Tag: General News

The San Francisco Giants and Alex Cobb believe they found a remedy for the impinged hip that bothered him for the better part of the season. But it will come at cost, a surgical procedure with a recovery timetable that knocks their No. 2 starter out for the start of next season.

Cobb, 36, is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left hip Tuesday in Vail, Colorado, the club announced. The procedure, performed by Dr. Marc Philippon, will prevent Cobb from pitching for approximately six months. Without accounting for typical six-week build up he will miss in spring training, that means Cobb won’t begin to pitch again until about the start of May.

One of only two Giants pitchers to log at least 20 starts and 150 innings, Cobb was named an All-Star for the first time in 2023, finishing with a 3.87 ERA while throwing his most innings since 2018. But throughout much of it, he had been pitching through an impingement in his left hip.

During the All-Star festivities in Seattle, Cobb sported a shiny 2.91 ERA next to his name. After the break, though, he pitched to a 5.25 mark.

Cobb said he first began to notice the issue during a June start in Colorado. But it wasn’t until after a rough outing in San Diego two months later that it was reported publicly, then-manager Gabe Kapler telling reporters in his office and Cobb confirming it was the case but downplaying the issue.

Just a week earlier, anyhow, he had come one out away from throwing a no-hitter. He also threw a career-high 131 pitches and would make only three more starts down the stretch before being shut down with two weeks left in the season.

Cobb later said the discomfort in his hip was “prevalent” in the no-hit bid. “But,” he said, “I would not solely put it on that, nor would I trade that night for anything.”

Doctors initially told Cobb they didn’t believe the issue would require surgical intervention, but after a month of rehab and multiple treatment therapies, Cobb and Dr. Philippon determined during a recent consultation that the operation was his best option. Cobb previously underwent a procedure to repair a similar issue in his right hip in 2019, though it was performed by a different doctor, in Nashville.

The free agent markets will open sometime in the next couple weeks — five days after the conclusion of the World Series — and the Giants now enter the bidding knowing they will be down one starter to begin next season. They have already been linked to the exciting Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, regarded as the top pitcher available, with Farhan Zaidi confirming his recent trek to Osaka to watch a recent playoff outing by the soon-to-be-posted 25-year-old.

But Zaidi has also said the Giants didn’t plan to target anything below top-line starting pitching.

That was before it was known Cobb would opt for surgery. Will that change the calculus?

NEW ORLEANS — Klay Thompson and Jonathan Kuminga will be out for the Warriors’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.

Thompson, 33, is nursing right knee soreness and Kuminga, 21, has a right knee contusion. Golden State is on the second half of their first back-to-back of the year, getting a win against the Houston Rockets on Sunday to move to 2-1.

Moses Moody will make his 15th career start in place of Thompson alongside Steph Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney. Chris Paul will come off the bench for a second straight game; his consecutive games started streak of 1,365 was snapped against the Rockets when he came off the bench for the first time in his 19-year NBA career in the Warriors’ win.

Nina Metz | Chicago Tribune

“You have a beautiful family, a beautiful life,” says one old friend to another. “I hope it was worth it.”

In “Fellow Travelers,” the Showtime limited series adapted from the 2007 novel of the same name, “it” means living in the closet, which has been professionally beneficial for the sleekly handsome Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) — it’s the 1980s and he’s about to take a diplomatic posting in Milan — but devastating on his soul.

We flash back 30 years to the ‘50s, when he meets and seduces the very earnest and very Catholic Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) at a Washington, D.C., party. They fall in lust and then in love, all in secret, during Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare hunt for communists, which extends out to include gay people as well: The Lavender Scare. Any opportunity to remind audiences of the cruel depravity and hypocrisy of McCarthy and right-hand man Roy Cohn is aces in my book.

This matters because the two men in our central couple have government jobs on the line — Hawk works at the State Department, Tim is literally in the belly of the beast as a staffer in McCarthy’s Senate office. Their relationship is complicated (maybe even fueled) by the threat of exposure, but also because Tim wears his heart on his sleeve, whereas Hawk resists deep emotional connections. Maybe these differences would have doomed their romance regardless of the era.

Creator Ron Nyswaner (whose credits include “Philadelphia” as well as the Showtime series “Ray Donovan” and “Homeland”) has added in a new storyline, about a Black political reporter played by Jelani Alladin, who forms a long-term partnership with a drag performer he meets at a swanky underground gay club he and Hawk frequent. “Fellow Travelers” takes a similar approach to these portions as Amazon’s remake of “A League of Their Own,” creating a parallel narrative that gives the show’s Black characters their own lives and interests. Their stories may occasionally intersect with the show’s white characters, but their existence on-screen isn’t dependent on furthering those storylines.

Steamy, sad and stylish all at once, “Fellow Travelers” toggles back and forth in time. One episode is set in the ‘60s, when Tim is a war protester on the lam and Hawk is struggling to maintain his facade of domestic bliss (Allison Williams plays his wife, a role that’s similar to what Anne Hathaway was saddled with in “Brokeback Mountain”). Another episode takes place in the ‘70s, when Tim visits a drug-addled Hawk on Fire Island and rescues him from a midlife crisis.

But the show is strongest (and gives over most of its running time) to the portions set in the ‘50s, when Hawk’s Don Draper swagger and Tim’s boyish infatuation first collide.

Their relationship is defined by this uneven power dynamic. Earnest and wide-eyed, it takes Tim a surprisingly long time to become disgusted enough by McCarthy to quit his job. Hawk is older and he’s an operator. He christens his lover with the diminutive nickname “Skippy” and I cringed every time.

Their clandestine affair plays on this imbalance. “Who do you belong to?” Hawk implores mid-coitus and you can interpret that as kink, or maybe a deeper reflection of his obsessive need to be in control at all times.

