Lip Man 1

To provide some context: They felt Grandal was the worst signing ever because he was a catcher a very important position as the "leader" of the pitching staff. Dunn was just a DH. They said Grandal was signed because he was a great framer, they said that isn't the case. His defense has badly slipped. Regarding Harper they said his signing would have changed the perception of the franchise both nationally and locally and they said his signing would have had an impact on other free agents wanting to join him.

The comment about leadership dovetails exactly with what I was told by sources this past winter: “The problem with this team is there was no real leadership, nobody to hold guys accountable. No red-asses like the Sox had in the past… Carlton Fisk, Jack McDowell, A.J. Pierzynski. Paul Konerko was a quiet guy but when we weren’t doing well he’d get really pissed. Elvis Andrus tried to supply some leadership when he came and Lucas Giolito tried.” “I’d come into the locker room after a game and you couldn’t tell if they won or lost, just nothing.” “You’d go in the locker room and all the Latino guys would be in one place, the whites in another and the African-Americans someplace else.” “I had heard that groups were apart and not close but part of that could be human nature, language divisions for example. I know the Latin guys were always around Jose’s locker, Moncada was always there. The Sox locker room is a big square so guys aren’t close to start with, the Cubs locker room is circular. I don’t know if that was by design or what but that lends itself to guys getting together.” “The problem is some of these guys just don’t care, they want to win sure but they already have gotten their money with these contracts before they proved anything. Moncada would strike out and just walk back to the dugout like no big deal, he fouls a ball off and now he can’t play for three days? His contract makes him untradable but he needs to go.” “There was a lack of urgency the entire season. People would say the right things but they never translated.”

Dropped on You Tube. Highly recommend it. They take Sox fan questions and the answers are brutally honest from him and McGuffy. Among the "highlights": *Grandal is the worst free agent signing in Sox history (Even worse than Dunn) *Moncada is the biggest bust in Sox history *When the trades are made in a few weeks Garfein wants accountability from the front office *Grifol hasn't delivered what he said he was going to bring to this team *Anderson should not be batting first or second and that falls on Grifol *Colas should not have been "given" the right field job. Sox should have signed someone. *Rebuild has failed in part because Hahn wasn't allowed to finish the job (i.e. signing Harper) *White Sox have zero leadership and there are issues in the clubhouse among the regular players. No team chemistry Part II with more fan questions (Garfein said he got 2,000 responses) drops Thursday

But remember...that's the White Sox way! Seriously if you believe in such things you start to think the baseball gods continue to say that until JR is gone, until his incompetent front office is gone they are going to keep dumping on the franchise in the most ridiculous manner possible.

Steve Greenberg of the Sun-Times with the latest from Seattle: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/7/11/23791797/white-sox-luis-robert-jr-will-miss-all-star-game

"Hope" all you want. Ain't happening! ?

All you can do is laugh. Only in the world of the White Sox! ?

There's an old baseball saying, "better to trade a player one year to soon than one year to late..."

