Lip Man 1

I'm tired of this as well but nothing is going to change until JR is gone, you know it, I know it and most importantly JR knows it. He is not going to change his philosophy of "fiscal responsibility" (his words...) So as Kenny once said, "It is what it is..."

Well I just saw this in the Sun-Times regarding Shane Smith: "In three starts with the Knights, Smith is 1-0 with a 6.17 ERA. In 11⅔ innings, he has allowed eight runs and eight hits with six walks and 15 strikeouts. He also has hit five batters." Story said the Sox are saying they have no timetable for Smith's return.

3rd time this year the Sox trailed going into the 7th inning or later and won. But they never make it easy do they? When you have a bad bullpen and mediocre fielding/defense that is what you get. Also Kay isn't doing himself any favors for future employment.

A good broadcaster enhances the viewing or listening experience and helps connect fans to the team. A poor, bad, mediocre one does more damage in these areas than you might think.

I get your point but it was against Washington not Arizona.

Awful AnnouncingJason Benetti hailed for 'redefining' broadcastingBrodcasters includingJoe Buck and Ian Eagle praise Jason Benetti after Benetti's ascension to the lead broadcast role for MLB on NBC.

Four factoids today: April 27, 1902 -In a 9-0 whitewashing of the St. Louis Blues, leadoff hitter Sammy Strang played the full game with no official at-bats. That anomaly occurred due to a record-setting five walks in the game. Strang became the first of just six White Sox hitters ever to walk five times in a game (the feat, in fact, would not be duplicated until “Minnie” Minoso in 1956). And despite intentional walks not being an official statistic back in 1902, it’s unlikely that the leadoff hitter in a rout would be issued one; thus Strang became one of just three White Sox (Minoso, Tony Muser) with five unintentional walks in a game. Strang added a steal and scored three runs in the win. April 27, 1930 - One of the most bizarre individual stats you’ll ever see occurred on this date. In a 2-1 Sox win at St. Louis, first baseman John “Bud” Clancy recorded no putouts and no assists in the nine-inning game. His feat has been matched only one other time, by the A’s Gene Tenace. In the game the Sox infield, other than Clancy, recorded 11 put outs and two assists, the outfield seven put outs, the catcher eight put outs and an assist and the pitcher a put out. Clancy later played for the Dodgers and the Phillies. April 27, 2000 - Jose Valentin produced the extremely rare ‘natural cycle’ against the Orioles at Comiskey Park. He singled in the first inning, doubled in the second, tripled in the third and homered in the eighth inning. The Sox would win this one easily 13-4. Valentin scored twice and had five RBI’s in the game. A ‘natural cycle’ has only taken place 15 times in baseball history. April 27, 2014 - Jose Abreu drove in four runs in a 9-2 triumph against Tampa Bay, setting the all-time record for rookie RBIs in April (31). He hit his 10th homer in the sixth, off of David Price, and had a two-run single the next inning. Albert Pujols had held the record previously, with 27 RBIs. Abreu had already set the all-time rookie mark for home runs in April, and his clout off of Price merely extended the record.

When they get good pitching, they can't hit... When they hit and score runs the pitching falls apart... Such is the life of a bad franchise. Have now lost eight of their last nine home games.

Four factoids today: April 26, 1925 - The Sox forfeited a game to the Indians. It happened in front of a Comiskey Park record crowd of 44,000 fans. Some were actually on the field because there was no more room in the stands. With the Sox losing 7-2 in the ninth inning, many fans stormed the field thinking the game was over after a close play at first. It wasn’t, as the runner was safe because of an error on the first baseman and there were only two outs. Order was never restored and a forfeit was declared. For the record the final score went down as a 9-0 Indians win. April 26, 1942 - It doesn’t happen often, but when it does you want to hide: In a 3-2 loss to Cleveland at Comiskey Park, the White Sox batted out of order. Per details via Retrosheet, there was a discrepancy between the submitted lineup to the scorer and the official batting order handed to the umpires (Harry “Bud” Sketchley batting sixth, Bob Kennedy seventh) Kennedy, batting out of order, supplied the third out in the second inning. In the third inning, before Sketchley took his turn at bat, manager Jimmy Dykes ran out to umpire Steve Basil and told him that Sketchley was not the proper batter. Sketchley sat and Tom Turner batted since he was listed after Kennedy. The Indians thought (and the scoreboard showed) that Sketchley was called out for batting out of turn, which was not the case since the Pale Hose successfully changed to Turner before Sketchley completed his turn at the plate. Turner doubled to left center and eventually scored. When the second out was recorded in the inning and the Indians saw they needed one more, Cleveland manager Lou Boudreau argued and then protested the game. Boudreau, after winning the game anyway, dropped his protest. April 26, 1972 – With a thrilling, 7-5, walk-off win over Cleveland, the White Sox completed a 7-0 homestand for just the second time in franchise history. The club rallied to tie with four runs in the seventh, then traded runs in the eighth and ninth, before Dick Allen crushed a two-run homer to left field for the win in the 10th inning. It was Allen’s third home run of what would end up as his M.V.P. season. The win also moved the upstart White Sox into first place for the first time in 1972. The White Sox had a prior 7-0 homestand in 1965, and subsequent ones in 1983, 2000, 2008 and 2010. There has never been a perfect homestand (or road trip) in team history better than 7-0. April 26, 2019 – It was one of the wildest games in team history as the White Sox beat the Tigers in come from behind fashion 12-11 at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Sox trailed 8-1 and 9-2 at various points in the game before making a major comeback to win it. The Sox thought they had a 12-10 lead after Jose Abreu hit what was believed to be a three-run home run in the seventh inning, however his towering drive caused Tim Anderson at first base to hesitate before running and Abreu momentarily passed him on the bases. A three-run home run became a two-run single, an 11-10 lead and an out for Jose. After Detroit tied the game, Anderson then hit a slider into the seats, off Joe Jimenez, to win it in walk-off fashion in the last of the ninth inning.

