Author: staff

A little girl was shot in the leg Saturday afternoon on the city’s Far South Side. She was in a backyard in the 9100 block of…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jake Burger told himself to be smooth and calm when he hit for Reese McGuire in the eighth inning Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rays.The Chicago White Sox trailed by a run but had a runner on first with one out.Advertisement“Don’t try to do too much,” Burger said. “And fortunately I got a pitch up in the zone that I could do something with.”Burger delivered the clutch hit the Sox have been desperately looking for, driving Jalen Beeks’ changeup over the center-field wall for a go-ahead two-run homer.AdvertisementBurger’s home run was the difference as the Sox snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory in front of 19,452 at Tropicana Field.“That felt good,” Burger said. “It was a special one, for sure. I’ll always remember that one.”It was the team’s first go-ahead pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning or later since Adam Eaton hit one April 11, 2021, against the Kansas City Royals.“I told him he’s not starting the rest of the year — he’s going to be a pinch hitter,” Sox manager Tony La Russa joked. “Until tomorrow.“He has a flair, doesn’t he? When he hits them, they’re important ones.”The Sox entered the eighth trailing 2-0. Pinch hitter Adam Engel reached on a double to shallow left on a ball that was just out of the reach of Rays shortstop Vidal Bruján. Engel scored on a one-out single by Danny Mendick.The Sox called on the right-handed-hitting Burger to hit for the left-handed-hitting McGuire. The Rays replaced lefty reliever Brooks Raley with another lefty in Beeks. Right-handed batters were hitting just .190 against Beeks.Burger connected on Beeks’ second pitch to put the Sox ahead.Advertisement“I was sprinting out of the box,” Burger said. “Everybody was like, ‘Dude, you didn’t know you got that?’ Maybe, but I want to make sure if it’s a double in the gap, I’ve got to get going.“Kind of floating around the bases a little bit and it felt really good. Smiling the entire time and Mendick looking back at me rounding second base, getting me all fired up. It was fun.”White Sox pinch hitter Jake Burger hits a two-run home run in the eighth inning against the Rays on Saturday, June 4, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images North America/TNS)Jake Burger watches his two-run home run off Rays reliever Jalen Beeks. (Chris O’Meara/AP) Jake Burger (30) celebrates with third base coach Joe McEwing (99) after Burger hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning. (Chris O’Meara/AP)The way things have gone recently for the Sox, closing out the game wouldn’t be easy.The Rays loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth. Reliever Kendall Graveman got Isaac Paredes to hit a slow grounder to short. Mendick’s throw to first made it just in time to end the inning.“I knew he was going to throw a slider, so I kind of had a feeling he was going to be a little bit out in front,” Mendick said. “And as soon as I saw the swing, I started going in. It was a close play — he was getting down the line — but (we) practice those, right? Got to get it done.”A video review confirmed the call.Advertisement“To be honest I thought I had him,” Mendick said. “I was pretty confident when they were doing the review. They showed on the big screen he was out, and that was definitely a sigh of relief.”Liam Hendriks retired the side in order in the ninth for his 15th save.Despite issuing seven walks, starter Dylan Cease kept the Sox in the game. He allowed two unearned runs on one hit with five strikeouts in 4⅔ innings.“It was pretty ugly but it was good enough,” Cease said. “Every once in a while something like that will happen. It’s just about not giving in.”Both Rays runs came in the fifth.Cease nearly escaped a jam in the inning when Yandy Díaz grounded to first with two outs. The ball appeared to have some spin on it and kicked away from José Abreu.AdvertisementParedes, who reached on a walk, raced home on the error for the game’s first run. Cease exited, and the Rays tacked on the second unearned run when Ji-Man Choi beat the shift and singled against reliever Aaron Bummer.“You’re thinking it’s not possible, ball off the end of (Díaz’s) bat, spins off (Abreu’s) glove and that’s a run,” La Russa said. “And then he did a good job putting the ball in play for that second run and you say, ‘Man, come on.’ But we found a way to overcome it.”Kyle Crick (2-0) pitched 1⅓ scoreless innings and got the win when the Sox broke through in the eighth.“We needed a win, but a 10-run win would be nice,” La Russa joked. “It’s how we played the first four games of the road trip, came up short. This time we didn’t. A testament to never give in, never give up.”