July 11, 1950 - The All-Star Game returned to Comiskey Park for the second time and saw the National League win 4-3 in 14 innings on a home run by the Cardinals “Red” Schoendienst. The Sox representative on that day was pitcher Ray Scarborough who was acquired in late May from Washington. He’d wind up winning 10 games that year for the Sox but his ERA was over five! This was the game where the Red Sox Ted Williams broke his elbow hitting the unpadded outfield wall. July 11, 1985 - The Sox blew a game and lost to the Orioles in Baltimore 7-6. The loss would have long term consequences for the franchise because it eventually led to the firing of G.M. Roland Hemond. With two outs and the Sox leading 6-3, Bob James, the team closer, hurt his right knee. In came journeyman relief pitcher Mike Stanton who was picked up out of the minors a few weeks before. Stanton didn’t get a man out and gave up a three run, game winning home run to Fred Lynn. Up in the broadcast booth, Sox TV announcers Don Drysdale and Ken “Hawk” Harrelson were openly questioning the organization if the best they could do was Stanton. It planted the seed in the mind of ownership that a change was needed. That change turned out to be Harrelson... named the new G.M. that off season. The rest as they say is history as Harrelson lasted only one year in charge. Hemond meanwhile would go on to become the G.M. of the Orioles and win another Executive of the Year Award. July 11, 1990 - During a series with the Brewers, the Sox had a promotion that actually worked. It was called “Turn Back the Clock" day. The promotion recreated the scene as it would have been during the 1917 season. Sox players wore replicas of those uniforms, the scoreboard was turned off and operated by hand, vendors and stadium personnel were dressed in period clothes and photographers were allowed on the field. The promotion was copied by teams in all sports and an offshoot promotion came to pass in future years, it was called "Turn Ahead the Clock" with players wearing futuristically styled uniforms. July 11-12, 1994 - At the All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, Sox slugger Frank Thomas slammed some of the longest home runs ever seen, reaching the upper, upper deck at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium during the home run hitting contest. As far as the actual game itself the next day, Sox hurler Jason Bere got tagged with the loss, as Moises Alou reached him for an RBI double to win the game in 10 innings 8-7. Pitcher Wilson Alvarez of the Sox was also on the A.L. squad along with Thomas (1B). July 11, 2000 - Sox starting pitcher James Baldwin won the All-Star game for the American League in Atlanta. Baldwin threw the third inning in the A.L.’s 6-3 win. Joining him on the squad from the Sox were Ray Durham (2B) and Magglio Ordonez (OF). July 11, 2006 - Coming off a season where the White Sox won their first World Series championship in 88 years, seven players and manager Ozzie Guillen made the trip to Pittsburgh for the All-Star Game. The seven players were tied for the second most in team history equaling the number of Sox representatives in 1960. The seven players were; Mark Buehrle (P), Jose Contreras (P), Jermaine Dye (OF), Bobby Jenks (P), Paul Konerko (1B), Jim Thome (INF/PH) and A.J. Pierzynski (C). None of the Sox players though were in the starting lineup. The A.L. won the game in dramatic fashion 3-2. July 11, 2010 - The Sox closed out the first half of the season crushing the Royals 15-5 at U.S. Cellular Field. The win capped an incredible 30 game stretch heading into the All-Star break that saw the club go 25-5 and vault into first place in the division. The 25-5 sprint tied the Sox with the legendary 1975 Cincinnati Reds and the 1990 New York Mets for the best stretch of wins in baseball history heading into the second half. Included in the run were winning streaks of 11 and eight games. They also won their first game back after the All-Star break. July 11, 2021 – When the White Sox beat the Orioles 7-5 in 10 innings at Camden Yards it ran their record to 54-35, the best record in the league as Major League Baseball hit the All-Star break. The Sox wound up winning the game thanks to Adam Engel’s three-run home run. But it also marked the first time in franchise history the Sox swept a season series from a club of at least seven games. Earlier in the year the Sox swept Baltimore at Guaranteed Rate Field four straight before doing it again in three games in Baltimore.

I wonder how much it will cost MLB when some kid gets badly hurt and the parents sue.

The White Sox apparently are dysfunctional both on and off the field. Never ends with this franchise.

And it says something about Hahn's character that he didn't quit on the spot when TLR was hired against his wishes and that of the front office if the reports are true.

This isn't a recent development. Jack McDowell told me when I interviewed him and he said on camera for "The Last Comiskey" documentary that the Sox tried to change his delivery to try to get more velocity. They sent him down one year to work on it. He tried it then basically said 'this is the way I pitch deal with it...' dumped it and went back to doing what he was doing. He did well ignoring them.

July 10, 1912 - Looking for more pitching, Sox owner Charles Comiskey acquired Eddie Cicotte from the Red Sox after the pitcher argued with his manager and owner John Taylor. Cicotte of course would pitch well for the Sox but then would be banned from baseball in 1920 because of his involvement in fixing the World Series. In eight and a half years with the Sox he won 156 games. July 10, 1916 - The White Sox swept Boston at Fenway Park in a doubleheader, 4-0 and 3-0, with Claude “Lefty” Williams and Ewell “Reb” Russell earning the shutouts. Russell’s effort was a one-hitter with the only Boston safety coming on a single in the sixth inning by Clarence “Tilly” Walker. The Boston sweep came at the start of what would become a 15-day, 18-game road trip odyssey, with the White Sox playing in seven straight doubleheaders starting on this day, through July 20 — seven doubleheaders in 11 days! The White Sox had a series in Boston in mid-May completely washed out by rain, so the July doubleheaders all wedged May and July games together. Then, traveling to Philadelphia for the next leg of the trip, the White Sox were deluged by rain to force additional doubling-up of games. The Sox then traveled to Washington where they played six games and ended the trip in Detroit with a two-game set. The White Sox only split one of the seven doubleheaders, otherwise sweeping three and getting swept in three. After this leadoff sweep in Boston, the White Sox dropped four straight, then took five straight, and finished the doubleheader marathon by losing three straight. They then swept the Tigers twice in solo games on consecutive days. In late August 1938 the Sox did one better having had to play six double headers in six consecutive days! July 10, 1956 - For the third and final time Billy Pierce was pegged to start for the American League in the All-Star Game. This year with the game in Washington D.C., Billy was tagged with the loss, despite only allowing one run in three innings of work. The N.L. would go on to win 7-3. Pierce would represent the Sox in seven All-Star affairs. Joining him on the team that year were Nellie Fox (2B), Sherm Lollar (C) and Jim Wilson (P). Pierce also was the starting pitcher for the American League in the 1953 game in Cincinnati and the 1955 game at Milwaukee. July 10-11, 1995 - At the All-Star Game in Texas, first baseman Frank Thomas turned a special double play. Thomas won the home run hitting contest the day before the actual game, and then became the first Sox player to ever homer in the game itself, when he connected off the Reds John Smiley in the fourth inning with a man on base. The N.L. would win the game 3-2. Thomas was the only member of the Sox on the team. July 10, 2001 - Magglio Ordonez (OF) homered off the Cubs John Lieber at the All-Star Game in Seattle. He became the second Sox player to ever homer in the annual classic. It was a solo shot to center field. The A.L. would win the game 4-1. Ordonez was the only Sox player on the team.

