Lip Man 1

I'll take your word for it because the machinations have lost me!

Five factoids today: September 21, 1901 - The Sox won the first ‘official’ American League pennant despite losing to the Philadelphia A’s 10-4. The Sox would win the pennant by four games over the Boston Americans with a record of 83-53. Unfortunately, the World Series didn’t start until 1903, so this was the best that the Sox could do. The Sox had a very balanced lineup, which was led by outfielders William "Dummy" Hoyt and Fielder Jones, and scored the most runs in the league. They relied primarily on speed, as Frank Isbell, Sam Mertes and Jones finished 1–2–3 in stolen bases. The pitching staff was anchored by Clark Griffith, who went 24–7 with a 2.67 ERA. September 21, 1917 - The Sox clinched the pennant beating the Red Sox 2-1 behind Urban "Red" Faber. The final outs came when “Babe” Ruth rapped into a double play. The Sox would outdistance Boston by nine games in 1917 with a mark of 100-54, and then defeat the New York Giants four games to two, for the World Championship. The 100 wins in a season, have never been equaled in team history. The Sox offense led the league in runs scored that season while the pitching staff, led by Eddie Cicotte, had a season ERA of 2.16 September 21, 1955 - Frank “Trader” Lane, one of the finest G.M.’s in team history resigned. During his tenure, which spanned seven seasons, Lane made 241 trades involving 353 players. He was one of the architects of the club that would win the 1959 American League pennant. Among the players he acquired for the Sox were “Minnie” Minoso, Nellie Fox, Dick Donovan, “Jungle” Jim Rivera, Billy Pierce, “Chico” Carrasquel and Sherm Lollar. September 21, 1970 - For the first time in 69 seasons, the Sox finally had a 30-home run man. Bill Melton got an upper deck shot off the Royals Aurelio Monteagudo, who pitched for the Sox the year before, for the most Sox home runs in a season at that time. That same day Luis Aparicio got his final hit in a Sox uniform. He had 1,576 of them for the White Sox. Just 672 fans were on hand to see the double header at Comiskey Park as the Sox were closing out the worst season in franchise history at that time. September 21, 2015 – Jeff Samardzija was acquired from the A’s with the hope that the Chicago native, who grew up a White Sox fan, could be the difference in getting the team to the postseason. His campaign though was something to forget as he struggled all year, particularly in the first inning and after the trade deadline. On this day however he pitched the finest game in his career, tossing a complete game one-hitter shutting out the Tigers 2-0 in the first game of a double header sweep. The only hit he allowed was a bloop single off the bat of Victor Martinez in the fifth inning. He struck out six and only faced one hitter over the minimum.

Explain please.

Magic Number to Qualify for Playoffs:

Magic Number to Win Division:

To bad was hoping for a rainout and two days off for the pitching staff.

They can play next Monday if they have to in Chicago.

Bears dropped a sure int. that led to 3 Minn. points, Swift fumbled at the Minn. 1-yard line, Williams serious injury, Bears back up TE dropped two passes (one may have gone for a TD) and was called for a penalty. 59 points to 3 in back to back weeks. With their schedule they are toast.

Given the Bears very tough schedule if Williams is out for a long time you can start playing for a very high draft pick. I think it is an Achilles but they'll know more by tomorrow.

Sox need a rain out badly. The day off is important plus they'd miss Detroit's best pitcher in Melton.

Any idea on start time?

Well he hasn't been Castillo-bad...but he's been bad.