CARDIFF, Wales — Ukraine plans to resume competitive soccer in the country in August despite being under attack by Russia after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave approval.Andriy Pavelko, the president of Ukraine’s soccer federation, revealed details to The Associated Press about his talks with Zelenskyy and the heads of FIFA and UEFA about finding a safe way of playing men’s and women’s matches on home soil.AdvertisementUkraine was forced to abandon its leagues in February when Russia began an invasion that, according to Zelenskyy, has led to “at least tens of thousands” of Ukrainian civilians dying and large swaths of many cities and towns being bombed into rubble.But as Russian forces have been redeployed to the east and south, fighting has subsided in the area near the capital Kyiv and elsewhere. There is optimism sport can resume to lift the spirits of the nation, which is trying to qualify for the World Cup on Sunday by winning at Wales.Advertisement“I spoke with our president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, about how important football is to distract,” Pavelko said in an interview with the AP, surrounded by Ukraine jerseys and a tactics board in the team meeting room in Cardiff. “From the children to the old people, everyone is focused on the war. Every day they receive information about deaths, about the impact of the war.“We spoke about how football has a very big power to help people think about the future because now people, of course, are not in a good mindset. They’re in the worst mood. We spoke about how it would be possible that football could help us to think about the future.”That is a future with players being able to take the field again in Ukraine to provide uplifting sports moments of joy.Andriy Pavelko, the president of Ukraine’s soccer federation, poses after an interview with The Associated Press in Cardiff, Wales, on Saturday, June 4, 2022. (Rob Harris/AP)“So we took the decision with the president that we would resume the Ukrainian championship in August,” Pavelko said through a translator. “In Ukraine we will play on every level. So the Premier League and the first and second professional divisions and women’s championship.“At all levels we will start in August. The decision was taken with the president of Ukraine.”Pavelko met with Zelenskyy before leaving Ukraine for Glasgow to see the World Cup playoff semifinal win over Scotland on Wednesday. Pavelko then went on to see FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Paris and UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin in Ljubljana, Slovenia.“I informed them that we will resume the championships in the war time in Ukraine … under the bombs and we count on their support,” Pavelko said. “We are discussing the details.”The government prohibits men from 18 to 60 from leaving Ukraine to keep them available for war duties, although soccer players have been allowed abroad to play for teams and Pavelko has flown to key meetings. But he did broadcast live to the UEFA Congress in Vienna last month via his phone from a stadium in Chernihiv that had been attacked by Russia to show the damage inflicted.AdvertisementIt is not yet clear which parts of the country will be used for league matches.“We will speak with our military board and the government to discuss how to organize it safely,” Pavelko added.Shakhtar Donetsk was leading the standings when the season was suspended in February and then officially declared over in April, giving it a place in the lucrative group stage of the Champions League next season.Shakhtar has been living with uncertainty in exile for eight years. The team has not played in Donetsk since 2014 when forced out by a Russian-backed conflict in its home region of eastern Ukraine, which remains the scene of intense fighting.

LOS ANGELES — The Mets are Metsing again.Max Scherzer was recently bitten by his dog on his throwing hand, a person with knowledge of the incident confirmed to the Daily News. Scherzer will not require stitches, and the Mets do not appear concerned that the dog bite will set back his rehab from a left oblique strain.AdvertisementScherzer later revealed more details regarding the chomp, via a tweet. He added that he returned to throwing after one day off due to the incident.“My dog Rafi hurt her leg on a run,” he tweeted. “She was howling in pain and I went to calm her down by putting my hands on her. When I did that she bit my right hand. Fortunately it wasn’t a bad bite. I took one day off from throwing and was able to long toss the next day. This will have no effect on my rehab and this is literally a non story.”AdvertisementMax Scherzer is well-known for his intensity on the field. (Elsa/Getty Images)Scherzer is currently rehabbing at the Mets’ complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He lives in nearby West Palm Beach.The right-hander was placed on the injured list May 19 with what the team diagnosed as a moderate to high oblique strain on his left side. The timeline for that type of injury is 6-8 weeks, which would place Scherzer’s return sometime in July.Scherzer carried a 2.54 ERA across eight outings and 49.2 innings for the Mets before he pulled himself out of his start against the Cardinals on May 18 at Citi Field. He then said he felt unusual pain in his left side, after which X-rays revealed the oblique injury that would cause him to miss several weeks on the IL.The dog bite is the second strange Mets injury of the week.Francisco Lindor also accidentally injured himself when he jammed his right middle finger in between the sliding double doors in his West Hollywood hotel suite late Wednesday night. The shortstop reported to work with a swollen and black-and-blue finger the following day. Lindor was out of the Mets lineup on Thursday, and returned to game action on Friday, going 0-for-4 in the club’s 6-1 loss to the Dodgers.