Lip Man 1

Very disappointing night. To only get three hits off a struggling pitcher with an astronomical ERA (almost John Danks like)...very disappointing. Rodon needs to get his act together, Sox can't afford to have two holes out of five in the starting rotation. Was hoping for a win tonight to take the series...don't have a lot of faith with a fifth starter going Thursday that the Sox can win the game. And Zach Duke appears to be regressing into the Zach Duke we saw for most of last year. Mark

QUOTE (God Loves The Infantry @ May 4, 2016 -> 08:52 PM) If we're calling Ortiz a cheat because of the 2009 PEDs thing, we should probably discuss Bill Clinton being a rapist, too. Accused of the crime, but probably did not commit it. Let's lay off the dude. According to the findings in a supposedly confidential report that the New York Times was able to get their hands on Ortiz failed his drug test in 2003 if I remember correctly. It was during the time when there was no punishment if anyone failed a drug test. Mark

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2016 -> 07:57 AM) I didn't know this before, but apparently Lincecum has a degenerative hip condition in both hips. http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/07/20/san-franc...ry-degenerative So did Jack McDowell in one of his hips. He was able to pitch around it and have a very successful career. Don't know if Tim can do the same going forward but he was able to get some success even with it of course. In fact he was pretty good for a few years there. Mark

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2016 -> 07:53 AM) Maybe, eventually they will show up. If they aren't thinking about 2013, or 1982. Sox actually had a very good, solid season in 1982. Were in the race most of the year until Bernazard broke his leg in Oakland in September and Burns came up lame at the end. I'd take an 87 win season right now in a heartbeat, at least that puts you probably in the wild card now. Mark

Quote of the Night: Adam Eaton has it pretty much right on the money: “I can’t blame the fans for not wanting to come see us the last two years, especially with the struggles that we had." Just change it to the last three years and he'd be exactly on the money. Mark

I don't understand why this is so hard to understand for folks. The Sox have played s***ty baseball for three straight years and six of the last nine. One month isn't going to immediately change that. Sox sold 100,000 tickets last week...if they keep winning the crowds will be there especially when the kids get out of school. Really it's not that hard to understand folks. Mark

Another solid game...solid pitching, great defense. Defense wins championships and the Sox flashed the leather tonight. Looking very, very good right now against a killer first five weeks of the schedule. Mark

Wish him well, thank him for the good things that he did and the efforts he put in trying to come back from the injury. But this is best for all concerned, he simply doesn't have it and the Sox can't afford to keep wasting chances. I also give credit to the Sox for biting the bullet on a deal this large. They did the right thing. Mark

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 2, 2016 -> 09:11 PM) Yea was going to say the same. Interesting that JR is still so hands on even at his age. For better or worse no doubt. JR actually has the final say on the announcers from what I've been told. Some individuals for example never could get him to sign off on Dave Wills and he eventually left when the Tampa opportunity came up. Mark

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 2, 2016 -> 09:11 PM) Yea was going to say the same. Interesting that JR is still so hands on even at his age. For better or worse no doubt. Good interview Lip. I have to say sometimes your style is a bit anachronistic but you got some great answers out of Jason. Appreciate it but could you explain a little more about the anachronistic comment, I take no offense mind you, would just like to understand more of what you mean. Maybe its something I can adjust a little bit. Mark

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