WEBVTT -  Sox Machine Live: Last Dash Towards Postseason

0:00:01.550 --> 0:00:04.050
<v Speaker 1>In case you need a lawyer, here's my business card.

0:00:04.170 --> 0:00:07.720
<v Speaker 1>I'm attorney Howard Ankin. You or someone you know has

0:00:07.740 --> 0:00:10.740
<v Speaker 1>been hurt at work. Ankin Law can get the medical

0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:16.400
<v Speaker 1>bills paid, the lost wages reimbursed, and the compensation you deserve.

0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.459
<v Speaker 1>We're one of the largest filers throughout the state of

0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:21.900
<v Speaker 1>Illinois of workers' compensation claims.

0:00:22.380 --> 0:00:23.160
<v Speaker 2>We're here to help.

0:00:23.660 --> 0:00:29.230
<v Speaker 1>Call 312-6-MILLION. Injury law made personal. That's Ankin Law.

0:00:43.460 --> 0:00:48.960
<v Speaker 3>From your favorite source for Chicago White Sox talk, delivering news, interviews, analysis,

0:00:49.100 --> 0:00:52.980
<v Speaker 3>and more. This is the Sox Machine Podcast with your hosts,

0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:54.960
<v Speaker 3>Jim Margulis and Josh Nelson.

0:00:55.600 --> 0:00:58.280
<v Speaker 2>Hello, folks. Welcome to a new episode of the Sox

0:00:58.300 --> 0:01:01.830
<v Speaker 2>Machine Podcast, part of the Foul Territory Network. I'm your host,

0:01:02.030 --> 0:01:05.809
<v Speaker 2>Josh Nelson, and we are streaming live around 11 a.m.

0:01:05.890 --> 0:01:10.259
<v Speaker 2>Central Time on Thursday, September 17th. As the Chicago White

0:01:10.300 --> 0:01:13.700
<v Speaker 2>Sox ended up losing their series to the Cleveland Guardians.

0:01:13.980 --> 0:01:17.340
<v Speaker 2>So it's been a long time. We've been podcasting since

0:01:17.620 --> 0:01:20.199
<v Speaker 2>4th of July when the White Sox were in first place.

0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.160
<v Speaker 2>Now they're back in second place in the American League Central.

0:01:24.220 --> 0:01:27.140
<v Speaker 2>So in this episode, we'll talk about what happened in Cleveland.

0:01:27.900 --> 0:01:31.300
<v Speaker 2>Look ahead to the final 10 games of the 2026

0:01:31.300 --> 0:01:33.880
<v Speaker 2>season as the White Sox are still just a half

0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:37.240
<v Speaker 2>game behind Cleveland. but they're only a game ahead of

0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:40.520
<v Speaker 2>the Texas Rangers for the final wildcard spot, so the

0:01:40.580 --> 0:01:43.140
<v Speaker 2>postseason race has gotten a lot tighter for the Chicago

0:01:43.180 --> 0:01:46.160
<v Speaker 2>White Sox. And we'll also preview tonight's game as the

0:01:46.220 --> 0:01:49.960
<v Speaker 2>Detroit Tigers now visit the White Sox for a four-game set,

0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.540
<v Speaker 2>and the White Sox are recognizing and honoring Tim Anderson

0:01:54.060 --> 0:01:58.000
<v Speaker 2>as TA recently retired. Joining me in this episode of

0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.660
<v Speaker 2>Sox Machine Live is Sox Machine's managing editor, Jim Margulis.

0:02:02.020 --> 0:02:06.000
<v Speaker 2>And Jim... I've been teasing Courtney. One of these days,

0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:07.850
<v Speaker 2>we're going to have a positive podcast to talk about

0:02:08.230 --> 0:02:10.630
<v Speaker 2>the last time you and I podcasted, it was a

0:02:10.730 --> 0:02:14.970
<v Speaker 2>positive episode. Uh, but unfortunately the white socks ended up

0:02:15.250 --> 0:02:20.410
<v Speaker 2>losing the series to the Cleveland guardians. What's your instant

0:02:20.450 --> 0:02:23.820
<v Speaker 2>reaction to the series loss for the white socks?

