Lip Man 1

Not disagreeing. But there may also have been other restrictions that we know nothing about and never will.

Sure anything can happen but like Detroit the Cubs are red hot right now with Milwaukee right in their sights.

I agree with this caveat. We don't know how much if any input/restrictions JR had in the situation at the deadline. And a blister on the pitching hand isn't a phantom injury.

It ALWAYS comes down to pitching and the last 15 years or so the Sox are usually short in that crucial area.

Win a game in Detroit and you are still in first place. Get swept and you're not...with the Cubs just waiting licking their chops.

From Sox Machine: *Venable said the Sox are undetermined on their starter for Friday, and that Martin will need to be evaluated for his blister.

Going into the Detroit series Sox have lost 6 of 9. Tigers have won 8 of 11. The Sox are the first team they've played this month who have a winning record.

Realize what matters is what happens on the field but the Athletics daily baseball newsletter "the windup" projected the last six weeks of the season today. They have Detroit winning the division, the Sox not making the playoffs and the Cubs winning theirs.

A lot of things are taking place at exactly the wrong time of the season, pitchers hitting their limits, bad weather, a lot of extra inning games and what sure seems to be a lack of starting pitching that wasn't really addressed at the deadline. Not a good combination.

He appears to be Adam Dunn only he can play pretty good defense. To be fair though he's still a young player.

Historically it seems the Sox always seem to be short in a vital area and it always seems to bite them in the ass. In the early 90's it was another good hitter for the lineup behind Thomas and Ventura. The players, like McDowell told me, though McGuire was coming, but then Frank wouldn't move to DH and that went out the window. In 96 it was a bad bullpen and the Sox did nothing at the deadline which saw them blow an almost certain wild card spot. Then in the early 2000's, 2003 comes to mind, it was the lack of a decent backend starter. I still remember Kenny Williams saying the price for Kenny Rogers was "too high." Rogers went to the Twins and helped them win the division. In 2020 as mentioned it was little starting pitching. As other have said it seems to be happening again.

We'll never know, it didn't seem to be that high for other "contending" club though was it?

Or JR didn't allow him to? Fegan with some interesting notes, comments on Martin: "Discussion around Davis Martin still sounds like a pitcher trying to manage a physical issue of some stripe. "Your mechanics, the way you feel physically, the way they feel mentally is going to change throughout the year and you have to figure out how to find the best version of yourself, and some of these guys are being challenged to do that for the first time, or being challenged in ways that they haven't had to find solutions for before," Venable said. "There's some mechanical stuff that he's working on, some things just as far as whether it's grips, tapping into some shapes. Also just physically, this guy has pitched so much this year and he's done so well and really carried a load. That's going to take a toll, and he's got to figure out as his body changes how to make sure that he can keep his mechanics and every thing in line." Martin has a 6.83 ERA with a 14.4 percent strikeout rate since June 1, and the White Sox have gone 4-8 in those 12 outings." Like Southside posted the pitching staff may have reached their limits overall.

Losing two of three at home to a bad Reds club is an embarrassment. Martin has simply sucked since the break, four straight games he's given up runs in the first inning and put his team in the hole. Including Thursday’s shortened start, he has allowed 23 runs over his last five starts, with 15 of those runs coming in the first inning. Fedde has also regressed since he's been moved to the bullpen.

Awful AnnouncingJason Benetti set to add NBA play-by-play to his NBC work...Jason Benetti, NBC's lead Sunday Night Baseball voice, will call regular-season and playoff NBA games for the network this season.

Five factoids today: August 13, 1943 - Future Hall of Famer, shortstop Luke Appling collected his 2,000th hit in a game. It came against the Red Sox helping the White Sox to a 3-2 win. The hit drove in a run in the first inning off of Cecil “Tex” Hughson as Wally Moses scored. August 13, 1954 - Sox pitcher Jack Harshman who is tied for the franchise mark for most strikeouts in a game, notched another milestone. On this date against the Tigers, Harshman pitched all 16 innings in the Sox 1-0 win at Comiskey Park. The Sox finally plated a run in the last of the 16th on a triple by “Minnie” Minoso scoring Nellie Fox. Harshman allowed nine hits and faced 57 hitters. Incredibly Detroit’s Al Aber also went the distance in the contest! Billy Pierce also threw 16 innings for the Sox in a game in 1959. The franchise mark is held by Ted Lyons who threw 21 innings in a game in 1929. August 13, 1967- All season long the Sox battled the big boys, the Tigers, Twins and Red Sox in the greatest pennant race in American League history. This game marked the beginning of the end of the dream. The Sox lost a controversial game to the Twins 3-2 when Tommie Agee was called out at third base on a close play in the ninth inning. He doubled to center to lead off the inning and tried to stretch it into a triple. The Sox dropped out of first place for the first time in two months as the Twins swept them three straight games in Minnesota. After the game manager Eddie Stanky kept Vice President Hubert Humphrey waiting outside the locker room with reporters saying, “Humphrey can’t hit, what do I need with him?” August 13, 1996 - Sox third baseman Robin Ventura slugged his franchise record ninth grand slam leading the Sox to an 8-4 win over the Yankees. It came in the fifth inning off of David Weathers and erased a 4-1 New York lead. August 13, 2002 - Sox infielder Jose Valentin homered from both sides of the plate in the same game. He did it in Texas off the Rangers Dennys Reyes and Todd Van Poppel. The shot off Reyes was a grand slam. He drove in six runs in the 12-3 win. Those were his only two hits for the night. Valentin first did this trick in 2000 and would do it a third time in 2003!

