Lip Man 1

Agreed. Maybe the ball will bounce their way tonight.

Did not know this. Very interesting that a young player would turn down some stability.

Having Luis Robert flashbacks.

That's a valid point which makes the situation the Sox find themselves in even more difficult. As usual they find themselves between a rock and a hard place. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be trying to get help as soon as possible again assuming JR allows him to do so.

Read this morning where Cleveland had only a single walk-off win all year before doing it the past two nights.

Weren't happy with the grounds crew or the umpires: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/07/04/white-sox-accuse-guardians-grounds-crew-walk-off-loss-anthony-kay-will-venable-seranthony-dominguez

Well there does come a point where if you are seriously trying to contend you simply can't keep losing games because of him.

As has been pointed out all the TJS pitchers weren't expected to be back until the second half of the season, Getz knew that ahead of time. As others have also pointed out you can never have enough pitching. The Sox are woefully short in it. But OK, here's the bottom line, if they want to stay in this Getz has to get help sooner rather than later. If he doesn't or can't that's on him (and JR) so we'll see how it plays out.

NINE factoids today: July 4, 1939 - In the category of great feats by players you’ve never heard of, this one ranks near the top. White Sox infielder Eric McNair finished the best run of at least 10 plate appearances in club history: 12-of-13 (.923) with a home run and five RBIs. McNair started the run in an 8-3 win over the Browns on July 3, going 5-for-5 with five singles. The win kicked off a five-game winning streak and pushed the club back over .500, at 33-32. In the opener of the July 4 doubleheader, McNair led off the third inning with a solo homer (a blast to left that curved around the foul pole and caused St. Louis to protest the game, feeling the third-sacker’s blast was a foul ball) and then singled three more times. Not only did that run McNair’s streak to 9-for-9, he drove in three runs in Chicago’s 7-3 win. The nightcap dispensed with any tension over McNair’s streak, as he was retired in his first at-bat. From there, however, the righty slapped another three singles, including an RBI single as part of a five-run flurry in the top of the ninth that flipped the game from a 3-2 deficit to 7-3 margin. July 4, 1960 - Bill Veeck’s exploding scoreboard was featured in a night shot on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The caption read, “Fireworks at Comiskey Park.” July 4-5, 1964 - During the 1960's the White Sox were synonymous with outstanding pitching...pitching that was the envy of most of Major League baseball excluding only perhaps, the Dodgers. The best example of this were these two days in Chicago over the Fourth of July holiday in 1964. In a time span of roughly 28 hours, the White Sox threw three straight complete game shutouts against the Indians. On the Fourth of July itself, Gary Peters blanked the Tribe on three hits, winning 4-0. In the Sunday doubleheader it was Juan Pizarro in game one, tossing a seven hitter, winning 2-0. Then in the nightcap it was Joe Horlen with a 5-0 blanking on four hits. In 27 innings, Cleveland managed no runs on 14 hits with seven walks. Now that’s pitching!!! July 4, 1972 - Sox catcher Ed Herrmann was involved in three double plays which tied the record for most involving a catcher in a single game. He tied former teammate J.C. Martin for the honor. The three included Herrmann in the middle of a pitcher-catcher-first base one, a strike out-throw out stealing twin killing and a thrown out at home, thrown out at second base one. The Sox turned five double plays against Baltimore at Comiskey Park… but lost 2-1! July 4, 1978 - At the urging of then manager Larry Doby, the White Sox brought up Tony LaRussa to become the club’s new first base coach. LaRussa cut his teeth managing with success in the minor leagues at Knoxville and was deemed ready by Doby and others to take the next step. LaRussa would go on to lead the Sox to the 1983 Western Division title and then win numerous pennants and championships as a manager with the A’s and Cardinals. He’d be elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014 with 2,728 wins over 33 seasons. He’d come out of retirement in 2021 to lead the White Sox and move into second place all-time on the managerial wins list in addition to winning the division and making the playoffs. July 4, 2000 - Ray Durham and Jose Valentin led off the Sox half of the first inning in Kansas City with back-to-back home runs. It was the second time in team history a game started that way and the first time since 1937. The game also marked the Major League debut for Jon Garland who only lasted three innings in the 10-7 loss. It was the end of the Sox 12 game road winning streak. The last 10 of those 12 road wins came against teams with records of at least .500, making the Sox the only team since 1900 to accomplish that. July 4, 2022 – Fundamentals win (or lose) games and for years the White Sox have suffered because they don’t execute the things very well that often mean the difference between winning and losing. On this night though what they did made the record book. In the seventh inning of a tie game against the Twins A.J. Pollock hit a long drive to right center field that was caught on the warning track by Byron Buxton who immediately threw the ball back to the infield. What happened next had never happened before in the history of baseball. Pinch runner Adam Engel and Yoan Moncada both lost track of the ball and assumed it hit the wall and was in play. Engel was at third base but had never tagged up, Moncada was right behind him. As Buxton’s throw bounced in to the infield, Twins third baseman Gio Urshela was in perfect position to tag Moncada for the second out, then ran and touched second base which meant Engel was also out. It was an 8-5 scored triple-play the first in baseball history. The White Sox would lose a key game 6-2 in 10 innings with the triple-play caused by errant baserunning probably costing them an important win. July 4, 2025 – Colson Montgomery was one of the White Sox top prospects and his Major League debut in Colorado was one for the record books. In his first plate appearance, which came in the second inning, he was awarded first base because of catcher’s interference. That made him the first player in the Expansion Era (since 1961) to do so in his first MLB plate appearance, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Then in the last of the second, he made a full-out, with his back to home plate, diving catch of a flair off the bat of Ryan Ritter that saved a run. After making the incredible catch, Montgomery -- a 6-foot-3, 230-pound shortstop -- turned from his face-down position in the outfield grass and showed that he had the baseball. Quite a first game from the youngster. July 4, 2025 – He closed out the White Sox first World Series title in 88 years, then went on to save 173 games in a six-year South Side career. But on this day he became the first member of the 2005 club to pass away. Bobby Jenks, a larger-than-life figure with a triple-digit fastball died at the age of 44 from a form of stomach cancer. Jenks was called up from Double A in July of that 2005 season and stabilized the Sox bullpen down the stretch. He became an All-Star in both the 2006 and 2007 years and at one point retired 41 consecutive batters which tied the Major League record at that time. He posted a 3.40 ERA across 329 relief appearances and those 173 saves are the second-most in franchise history behind Bobby Thigpen (201).