0:02:25.820 --> 0:02:30.120
<v Speaker 4>They could have swept it, which is weird to say. Um,

0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.580
<v Speaker 4>They had Grant Taylor one strike away from winning the

0:02:35.620 --> 0:02:38.669
<v Speaker 4>series two out of three at the very least. They

0:02:38.710 --> 0:02:41.550
<v Speaker 4>had a lead past the halfway point of game three.

0:02:41.610 --> 0:02:46.220
<v Speaker 4>So as much of a blow as it is, you

0:02:46.250 --> 0:02:49.179
<v Speaker 4>could look at it and say that, well, the Guardians

0:02:49.220 --> 0:02:53.460
<v Speaker 4>didn't win it outright or they didn't like outclass.

0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:53.620
<v Speaker 5>The White Sox.

0:02:54.540 --> 0:02:57.000
<v Speaker 4>The series could have tilted either way and it tilted

0:02:57.020 --> 0:02:59.780
<v Speaker 4>in Cleveland's favor, which is a credit to them. But also,

0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.619
<v Speaker 4>you know, it's not at the point where you can

0:03:02.660 --> 0:03:05.440
<v Speaker 4>say that the White Sox are doomed. Cleveland's going to

0:03:05.460 --> 0:03:08.160
<v Speaker 4>run away with this, et cetera. They were three close

0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.350
<v Speaker 4>games or two and a half close games. And that

0:03:12.410 --> 0:03:15.549
<v Speaker 4>probably means something. On the other hand, when you see

0:03:15.570 --> 0:03:18.290
<v Speaker 4>the White Sox, kind of what they have to resort to,

0:03:18.310 --> 0:03:22.260
<v Speaker 4>you know, Sean Newcomb, not being able to get through

0:03:22.300 --> 0:03:24.220
<v Speaker 4>a second inning grant Taylor, not being able to get

0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:28.080
<v Speaker 4>through a second inning. I just wrote about them probably

0:03:28.139 --> 0:03:30.799
<v Speaker 4>running out of gas or will Venable having to look

0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:35.230
<v Speaker 4>at them as one inning guys until proven. Otherwise, when

0:03:35.270 --> 0:03:38.090
<v Speaker 4>you see them having a bad Tommy fam cleanup against

0:03:38.110 --> 0:03:41.050
<v Speaker 4>the left-handed starter that points to like, Oh, they're really

0:03:41.110 --> 0:03:44.270
<v Speaker 4>running out of ideas here. So there is a sense

0:03:44.370 --> 0:03:49.070
<v Speaker 4>that although this was a close series that, the White

0:03:49.130 --> 0:03:52.110
<v Speaker 4>Sox might have put up, if not their last fight

0:03:52.150 --> 0:03:59.030
<v Speaker 4>at least, they're bringing plastic utensils to a gunfight here

0:03:59.740 --> 0:04:02.560
<v Speaker 4>and trying their best to scratch out wins and really

0:04:03.140 --> 0:04:05.400
<v Speaker 4>holding on by the seat of their pants. So I

0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.960
<v Speaker 4>think there's an optimistic view and a pessimistic view and

0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.040
<v Speaker 4>just with the way they've been playing overall in September.

0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.340
<v Speaker 4>And this is really the... the roughest stretch of their

0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.700
<v Speaker 4>season since April, since the very beginning of the season.

0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.800
<v Speaker 4>You can either look at it like all things will

0:04:22.820 --> 0:04:27.420
<v Speaker 4>pass or this is probably how the season should have

0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.060
<v Speaker 4>looked all along or like they're going to end up

0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.020
<v Speaker 4>with a win total that's closer to where they should

0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.380
<v Speaker 4>have been, you know, the entire season based on projections

0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.479
<v Speaker 4>and based on their overall place in the American League.

0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:40.620
<v Speaker 5>And this is just a very weird and painful way

0:04:40.660 --> 0:04:41.120
<v Speaker 5>of getting there.

