as assistant editor at Jet Magazine, and as a member of the teams that built Dollars & Sense magazine and N’Digo “magapaper” into renowned publications.

Mr. Smallwood, of Park Forest, who was diagnosed last year with multiple myeloma, died June 11 from complications of the rare blood and bone cancer, and COVID-19. He was 66.

“David was compassionate. David was super intelligent. David was an amazing writer,” said his wife, Louise Fort, to whom he was married for 18 years, and with whom he had three daughters. “He was a humble soul, who cherished his daughters and loved his wife. God has him in His arms, and I will always have him in my heart. He will be greatly missed.”

Provided

Born in Chicago to Annie Mae Smallwood and Frank Cook on Feb. 1, 1955, Mr. Smallwood was raised on the South Side, attended Dixon Elementary School and Lindblom High School, and was involved in researching and writing its 100-Year History, a project launched by alumni in 2007.

Lindblom alumni in 2018 created a GoFundMe campaign to try to finish the book in time for the school’s 2019 centennial celebration. Mr. Smallwood, who had co-authored and edited four books, was endeavoring to complete the project when he fell ill.

“Greetings, fellow Eagles and Eagles supporters. It’s been a while, so I’m writing to update you on the status of the Lindblom History Project, which as you know has been an ongoing effort for the past decade or so to write the history of the first 100 years of our beloved high school,” he wrote in a Jan. 1 update on the GoFundMe page.

“Well, in short … we’re still working on it!” he wrote. “In the Spring, I came down with cancer … which landed me in the hospital and rehab for two months in August and September, unable to walk and with a broken left arm (fractures are common with the disease). Bad as that sounds, I’m on the mend and rebounding nicely, thank God. If I haven’t communicated with some of you recently that volunteered … this partially explains why.”

Mr. Smallwood began working at the Sun-Times after high school with the paper awarding him a full-ride National Achievement Scholarship. He attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll for a year, then transferring to University of Illinois at Chicago, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in communications in 1976 — one of 150 students selected for a pioneering student-designed curriculum.

Provided

He spent a year at Johnson Publishing Co.’s Jet magazine, then helped launch Dollars & Sense in 1979; as associate editor, he helped turn that newsletter into a national magazine. He also wrote for the Chicago Reporter and taught journalism at Columbia College.

Mr. Smallwood later served as communications director at Olive-Harvey College, from 1987-1994, and in 1989, was tapped by Hermene Hartman to help launch N’Digo, a combination newspaper/magazine of African American profiles.

“David Smallwood was the first person I went to with the idea of N’Digo. He was a masterful writer. I wanted him on the team. He said ‘I am in.’ And he was all in. He became the editor,” said Hartman, with whom Mr. Smallwood co-authored the 2017 “N’Digo LEGACY: BLACK LUXE – 110 African American Icons of Contemporary History.”

“He read every word of every paper to make sure that it was right, with meaning and context. He often stayed at the office, sleeping on a couch, on deadline days. He understood and was part of the mission to change the narrative of Black Chicago. We were ahead of our time. David worked diligently, always realizing the beauty and power of the written word. His touch always made it better,” Hartman said.

Over the next 32 years, Mr. Smallwood would serve as contributing editor, production editor, then editor.

Provided

In 1996, he co-authored “Profiles of Great African Americans,” with journalists Stan West and Allison Keyes. And in 2009, co-authored two tomes, “Black Enough/White Enough: The Obama Dilemma,” with then Illinois State Sen. Rickey R. Hendon; and “The Cool Gent: The Nine Lives of Radio Legend Herb Kent,” with the late Herb Kent. He ran a media consulting business from 2004-2018.

On his LinkedIn page, Mr. Smallwood writes: “I have well over half a million of my own words in print under my byline in newspapers, magazines and books, and have edited about two million words of other writers that have seen the printed page and/or appeared online.”

