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Sports

Matt Foster is providing a boost out of the Chicago White Sox bullpen: ‘He took the bull by the horns’

Chicago White Sox reliever Matt Foster entered Wednesday’s City Series game in a tight spot.The Sox led by a run in the eighth inning, but the Cubs had runners on first and third with one out and right fielder Seiya Suzuki at the plate.Advertisement“My first game plan coming in for Suzuki was just try to get something to keep it on the infield or obviously a strikeout would have been great,” Foster said.Suzuki popped out to first baseman Gavin Sheets in foul territory.AdvertisementIan Happ was the next test.“Preparing to face Happ and try to minimize the damage to none,” Foster said.Nick Madrigal stole second, giving the Cubs two runners in scoring position. But Foster struck out Happ looking to end the threat.The right-hander provided a big boost out of the Sox bullpen in the 4-3 win in front of 36,755 at Wrigley Field. Foster’s appearance of two-thirds of an inning was followed by Liam Hendriks, who retired the side in order in the ninth for his seventh save.“I definitely love it,” Foster said of being in the high-leverage situation. “Get that big adrenaline rush, kind of the same when opening, you get the start. Those are two completely different things and I’m just thankful for any opportunity I can get up there, and get on the mound.”Foster has made the most of those chances. He has a 0.77 ERA in 11 relief outings this season, allowing one run on seven hits with 10 strikeouts in 11⅔ innings.“He’s making great pitches,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said.Foster pitched in both games of the City Series. He struck out one in a 1-2-3 inning in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory and came back Wednesday and retired both batters he faced.Advertisement“The adjustments he’s made from last year, it’s unbelievable,” said Sox starter Lucas Giolito, Wednesday’s winning pitcher. “It’s such a good feeling to see that. He took the bull by the horns and now he’s back doing what he can do.”Foster went 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA in 23 outings (two starts) during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. He was 2-1 with a 6.00 ERA in 37 relief appearances last season.“I think I’ve made big strides since last year,” Foster said. “I had a very tough year last year, up and down. Good days, bad days, probably more bad than good. It was really more of getting my head to the right place and not worrying about other things than what I need to be doing. I think I came a long way from that.”His 2021 spring training was slowed by a groin injury.“I’ve definitely gotten the lower half a lot stronger,” Foster said. “During the offseason I did a lot of things to strengthen the groin and prevent those kinds of injuries from happening. I think it’s showing right now.”And he has continued to sharpen some of his pitches.Advertisement“I spent a lot of time playing around with a slider that I was messing around with last year, made some improvements to that,” Foster said. “I added a curveball that I actually threw when I was in junior college. I played with it some now, I don’t really throw it a whole lot. It’s just another weapon that I have in the pocket.”All of the work has been paying off, as Wednesday’s outing proved.“It’s a major confidence boost,” Foster said. “I try to take every opportunity to get out on the field that I can and not take it for granted. Just go out there and do the best that I can without letting outside things kind of interfere.“We have a wide range of people down there (in the bullpen). It’s awesome to see everybody blend together. We have a good time down there, but when it’s time to come in, we’re down for business.”

Sports

Column: Things we saw and heard at the City Series, including ‘Angry Lucas’ Giolito and a Pink Floyd reference