0:04:41.580 --> 0:04:45.180
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I'd be really disappointed if the White Sox bookmarked

0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:49.250
<v Speaker 2>a 7-14 start and then a 7-14 stretch in the

0:04:49.290 --> 0:04:53.290
<v Speaker 2>month of September. That would be quite painful. The thing

0:04:53.330 --> 0:04:57.470
<v Speaker 2>about Cleveland, Jim, is that's my takeaway from this series,

0:04:57.490 --> 0:05:00.730
<v Speaker 2>is that Cleveland, Cleveland, in Cleveland. This is what the

0:05:00.790 --> 0:05:05.100
<v Speaker 2>Guardians have been doing as of late. Again, the Detroit

0:05:05.140 --> 0:05:07.220
<v Speaker 2>Tigers series that they had, they did not have a

0:05:07.260 --> 0:05:10.400
<v Speaker 2>lead in that entire four game series, but they won

0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.880
<v Speaker 2>three games off of the last at bat. Like this

0:05:13.940 --> 0:05:16.480
<v Speaker 2>is just what they do. And this is why when

0:05:16.500 --> 0:05:19.680
<v Speaker 2>you face the Guardians, no matter what team in baseball,

0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.500
<v Speaker 2>you have to keep scoring. You have to keep putting

0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.670
<v Speaker 2>the pressure on offensively. because, and we'll talk about our

0:05:27.710 --> 0:05:30.830
<v Speaker 2>biggest worries later in the show, it's very clear that

0:05:30.890 --> 0:05:33.810
<v Speaker 2>the White Sox don't have the bullpen arms at the

0:05:33.890 --> 0:05:38.820
<v Speaker 2>moment where anyone feels comfortable, fans, the players in the field,

0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:41.840
<v Speaker 2>the coaches in the dugout, that they could carry a

0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.539
<v Speaker 2>one-run lead for multiple innings. Like, I just don't have

0:05:45.580 --> 0:05:47.800
<v Speaker 2>that type of confidence, and I don't know if Will

0:05:47.820 --> 0:05:50.840
<v Speaker 2>Venable has that type of confidence either, because he ended

0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.990
<v Speaker 2>up pulling Hagan Smith after he reached 30 pitches, and

0:05:54.029 --> 0:05:57.310
<v Speaker 2>Hagan's command started to go wayward. Because it was a

0:05:57.410 --> 0:06:01.770
<v Speaker 2>one-run game. And here comes Petey helping. And Sean Newcomb

0:06:01.790 --> 0:06:05.770
<v Speaker 2>should be able to get Petey out. And no. Petey

0:06:05.910 --> 0:06:08.370
<v Speaker 2>finally hits a home run off of a left-handed pitcher.

0:06:09.210 --> 0:06:13.730
<v Speaker 2>And just completely back-breaking. And Sean Newcomb also doesn't have

0:06:14.050 --> 0:06:17.680
<v Speaker 2>his command. And that's what's really disappointing in this series.

0:06:17.710 --> 0:06:19.980
<v Speaker 2>Because the first two games of this series, Jim, the

0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:23.729
<v Speaker 2>offense did step up. They scored seven runs in their win,

0:06:23.750 --> 0:06:26.969
<v Speaker 2>and they scored six runs in their loss. And when

0:06:27.190 --> 0:06:32.430
<v Speaker 2>runs were really difficult to come by for the White Sox,

0:06:32.890 --> 0:06:35.610
<v Speaker 2>they came through. They put up more than five runs.

0:06:35.990 --> 0:06:39.450
<v Speaker 2>And then on Wednesday against Parker Messick, we knew that

0:06:40.390 --> 0:06:43.300
<v Speaker 2>Parker Messick has a 2.57 earned run average this year.

0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.539
<v Speaker 2>It's been tough for every team to score runs against

0:06:46.580 --> 0:06:49.400
<v Speaker 2>Parker Messick. And the White Sox, thanks to Tommy Pham

0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:51.260
<v Speaker 2>of all players, and we'll talk about Tommy in a

0:06:51.300 --> 0:06:55.050
<v Speaker 2>second here, We're able to get the lead. So I

0:06:55.089 --> 0:06:56.730
<v Speaker 2>do like the point that you made, like the White

0:06:56.750 --> 0:06:59.450
<v Speaker 2>Sox had the lead in each of these games. There

0:06:59.510 --> 0:07:01.810
<v Speaker 2>is a side to this series where you could say

0:07:01.850 --> 0:07:05.070
<v Speaker 2>they could have swept Cleveland and maybe really put a

0:07:05.150 --> 0:07:07.750
<v Speaker 2>dent in Cleveland's hopes of winning the American League Central.