This has been going on for years and JR doesn't seem to have a problem with it. But lay out big money for a Machado or Harper? No can do.

Don't know what to think about Leasure anymore. It's just not working for him. To bad because they had a very nice crowd today.

Four factoids today: April 25, 1951 - Sox slugger Eddie Robinson hit the first rooftop home run by a Sox player at the original Comiskey Park. Robinson’s blast was off the Browns Al Widmar in the third inning. The Sox won the game 8-6. Robinson hit 29 home runs that year and drove in 117 RBI’s as the Sox went 81-73-1. He would live to the ripe old age of 101! April 25, 2004 – Coming over from the Bulls organization, Brooks Boyer was named vice president of marketing, replacing the taciturn and aloof Rob Gallas. Boyer immediately instituted a series of great ad campaigns including “Sox Pride,” “Win or Die Trying,” “Us vs. Them” and “Change the Game” over the years that keyed interest, tweaked the Cubs directly and generated excitement among the fan base. Things have taken a turn since those early salad days, including running popular play-by-play man, lifelong White Sox fan and Chicago native Jason Benetti into the arms of division rival Detroit. April 25, 2014 – It was the first big moment in what would be a long and stellar White Sox career for Jose Abreu. The Cuban native smashed a two out ‘walk off’ grand slam off Grant Balfour to beat the Rays 9-6. Abreu would cap off his rookie season by garnering the American League Rookie of the Year award from both The Sporting News and The Baseball Writers Association of America for blasting 36 home runs, with 35 doubles, 80 runs scored, 107 RBI’s, hitting .317 and leading the league in slugging percentage at .581 April 25, 2016 – Relief pitcher Matt Albers threw his 30th consecutive scoreless outing breaking the team record set by Jesse Crain. The record dated back to August 5, 2015 and spanned 33 innings. Albers’ streak would end that weekend in Baltimore on April 30 when two unearned runs would cross the plate that was charged to him because of a two-out error by Jose Abreu.

2nd time this year the Sox trailed in the 7th inning or later and won. Fedde didn't get a lot of help from his defense but the four walks didn't help his cause either. Leasure bitten by the long ball again. I think he has very good stuff but somehow it keeps getting hit. 7th straight game they scored at least four runs. You take the win and say thank you.

Not taking anything away from Nolan one tough SOB but it didn't hurt that Rodriguez had Robin's arms pinned.

And the Yankees then perfected it.

Very true.