The sex, on the scale of TV explicitness, is akin to what “Queer as Folk” was doing two decades ago, with a variety of positions and orgasms to be had. Some of it furtive and in public restrooms. Some of it in the relaxed setting of a private home. The washboard abs strike me as anachronistic — even Rock Hudson at his peak didn’t have the gym-enhanced physique of these fictional desk jockeys — but I doubt anyone is complaining. The show’s wigs are another matter.

The series is occasionally too mannered and presentational for its own good, but there’s real heat and chemistry between Bomer (“White Collar”) and Bailey (“Bridgerton”), who play around with this push-pull dynamic in interesting ways. Both Hawk and Tim are driven by restless desires. For carnal pleasures, but also proximity to power and influence. To make a difference. To find meaning.

It’s a story both intimate and not, and that largely comes down to the limitations embodied by a character like Hawk, who keeps everyone at arm’s length, lest he be found out. His most emotionally honest moment comes when he tells off his Waspy father on the guy’s deathbed. The elder Fuller has held a grudge ever since walking in on one of his son’s entanglements. You shoulda knocked, Hawk shrugs before turning heel, unmoved by the old man’s indignant demand for an apology.

Is television the ideal medium for novels? You’d think so, with episodes functioning like chapters of a book. There have been a raft of adaptations in recent weeks, from “Lessons in Chemistry” to “The Other Black Girl” to the forthcoming “Black Cake,” but I’m not convinced this is always the best format. Sometimes the extra running time just means more scenes. You don’t learn or feel more about the characters, or the world they inhabit.

That’s true of “Fellow Travelers.”

It’s mostly worth the journey anyway.

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‘FELLOW TRAVELERS’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: 9 p.m. ET Sundays on Showtime (and streaming on Paramount+)

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©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SANTA CLARA – Here is how the 49ers (5-3) graded in Sunday’s 31-17 home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals (4-3):

PASS OFFENSE: D

Interceptions on back-to-back throws ruined the 49ers’ comeback bid, even if Brock Purdy did rally for a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey. Interception No. 1 was the death knell, for it came on first-and-goal from the 8 and it came about because of a failed handoff between Purdy and … Elijah Mitchell? McCaffrey (NFL TD leader) had gone in motion as a lead blocker (??) and Mitchell ended up being Purdy’s desperate target on a pass that 6-foot-3 Germaine Pratt snared at the 10-yard line. The 49ers still had a full quarter to rally, but Purdy’s next pass also was intercepted on a play he said he did not see clearly, citing a schematic issue rather than a lingering effect of last game’s concussion symptoms. Purdy threw for a career-high 365 yards (22-of-31), making especially nice completions to George Kittle (nine catches, 149 yards), Brandon Aiyuk (5-109) and McCaffrey (6-64). He was sacked twice but had to scramble more than ever out of trouble (six runs, 57 yards). Left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Deebo Samuel have been irreplaceable, and three straight games of 17 points show that.

RUN OFFENSE: D

McCaffrey’s 2-yard touchdown run on the second series tied an NFL record as he scored in a 17th straight game. But he finished with just 54 yards and just 12 carries. Purdy’s 59 yards inflated their team total to 113 yards. A botched handoff near the goal line is inexcusable and it led to Purdy’s disastrous interception. Over the three-game skid, the 49ers have managed 25, 22 and 23 carries. Their outside zone runs are not working. Lanes are not opening up on the inside, including in short-yardage situations. When Williams was at left tackle, the 49ers were wonderfully imbalanced by running his way with success. Now, it looks like an average offense.

PASS DEFENSE: F

Credit to Joe Burrow for lighting them up in the first half (19 consecutive completions) and throwing three touchdown passes, two of which were over cornerback Isaiah Oliver, who proved a much better defender in run stops. The four-man pass rush is feeble, something Nick Bosa tried to fix by playing almost every meaningful snap but only producing a shared sack with Clelin Ferrell. Arik Armstead came through with two sacks. And then? Javon Hargrave isn’t making the desired impact. If the 49ers are compelled to make a trade for a defensive end, Drake Jackson would be the odd man out for his lack of production. With the soft zone coverage, the 49ers were a bend-don’t-break bunch. On cornerback Charvarius Ward’s two pass breakups, one saw him force what initially looked like a fumble (replay ruled it an incompletion) and another saw him break up a throw to Ja’Marr Chase, only to draw a pass-interference penalty on a duplicate throw the next snap.

RUN DEFENSE: D

Joe Mixon came within 13 yards of becoming the first 100-yard rusher in 35 games against the 49ers. Mixon’s first carry gashed the 49ers for a 20-yard gain to the 11-yard line on their opening touchdown drive. Burrow had a 20-yard run himself (six carries, 43 yards). “Our tackling was extremely sloppy today, especially in the first half,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “We tackled better in the second half, but yeah, there was too much space.” Often looking lost in space was Dre Greenlaw. Fellow linebacker Fred Warner noted that the 49ers’ tackling is an issue when it hasn’t been in the past, adding: “We’ve got to be more hunt to the football at all three levels. There’s got to be more penalty-free football.”

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

This sequence shouldn’t be overlooked: 49ers tie the score at 7, then allow a 41-yard kick return that sparks another Bengals touchdown drive, followed by Ray-Ray McCloud’s decision to return the ensuing kickoff from the end zone, reaching just the 14-yard line. The only time the 49ers’ starting field position was better than their 25-yard line was when they got the ball at the 40 after a missed Bengals field goal. Mitch Wishnowsky hammered 60- and 62-yard punts in the first half, then his only other punt resulted in a fair catch at the 19-yard line on the 49ers’ opening series after halftime. Jake Moody, on a windy day, made all his kicks (36-yard field goal, two point-after tries).