A member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Mr. Smallwood mentored two generations of journalists he either hired, trained or edited. He enjoyed reading and writing, and on holidays, could be found barbecuing, watching sports and reading the newspaper, his family said.

Besides his wife, survivors include daughters Clarissa Reed, Danielle Smallwood, and Emerin Smallwood; his sons from a previous marriage, Christopher and Damon; and 12 grandchildren.

Services are at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Leak and Sons Funeral Home, 18400 S. Pulaski Rd., Country Club Hills. Visitation is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

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The mark will be worn starting in 2022, and the current “Fire Crown” logo will be retired after the 2021 season.

The Fire hope they finally got their logo right.

Frankly, they had to.

After it leaked on social media earlier in the day, the Fire unveiled their new badge Friday night. The circular mark features a red C with a six-pointed star, surrounded by a Chicago flag-blue Florian Cross, all inside a navy blue circle with a white background.

Created by designer Matthew Wolff after a process of consulting with fans that began in January, the mark will be worn starting in 2022. The current “Fire Crown” logo, a subject of derision even before it was released in November 2019, will be retired after the 2021 season.

“As much as this project was about the creation of a new crest for the Chicago Fire, it was also about renewing a spirit of cooperation and collaboration with our fans,” Fire owner Joe Mansueto said in a news release. “We made a commitment in January to welcome anyone who wanted to lend their voice to this project and the result is a crest that was fully and completely inspired by what we heard from our fans and supporters.

“We’re hopeful all will wear the new crest with pride and feel it represents not only this storied club, but also the great city of Chicago.”

The Fire also announced they will return to red home kits starting with the 2024 season. The 2022-23 home uniforms have been in design for over a year and will remain blue. Their current white secondary kits will be worn for a second season in 2022 but with the new logo.

An eventual return to red at home will help the Fire get closer to the identity they spurned after the 2019 season. Starting with the birth of the franchise until two years ago, the Fire had a consistent visual signature: the classic Florian Cross-inspired blue, red and gray badge worn on an all-red primary uniform that featured a prominent horizontal white stripe across the chest.

Since then, they’ve worn blue at home with the loathed Fire Crown badge, which was mocked by neutrals when it was unveiled and never caught on with supporters.

This logo has to, because the Fire cannot afford to change their badge again. When they take the field in 2022, they’ll be donning their third logo in four years, an extremely rare level of inconsistency in major-league sports that complicates recognition.

Earlier this year, Mansueto acknowledged that changing logos isn’t good for building a brand. This mark must last, and not just for a little while as the team tries to gain relevance in the Chicago sports market.

“It’s hugely important,” Mansueto told the Sun-Times. “We need to get it right. We made one change, which is not that unusual. What’s unusual is to make two changes, that you introduce something and it’s not quite the right fit.”

The Fire said fan involvement in this rebrand included over 225,000 words submitted to the team website, more than 500 hours of supporter roundtables, and beyond 10,000 responses on social media.

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The 2011 Cardinals had a mountain of misfortune in their way, but they got past it and won the World Series. That must mean La Russa is going for a repeat.

On June 19, 2011, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols reached to his left for a wide throw just as the Royals’ Wilson Betemit, a speedy 220-pounder tasting an infield hit, began to lunge for the bag. In the sudden quiet of Busch Stadium, Pujols — a three-time MVP and the greatest hitter St. Louis had known since Stan Musial — dropped his glove, staggered halfway to the home dugout and crumbled to the grass with a broken wrist.

By that point, the baseball gods were just toying with manager Tony La Russa and his team.

Ace Adam Wainwright, a 20-game winner and Cy Young runner-up the season before, had been shut down in spring training and undergone Tommy John surgery. Third baseman David Freese was nearly two months into a stint on the disabled list with a broken hand. All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday had required an emergency appendectomy, of all maladies. The bullpen was a revolving door of chaos. And the manager? For weeks on end, La Russa had suffered with a painful, unsightly rash — shingles — on his face.

