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I woke up in the middle of the night and saw a Google notification saying the Sox won 4-3. I didn't know they lost (in another walk-off) until I came to SoxTalk. Sucks, but I'm less concerned about losing to the Cubs than their record against the AL Central. That being said, they really need to win today.

Gotta score some runs!

Newcomb vs. Holmes. Unclear if they are calling anyone up to eat some innings today (Thorpe is today’s SP for Charlotte) or if they plan to just go with Urquidy as the bulk guy. Regardless, no pep talk from me today. The Sox’s offense needs to step up big and take some pressure off of a beaten down pitching it. That’s it…that’s the entire plan. Three or four runs won’t be enough, so score early and score often. Let’s fucking go!

I said his max pitches thrown were 75 last start. He’s continued to go up in pitch count each start and I’d expect that to continue until he reaches about 100.

2 walkoff losses in a row sucks. Find a way to win this afternoon and split the season series and stay up 4 games in the division. Let's start by not giving up 2 home runs in the 1st.

No rest, we have the makeup game against the Braves on Thursday. Next off day is Aug. 27.

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Even if he is, he might be our last hope at this point. Running out of viable starters. He’s schedule to start today so hopefully he has another good outing.

Getz should have traded Bonemer. He probably has no place on the roster next year, especially if Roch comes up.

This is starting to sound a bit strange… NBC NewsHayden Panettiere’s ex-boyfriend was at scene when she di...Brian Hickerson, the actor’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, didn’t become visibly emotional until EMS declared Panettiere dead Sunday, according to a police incident report.

I know losing back to back walk off games to the Cubs hurts but some of the negativity on here is a bit OTT. The team are 5 games over and 4 games in the lead in the central. All season they have shown fight against the top teams, yes they have often just fallen short against these top teams, but even in these last 2 games they were right in there until the end which is a massive improvement on the last few seasons. Only a few days ago they were sweeping the Tigers and everything was good. Yes there are concerns over the strength of the pitching and whether they will run out of gas but I think the positives of this season far outweigh any negatives and if they qualify for post season they will have far outperformed any but the wildest expectations.

Even this year, Cubs lost the first crosstown and it started a 9L for them. But this Sox team has shrugged off worse than a couple close losses.

Sox are fortunate that the Central is a weak division, so you may be able to win it with a .500 record coming in. If we want to make the playoffs, we will need to win the division. Wild card for the Central would be more difficult.

Please point me to when otherwise good White Sox teams have gone into a tailspin after getting beat by the Cubs? 2008? 2005? 2012 (pretty sure the cubs took 2 of 3 in June from us)? Those teams that went into a tailspin were crap to begin with. If anything it's the cubs who have nose dived after getting beat by the Sox (anyone remember 99?)

Newcomb opening tomorrow. Truly hate this, hated it when we did it earlier in the year. Who pitches at the end of the game if we need it? Just let the guy who starts be the starter

Great post! Given the conditions, the offense is to blame for these two loses. Vargas has been really bad in these two games, as has Chase (at the plate).

Castillo threw a masterpiece against the Reds. He was the victim of bad luck in his other two starts. Nobody could have predicted Bart would have gotten hurt on a freak hit by pitch. Brazoban was very good leading up to this Tigers series. Clearly something mechanical is going on because I watched him a lot with the Mets and he was one of their best relievers. I'll give you Doyle, although he has shown flashes of brilliance. And at the very least, his arrival has coincided with Peter's finding his stroke at the plate.

The pen always takes the heat, but not every game you lose late is fully on them. Cubs have been held to 2 or fewer runs at home only 4 times all season, Wrigley just has not been the place for even the best and freshest arms to try ekeing out a 3-2 win. They needed to get more than 3 runs out of 10 hits + a few walks. But the Sox have certainly been burned by an especially taxing run of incidents with the Martin rainout, Schultz 1 inning start, Martin ejection/blister, some extra innings games, and the loss of Thurday's off day (which I imagine impacted strategy for this series) all happening in quick succession on top of the expected workload concerns.

