Lip Man 1

Kind of typical after all it's the Eastern Sports Programming Network...all Red Sox, all Yankees all the time. Regardless of if you care about them or not. Making it worse as noted...Danks is attempting to pitch that evening. Mark

Folks: A few weeks ago, thanks in part to Bob Grim of the White Sox's help, I was able to have a phone conversation with new Sox TV broadcaster Jason Benetti. I found him to be funny, smart and have a passion for his position and the responsibilities that come with it to White Sox fans. That interview was just published this morning (appreciate it Dan!) and here is the link for it, should you be interested. http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/05/a...-jason-benetti/ I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed conducting it. Mark

Considering the weather for this series, another long week on the road and the opponent, coming back to get the split is tremendous and worth nothing as is the 5-2 road trip. Nice to come home, get a day off, get some rest off a win. Hopefully the weather is decent in Chicago this week. As far as Chris Sale...he's the best in the game. Period. End of discussion. Mark

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ Apr 30, 2016 -> 11:45 PM) Would be really dumb to be in the race all year and get to the end of the season and say "Wow if we only gave someone other than Danks a shot in the first half, we only came up a few games short". Give someone else a chance. 60 day DL fine but I don't want him seeing another start unless he has an ERA below 3 in Charlotte in at least 2-3 rehab starts. Very well stated. Mark

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 1, 2016 -> 07:13 AM) The Sox have eaten a few contracts in their time. Keppinger one of the recent contracts Huge difference, massive between Keppinger at four million or say what Danks, Dunn, LaRoche and Ramirez were / are making. Mark

Ugly, ugly game but at least the Sox got the win. To bad Albers had his streak snapped because Jose couldn't catch the damn baseball...at least he made up for it in the 9th inning. Defense has been bad the past few games, has looked like 2015. Maybe it's because of the raw weather conditions. Needs to tighten back up. Glad Robertson returns tomorrow, bullpen has been shaky the past few days. See if Sale can get the split tomorrow, considering everything that would be great. Oh you wonder when its all said and done if the Sox should have signed Alvarez on the cheap. Mark

Thought it was very interesting that the Sun-Times beat writer wrote Saturday that "Ventura is standing behind his veteran left-hander, but the decision to keep Danks in the rotation goes above him." If true (and I have no idea if it is) that seems to be an unusual situation where the field manager isn't making the decisions the directly impact the club. Mark

Sox players seem to be dropping like flies since last Saturday. Nothing major but it's becoming a factor since there's really nothing in the minor leagues position player wise who can come in and be worth a damn. Mark

An absolutely imbecilic decision on the part of someone in the brain trust. When Danks gets murdered at home, the fans will boo him off the mound. That's no way to treat the guy. He's done, Sox suck it up and let him go. Totally ludicrous decision. Mark

Is Robin reverting back to his "normal" ways?..inquiring minds want to know. You've got a solid bullpen...use them. Expected this with Danks opening the series, it's ****ing Baltimore don't you know, they've been doing it for years. And the Sox got shut down by another mediocre / garbage pitcher. Maybe things haven't changed as much as we thought. Baltimore...the new Minnesota or is it the new Oakland? Mark

It should be crystal clear to everyone that John Danks is done. I certainly hope the Sox realize this. If I were John I'd retire tomorrow...its not like he needs the money and is simply getting humiliated out there. He tried, I'll give him credit for that but he's done. The Sox now are in a tough position, its to early to trade for someone...what do they do? Go with Gonzales again? Try Eric Johnson? Maybe try to catch lightening in a bottle with a kid from Double A (James Baldwin had a sensational start for the Sox in 1996 so it can happen) It'll be interesting to see what they do but this simply can't go on. I've always said because pitchers get hurt, go into slumps, have double headers stack up with rainouts that you need SIX starters...not five. The sixth guy goes into the pen for long relief and makes spot starts (Dennis Lamp and Jerry Koosman both did this effectively for the Sox in the early 80's). Then if someone gets hurt or becomes ineffective he slides in to that spot. At least you have some insurance. Bottom line, the Sox have four starters right now, they need to beg, borrow or steal one someway...somehow. You don't want a repeat of 1996 or 2003 where the Sox blew an almost guaranteed postseason spot because the last starter in the rotation couldn't keep them in a game and at least give them a reasonable chance. Stat of the Night: Danks is 4-15 in his last 24 starts. He's done. Mark