On the day Pujols went down, the Cardinals were nine games into a brutal 3-12 stretch that left them teetering at just above .500. Despite all that had gone wrong, at least they were still in the fight.

‘‘It was a struggle early,’’ said La Russa, speaking by phone Friday from the visiting manager’s office at Minute Maid Park in Houston. ‘‘But those were the first signs, that first couple of months, of how tough-minded the team was. They just weren’t going to give in.’’

It wasn’t until late August, however, that those Cardinals — La Russa’s last team as a manager before the 2021 White Sox — launched like a rocket. In the last 32 games of the regular season, they went 23-9, chipping away at the Braves’ 10½-game lead in the wild-card standings until every last bit of it was gone. OK, so the Braves’ 11-21 collapse in the final 32 games helped. Regardless, the charging Cardinals pulled into a tie on the next-to-last day of the season, won in Houston in Game 162, then watched in amazement in the clubhouse as the Braves lost their own finale to the Phillies in 13 innings.

‘‘It was shock when they got to three outs and it was over and we were in,’’ La Russa said. ‘‘Shock. An explosion of emotion.’’

And then the Cardinals won the whole damn thing, capping off one of the unlikeliest runs to a World Series title on record.

What La Russa’s team didn’t know entering the playoffs was that its manager was planning to retire after his 16th season with the Cardinals. And that’s ‘‘retire’’ in the old-fashioned sense, which is to say never, ever doing the 162-game grind again.

‘‘Oh, definitely,’’ he said. ‘‘I thought I was passing the baton. I’d had enough. I had no doubt that was it.’’

Right-hander Lance Lynn was a rookie on that 2011 team. Fittingly, his first go-round came with a 60-day DL stint. Still, talk about a dream come true — but with a bittersweet ending. La Russa called a team meeting right after the championship parade and made his intentions known.

‘‘It caught all of us by surprise,’’ Lynn said, ‘‘even the veterans.’’

Lynn, off to a Cy Young-caliber start in his first season with the Sox, knows more now than he did then about what was weighing on La Russa. At 66, the manager maintained an all-business disposition with his players, no matter how hard it might have been. At 76, he’s doing the same with the Sox.

Like the 2011 Cardinals, the Sox have been dealt a series of heavyweight punches in the injury department. Left fielder Eloy Jimenez — a self-described MVP candidate in 2021 — tore a pectoral muscle in spring training. Center fielder Luis Robert has been out since early May with a hip injury and might be months from a return. Second baseman Nick Madrigal is down for the season after shredding a hamstring.

Unlike the Cardinals, the Sox are winning so often — so far, anyway — that the possibility of missing the playoffs might seem, as of today, to be far-fetched. But that kind of thinking doesn’t fly with La Russa.

‘‘We all go through [adversity],’’ he said. ‘‘You’ve just got to have the commitment of ‘never give in, never give up.’ That’s what we’ve done.

‘‘But an important point: Just because we’ve done it doesn’t mean that we’ve got a guarantee. We’ve got to do it to the end. This club is making a special commitment, and we’re going to take our best shot.’’

And win the whole damn thing, maybe? It happened with La Russa’s last team. That must mean he’s going for a repeat.

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Daniel Armani called 911 because his mother was having an epileptic seizure, and despite his age, calmly relayed critical information while comforting his mother.

Daniel Armani sat inside a fire truck Friday, with hands on the large steering wheel, his feet unable reach the floor, wearing a plastic fire helmet and an ear-to-ear smile.

It was all part of the 7-year-old’s reward for helping to save his mom’s life.

Daniel, who goes by D.J., called 911 on May 30 at 6 p.m. because his mother was having an epileptic seizure. He then calmly and cooly relayed critical information while comforting his mother.

“I’ve been here for 18 years and handled thousands and thousands of calls, but this guy was a step ahead, especially for being so young,” said Dianne Statts-Mareci, the Chicago Fire Department communications officer who handled the call.

