Lip Man 1

I understand it was Sonny Gray but he walked four guys too. Just a shame to waste the performance Rodon gave and a bad flashback to last year as far as poor offense. Offense just hasn't looked very good at all in the series so far. Will be very interested to see what happens Thursday. Latos is pitching, expect the A's to score some runs...can the Sox finally score say six or seven and maybe take three of four? Considering they won the first two, getting a split in the series would be a downer, you've got to take the series. We'll see. Also I thought I saw or read somewhere that the Sox hadn't gone 3-0 to start a season since 1992. If that's true, that's unbelievable. Mark

We've got some historic audio AND video for Tuesday, April 5th in our This Date In Sox History thread. First off is an audio cut from April 5, 1974. The streaking craze has hit America and Comiskey Park was no exception. On a cold opening day against the Angels some strange things took place. Announcers: Harry Caray and Bill Mercer. Courtesy: WMAQ Radio. Then further down the thread you can see the video and hear the call of one of the most remarkable fielding plays you'll ever see from April 5, 2010. Mark Buehrle and Paul Konerko turned the trick. Announcers: Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Steve Stone. Courtesy: Comcast Sports Chicago. http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/04/t...-a-team-record/ Mark

With the new season comes new and improved additions of "This Date In Sox History" historic audio. All new additions with links will be posted in this thread so you can listen and enjoy as you will. Feel free to post any memories of the events in this thread too. Thanks to Daniel Shapiro with his help actually getting the cuts posted (I record, edit them and send them off to him...) First off is a cut from April 4, 2005...the final out in the first game, of what would turn out to be a VERY historic season on the South Side. Announcers are Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Darrin Jackson. Courtesy: Comcast Sports Chicago. http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2016/04/1139/ Mark

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 04:32 PM) Frankly, Hill pitching tonight makes me a bit nervous. Sox have never had much success vs this type of pitcher but hopefully with multiple new faces it won't be an issue. Agreed. Hill is a journeyman (he actually started the A.J. / Barrett fight game back in 2006 for the Cubs), a left hander, a spot starter and is simply an OK pitcher in my book. How many of those guys have shredded the Sox in the past? The Sox say they have a different team this year, consider tonight an excellent opportunity to start changing their perception by lighting this guy up. Mark

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 12:28 PM) That last line should actually read 90 or more games because there's one year where they won exactly 90 games. Anyway, having looked up the records it's amazing how many years the Sox didn't make the playoffs simply because the Yankees were better. Of course that streak of winning seasons stopped right around the time they added the East/West divisions to each league. The Sox have never taken advantage of MLB adding to the number teams that can make it to the playoffs. They've never won the WC and even with a second WC now added, they still haven't managed it. very true. Mark

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 09:09 AM) i am not going to deny that the sox should have some really outstanding moments for the opening day game. but for one that i was there, was in the April 9, 1993, the moment is classic and which i think endeared him to the chi .... fans, and media alike. 6th inning and some really reclamation project went in the pitch hit. his name is Bo Jackson and he took the ball yard, over the yanks and won the game. that moment was the BEST for me. Actually despite Bo's home run the Sox got blown out that afternoon, 11-6. Mark

Nothing wrong with taking a shot, you can never have enough pitching options and the back end of the Sox rotation absolutely is a question mark. Mark

Just wanted to wish all Sox fans a good 2016 season. As far as the team, may they be productive, travel safe and win at least 82 games (anything over that is gravy in my book...) Mark

Thought this would be the right place to list all the picks the media, the national magazines and the baseball networks are making for the Sox for 2017. First off is Sports Illustrated (and it's not a happy one.) They have the Sox finishing 4th in the division with only a single game improvement to 77-85 from the final 2016 record. They do pick Chris Sale to win the A.L. Cy Young and the 'scout's take' section on the Sox is very positive (which somewhat makes their Sox pick puzzling...) By the way they have Houston beating the Cubs in the World Series. Mark

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 20, 2016 -> 01:37 PM) The full statement Of course he has "complete faith" in the front office that has provided fans with six losing seasons in the last nine years. Loyalty without accountability is the White Sox mantra don't you know! Mark

USA Today story. Claims Sox players and coaches complained: http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/nighte...amp;ocid=onepro Mark

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 18, 2016 -> 01:07 PM) Probably best to just fire KW at this point. He's the president and is showing no ability to handle the team. This will die down eventually, and go back to normal. But if he's this bad at dealing with this stuff... Do you guys have any confidence in KW dealing with a domestic violence incident or something like that? As long as JR is owner I have a very hard time thinking Williams is going anywhere. Just the track record alone on the field the past 10 years was grounds for firing...yet nothing happened in all that time. Mark