Good point and the way things are going they may be in first place by next week.

I don't think he's full time with the Sun-Times. I think he is more of a stringer for them.

Castillo throws his best game of the year AND Romo hits a home run????? The Pope must have been involved.

1981 is also included although you may not have been around. And yes the owners are willing to piss that away.

He's had a few the last 10 days hasn't he?

A way out? https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-parity-salary-cap-revenue-sharing-cba-negotiations/

From Sox Machine: *Hudson has an 8.31 ERA in the second half, as he's now given up 12 hits over 8⅔ innings.

Thank you but no.

EIGHT factoids today: August 12, 1972 – The White Sox trailed the Oakland A’s by eight and a half games just six weeks before but on this Saturday afternoon in California that deficit was completely erased in dramatic fashion. Joliet, Illinois native Ed Spiezio, was acquired when regular third baseman Bill Melton was lost for the season on July 9, he filled in nicely playing in 74 games and on this day it was his home run that vaulted the Sox into first place this late in the season for the first time since August 1967. In the 11th inning of a tie game with Carlos May on first, Spiezio hammered a pitch from Rollie Fingers into the seats giving the Sox a 3-1 lead. That was all Wilbur Wood needed as he set down the Athletics one-two-three collecting his 20th win, going the distance and only allowing two hits. The Sox were 62-45 and in first place. August 12, 1984 – In his sixth year on the ballot, long time White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Aparicio was one of the most athletic shortstops to ever play and he brought the lost art of the stolen base back to baseball leading the A.L. in that category nine straight seasons. The former 1956 Rookie of the Year by both the Baseball Writers Association of America and The Sporting News played 10 years with the White Sox. He was runner-up to teammate Nellie Fox in the 1959 M.V.P. voting, won seven Gold Gloves while playing for the White Sox and represented the White Sox in six All-Star Games. August 12, 1986 - Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton, picked up on waivers by the Sox, made his American League debut. “Lefty” only went three innings giving up six runs in a 7-3 loss to the Tigers in Detroit. In 10 games, Carlton would rebound and have four wins, a 3.69 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 63 innings before being released at season’s end. August 12, 1990 - The Sox set what was believed to be the longest wait in baseball history before calling a game because of rain. The Sox were slated to play the Rangers at Comiskey Park in an afternoon contest starting at 1PM Central time. Persistent rains caused a delay before the first pitch was even thrown. The Sox asked Texas if they would fly back to Chicago on an off day to make the game up if they called it and the Rangers said no. So the Sox waited until the evening before ‘officially’ calling the game. The wait lasted seven hours and 23 minutes!!! As it turned out the Sox had to play the makeup game in Arlington as part of a double header the following week. August 12, 2007 - Sox closer Bobby Jenks tied the Major League record at the time, when he retired his 41st consecutive hitter in a game against the Mariners. Jenks’ streak started back on June 17 at Cleveland. The record was originally set by the Giants Jim Barr in the early 1970’s. That record was later broken in 2009 by the Sox Mark Buehrle who retired 45 consecutive batters. August 12, 2017 - When Sox first baseman Jose Abreu went deep with one out in the fourth inning against the Royals, he became the first player in team history with four consecutive seasons of at least 20 home runs to start his career. Jermaine Dye and Jose Valentin opened the White Sox portion of their careers with five consecutive seasons of at least 20 homers, and Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin started their White Sox careers with four consecutive seasons of at least 20 homers. Abreu homered again in the sixth; marking his ninth career multi-homer game, both came off of Ian Kennedy. He also became the first Sox player with 25 home runs in four straight seasons starting a career. August 12, 2020 – For the fifth time in franchise history the White Sox led off a game with back-to-back home runs. It was shortstop Tim Anderson and outfielder Eloy Jimenez who turned the trick in Detroit staking the Sox to a 2-0 lead over Matthew Boyd and the Tigers. The Sox would go on to win the game 7-5. August 12, 2021 – It was a remarkable night in a remarkable location. It was the first “Field of Dreams” game played at the location of the movie of the same name in Dyersville, Iowa. The White Sox hosted the Yankees with both teams wearing throwback uniforms. An eight thousand seat stadium was built next to the field where the movie was shot and the game was nationally televised by Fox Sports. Some of the original cast members, including baseball fan Kevin Costner, came out to take in the celebration. The classic baseball movie was released in 1989. Jose Abreu hit the first ever home run for a big-league game in the state of Iowa when he connected in the first inning. The Sox would win 9-8 after blowing a three run ninth inning lead on Tim Anderson’s walk-off two run home run that set off fireworks in center field to recreate Comiskey Park.