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Chicago White Sox were in a big hole May 21 in New York, trailing the Yankees by five runs in the third inning.José Abreu got his team back in the game with one swing, launching a three-run home run.AdvertisementWhile the Sox didn’t complete the comeback, the blast began a hot stretch for the first baseman. He has a hit in 12 straight games entering Saturday.“It seems like the other team has less people on the field now; before it seemed like they were playing with way too many people,” Abreu said through an interpreter before Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.AdvertisementAbreu laughed while offering the explanation in the visitor’s dugout at Tropicana Field.During the stretch, Abreu’s average went from .207 to .256. He has six multihit games and is slashing .400/.491/.756 (18-for-45) with four doubles, four home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.246 OPS during the streak.Chicago White Sox’s José Abreu (79) celebrates his solo home run against the Tampa Bay Rays with third base coach Joe McEwing (99) during the sixth inning, June 3, 2022, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Chris O’Meara/AP)“The guy has hit his whole career,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He’s going to hit. There’s no question.“It’s important, the more the lineup hits, the deeper the lineup, the less pressure he puts on himself. That’s the kind of player he is. When we don’t score he’s going to want to do it all himself.”Abreu hit his team-leading seventh homer during Friday’s 6-3 loss to the Rays. He also leads the Sox with 23 RBIs.Abreu led the American League in RBIs in 2019 (123) and during his MVP year in 2020 (60 in the pandemic-shortened season). He was second in the AL last season (117).“I’ve just been doing the same routine I always do, trusting my routine, trusting the process and now the results are there,” Abreu said. “That’s the difference, honestly. The results are there instead of what was happening before.“But the rest is the same — the process has been the same, the workout routine. Everything has been the same.”AdvertisementAbreu has 15 hitting streaks of 10-plus games in his career.The numbers are impressive, but his focus is on helping the Sox out of their recent rut. “We’re not playing very good baseball right now, and I think that overshadows what you do as an individual,” he said. “But I’m proud of the effort we’re putting in the game. I think everybody is trying to do their best. We’re working to get out of this moment and I think we’re going to get out of this moment sooner rather than later.”The Sox entered Saturday with a four-game losing streak and are in third in the AL Central.Abreu’s message to the group is “just keep going, keep working hard and grinding.”“This is not the best moment for us,” he said, “but if you keep working hard and you keep doing your stuff, you’re going to get over this moment.”AdvertisementAbreu sees the talent up and down the Sox roster and is confident better times are ahead.“No doubt about it,” he said. “We’re not passing through a very good moment, but we know the talent that we have. The clubhouse is really united. And that’s important. This is a very long season and I think at the end we’re going to be where we’re supposed to be.”

A juvenile was charged with disorderly conduct after she posted threatening pictures and messages about students at Coolidge Middle School on social media, the Cook County…

Caleb Kilian’s much-anticipated start Saturday night at Wrigley Field rekindled memories of similar Chicago Cubs debuts, from Jeff Pico to Kyle Hendricks.You never know whether a Cubs pitcher’s first start is the harbinger of things to come or just a cameo appearance in a career soon to be forgotten.AdvertisementBefore a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the split doubleheader, Cubs manager David Ross — who watched a parade of celebrated prospects make their debuts in 2015 and ‘16 — tempered expectations for Kilian.“From a player’s standpoint, and even as the manager now, sitting in this seat, it’s a lot of wait-and-see,” Ross said. “It’s exciting from his standpoint, (doing the) hard work and coming over. He’s been impressive in a lot of ways. Still, you have to make your major-league career.Advertisement“No one knows how it’s going to go. I’m happy for him. All the hard work has paid off. You don’t try to hype it up too much. I don’t think any one player is ever the savior. We put the label on some young men. We’ll see how it goes, and we’ll analyze it afterward.”[ [Don’t miss] Column: Caleb Kilian’s MLB debut Saturday should give Cubs fans a brief glimpse into the future ]Matt Swarmer, who made his debut Monday, earned his first victory in Saturday’s opener, allowing one run on two hits in six innings. Frank Schwindel homered and drove in a pair of runs, and Scott Effross escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when plate umpire Bruce Dreckman called Tommy Edman out on strikes on a pitch several inches outside the zone.Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was ejected by Dreckman for arguing the next inning, and the Cardinals never threatened again.Cubs pitcher Caleb Kilian warms up during minor-league spring training workouts March 1, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin / AP)Kilian was attempting in Game 2 to become the first Cubs starter to win his big-league debut since Ryan O’Malley beat the Houston Astros 1-0 with eight scoreless innings on Aug. 16, 2006, at Minute Maid Park.O’Malley was a last-minute call-up from Triple-A Iowa only because it was his turn to start and the Cubs were all out of pitchers after an 18-inning game the previous night. He barely had time to pack but wasn’t worried when asked afterward if he had enough clothes for the flight to Chicago.“Oh, yes, definitely,” he replied. “I’m not going to let my clothes get in the way of this.”But the dream was short-lived and he didn’t need much of a wardrobe after all. O’Malley suffered a left elbow strain during the fifth inning of his Wrigley Field debut, a 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.