Four factoids today: April 24, 1901 - The White Sox played their first regular season game as part of the officially recognized American League. In fact, it was the first game ever played in the league overall because of rain outs in other cities. They beat the Cleveland Blues 8-2. Outfielder William “Dummy” Hoy got the first White Sox at bat. Fred Hartman’s hit scored the first two runs for the Sox in American League history. Hoy was a deaf-mute and in order for him to understand what the umpires were calling; the arbitrators came up with a series of hand signals indicating safe/out/ball/strike. The ceremonial first ball by the way, was supposed to be thrown out by Robert Burke, special counsel to the mayor. He declined however, stating that he was afraid the ball might get hit back to him. (True story!) Hoyt by the way, actually preferred being called “Dummy” instead of his first name. April 24, 1955 - In a game at Kansas City, Sox starter Dick Donovan was hit early and often and when manager Marty Marion came out to take the ball from him, Donovan, showing his competitive spirit and concerned about a possible return trip to the minors, refused to give it to him! Marion had to reassure Dick that he’d stay a part of the rotation before Donovan would turn the ball over and leave the field. That season he’d win 13 of 17 decisions with an ERA of 2.70 before an emergency appendectomy felled him in late July. That injury may have cost the Sox the pennant as Donovan wasn’t the same after the surgery. The Sox finished in third place, five games behind the Yankees at 91-63-1. April 24, 1994 - Back-to-back home runs don’t happen often…but how about back-to-back home runs twice in the same game…and both times hit by the same two players? In a home game against the Tigers the rare occurrence took place. The White Sox No. 4 and 5 hitters, Julio Franco and Robin Ventura, were the men responsible. In the bottom of the sixth, tied 3-3, Franco led off with a homer to deep right field, and Ventura repeated the act. In the eighth, down 6-4, Franco again led off with a solo shot, and Ventura tied the game with a homer. April 24, 2010 - With a 7-11 record, it was still far from a magical season. But the White Sox accomplished something that had never happened before in their history: walk-off home runs on back-to-back days. In this game, Alex Ríos clocked a two-out walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Mariners and former Sox pitcher David Aardsma, 5-4. The Seattle reliever completely melted down in the ninth, entering up 4-2 and giving up a one-out home run to Paul Konerko to move the White Sox closer. An A.J. Pierzynski fly out and Carlos Quentin walk later; the stage was set for Ríos’ record-setter. On April 23, it was Andruw Jones who achieved the feat, clocking a full-count, two-out pitch out for a 7-6 White Sox win in front of 24,653 happy fans. Now, this was NOT the first time the White Sox had won consecutive games on walk-off homers, but the previous time, the wins came on the same day. J.C. Martin and Ken Berry upended Cleveland with game-ending homers on July 25, 1967.

The odds are very good they'll never win another championship that I'll be alive to see it.

Depends on how bad the hamstring may be hurt. Teel for example was supposed to be back in 4-6 weeks. He's not even scheduled to go on a rehab assignment yet.

Sox Machine comments on the move: "Whenever Davis does pitch, he will be the 39th player utilized by the White Sox this season, and the 17th relief pitcher (Reese McGuire doesn't count). One wonders how much Chris Getz and Co. are watching what Peyton Pallette is doing with Cleveland and wondering if they made this way too hard on themselves. If you haven't been watching Pallette, he just picked up his first career victory with a scoreless eighth inning against Houston on Tuesday. It wasn't in the typical leverage situation that "victory with a scoreless eighth inning" suggests, as he entered with the Guardians trailing by two, and then they scored six in the bottom of the eighth. Still, he's shown an early ability to bounce back from rocky outings, and so he's clearing the Rule 5 bar with room to spare thus far: 10.2 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 4 BB, 11 K, 2 HBP."

I actually kind of liked (kind of being the operative word) Schifrin's call of his home run last night. "Show me the Muni..."

I can easily see this.

Nice road trip for a change. Now let's see if they can break that six game home losing streak. Team appears better but let's see how things play out over a long season before crowing one way or another.

Churning through more flotsam and jetsam hoping something clicks.

Four factoids today: April 23, 1919 - Perhaps the greatest White Sox team ever, in terms of talent, opened the season in St. Louis destroying the Browns 13-4. Claude ‘‘Lefty’’ Williams got the win throwing a complete game. This time however, six months later, after winning the American League pennant, the ‘‘Black Sox’’ reportedly threw the series and lost to the Cincinnati Reds. Eight players would be banned the following year, including Williams, and the only franchise capable of stopping the emerging New York Yankees juggernaut was decimated. April 23, 1949 - Sox left hander Billy Pierce won his first Major League game. Pierce came in to relieve starter Al Gettel, throwing almost four scoreless innings, and got the decision as the Sox won 12-5 against the Browns at Comiskey Park. Billy would win 186 games with the Sox, make the All-Star team seven times as their representative, throw four one-hitters and finish with 211 wins overall in his brilliant career. April 23, 1955 - The White Sox hammered the Athletics 29-6 at Kansas City. The 29 runs were an American League record that stood until 2007. The Sox collected 29 hits that afternoon as well with seven home runs. Every starter had at least one hit including pitcher Jack Harshman. Bob Nieman had seven RBI’s with Sherm Lollar and “Minnie” Minoso adding five each. Nieman went 3 for 4 with a pair of home runs. Perhaps most unique of all, with two hits in both the second and sixth innings, Lollar became the only player in MLB history with two hits in two separate innings of a single game. April 23, 1990 - It was an unusual event even though it happened in an exhibition game. Utility player Steve “Psycho” Lyons played all nine positions for the Sox during the annual “Crosstown Classic” game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Manager Jeff Torborg moved him all over the field during the contest won by the Sox 6-5. Outfielder Dave Gallagher threw out the potential tying run at home plate to end the game.