Lip Man 1

As I've said before and it depends on your definition of "consistently" I guess, they simply don't have the pitching to rip off six or eight game win streaks.

I hope when the Sox play Detroit they will be as happy to piss away big leads like they did today TWICE to Cleveland. Unbelievable. Lead is down to 2 1/2 games. Sox are going to have to keep winning games because I don't think they are going to be able to put these guys away. Cleveland is like Dracula, they simply refuse to die.

A month after the trade deadline, White Sox's additions haven't added upBy JIM MARGALUS It's never a good sign for a trade deadline haul when a team might've been better off making zero trades than the four that went through. Or that the most productive player of those four was hurt in his third game, and might not be available the rest of the season. As James wrote in the wake of the trade deadline, Chris Getz tried to balance immediate and longer-term interests by acquiring players -- Luis Castillo for the rotation, Huascar Brazobán for the bullpen, Joey Bart for catching, Brenton Doyle in the outfield -- who addressed 2026 needs without being pure rentals, but with a prospect cost the team could tolerate. The White Sox tried to thread the needle, but one month after the deadline, they've instead poked themselves in the eye with it. It's hard to say it could be going much worse. Castillo was brought aboard to settle a rotation spot, but he's failed to complete five innings in five of his six starts, including six runs over four innings in the loss to Houston on Thursday. Even with his seven scoreless against the Cincinnati Reds included, he has a 7.52 ERA with the White Sox, and opponents are hitting .325/.379/.605. Brazobán came to the White Sox having limited hits, walks and homers with the Mets. All three immediately took a turn in the wrong direction after coming to Chicago, and now he's working his way back from a lat strain that sent him to the IL. Doyle has popped a couple of homers in Chicago, giving him one more than he hit for the Rockies, but his lack of a plate approach has become his defining characteristic. It's not just that he's yet to draw a walk with the White Sox, he's seldom seeing a ball these days. He's 0-for-6 with four strikeouts over his last three games, and 14 of the 15 pitches he's seen have been strikes. That leaves Bart, who went 0-for-6 with a walk and four strikeouts over nine plate appearances before a pitch to the hand resulted in a broken finger. That at least allowed the White Sox to claim Jake Rogers when the opportunity presented itself, and while Rogers is just 4-for-30, one of those hits was a very cool walk-off homer. The best thing you could say about Getz's half-in deadline moves was that he left himself options. Those options are literal in the case of Brazobán and Doyle, both of whom can be sent down. Bart couldn't have been so freely moved from the roster, but it only cost a DFA'd player to acquire him, and Teel's return offered the a natural opportunity for revisiting the position regardless of how Bart fared. Castillo is the exception, and an increasingly awkward one due to the cost.

"That's the way we roll..." - Ozzie Guillen

Hope you are right.

Hawkins used to come out of a coffin on stage at his concerts reprising Dracula.

Today could swing the standings in a significant way. Cleveland plays a double header with Detroit while the Sox have the Twins. Looking at the pitching match ups for this weekend gave me pause. Matthews has pitched very well his last three starts. Also don't like the Saturday one either. This weekend isn't going to be easy especially given the issues on offense the last six games. Fingers crossed they can figure things out. Next nine games against mediocre teams are going to be important with that series in Cleveland just around the bend.

Six factoids today: September 4, 1937 – Sox outfielder Mike Kreevich tied the Major League record by hitting four doubles in a 9-1 win over the Tigers at Tiger Stadium. He went 4 for 6, with three runs scored and an RBI. Three of his four doubles came off Detroit starting pitcher Tommy Bridges. September 4, 1960 - A viral infection knocked Nellie Fox out of the line-up for the first time since August of 1955 in the first game of a double header at home against Detroit. Fox was replaced by Billy Goodman. Nellie played in 798 consecutive games, still the White Sox record, and 1,072 out of 1,073. September 4, 1961 – It was a strange start to a good Sox career for pitcher Joe Horlen. Horlen entered the game in Minnesota wearing a blank jersey. That’s right…no name, no number, on the back! As Horlen was warming up, Twins manager and former Sox outfielder Sam Mele came out to talk to the umpire basically wondering who that kid was on the mound! Only one other time in Major League history has this ever happened as the Reds Eric Davis suffered the same fate on May 19, 1984. Joe allowed two hits in four innings of work and got the win in the 9-5 decision. An unusual Major League debut! September 4, 1970 – It was one of the key dates in franchise history as Roland Hemond was hired as player personnel director to rebuild the franchise. The club would lose a team record 106 games in 1970. The very next year they would improve by 23 games from 56 to 79 wins and by 1972 would be a legitimate title contender. Hemond would eventually become G.M. and stay with the team initially through 1985. Also coming along as new field manager was Chuck Tanner who’d be named Manager of the Year in 1972. Both men came to Chicago from the Angels organization where they had worked together for a number of years. September 4, 1995 - Robin Ventura hit a pair of grand slams in a 14-3 win over Texas. He was the eighth player in history at the time to hit a pair in one game. His eight RBI’s tied the franchise record. His home runs came in the fourth and fifth inning and he also had a double in the contest giving him 10 total bases for the night. September 4, 2016 – In a wild slugfest in Minnesota, won by the Sox 13-11, first baseman Jose Abreu drove in seven RBI’s. Jose had a pair of three run home runs in the game along with an RBI single. The home runs came in the first and seventh innings. The seven RBI’s are one off the franchise record for a single game.

I'll be curious how history eventually judges the "worst" trade: Shields for Tatis or Castillo for Boston

Almost a certainty given JR's philosophy on pitchers contracts.

“He's here to help us and ultimately his job is not to go out there and throw six scoreless innings,” Venable said. “He needs to give us a chance to win. And there's been a couple in which we haven't been able to get there. We have confidence in him. We're going to continue to support him. We're going to continue to work.”

Maybe given how the minor leagues produced under his watch he never should have gotten the job in the first place. But it's JR so..........

That certainly is playing a major factor.

Venable today said the team "still has confidence" in him and told him that when they talked after the game today. 😁

And it must have been justified given the chaos in the locker room. the controversies regarding challenging calls, the Sale/Eaton comments, the entire LaRoche and his kid embarrassment. And by the end of his tenure it was clear he didn't even want to be there.

We better hope Philadelphia and Tampa put the wood to Houston or that #2 seed may vanish pretty quickly.

Fegan's postgame story: Chicago Sun-TimesWhite Sox remain confident in Luis Castillo and Munetaka...Castillo has a 7.52 ERA in a White Sox uniform, Murakami has a 38.4% strikeout rate since Aug. 1, but both remain critical to the team's success

Or JR laid down certain requirements.

Getz normally meets the media the first game of a homestand. Can't wait to hear/read what he has to say now! 😄

Sox ballpark shooting to go to trial in January: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/03/white-sox-bleachers-shooting-trial/

*Castillo got just five swinging strikes on 78 pitches, and only 12 called strikes. Few pitches made it home.

Never underestimate the stupidity of this organization. NEVER!

WELL DONE!

It is kinda strange unless the Sox simply don't think he can do the job.