Pants Rowland

This may sound naive, but is it possible that Rodon/Boras had an off the record conversation with Hahn advising they would reject the QO? Meanwhile, there is at least one other Boras client the Sox are pursuing, and as a show of good will, Hahn decided not to exercise the QO on Rodon? It allows Rodon to negotiate unencumbered, still possibly returning to Chicago if the numbers are right, and maybe gets the Sox last look favors on a hotly sought after Boras FA. I suspect such horse trading has diminished in MLB over the years, but that type of stuff still goes on in the business world even at some of the highest levels.

I see two plausible scenarios: Players like/love him and he is a good clubhouse manager Players do not like/love him but we all need to protect our careers so they toe the company line I think the overall clubhouse tends toward the former, less because they spoke positively about TLR, but more because of the enthusiasm of their comments. We all have worked with people who bend over backwards to please the boss and shower him/her with compliments and flowery language. I doubt that is TA, and I doubt even Burr would be so emphatic about running through walls if he didn't mean it. What I saw in the failures against Houston was that TLR is not a great strategist. I think the knocks we read here about pitching decisions and shifts are merited even if he sometimes makes sound choices (ie Game 3). However, the bigger failure I saw though was organizational (and possibly just indicative of a talented but inexperienced team). Houston seems to produce smarter ballplayers. They hold runners on better. They take every extra base. They play tighter defense, stealing a hit or two (and likely runs) every game. They know how to spoil off pitches and wear out your starters until they tire or give in and throw a hittable pitch. I assume a lot of this is taught by their staff from low A ball on up. I am not sure the same goes for the Sox.

I don't care how the Astros feel but I do think the comments and chants strengthen their resolve if it does anything. The point I was making is you can frequently spot the team that lost or is destined to lose once they start whining about things that don't go their way. To me championship teams make plays, not excuses.

I did not want to pile on in my assessment of yesterday, but the up and down/in and out made for a tough viewing experience as well. Maybe I'm just a grouchy old man and need to stick to regular season games, but goading everyone to stand up and cheer every two strike pitch seems excessive to me. I also agree very few follow the old unwritten rule of leaving/returning to your seat between innings, with minimal exception. To be fair, I do sometimes try to time it quickly after an at bat ends, but the mid-pitch stuff is ridiculous.

I'm still here, baby! In other news, I was at the game yesterday with my 13 year old son. While I try to give the fans credit for doing their best to fire up the team, overall I found the atmosphere to be pretty edgy and angry even before things fell apart on the field. People were hitting the sauce all the way up to the security gates and chanting off color stuff that was cringeworthy. Once inside the stadium, all the chanting (aka whining) about the Astros being cheaters was also over the top and the mark of a loser, in my opinion. I have followed the Sox as my team since I was a little kid and am not about to switch now as I approach my 5th decade as a fan. However, it is tough for me to identify with a lot of the drunken angry riff raff that I saw there yesterday.

Fixed that for you. Well done, though!

Thank you. Was scratching my head at a man with Dusty's life experience quoting a Brit who covered an American blues roots classic.

Thank God that fan brought his magic cane to the park tonight.

I know my priorities are a bit out of whack here, but a friend in the White Sox organization asked me this morning to help get Southpaw into the Mascot Hall of Fame (http://mascothalloffame.com/thevote/). If you are not still bitter at the way the Sox mistreated Andy the Clown and unceremoniously retired both Ribbie AND Rubarb, please take a moment to vote for our green furry...um friend. Feel free to write in other overlooked greats like the San Diego Chicken and Chewbacca. If you'd like to learn more, here are some additional links: https://whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/southpaw-nominated-for-induction-into-the-mascot-hall-of-fame-3c9dd18e833d https://mascothalloffame.com/mascots/mascot-induction-process

Sorry if someone already discussed this, but if the eventual wild card team beats the Rays in the ALDS and has a better regular season record than their division winning ALCS opponent, which team gets home field advantage?