Things we saw and heard Wednesday at Game 2 of the City Series, which the Chicago White Sox won 4-3 to sweep the mini-series.Ozzie Guillén arrives at Wrigley Field in good time, beaming after a talk with Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker about Baker’s 2000th career win. Frank Thomas is stuck in traffic. Guillen says he’s thankful the brutal conditions Tuesday prevented them from having to come to Wrigley Field for the White Sox pregame show. “I know for sure now there is a God,” Guillén says.AdvertisementAn ivy update from a Cubs ground crew member: Not yet … “but hopefully soon.”Yoán Moncada may be back next homestand, Sox manager Tony La Russa tells reporters in the dugout before the game. “I was hoping there would be some miracle and he would be there for the weekend (in Boston),” La Russa says. He should know by now Moncada doesn’t do miracles.AdvertisementDoes La Russa like these two-game mini-series? “I like being in the majors and whatever that schedule says,” he replies. “I like the day off (Thursday) tomorrow, too.”Sox general manager Rick Hahn and La Russa convene on the field for a pregame conversation, topic unknown. Both are seen laughing, so it wasn’t about pitching to Byron Buxton with the game on the line and first base open.A flyover during the national anthem? A weak attempt at trying to make an early May, midweek crosstown series look more important than it is.Sox broadcaster Jason Benetti reflects on Tuesday night’s game: “It was like playing in a car wash.”The Sox telecast on NBC Sports Chicago shows Dylan Cease mic’d up on Tuesday, calling Tim Anderson’s opposite-field home run and even predicting it would land over the Sloan sign in right. “I can die a legend now,” Cease says. “That’s all I can say.”The Cubs telecast on Marquee shows Ian Happ mic’d up on Wednesday. “Hey,” “Hey,” and “Yeah” were among the utterances.Happ removes the ball from the vines on Luis Robert’s fourth-inning double, which leads to a lively discussion between Benetti and Steve Stone on the ivy rule. If there was ivy, Stone points out, Happ would be better off leaving the ball there for a ground rule double rather than risk dropping the ball and watching it turn into a triple.Sox first baseman Gavin Sheets singles through a big hole between third and second, driving in the tying run in the fourth and providing evidence against banning the shift.AdvertisementBenetti discusses the “Angry Lucas” Giolito that sometimes shows up in the course of a start. “Usually it’s bad for the townspeople,” he says.Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies points out the top four Cubs hitters are a combined 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts.In a taped postgame interview from Tuesday, Sox closer Liam Hendriks is shown looking at a printout in the bullpen before entering the game. Hendriks explains it’s a heat map of Cubs hitters showing their strengths and weaknesses in the strike zone. “What are you looking for?” Benetti asks Hendriks. “Where they suck,” Hendriks replies.Guillen and Thomas are shown back in the NBC Sports Chicago studios wearing blankets and pretending they’re shivering. Or maybe they really are. Hard to tell with these guys.Deshaies points out an umpire’s call in the outfield on a diving attempt by Robert was not called until Nick Madrigal was called out trying to extend the hit to a double.Sox left fielder AJ Pollock bloops one into right field that Madrigal can’t reach after shifting to the left side, proving more evidence against banning the shift.AdvertisementCubs broadcaster Jon “Boog” Sciambi cites a stat on the disappearing pitch counts of modern starters: only 14.2% of starters were allowed to eclipse 100 pitches last season. But Sciambi adds the Sox were second in the category. “He rode his guys,” he says of La Russa and his starters.Every other ballpark in baseball has padding in the outfield, Stone points when Robert runs into the brick wall in center to rob Willson Contreras of a hit to end the sixth. Stone says Robert made the catch despite being “hit by the bricks.” During the replay, Deshaies says: “All in all, just another brick in the wall.” For Pink Floyd fans only.After Madrigal steals second with two outs in the eighth, Happ is called out looking at a four-seam, 94 mph fastball from Matt Foster after two straight changeups. “Exactly the way Lucas pitched him in his first at-bat,” Deshaies says. Giolito caught Happ looking in the first on a four-seamer after a 1-1 changeup.Hendriks comes in to close out a White Sox win for the third straight night. A fan near a field mic can be heard on the Cubs telecast telling the ump to call strikes. “It’s cold out here,” he says. Benetti says it was a game that “reminds you why you love baseball.” After the win, it’s back to the studio, and Guillén pretending he’s Stone crying.The series resumes May 28-29 on the South Side. Hopefully it’ll warm up by then.