Three factoids today: September 20, 1902 - Jim “Nixey” Callahan threw the first no-hitter in franchise history as he beat the Tigers. The Sox gave him all the runs he needed by scoring three in the first inning. The Sox wound up winning it by that same score in Chicago. The Tigers got one runner as far as third base but that was it for the afternoon. Callahan walked two batters on the day. Callahan was a two-way player for a good chunk of his career, from 1897 to 1903. So, at the time of this no-hitter in the 1902 season, he pitched in 35 games and played outfield in 23 others. By the 1903, he’d shift more or less full time to third base. September 20, 1908 - Sox pitcher Frank Smith tossed his second no-hitter beating the Philadelphia A’s 1-0 in Chicago. The Sox scored in the ninth inning to win the game. The run was driven in by shortstop Freddy Parent. Smith pitched that day with the little finger of his hand being stiff and sore from trying to stop a hot shot against the Indians in his previous start. This date, September 20, is also the only date in franchise history where multiple no-hitters have been thrown on over the years. September 20, 2005 - With the White Sox struggling through eight losses in 11 games — the worst slump of what would become a rare, wire-to-wire first-place season — Joe Crede slugged a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th for a sayonara shot that upended second-place Cleveland, 7-6. The White Sox had the game in hand, but rookie Bobby Jenks blew the second save of his career in the ninth, furthering the trend of the club over the past 13 days, as Cleveland shaved six games off of a once nine and a half game lead in the A.L. Central Division. Chicago wasn’t out of the woods yet, as over the next few days Cleveland would trim the division lead to a game and a half but a late kick saw the White Sox swell the lead back to its final six games, including an end-of-season sweep of the Tribe that knocked them out of the playoffs entirely. Combining the five-game winning streak to end the regular season with the 11-1 run in the playoffs, the White Sox ended 2005 winning 16 of 17 games. The homer was Crede’s second of the contest, capping a 3 for 5, three-RBI day.

That certainly helps. Of course the flip side is also an issue. Who the hell are the Sox going to use?

Any idea who the expected Royals starting pitchers will be for the Sox series? Lugo's five day turn would be Tuesday I think.

Nope they don't. Have to hope Texas and or Houston loses.

I'm assuming the Royals will still be throwing guys like Wacha and Lugo at the Sox, NOTHING is going to be easy.

Call it incentive to actually strive for greatness. Besides with Ishbia as owner the situation financially and talent-wise may be putting the Sox into a much better spot to actually take control of a division where they should have a number of advantages. We're not talking about the A.L. East here are we?

To the best of my knowledge no team as least in the modern era (I don't know before 1900) has ever made any type of post season with a losing record in baseball. Had the 1994 season not been ended early because of the labor situation it could have taken place. At the time of the shutdown Texas led the West with a record of 52-62. Every team in that division had a losing record. With only six weeks to go, they'd have to get white hot to get back over the .500 mark. I agree a team getting in with a record of .500 or worse would be an embarrassment in my opinion. To many teams "qualify" for the playoffs, it's becoming a joke. Go back to four teams make it, division winners and the second place team from any of the three divisions that has the best record.

Interesting that some of Getz's biggest defenders weren't around last night but suddenly appear today. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Getz has done some good things, this past trade deadline wasn't one of them. But OK, in a few weeks the season will be over and we can judge him by what JR allows him to do this off season assuming teams are allowed to do anything given the labor situation.

Magic Number to win Division:

Any win right now is a big win. Three more wins for a winning season.

He wasn't rock solid but he had his moments, just ask the Cubs. Instead he was cut and they kept Castillo who is so bad he's not even being used.

Post of the year. Part of the issue with Sox fans as others have pointed out is the low tolerance for what constitutes "success." I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I'm just hoping for a winning season and given the Sox have only had five of those since the start of 2007, you can see why. My point is though that in places like New York, Philly, Boston the fan base would be (almost literally) rioting in the streets. Here though some folks who have shown to be responsible for good, solid information and have access that others don't have, appear to be making excuses, blaming fans who are upset (having Rick Hahn flashbacks) and passing what has happened off as 'one of those things.' Again I use the saying that "the Sox make the post season as often as a Republican wins the mayorship of Chicago." You can understand why the fan base got invested and excited with a team that had a real shot only to see the front office decide for whatever reason it wasn't going to happen. The thing is it still may, we can only hope, but even if it does, they will have had to fight for their lives the last few weeks and will probably be completely spent if they have to play Cleveland or Houston on the road. short of a miracle.

As a sage Sox fan told me many years ago, "Hope for the best, expect the worst..." Or like my dad used to say, "The Sox would screw up a two car funeral..."