Statts-Mareci said the call was transferred to her from police communication officer Andrea Jones when it was determined to be a medical issue. Jones stayed on the line, and both of them took information from D.J. that helped save his mother, Tarissa Clark.

“We get a lot of calls from kids but you could hear in his voice that something wasn’t right,” Jones said, explaining why she transferred the call to Statts-Mareci. Both said D.J. remained cool and provided them with important information.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

“It’s key because all the information we ask is necessary to get the right kind of help,” Statts-Mareci said.

“This kid was spot-on. He was calm. He answered all the questions. He was very concerned to make sure his mom was OK and he kept telling her that she was going to be OK. He talked to me calmly, calmer than most adults I talk to. He handled it like a champ.”

Clark, 25, who lives with her son in Bronzeville, said she’s suffered from seizures all her life. Because of that, she taught D.J. starting around age 4 what he should do if she suffered one.

Until last month, he’d never had to call 911 for her — but when he did, he came through with flying colors, she said.

After Statts-Mareci finished the call with D.J., she alerted a supervisor.

“I went to my supervisor and I said, ‘Sometimes we get recognized for exemplary calls. How do we recognize the public? This little fella needs somebody to know how important what he did was,” she said.

That led to D.J., his mother and a few family members being invited to the Office of Emergency Management. where he was presented with a challenge coin and certificate from OEMC Executive Director Rich Guidice. He also got a plastic fire helmet and backpack from acting CFD Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt, as well as a Lego fire truck.

Nance-Holt joked that DJ looked like “the new fire chief.”

Guidice told DJ his actions were heroic, calling the call “truly amazing.”

Then, after a private tour of the 911 call center, D.J. and his family went to the Engine 16 fire station in Bronzeville, at Pershing Road and Wabash Avenue. There, D.J. was presented with a new bicycle and bike helmet by retired firefighters Kirkland Flowers and Art Lewis,

Flowers and Lewis had worked at that station for several years, and would reward neighborhood kids through a group they started, Firefighters and Paramedics In The Community Helping.

D.J. and his family also got a firehouse tour, which is how he ended up behind the wheel of that fire truck.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

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“The team needs me,” White Sox third baseman says.

HOUSTON — Yoan Moncada missed the series against the Rays this week and, while he returned to the lineup Thursday to face the Astros, the White Sox third baseman still wasn’t feeling 100 percent.

The Sox said he had a sinus infection, but what he felt reminded him of last season when he tested positive for the Coronavirus. Moncada had body aches and briefly lost his senses of taste and smell and is still feeling slightly weaker than normal.

“I was a little worried,” said Moncada, whose fears were alleviated when he tested negative for COVID-19.

On his first chance in the field Thursday, Moncada short-hopped second baseman Danny Mendick trying to start a double play and was charged with an error. But Moncada knows he belongs on the field when he’s not at 100 percent.

“The team needs me,” Moncada said, speaking through translator Billy Russo. “Even though I’m not 100%, I can still help this team.

“I just need to find a way to start feeling better and stronger and that’s what I’m working on, working with the trainers to feel that way for me to start feeling better and stronger.”

Moncada is performing like he did in 2019, when he was the Sox’ top position player in wins above replacement. He’s their top position player in 2021, batting .276/.400/.403 with five homers, 32 RBI and 31 runs scored. He’s second among third basemen in All-Star voting behind Rafael Devers of the White Sox.

“That would be a blessing,” he said of being an All-Star for the first time.

But Moncada said his focus is on helping the team win games.

“We’re a team and I know that the easy response would be ‘I don’t want to play,’ ’’ Moncada said. “But no, I want to play, I want to help this team, I want to help my teammates to win games. And that’s why I have to find a way to get through this.”

Garcia sidelined with sore knee

Leury Garcia, the versatile infielder outfielder who is batting .327 with seven RBI and eight walks in his last 16 games, has a right sore knee, La Russa revealed, keeping him out of the lineup a second straight night.