Lifestyle

A taste of home awaits in a hot-pink Spanish countryside manor in coastal Galicia

For a number of culinary-minded Chicagoans, the name Beatnik conjures visions of the tropical, boho-opulent restaurants of Bonhomme Group, whose signature daring, outrageous color schemes are also found at its fancy and fanciful Celeste and the fringy glow of late-night burlesque at Bordel.Ever the innovator, Bonhomme frontman Dani Alonso is taking his penchant for the maximalist aesthetic to Galicia, Spain, where he is opening his first hotel, Casa Beatnik, a camellia pink boutique inn 20 minutes south of Santiago de Compostela on the Iberian Peninsula’s northwestern tip.AdvertisementCasa Beatnik is a colorfully renovated boutique hotel housed in a Spanish countryside manor with a working vineyard in Galicia, which borders Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula. (Andrea Caccuro)“I offer the rare combination of both an outsider and an insider’s perspective. I’ve been coming to Galicia my entire life, almost 46 years, consistently for weeks at a time,” he says. Alonso’s parents are natives of Galicia, and he has spent summers there every year with his family.Alonso describes Galicia as a region “steeped in tradition but rebelling against it.” He’s in love with its coastal fishing villages, its beaches, its grassy and mossy granite countryside peppered with vineyards and farmland, and its unique culture and language, influenced both by its neighbor, Portugal, and by the Celts who populated it in the fifth and sixth centuries.AdvertisementPorto, his lush West Town Chicago restaurant, which earned a Michelin star in 2021, reflects that love, and now so will Casa Beatnik.“When you’re going to have the audacity, as we have had, to cross the Atlantic and plant ourselves here and plant the Bonhomme flag in Spain, I think that Galicia deserves tremendous respect,” Alonso says. “The stories that we want to tell we had to meet our audacity with boldness and a serious investment.”As with the world’s best hotels, guests will find themselves plagued with the perfect conundrum: stay on-site and soak up the property’s unique splendor and charming hospitality, or leave your home base to explore the rich region that surrounds you. Plan well to allow time for both.Casa Beatnik is a colorfully renovated boutique hotel housed in a Spanish countryside manor with a working vineyard in Galicia, which borders Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula. (Andrea Caccuro)Casa Beatnik is a colorfully renovated boutique hotel housed in a Spanish countryside manor with a working vineyard in Galicia, which borders Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula. (Andrea Caccuro)Former home of late 19th-century Galician novelist, theologian and historian Antonio Lopez Ferreiro, the 7-acre property lies just a few clicks downhill from the ninth-century Camino de Santiago. Known in English as the Way of St. James and marked with a yellow scallop shell logo, it’s historically part of one of the three great pilgrimages of Christendom, and this final ⅔-mile stretch remains popular for both pilgrims and tourists.For years, the property existed as a pazo, a traditional countryside manor common in Galicia, and later as a family-run hotel and winery producing the local white Rías Baixas Albariño from old vines.Alonso and his brother Juan Carlos, who moved to Galicia to oversee the project, completely transformed the space, preserving historic and traditional elements like the pergola-style grape trellises in the working vineyard, and the stone chapel, while adding luxurious globally sourced flourishes to the 14 guest rooms within. “We ourselves are travelers and nomads, having crossed the ocean to come here. We have that sensibility,” Alonso says. “So we wanted to create a place that celebrates, you know, our favorite things from around the world.”When you visit, you are quite likely to lose track of your travel companion for a time. You might find them sunk deep into a cozy couch, lolling under Italian Murano glass chandeliers; strolling past leafy grape vines, camellia bushes and fruit trees; gazing into the stream-fed koi pond; or enjoying a Licor 43-based lemon drop cocktail while standing in the red-tiled saltwater pool. The Bonhomme team designed the 21-plus space in vignettes, a collection of experiential moments to immerse and get lost in, like a corn maze for the caviar set.There’s a sauna and spa, therapeutic massages and yoga, plus glamping yurts for the cycling and Camino crowd. And the aforementioned chapel? The Alonsos converted the sacred space into The Cottage, a sultry, secret sleeping spot for the ultimate privacy seekers clocking in at a luxurious 860 square feet.AdvertisementGlamping yurts look out on Albarino grape vines at Casa Beatnik. (Andrea Caccuro)Rooms, which start at approximately $315 per night, are spacious and comfortable, and are furnished with the same eye for global design as the common spaces, draped with Suzani throws, antique furniture and free-standing Antoniolupi bathtubs. There’s Wi-Fi throughout, but you’re just as likely to find no need for Netflix or email in such dazzling surroundings.As with its two Chicago locations, Beatnik restaurant is dripping with signature Alonso vibes, with piles of pillows, dozens of parti-colored Berber baskets, rows of potted palms, and a Moroccan concrete-tiled patio with a retractable glass roof that allows ever-changing views of Galicia’s ever-changing weather. Raindrops plinking above provide a particularly soothing atmosphere, but mist, rainbows, sunshine and clouds show up interchangeably, as dependable as daily sunsets.At Beatnik, overseen by Bonhomme Group’s chef Marcos Campos, the flavors of Mexico, Peru and Morocco meet the rich local bounty of ingredients and natural resources. Local ingredients shine through a global lens: ceviche of fresh-caught corvina melds with leche de tigre; cochinita pibil morphs into meatballs; and rich B’stilla pastries are filled with deliciously spiced local poultry.A scenic view of Tribú, a tasting menu restaurant housed on the sprawling Casa Beatnik property in Galicia, Spain. (Andrea Caccuro)At Tribú, the open-air-but-make-it-insulated fine-dining spot, the team brings tasting menus to the Tiki hut. You’ll eat impossibly tiny vegetables from a nearby farm, seasonal treasures like white asparagus and whole turbot from the wood grill, or crisped sweetbreads with a rich anchovy sauce. Each dish is plated on Galician ceramics and expertly paired with diverse wines from Galicia’s grapes — not just the wondrously aromatic Albariño, but Godello, Mencía, Bastardo, and other varieties that are being vinified in experimental ways to heighten their diverse character. The woven esparto grass textiles that line the space allow for views of the chefs grilling, chopping, and firing up the outdoor wood oven.Once guests are rested and ready to venture out to explore the region, Alonso and the staff at Casa Beatnik are happy to share advice about their beloved Galicia. “I’ve explored Galicia north, south, east and west, and I think I know what makes her special,” Alonso says. “I can curate, knowing what I think an international traveler and a fellow Chicagoan is looking for, what their top 10 magical experiences could be or should be in Galicia.”Turn south perhaps, to the verdant hills of Ourense, where Galician cattle graze and Mencía grapes thrive, to hike the Camino and other natural trails, and bathe in thermal hot springs.AdvertisementGalicia is the Spanish region on the Iberian Peninsula’s northwest tip. It borders Portugal, the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian Sea. (Andrea Caccuro)Turn north and drive 20 minutes to Santiago de la Compostela, a college town and magnificent historical and religious landmark packed with restaurants, bars, bakeries and a fine public market stacked with an unreal array of sparkling fresh sea creatures, local cheeses and fresh produce. Have lunch on the patio at Abastos 2.0 (abastosdouspuntocero.com), where you can slurp up all the exceptional shellfish you just ogled at the market across the street.Or keep going north or west to the wild Atlantic coast, through a countryside dotted with farmland, grapevines and pazos, to see the sparkling rías, the typical estuaries of the region, the fishing ports, and to enjoy all sorts of restaurants — from local tabernas, pulperías, and marisquerías to Michelin-starred fine dining, all within a 90-minute drive of the hotel.If Alonso has his way, visitors will enjoy both getting lost in Casa Beatnik and exploring beyond its walls.“You get to walk away from Galicia saying, ‘Wow, this is an extraordinary place,’” he says. “It hits on all the senses. It’s a little hidden jewel.”Lisa Futterman is a freelance writer.