[ [Don’t miss] How Keegan Thompson’s warmup routine has set up the Cubs pitcher’s successful transition to the rotation ]After the game, O’Malley stood despondent in front of the Waveland Avenue firehouse, where teammate Rich Hill tried to console him.AdvertisementChicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.“It was like I was on cloud nine and then I just fell off of it,” O’Malley said.Hill still is pitching for the Boston Red Sox at age 42, but that would be the end of O’Malley’s major-league career after only two outings. Pico, likewise, threw a four-hit shutout against the Cincinnati Reds in his debut on May 31, 1988, but won only 12 more games in a three-year career.You never know.Cubs starter Matt Swarmer pitches against the Cardinals during the first inning of the first game of a doubleheader Saturday, June 4, 2022, at Wrigley Field. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AP)Before Swarmer and Kilian started Saturday, the fewest combined major-league innings by a pair of Cubs starters in a doubleheader had come against the Cardinals on Oct. 6, 1909. Rudy Schwenck had two starts and nine innings under his belt, while King Cole was making his big-league debut — and tossed a complete-game shutout.It has been 46 years since the Cubs had two pitchers start a doubleheader with fewer than one combined start. Neither Oscar Zamora nor Paul Reuschel, both relievers at time, had a start when they faced the San Francisco Giants on May 2, 1976, at Candlestick Park.No one forgets their first start, no matter the outcome.AdvertisementBut some are more memorable than others.

A 19-year-old man is accused of a shooting that wounded an officer on a U.S. Marshals Service task force as well as a police dog Thursday…

PARIS — Iga Swiatek is unbeaten since February and sure looks unbeatable at the moment, now a two-time champion at the French Open.Coco Gauff, appearing in her first Grand Slam final at just 18, never stood much of a chance, like most opponents against Swiatek lately.AdvertisementThe top-ranked Swiatek beat Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the final at Roland Garros on Saturday, adding to her 2020 trophy there and stretching her winning streak to 35 matches.Swiatek’s unbeaten run equals one by Venus Williams in 2000 as the longest this century.AdvertisementSwiatek has now won her past six tournaments and is 42-3 this season.She has emerged as a dominant figure in tennis, with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams out of action for nearly a year and three-time major champ Ash Barty announcing in March she would retire at age 25 and relinquish the No. 1 ranking.That allowed Swiatek to move up to the top of the WTA and she’s shown she is a deserving resident there. Her last loss came in February to 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko.Swiatek has a game that works on all surfaces, but her greatest triumphs so far have come on red clay.On the warmest day of the tournament, the temperature was 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 Celsius), and while the forecast predicted thunderstorms, there were just a few puffs of white in the blue sky above Court Philippe Chartrier at the outset.Gauff did not get off to the best of starts, a little bit of early jitters that would be understandable coming from any player in a debut on this stage.The player on the other side of the net certainly had a lot to do with the way things went.Swiatek broke serve right from the get-go, with plenty of help from Gauff, who put a forehand into the net, double-faulted — eliciting some sighs of “Awwwww” from a supportive crowd — dumped a forehand into the net, and pushed another forehand long.AdvertisementWhen Gauff’s work-in-progress forehand betrayed her again, she got broken again to trail 3-0 after just 15 minutes of action. Soon enough, the score was 4-0 in Swiatek’s favor.Not in all cases, of course, but often, the spectators at Roland Garros tend to offer their support to underdogs and to whichever player is trailing in a particular match. Both of which applied to Gauff. So there was a surfeit of shouts of “Allez, Coco!” There were repeated cries of her chant-ready, two-syllable first name. And one fan yelled out “Coco, you can do it!”When Gauff got on the board by holding to 4-1, the applause and roar were suitable for the capture of a set, not simply one game.As things appeared to be getting away from her, Gauff slapped her thigh or covered her eyes, shook her head or looked up toward her parents in the stands.What she never did was waver or concede anything.Gauff began the second set by breaking Swiatek for the only time, and then holding to go up 2-0. Might this now be a much closer contest? Might Gauff push Swiatek to a third set?AdvertisementNo. Swiatek quickly recalibrated and reasserted herself, breaking back for 2-all as Gauff’s propensity for miscues returned.Swiatek is not just winning, but winning easily, already amassing 16 sets taken by a 6-0 score in 2022 — and it’s only early June.The only Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles trophy, Swiatek does it with a mix of a topspin-laden heavy forehand — just like someone she admires greatly, 13-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal, who will face Casper Ruud in the men’s final Sunday — and an all-court game, filled with variety and an appreciation of setting up moves ahead of time during a point. Much like a chess player, which she is.Swiatek’s got other attributes, too, such as strong footwork that allows her to play defense when required.Also key to Swiatek’s presence, and swiftly burgeoning aura, is her calmness on court. She has traveled on tour with a sports psychologist, who was in Swiatek’s guest box on Saturday, and works on various elements of her professional and personal lives.That includes an emphasis on maintaining focus and setting priorities, such as the determination that she is still too new at this whole business of attempting to win Grand Slam titles that she decided it was best not to attend the Champions League soccer final in Paris last weekend, something Nadal did do.