I agree the Sox were fully within their rights to make this request. I have no problem with that and its something frankly they should have done. However Kenny stepping in was the absolute wrong thing to do in my opinion. This is Hahn or Ventura's territory. Some feel willing to completely gloss over things and that's fine. I think there is a lot more going on behind the scenes here, I also get the feeling and there seems to be a lot of circumstantial evidence to support it that something has been festering the past few years and it is now reaching a head. And it goes beyond just losing, which isn't helping matters. The White Sox in my judgment have a dysfunctional front office (much like the Bulls the past few years) because individuals are letting egos get in the way of boundaries and good judgment and making matters worse is that ownership apparently likes it that way or they would have put a stop to it years ago either by making changes or demanding limits regarding responsibilities. We'll see what happens after JR meets with the players. You never know what this may lead to, hopefully a united team that takes it out on the field and against management like the A's under Charlie Finley in the 70's. Or like the Sox after the brawl with the Tigers in 2000. LaRoche's statement makes it clear to me that someone is lying. Time will tell who but based on the past and reputation I tend to think it wasn't the baseball player. Mark

Just some comments. Rosenthal just came out with a column basically asking, "who is running the White Sox show?" something that fans have been asking for the last few years. In it his says there is friction between Hahn and Williams and wonders why the policy wasn't presented by Hahn or Ventura. He also says those two disagreed with Kenny. Obviously this is just another bit of evidence of a somewhat dysfunctional front office...maybe more than we think. Obviously JR should be the one to step in but apparently it doesn't bother him. The only time I can recall that he did so was when he had the pregame press conference in D.C. where he told both Williams and Ozzie to cut it out after the Twitter stuff came out. When your top pitcher tells the V.P. to get out and stay out of the clubhouse, it's not a good thing. LaRoche's leaving help the Sox on the field and may lead to tearing it apart and torpedoing the season when all is said and done. We'll see but this situation appears now to be getting out of control. Mark

Kenny's comments seem reasonable and logical to me. Well done Kenny! (and who knows, the cynic in me thinks Kenny may have been thinking of a way to try to force LaRoche and his 13 million dollar deal out thus greatly helping the Sox. If so WELL DONE KENNY!) Mark

Wish him and his family the best. It was time for him to leave on his own terms instead of possibly being let go at some point. Yes it takes a lot of stones to walk away from 13 million but also remember he played in the majors for over a decade and I think he's probably not hurting financially with or without that money. What is interesting now is, are the Sox more likely to try to take on a Gonzales or a Bruce or an Either since they have more additional funds? Mark

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 06:35 PM) The Belle deal was unique and one of the biggest in baseball at the time...and it actually worked that one time to the team's favor. We'll see twenty years later if they're willing to give them out. Belle's deal was the largest in baseball history at the time and stunned the other owners. The media speculation at the time was that JR deliberately made it higher than it should have been to "pay back" the other owners for settling the labor situation of 1994-95 which wasn't to his liking. Whatever the reason or reasons it cost him a position on the Labor Advisory Committee that gave recommendations to the commissioner. He was removed from it by the other owners shortly afterwards. Mark

Rick had what I thought were some interesting comments today in Glendale. Among the sampling: 'The Sox drew 1.755 million fans last year, ranking 26th among the 30 teams. It was a slight increase from 1.6 million in 2014 but not enough to make a real difference. "You know what's probably a bigger differentiation between clubs right now than local attendance is the local TV contract," Hahn said. "You've heard it for years on the other side of town, and they're right. That's probably the biggest disparity in club revenues, as opposed to what attendance used to represent." "For us, the more people who show up, great. It creates a better environment, it potentially allows us more resources, but we also are fully aware of the fact we haven't put a product out there that people have wanted to come and invest their time and money in. We're hoping this year to be a little bit different. We're going to wind up in the same (payroll) area, so it hasn't had a negative impact from that standpoint." Rick is showing some tact with the attendance comments and he's right in my opinion. Sox fans won't pay to see bad baseball, period. Also the talk about TV deals is also correct in my opinion. If the Sox want to get anything close to a good new TV deal in 2019, they better start winning or they'll be blown away by what the Cubs are going to get when they start their own network. Mark

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 22, 2016 -> 10:41 AM) Just add Rollins to the ever growing list of players that the Sox get past their primes. Griffey, Ramirez, Vizquel, Jones, Dunn, LaRoche, etc. It's pathetic. Actually Jones had a pretty good year for the Sox. Nothing to lose with this move although I'm not expecting much out of him. Mark

90 wins would be nice and badly needed to give this franchise a shot in the arm but a lot of things would have to go right for that to happen. And frankly the past ten years the Sox haven't had a whole lot of good luck. Color me satisfied if they can just have a winning season...period. To get to 90 wins by the way they sure as hell need to have a winning month in April (something that hasn't happened by the way since 2009...) Mark

On paper there is nothing wrong with this move. We'll see how it plays out. Now go get an outfielder. Mark

Hawk signed a two year deal but according to (I think) the Sun-Times was quoted as saying he told JR if the Sox are as bad in 2016 as is 2015 he may call it quits after the year. Mark

I certainly hope that is the case but the cynic in me can list millions of reasons (as in dollars) why I'd be shocked if he was benched or cut outright. The White Sox don't let go of guys with that much money on the table regardless of how bad they are. We're talking what 14 million? Mark

He must be blackmailing somebody to keep getting re-upped by the Sox. Charlotte fodder, nothing else. Mark

I don't think they will do anything before or during Sox Fest and I'd be surprised if they added anybody of significance by Opening Day. Mark