The Sox’ bench was already thinner than usual after pitcher Zack Burdi was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte to bolster the pitching supply for this series. Burdi came up when outfielder Adam Eaton went on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

Slumping designated hitter Yermin Mercedes and Adam Engel, who has been playing every other day as he eases his way back from his hamstring injury, were the only available position players on the bench.

“Hopefully we get through it without him,” La Russa said.

Hamilton’s oblique

Outfielder Billy Hamilton (oblique strain) is with the team and ‘felt a little pinch’ taking a swing Thursday, La Russa said, an indication his return is not near. Hamilton would probably need a short rehab assignment once he returns to 100 percent.

Burger diversifies

Third base prospect Jake Burger, a 2017 first-round draft choice coming back from two Achilles injuries, started a game for Triple-A Charlotte at second base Thursday.

“You want to make sure there’s different ways, if he earns a promotion, to get in the lineup,” manager Tony La Russa said.

Burger is batting .264/.304/.535 with eight homers for Charlotte.

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The city sued Enrique Badillo Sr. in March 2020 after a man was shot during a party at the home. The lawsuit, which demanded that Badillo to add fencing and security cameras, wasn’t served for more than a year because the city could not reach Badillo — who works for the city.

A Chicago police officer has been stripped of his police powers while the police department investigates whether he allowed dangerous living conditions to fester in a home he owned that was the site of a mass shooting in Englewood earlier this week, a CPD spokesman said Friday.

Enrique Badillo Sr., who owned a building on the 6200 block of South Morgan Street, was facing a lawsuit from the city demanding that he install fencing, heavy-duty locks and security cameras to make the property safer.

But the lawsuit stalled because, for more than a year, the city could not reach Badillo, who doesn’t live in the home.

When a mass shooting erupted inside the house early Tuesday, the city had still not made contact with Badillo. Then, two days after the shooting, the city finally reached him, Kristen Cabanban, a city Law Department spokeswoman, said Thursday.

Badillo, who resides in Logan Square, hasn’t responded to attempts by the Sun-Times to seek comment.

An inspector last checked the home, in the 6200 block of South Morgan Street, in January 2020, but was able to examine only the exterior of the building. The inspector found several code violations, including broken windows and an unsafe staircase and porch. Each of those violations totaled over $10,000 in fines plus $1,000 per day for each violation since the inspection.

The city filed a “public nuisance” suit in March 2020 after a man was shot during a large party inside the home, a two-story wood-frame structure with a gray stone front. According to the lawsuit, it was filed to “take action to abate criminal activity” at the home.

In its filing, the city listed a series of actions the city could take to enforce their demands. This included evicting the home’s residents and making Badillo install security fencing, gate locks, outdoor lighting, security cameras and even hire a security guard.

There have been few details released by police about Tuesday’s shooting that killed four people and left four others wounded. It remains unclear if any of the victims from the mass shooting were living in the home when the lawsuits were originally filed.

The shooting occurred early Tuesday; police say someone broke into the home some time before 5:40 a.m. that day and opened fire,

Killed Ratanya Aryiel Rogers, 28, mother of a young boy; were Denice Mathis, 32, a mother of four boys; Shermetria Williams, 19, the mother of a 2-year-old girl; and Blake Lee, 34, who lived in the home and did odd jobs in the neighborhood.

Relatives Lee, said he lived at the home where he did odd jobs in the neighborhood.

The four who were seriously wounded included James Tolbert, another victim seriously wounded, ran a barbershop from the house. Tolbert’s girlfriend and their 2-year-old daughter also lived in the home. The girlfriend remains in critical condition while the girl was not shot but still taken to the hospital for observation.

Contributing: David Struett and Madeline Kenney

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot was spared a bitter political defeat Friday on the pivotal issue of civilian police oversight by the narrowest of margins.

By a 10-9 vote, the Committee on Public Safety refused to consider an eleventh-hour compromise hammered out without the mayor’s input that would give a civilian oversight panel the final say on police policy disputes.