This team has more limitations than our record shows and we are still playing well and competing with the tops team in the league every time we face them. We have overachieved by a lot, nobody on this board or who is a fan of this team thought in a million years we would be 5 games above .500 and in 1st place on August 19th. Venable has questionable decisions just like every manager even ones with All star rosters.

If we continue on that pace, we make the playoffs.

As much as the Cubs and their ownership get crap for being cheap and never truly “going for it”, their front office identified their extreme need for starting pitching due to injuries and lack of performance better than Getz did and they acquired four starters prior to the deadline. Peterson Civale (being used in bullpen but was starting for A’s) Gausman Holmes Getz needed two starters at a minimum and only acquired one. They didn’t really need a CF that swings a wet newspaper.

They have? Anyways, can’t really ask for a worse scenario tomorrow than Holmes and his sinker ball against Urquidy, a fly ball pitcher.

Exactly. Getz is a farm league guru of sorts but has no business dealing in trades with real mlb general managers even though he “may” get one right every once in a while.

Four factoids today: August 19, 1930 - The White Sox sent 20,000 thousand dollars along with outfielder Doug Taitt to the Cubs in return for minor league shortstop Luke Appling. The deal was engineered by the front office’s Milt Stock who was future Sox manager Eddie Stanky’s father-in-law. Appling would go on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Sox winning batting titles in 1936 and 1943. That season of 1936 would also find him driving in 128 RBI’s. His 20-year career would see him collect 2,749 hits. August 19, 1953 – Sox star left hander Billy Pierce’s run of almost 40 consecutive shutout innings ended at home against the Browns when former Sox outfielder and Pierce teammate, Don Lenhardt got an RBI double in the sixth inning of a game eventually the Sox lost 4-3 in 10 innings. Pierce’s streak started with a complete game shutout in Washington on August 3. He’d have three complete game shutouts in the streak along with two relief appearances covering almost eight innings. He’d have four wins and a save in the run allowing only 18 hits with 30 strikeouts. That year Billy went 18-12 with a 2.72 ERA. August 19, 1970 - The White Sox set the franchise record for most runs ever scored in the ninth inning of a game when they got 11 runs in Boston. Earlier in the year the Sox scored 22 runs at Fenway Park and on this day the 11 runs turned a loss into a 13-5 win for pitcher Wilbur Wood. The 11 runs were scored without the benefit of a single home run as 16 men batted in the inning. There were 10 Sox hits, an intentional walk and two Boston errors in it. August 19, 1983 – In a double header in Arlington against the Rangers the Sox had already won the first game 3-2 in 10 innings. They were leading in the nightcap 3-1 in the seventh inning when an unusual occurrence happened. Left fielder Jerry Hairston came up with the bases loaded and hit a deep drive to center field that was caught by George Wright. Vance Law scored easily but Julio Cruz kept right on going from second base and also scored. That was a pair of RBI’s credited to Hairston on the play! In the postgame comments Cruz said he “Dreamed of doing that all my life” which indicated that it wasn’t so much an outfield misplay or stumble but Cruz simply outrunning relay throws. The Sox would sweep the twin-bill taking the second game 6-1.

Fair point, they are saved for wont of a better word by being in a crap division. But at some point the pitching staff has got to break down and that's been happening as I posted especially in the late innings, four times in the last 12 games they've blown and lost the lead. They've been resorting to bullpen games in three of the last six games, soon to be four of seven Wednesday because they literally have only three starting pitchers right now they can count on (maybe). That's not good. Even a guy like Hudson who had a great first half has been brutal since the All-Star Break. And like Fathom posted the minor leagues don't look like they are going to produce any 'saviors'. I understand Shane Smith had another bad game for example. This division hasn't been won yet...not even close. The schedule eases up (on paper) but these guys may be so beat up and worn out it may not matter. We'll see.