Lip Man 1

Hope they can get to Kremer this time.

“These guys are running on fumes,” said manager Will Venable. https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/08/26/jonathan-cannon-white-sox-pitching-staff-touting-an-overhauled-arsenal-jake-burger-tristan-peters-franchise-record-davis-martin-kyle-teel

Five factoids today: August 27, 1910 - Comiskey Park hosted the first twilight game ever played in a Major League stadium as two Chicago amateur clubs played before 3,500 fans. The teams were Logan Square and Rogers Park. 20 arc lights were strung up along the perimeter of the field to accomplish it delivering 137,000 thousand candlepower of light. Nine of the 20 lamps were placed on the grandstand roofs: five on the first base side, and four behind third base. Two lamps were on the ground near both the first-and third-base foul lines. Six lamps lined the outfield grass, two behind each fielder. To alleviate the glare – a problem that had adversely affected most previous efforts to play night baseball – twin poles were placed in front of each lamp and black canvas screens added to help better direct the light. The system was the brainchild of inventor George F. Cahill. The first official night game in Major League history took place in 1935 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Logan Square club was managed by former White Sox star James “Nixey” Callahan while the Rogers Park team was led by former Cubs outfielder Jimmy Ryan. Logan Square would win the game 3-0 as George “Big Bane” Hanson a veteran of Chicago’s semi-pro leagues, got the win. He scattered four hits and struck out eight in the game which lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. August 27, 1911 – “Big” Ed Walsh fired a no-hitter against the Red Sox at Comiskey Park. It was the first time a Sox pitcher threw a no-hitter in that stadium. The final was 5-0. Walsh only allowed one base runner, Clyde Engle in the fourth inning, via a walk. He struck out eight in winning his 24th game of the year. August 27, 2007 - In the midst of a dismal season the Sox produced one highlight. They cranked out four home runs in the seventh inning of a game at U.S. Cellular Field and beat the Devil Rays 5-4. The home runs were hit by A.J. Pierzynski, Jermaine Dye, Juan Uribe and Josh Fields. Pierzynski, Dye and Uribe went back-to-back-to-back. August 27, 2021 – It was one of the wildest games the Sox ever played especially in their series against the Cubs as they came from six runs down to beat them 17-13 at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Sox trailed 6-0 after a half inning as starter Dallas Keuchel got lit up by the North Siders but then the Sox scored nine unanswered runs to grab a lead that they never lost. Catcher Yasmani Grandal, fresh off the injured list that he went on in early July with a torn knee tendon, drove in a franchise tying eight RBI’s on the night. Grandal had a pair of three run home runs and a two-run double. He went 4 for 6 with two runs scored. Also of note in the game was the relief work by pitcher Reynaldo Lopez. He came on replacing Keuchel in the second inning and retired 15 straight Cubs striking out seven. He became the first Sox relief pitcher to retire 15 in a row since Ed Cicotte in 1917! August 27, 2025 – This is one situation you never want to see happen. With the White Sox getting hammered by the Royals at Rate Field, the final score would be 12-1, Korey Lee came in to pitch the final two innings giving up a run. Lee had been inserted into the game earlier to catch. He became only the third Sox player to ever pitch and catch in the same game joining Frank Isbell and Sam Mertes, who both did some catching and pitching in the second game of a September 28, 1902, doubleheader.

Money that could have been earned through ticket sales, parking, concessions, merchandise and advertising. Remember we are talking about JR here and what matters most to him are finances. No games played means he can't MAKE money. Plus if there is a long impasse or God forbid basically no season, teams won't be allowed to do anything anyway as long as an agreement isn't reached.

Twins just lost to the A's.

On paper...absolutely yes. In reality, with JR and the possibility of a very long labor impasse? Reality may prove to show something else.

"If" is the biggest little word in the world. You can't ask for a better response than what the Sox did tonight but the starting pitching has almost completely flushed itself down the toilet. Burke has fallen off a cliff, Martin has gone right down the toilet, Castillo appears to be toast. I don't know what the hell they are going to do the final month. Maybe finally getting a day off, even though they have to travel to Minnesota may help. God I hope to hell so!

Correct, when you have to use openers/bullpen games seemingly every four mor five days you don't have enough pitching.

"Luck is the residue of design..." - Branch Rickey Cleveland has consistently made the playoffs over the last 10 years and they consistently seem to be able to get red hot towards the end of the season. At some point calling them "lucky" doesn't hold water. Thought for sure the Angels could give the Sox a break, but nope.

Unfortunately they'll be spending at least part of that much needed "off" day traveling to Minnesota. ☹️

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/08/25/white-sox-trade-deadline-acquisitions-huascar-brazoban-injured-list-brenton-doyle-luis-castillo-jose-urquidy-joey-bart-jake-rogers-andrew-benintendi-chris-getz-walker-mckinven

https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2026/08/25/white-sox-shortstop-colson-montgomery-offensive-struggles-jake-burger-will-venable-derek-shomon-jacob-degrom-all-star-home-runs

That could get more and more important in the next few weeks. Looked like a sure loss for Cleveland, but no.

Cleveland doing Cleveland things.

When you've made the playoffs in seven of the last 10 seasons you never count them out until they are mathematically done.

They are taking advantage of a schedule heavily tilted in their favor.

Two factoids today: August 26, 1933 - The Sox honored one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history when Ted Lyons day was celebrated at Comiskey Park. Lyons though didn’t have his best stuff that day as he took the loss in the 10-5 decision to the Philadelphia A’s. He gave up eight runs in a little over seven innings of work. Lyons and Bill Veeck are the only individuals associated with the franchise to have two testimonial days in their honor. Lyons’ second one would come in 1940. August 26, 1971 - It was the kind of thing that could only happen to the White Sox and only in Baltimore’s “House of Horrors,” Memorial Stadium. The Sox trailed 6-0 before mounting a big comeback that saw them take a 9-8 lead in the ninth inning thanks to a home run by Mike Andrews. With two outs, torrential rain hit the area and after a wait of almost an hour and a half, the game was called. Because of rules in place at the time, the score reverted back to the last completed inning, the eighth, which saw Baltimore ahead 8-7. That’s the way the game ended...a seemingly typical result when playing the Orioles in Baltimore where odd and bizarre circumstances seemed to constantly hit the White Sox over the years.

Let's see if there is a next year first! 🙂

A wild and crazy game. You take the win of course but the Sox had an 8-1 lead and Kay couldn't go five innings? You normally have to shoot a pitcher to get him to come out...that should be an easy win for him. The Sox wind up having to use five pitchers, on a staff already stretched out and tired. Hopefully they score some runs Wednesday, you've seen what happens when the score in double-digits one night then what takes place the next game. Burke has been a hard-luck pitcher not getting a lot of support. 13 more wins for a winning season!

Assuming they get to October and assuming the left handed hitters actually hit home runs instead of striking out. We'll see how it plays out.

That plus all the injuries.

You can say the exact same thing about the Sox though can't you? The pitching is a mess and the hitters collectively have fallen off the cliff.

Cleveland has two big things going for them right now, a ridiculously easy schedule and a solid pitching staff.

A wise stance to take.

Sox Machine with a detailed look and deep dive into his issues: It's growing difficult to downplay Colson Montgomery's su...A couple weeks ago on the Sox Machine Podcast, I offered the idea that Colson Montgomery hasn’t quite been right since missing a few games for a back injury in the first half of June, which Josh helpf