About an hour before the vote, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35^th) predicted that the votes would be there to approve the stronger oversight ordinance over Lightfoot’s strenuous objections after proponents agreed to “split out” a binding referendum that, if passed, would give the civilian panel even broader powers.

“We know we don’t have the votes in the Public Safety Committee to pass that referendum. But we do have enough votes to pass the portions of the ordinance that do not include the referendum,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“So, we agreed this morning to remove the referendum from the ordinance being voted on today. And that should secure us more than a majority in the committee to pass this.”

But Public Safety Committee Chairman Chris Taliaferro (29th) refused to consider the compromise distributed to aldermen only 30 minutes earlier.

When Ald. Nick Sposato (38th) made a motion to table consideration of the new compromise, Taliaferro called for a vote. The roll was called. The vote was 10 to 9 in favor of the motion not to consider the compromise.

“We’ve waited four years to vote on this matter. … A majority of the City Council is on board,” said a disappointed Ald. Harry Osterman (48th), City Council champion for civilian oversight.

Sun-Times file

Taliaferro said he objected to immediate consideration of the compromise because he “screamed from the rooftops” for supporters to “pull the referendum and you would have support.”

“No one listened” until Friday, Taliaferro said.

Taliaferro also condemned what he called the “threats, intimidation and harassment” by proponents of civilian police oversight who show up at the homes of Chicago aldermen “plaster things in front of their doors” and put their spouses and children “in harm’s way.”

“I can’t support that type of conduct. … That’s not democracy at its best. Democracy is protesting peacefully,” Taliaferro said.

The committee then voted on a motion to adjourn the meeting until Monday at 1 p.m., when the compromise would be considered. The vote was 9-to-8 not to adjourn. That set the stage for aldermen to consider the mayor’s ordinance, which lacks support, and the old version of civilian review that has been supplanted by the compromise.

But Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) made another motion to adjourn that was accepted.

Lightfoot finally has delivered her own plan for civilian police oversight, but it did not include the sweeping policymaking, budgeting and hiring and firing powers she promised during the mayoral campaign.

Instead of allowing the seven-member commission she offered to create to choose Chicago’s police superintendent, Lightfoot would retain that coveted power for herself and future mayors.

Sun-Times file

Ramirez-Rosa championed the more extreme version of civilian oversight proposed by the Civilian Police Accountability Council before helping to forge the compromise with the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability.

The new compromise gives the civilian oversight commission the final say in disputes over police policy.

The panel would also be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in Chicago’s police superintendent that could set the stage for the top cop’s removal if the City Council agrees by a two-thirds vote, he said.

“The mayor was not part of these conversations. She had her opportunity to work with the coalition on meaningful civilian oversight. The ordinance that she introduced was not a serious proposal for civilian oversight,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“Her staff reached out to us earlier this week and put nothing on the table. All they said was, ‘Will you postpone the vote?’ The vote’s been postponed how many times? How many years? It’s time to pass this ordinance.”

Like Lightfoot, Taliaferro has argued that the mayor “wears the jacket” for public safety and needs to have the final say on police policy disputes and the fate of the police superintendent.

“It should be within the authority of the mayor to hire and fire the superintendent, the Police Board and the COPA administrator. If she’s gonna wear the hat for any good or bad that happens within the police department, she needs to be able to hire and fire the chief executive of those offices,” Taliaferro told the Sun-Times last month.

“I can’t imagine being the mayor of a municipality and you have no say-so in the direction of the police department.”

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to empower a civilian oversight panel to hire and fire the police superintendent and have the final word in disputes over police policy.

Civilian oversight was a pivotal recommendation by the Task Force on Police Accountability she co-chaired in the furor that followed the court-ordered release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.

After the election, Lightfoot changed her tune, just as she has on her support for an elected school board bill approved by the Illinois House this week over her strenuous objections.

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