He's not selling because of the capital gains and Illinois state tax hit, it would be very very significant: https://www.southsidesox.com/2022/8/29/23325369/jerry-reinsdorf-selling-chicago-white-sox-not-on-his-life

Fegan wrote in his post game story for the Sun-Times that the bunt was done on his own, didn't come from the manager. And like the vast majority of things the Sox try to do it blew up in their faces.

He can stand it because he's making $$$$$$$$$$ and his ego won't allow him to admit the folks he has hired to run the club are failures.

Three better choices would be incompetence, dysfunction and ineptness in my opinion.

Color me shocked, shocked they didn't draft another 1B/DH type. LOL. And the fact they have Montgomery and now this kid listed as shortstops should put Anderson on notice his days in Chicago are numbered.

According to the newspaper stories he is at the games up in his box most of the time.

You can't ask for a more perfect ending to the first half. Look like s%*# against a garbage starting pitcher. Then urinate away another late lead (for the 12th time in the 7th inning or later) and lose the game. ?

A fitting end to an atrocious first half for a completely dysfunctional organization. Face a garbage pitcher 0-7 with an ERA of over five. What does this stiff do? Holds the Sox to one run (unearned) on two hits with nine strikeouts. ? Then the number gang for today is: 12... 12 times, the most expensive bullpen in baseball took a lead into the 7th inning or later...and lost the game. Five of those leads were lost in the 9th inning. 12. Who was responsible? Well here you go (some games more than one pitcher in an inning wound up contributing to giving up the lead...) Kelly - 5 games Graveman - 2 ½ Lopez - 2 ½ Lynn - 1 Diekman - 1 total (contributed to losing a lead in two games) When you do the autopsy on this disaster when the season ends, be sure to include how bad a bullpen Rick Hahn assembled.

“Jake Peavy made the comment one time, ‘They have no reservations about playing shorthanded.”

If that. Remember that's the White Sox way...?

July 9, 1919 - In a twin bill in Chicago against the Philadelphia Athletics, Urban “Red” Faber won both games. The first one came in relief of starter Dickie Kerr. The scores were 8-7 and 6-2. He threw 11 innings combined allowing 10 hits and four runs. In the second game win he threw a complete game. July 9, 1972 - With the Sox desperately needing a third baseman to replace the injured Bill Melton, G.M. Roland Hemond acquired Ed Spiezio from San Diego for pitcher Don Eddy. Spiezio did a yeoman job holding down the fort the rest of the year as the Sox stalked the A’s and his dramatic extra inning home run against Oakland on August 12 off Rollie Fingers in the Coliseum, put the Sox into first place. It was the latest the Sox had been in first place in a season, since 1967. July 9, 2002 - In the infamous 11 inning tied All-Star Game in Milwaukee, Paul Konerko tied the record for most doubles in the game with two. His teammate Mark Buehrle (P) joined him in the contest. July 9, 2006 - Tadahito Iguchi’s single in the last of the 19th inning gave the White Sox a dramatic 6-5 win over Boston at U.S. Cellular Field in the final game before the All-Star break. Jermaine Dye’s two out, ninth inning home run tied the game at three. Both teams scored two runs in the 11th and the score stayed that way until the 19th. The game took 6:19 to play. It also appeared to take something out of the World Champions, they lost 10 of the next 12 after the break and skidded to a 90-win season.