The way things have been going I'd be happy with a single win and 3-4 on the road trip.

By no means do I think this is a competent bullpen but to be fair I saw recently a stat that said they have either thrown the most innings or made the most appearances (maybe both) in MLB. That is a direct result of the Sox having a starting pitching staff that can't go deep into games and basically doesn't scare anybody. Hell they don't even have a fifth starter they can use regularly. This is a bad pitching staff from top to bottom. We'll never know what Getz has been allowed to do by JR but he has to bear some responsibility for putting this staff together, or maybe to the point not putting together at least a decent one for the year. (And if the Sox were flailing away in the standings again they could be used a trade fodder.)

Well we know that has been an issue for him. Getting flashbacks of Joe Crede and Bill Melton.

It's called knowing baseball fundamentals which literally for years has been an unknown word to this organization despite talk seemingly every spring about how they are working on these things.

Just saw this stat: Sox relief pitchers have now given up 113 runs on the road this season, the most in MLB.

Can he pitch? 😉

I'm not sure how it works but he may have to actually consent to a demotion.

Just got back from some pre 4th of July activities. Saw the score, looked at the box score. Make that nine straight losses in Cleveland dating back to 2024. 7th time this year the Sox had a lead in the 7th inning or later and lost the game. Dominguez is completely useless it appears regardless of the situation or inning. Getz (assuming he gets the OK) needs to somehow improve the pitching staff sooner rather than later or it may not matter if he waits for the deadline. They still have two chances to do something positive. Maybe we'll have something to celebrate Saturday over and above the holiday.

I wonder if he can come back for the A's series then get four days off for the ASB, even if he's selected the Sox won't actually let him play.

I'm not the one who lost eight straight in Cleveland. Just stating the facts.

Didn't realize it was Williams, that's bizarre.

Tonight's game factoid: The Sox have lost eight straight games in Cleveland going into tonight's contest. Their last win? July 3, 2024.