“I am struggling to keep up with the weeds in my garden. Is there a difference between a weed and a garden plant?”— Benjamin Warren, Elk Grove VillageAdvertisementThe staff at the Chicago Botanic Garden is also dealing with a robust weed population this spring. As soon as they are pulled, more weeds seem to appear. Lots of rainy weather has meant little time to deal with weeds while it also promoted heavy weed growth.I define a weed as a plant that is growing where it is not wanted in the garden. Different gardeners have different ideas of what constitutes a weed. For example, violets in the lawn are considered weeds by some gardeners and nice seasonal color accents by others. Dandelions are widely recognized as weeds; however, their peak flowering time in early spring is when many bees and other pollinators emerge and use dandelion flowers as a food source.AdvertisementThere is a biological difference between a weedy plant and an invasive plant. Weedy plants readily spread, especially in disturbed areas, but generally do not pose a threat to the integrity of native plant communities. Invasive plants are usually non-native and can establish themselves within existing native plant communities.Invasive plants pose a threat to the integrity of the plant community. When invasive plants are introduced to a new location, either intentionally or accidentally, they can spread prolifically, out-compete native species for resources, and eventually even dominate the landscape. Buckthorn is an example of an invasive plant in the Chicago region that requires continual management for native communities to thrive. Buckthorn is also a common weed in home gardens, and I regularly pull it out of my garden.Goutweed is a fearsome invader in many home gardens and takes sustained management over a long period of time to control. (RJ Carlson/Chicago Botanic Garden)Some factors common to many invasive plants include rapid growth and early maturity, production of many seeds, wide dispersal of seeds by birds and wind, seeds that germinate quickly, few natural enemies and an ability to reproduce vegetatively. Use regional resources for guidance regarding invasive plants. The Chicago Botanic Garden has an invasive plant policy that can be accessed at chicagobotanic.org. The policy can provide guidance to help you avoid choosing an invasive plant for your garden. You can run across plants for sale that are considered invasive in native plant communities.Goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) is a fearsome invader in many home gardens, and it makes me cringe when I see it. You can dig it out multiple times and it will reappear and will grow within clumps of perennials and spread to other areas when dividing and transplanting. I have sprayed patches of it in my garden with an herbicide four times last year and it is still coming back.This weed takes sustained management over a long period of time to control.Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) is another plant pest common in home gardens. The best control is to carefully dig it out, making sure you remove the bulbs underground or it will continue to grow back. The Star of Bethlehem in my garden is starting to show white flowers now. This plant has moved into my lawn too. The plant will go dormant and disappear in summer.Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is another invasive weed that is flowering now. Its leaves are rounder and form in rosettes at ground level during its first year of growth. The leaves send up a flowering stem and become more triangular and heart-shaped with toothed edges. The small white flowers have four petals.Remove flowering plants and secure in plastic trash bags to prevent any seeds from spreading. Prioritize your time to pull out flowering garlic mustard to save work in the future.AdvertisementWatch for buckthorn, mulberry and boxelder tree seedlings in your borders as they are easy to pull out when they are seedlings. One of the best times to weed is when the ground is moist to get more of the roots out.For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at plantinfo@chicagobotanic.org. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden.