My dad didn’t talk much. He said, “Watch this.” He explained a bit to a young kid what had been going on, then pointed at the TV and said, “That is an American hero.” Looking back, I’m sure he didn’t mean hero in the way death and severe injuries mean Hero. He meant that a regular guy, every one of us, can go out there and act based on what was in his (or her) heart for this country.

April 25, 1976 was the day Rick Monday became one of my heroes.*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Hoerner’s defense vs.

Dodgers so impressive, he simply has to laugh. (Video)Jason Rice (North Side Baseball): Hoby Milner Is Wildly Outperforming His Expected Stats. Can the Cubs’ Southpaw Keep It Up? “Hoby Milner has a sparkling 2.19 ERA and an ugly 6.07 xFIP.

Which, if either, of these data points is trying to tell us the true story of the Cubs’ reliever?”Tom Albano (Deadspin): Surging Cubs count on bullpen ahead of rematch vs. Dodgers ””Nothing is really long-term (with our bullpen injuries),” Chicago manager Craig Counsell said. “Which we think is a positive in all this.

But injuries add up, and we’ve lost a lot of bodies. When that happens, it gets hard to replace them with the same quality. But our guys have done a great job, a heck of a job.

It’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to put together this nice run.Zachary Davis (ClutchPoints): How Dodgers stunning loss to Cubs ended specific 71-game streak “In the process, the Dodgers suffered not just a stunning loss but also saw a little-known 71-game winning streak come to an end, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Before Friday, Los Angeles had won 71 straight home games when leading by four or more runs in the 7th inning and beyond.Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): It Turns Out ABS is a Machine That Turns Dansby Swansons into Rob Deers. For several years, now, the league has trended toward filling up the strike zone more.

Fastballs are harder and livelier than ever; pitchers have better command of their non-fastballs than ever; and fielders are better-positioned than ever. Now, it’s that the zone itself has gotten smaller. Hitters have noticed, too.

Twice as many batters have substantially reduced their swing rate so far this year. Dansby Swanson isn’t just participating in that trend; he’s one of the foremost drivers of it.Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Nico Hoerner and the Power of the Pulled Line-Drive Approach. “About a week into the season, I followed up with a partial answer, based on some changes Hoerner brought into this campaign: a slightly wider stance and a shorter stride, giving him more early stability and the capacity to hit the ball hard down the lines, rather than toward center field.

Now, it’s time to synthesize all that into a firm answer to an increasingly pressing question: Is Hoerner a full-fledged power hitter now?”Gordon Edes (Chicago Sun-Times) Cubs fans know him as PCA, but Pete Crow-Armstrong was known as ‘Petro’ growing up. ““He was Petro,’’ High-school head coach Jared Halpert said, “because he played like he was on fire and very cool. Yeah, yeah, he was.

He was Petro to us for a long time. There was no second gear or slowdown. It was all gas and no brakes and he’s going 100 miles an hour.

And it was a beautiful thing to watch somebody just play with that much passion, you know, all the time.’’Thomas Domol (North Side Baseball): Edward Cabrera’s Cubs Legacy Is Only Getting Started. “A filthy, lockdown starting pitcher changes the fortunes and the perception of a Major League Baseball team. He can make a fringe club competitive and a contender close to unstoppable.

Edward Cabrera, with his poised control and nasty arsenal, is the next in this line of game-changing starting pitchers. Lucky for us, he plays on the North Side of Chicago.”Dansby Swanson, Cubs make it 10 in a row with a thrilling comeback win against the Dodgers! (Video)Pat & Ron marvel over Nico Hoerner’s ridiculous defensive play in Cubs’ win over Dodgers. (Video)Food For Thought:John O’Leary (1944–2024) was a pioneering British blues harmonica player, recognized as a founder member of the Savoy Brown Blues Band in 1965 and a prominent figure in the UK blues scene for over five decades. Influenced by Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter, he played with numerous artists and led his own band, Sugarkane.(Blues Video)Humanoid robot chases wild boar herd in Poland