Sure but if the scouting report isn't complete on Romy yet and he can be sneak in a few key hits in the playoffs, I'm all for it.

I typically couldn't care less about the Cubs and their fans. However, they have a ton of casual followers and sometimes it's tough not to roll my eyes at the dumb random baseball "trivia" they regurgitate. It's a lot like the silly stuff on the jumbotron at Sox Park. It sounds intelligent but it's really useless and meaningless. Len tends to cite crap like that too often. But I digress. Len is fine on TV but TA's walkoff notwithstanding, he is a pretty mediocre radio play by play man. Way better than Conner McKnight but both of them have a bad habit of tripping over their tongue before telling you what happened. Too often you don't know if it's a strike/ball, flyout/HR, or a pop foul is playable or not. until well after the play ends. The best guys get to the point quickly and then fill in the blanks. I think Len does a lousy job of it.

He's brutal but I will say I'll take him over Len Kasper any day. There is something about Len on the radio that really pisses me off. The order of information and the way he delivers it sucks in my opinion. He also quotes stupid stats about random immaterial things happening in unison for the first time in 106 years. It's that dumb stuff that appeals to Cub fans.

That's what good managers do.

Jeff Healey too.

I have not read the article yet, but I have noticed what appears to be a high percentage of young Sox position player callups making an immediate positive impact this year. I can not recall anything like it in my 40 years of watching the Sox, even during the Himes era. It is like the 2000s Twins the way every random dude comes up and contributes. It may be all drafting and good trades, but I am curious if Chris Getz also has played a significant role in his revamp of the player development side of the organization. We seem to be producing better all around ballplayers and not just the good body natural athlete guys that flopped here (and sometimes found success elsewhere after struggles) in the past.

here comes the bunt....

Has anyone asked the question if Tony instructed Yermin to get up there and swing early in the count? In other words, if the unwritten rule/missed sign was to take on 3-0, was Yermin also ignoring instructions to swing 0-0, 1-0, and possibly 2-0? I only ask because I can sort of see Tony's point if you are supposed to just get up there and swing to keep the game moving. That actually makes sense. It's 15-4 kid, stop waiting for the perfect pitch and just swing the bat. If you are just cherry picking and then unleash the fury at 3-0, I can get why it is a take situation. And for the record, I do not agree with how TLR handled much of the situation and think the Twins are whiney punks.

Since about 2001, the Minnesota Twins franchise has had no problem piling on the Sox at every opportunity. They also were more than happy to manipulate the airflow to their own benefit in that oversized indoor mall they used to occupy. On top of that, there's nary a Sox-Twins series I will watch without thinking of Torii Hunter intentionally plowing over Jamie Burke and causing hearing damage on a play that anyone could see was totally unnecessary to score a run. With all due respect, their announcers can go fuck themselves.

The best part was when he blamed his teammates for his bad performances.

Better to get a west coast trip full of night games out of the way early when they are coming from AZ rather than in the mid-season grind. It sucks, but will be over shortly.

I may be off base, but just this afternoon, I told my buddy that Eloy is our version of Schwarber. I am not sure Eloy will ever be more valuable than he is today.

Where is the option to trade him and all that he promises to be for as big of a haul as possible. The guy is clearly an idiot and doesn't learn his lesson out there. I know how promising his bat looks, but I'd trade him at the deadline (assuming he's not injured) for a dominant starter on a short term contract and some low level high upside lottery tickets.

He sucked as a manager, but I'm amazed that everyone is just ignoring Ventura from consideration here. My vote goes to Buerhle, but Ventura really was the clear #2 on a those competitive teams of the early to mid-90s. He definitely merits recognition in this conversation as much, if not moreso than Konerko.

After losing loved one, you still have moments in the ensuing years where some news breaks and you have that urge to pick up the phone and call them. Then reality rears its head and snuffs out your excitement. Those moments fade over time but when I saw the news about Dick Allen today, I briefly thought to call my late father who was a fan. RIP Dick Allen.