I'm assuming a lot of the relief pitchers from last night won't be available this evening. Kay needs to have a solid start and pitch deep into it.

SIX factoids today: July 3, 1922 - Sox pitcher Ted Blankenship made his big-league debut in a big way. Blankenship relieved starter Ferdinand “Ferdie” Schupp in the second inning of a game against Detroit. He’d pitch 12 innings before losing the game in the 14th giving up nine hits. The final score was 7-6. It took place at Comiskey Park and was the first game of a double header. The Sox won the second game 4-3. July 3, 1940 – It was a wild ninth inning punctuated by a franchise first. The White Sox came up with a seven-run final frame to put away the Tigers 12-7 in a game in Detroit with the highlight being a pinch-hit grand slam off the bat of Taft “Taffy” Wright. It was the first time the Sox had ever recorded a pinch-hit grand slam. Wright was batting for Eric McNair when he sent a Lynn Nelson pitch over the fence scoring Joe Kuhel, Julius “Moose” Solters and Larry Rosenthal ahead of him. For the year Wright would only hit five home runs! July 3, 1973 – In a 15-1 thrashing of Texas in the opener of a doubleheader Tony Muser tied a franchise record with five walks. The first baseman scored four times and added a single, meaning he reached base safely in all six of his trips to the plate from the two spot in the batting order. Muser joined Dick Allen, who was walked five times in a game nearly a year earlier, along with Sammy Strang, “Minnie” Minoso, Frank Thomas and Jim Thome in franchise annals. July 3, 1976 – It was the first morning start for a game in the history of Comiskey Park as the Sox hosted Texas. The first pitch was delivered at 10:30 AM. The Sox didn’t care much for the novelty as they lost 3-0 to Nellie Briles, getting only three hits. The Sox would play another morning game the following season in connection with McDonalds restaurants Egg McMuffin sandwiches, and hammer Cleveland 18-2. July 3, 1993 - Former Sox announcer and Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale was found dead in his hotel room in Montreal of a heart condition. Drysdale, then a Dodgers announcer, worked for the Sox mostly on television from 1982 through 1987. His broadcast partner Ken “Hawk” Harrelson broke down on the air, while making the announcement during the Sox 9-6 loss to the Orioles at Comiskey Park that evening. July 3, 2012 – Sox pitcher Chris Sale earned his 10th win of the season as the White Sox ran out to a 19-0 lead and ended up crushing Texas, 19-2. An Ian Kinsler error at second base helped propel Chicago to a nine run fifth inning (seven unearned), capped by an A.J. Pierzynski three-run blast. Roy Oswalt started for the Rangers and surrendered 11 runs (nine earned) in a little less than five innings of work. Pierzynski, Alex Rios, Kevin Youkilis, and Alexei Ramírez all collected three hits apiece in the game.

From Sun-Times Jeff Agrest's recap: "Davis’ home-road splits are stark. In seven starts at Rate Field, he has an 0.88 ERA with a 0.951 WHIP. In 10 starts on the road, his ERA is 4.72, and his WHIP is 1.48. He allowed two earned runs, six hits and five walks to the Guardians. That said, Davis has allowed two runs or fewer in all but four of his 17 starts — all four were on the road." https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/07/02/davis-martin-chicago-white-sox-cleveland-guardians-will-venable-grant-taylor

From Merkin's recap: "Cleveland chipped away to cut the margin to 5-4 through seven, before Taylor took the mound. There was a four-pitch walk issued to Steven Kwan with one out, but Taylor got through the eighth with two strikeouts and no runs allowed. Bryan Hudson was unavailable after pitching Wednesday in Baltimore and getting hot in the bullpen two other times, and one-time closer Seranthony Domínguez is being used in lower-leverage situations to get him back on track, although he could have followed Taylor if needed. So, Taylor came back for the ninth and issued a four-pitch, leadoff walk to Rhys Hoskins. An eight-pitch battle with Kahlil Watson resulted in a fly out to center, before Rocchio connected on a 99.3 mph four-seamer up a bit and somewhat outside. “Yeah, I wasn’t landing the curveball earlier,” Taylor said. “I was going to stick to my strength. I have a good fastball, especially against lefties. I threw it in a pretty good location, but he was looking for it and got a good swing.”