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 10:20 PM) Isn't that the team that had Ken Berry and Tommy Crawford lead the Sox in batting average with .247 ? It was Berry and Don Buford at .241 if I remember correctly. Mark

Sox team ERA after 22 games is the lowest since the "Near Miss" 1967 White Sox who had the World Series dead in their sights against the Cardinals until that final week when they played the Kansas City A's and Washington Senators. Mark

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Apr 27, 2016 -> 09:26 PM) First time they've had 5 shutouts in first 22 games since 1973. That team had 6 -- and also started 16-6. Three starts by Wilbur Wood, two by Eddie Fisher and one by Stan Bahnsen. I won't say any more about how that team finished. There were two reasons it all fell apart: 1. Injuries. The Sox used the DL that season 38 times. After Ken Henderson tore up his knee on May 25 it was all downhill from there. Almost everybody got hurt...Allen, Melton, May. 2. Stu Holcomb. The Sox VP ordered player personnel director (at that time) Roland Hemond to release...not try to trade, nor negotiate with but RELEASE any player who did not take the Sox contract offer. They lost, for nothing, guys like Rick Reichardt, Ed Spezio, Mike Andrews and Jay Johnstone. When Holcomb ordered Hemond to release 21 game winner Stan Banhsen, Hemond and Chuck Tanner went to owner John Allyn and basically said, "its him or us." Allyn flew to Boston where the Sox were playing and "reassigned" Holcomb but the damage was done. After all the injuries the Sox had no one of quality left and were forced to use guys like Chuck Brickman, John "the Jet" Jeter, Rich Morales and their ilk. Just dumb and stupid. I've interviewed Roland and Chuck (before he passed) I can provide the links if you wish but it was not a pleasant situation. Mark

Wow...just wow. Words fail me. This is fun! Mark

Guess this means Danks stay in the rotation. Too bad. Mark

If this team can consistently score some runs (not saying 10 every night, just avoid the long stretches of 0, 1 or 3) they could be very, very dangerous. You can't win a pennant in April but you can sure lose one in it. Sox aren't going to lose it early this year at least. Just keep it going guys as long as you can. Mark

Avila will be back in two weeks he's said and if not AJ will be available in another month. Mark

Now THAT was impressive. Getting those two out hits was huge. My goodness even Garcia got two hits! Loved the fact they nailed the game winner off Floyd. Guess Gonzales isn't the answer so the Sox need to keep looking for a fifth starter. Third time this year the Sox have won a game when trailing in the 7th inning or later. That's your stat of the night. Mark

Congratulations to the White Sox for guaranteeing themselves a winning month of April for the first time since 2009. Lip

Interviewed Jason Benetti for Sox Net last Monday. Have turned in the story to Daniel. He'll publish it when he feels the time is right. Benetti is a very interesting guy and I think he's going to do well this year and eventually, perhaps as soon as next year take over full time duties. Mark

I don't know if Gonzales is the answer it would be a God-send if he was...but I do know that Danks ISN'T the answer and skipping him is worth the shot. Mark

I want to believe, they are starting to show me something. Let's see how they do off the road trip. Four extra base hits today was a very good sign, if you can't get a ton of hits at least make the ones you do get count for something. Lock down pitching today all across the board. Very, very nicely done. Mark

The box says the attendance was over 20, 000 today. If most of the seats were empty they must simply be counting tickets sold. Now to the game itself. After the Sox took the lead in the eighth inning you hoped they could close it out. But the offense is so bad they simply aren't giving the pitchers any room for error. And it's unrealistic to think they could go an entire season without coughing it up once in awhile. Wasn't able to see the game so I don't know if the Sox were being aggressive on the bases trying to force the Rangers into making plays (which they did) or if it was simply stupid base running. Someone will have to let me know on that one. Sox actually had double digit hits and multiple base runners which is very good. Garcia is getting worse daily it appears, box today said he left more guys on base. With Ventura saying they have no plans to send him down, that's a bad sign to me. How can you not do so right now? And if there aren't any better options in the minor league system what does that say about the system if you can't replace a guy hitting what, .150? (Even for a short time...) Glad to get the win though. Mark

Loney has family in San Diego. I don't think at this point he wants to leave the area. He must feel the Padres (who are deliberately tanking) are going to bring him up sooner or later. I don't know what can be done with Garcia since Ventura said they won't send him down. The Sox dislike change throughout the organization even at the cost of wins but sooner or later, hopefully sooner, they'll realize this guy simply doesn't have it. When they realize that is another question. Mark