0:07:08.420 --> 0:07:11.940
<v Speaker 2>But they do have the tiebreaker. And we'll talk more

0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.180
<v Speaker 2>about the upcoming 10 games for the White Sox. This

0:07:15.300 --> 0:07:18.760
<v Speaker 2>race is not over. I get the sentiment from White

0:07:18.780 --> 0:07:21.940
<v Speaker 2>Sox fans that they think that the race is over.

0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.120
<v Speaker 2>But I just wonder if that's just more of the

0:07:25.300 --> 0:07:28.460
<v Speaker 2>scar tissue of being a White Sox fan, Jim, in

0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:33.850
<v Speaker 2>that Sox fans are just consistently used to being disappointed.

0:07:36.350 --> 0:07:39.690
<v Speaker 2>This feeling and them failing to make the playoffs because

0:07:39.730 --> 0:07:43.030
<v Speaker 2>of a late September swoon happens far more often than

0:07:43.070 --> 0:07:44.650
<v Speaker 2>what we have seen in 2005 and 2008 or 2020.

0:07:44.650 --> 0:07:46.720
<v Speaker 2>Even 2021, the White Sox kind of sputtered to the

0:07:46.740 --> 0:07:55.170
<v Speaker 2>finish line. I think that's what the sentiment is now. And,

0:07:55.370 --> 0:07:57.310
<v Speaker 2>you know, what can the White Sox players do on

0:07:57.350 --> 0:08:00.230
<v Speaker 2>the field for White Sox fans to regain some of

0:08:00.250 --> 0:08:03.670
<v Speaker 2>the confidence that they had a month ago? Yeah.

0:08:03.770 --> 0:08:07.850
<v Speaker 4>I mean, the reflexive sentiments to just say like, it's

0:08:07.870 --> 0:08:08.610
<v Speaker 4>not going to work.

0:08:09.170 --> 0:08:10.980
<v Speaker 5>Is usually the correct one.

0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:11.390
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:08:11.420 --> 0:08:12.840
<v Speaker 5>I mean, and it's usually correct.

0:08:12.860 --> 0:08:15.160
<v Speaker 4>Like you can't say that you're being too negative because

0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.300
<v Speaker 4>this is typically what happens. If you bet the under,

0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.310
<v Speaker 4>if you bet the, well, maybe not this year in

0:08:21.330 --> 0:08:23.360
<v Speaker 4>terms of the under overall wins and losses, but just like.

0:08:23.310 --> 0:08:24.120
<v Speaker 2>If you bet the.

0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:33.660
<v Speaker 4>Downside or like a 20th percentile outcome based on individual games,

0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.699
<v Speaker 4>individual decisions, individual transactions, like you're probably going to win

0:08:37.740 --> 0:08:41.280
<v Speaker 4>more often than you lose. So like in the White Sox,

0:08:42.059 --> 0:08:46.740
<v Speaker 4>they've earned that. They've earned the skepticism, the reflexive cynicism,

0:08:48.020 --> 0:08:53.280
<v Speaker 4>especially since they have not won since And even that

0:08:53.340 --> 0:08:58.040
<v Speaker 4>was more or less like a procedural cakewalk because the

0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.740
<v Speaker 4>other central teams packed in at the deadline and they

0:09:00.780 --> 0:09:02.840
<v Speaker 4>were more or less allowed to coast the last two

0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.800
<v Speaker 4>months until they ran to a team with Ambition again

0:09:04.820 --> 0:09:10.050
<v Speaker 4>and lost pretty handily in the only.

0:09:09.950 --> 0:09:10.590
<v Speaker 5>Series they played.

0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.300
<v Speaker 4>So that's why I think that I can't blame anybody

0:09:14.380 --> 0:09:15.080
<v Speaker 4>for saying this.

0:09:15.420 --> 0:09:17.040
<v Speaker 5>And I wouldn't even say the sky is falling. The

0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:18.120
<v Speaker 5>sky has fallen.

0:09:18.260 --> 0:09:19.839
<v Speaker 4>Now it's just a matter of can the White Sox

0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.890
<v Speaker 4>dig themselves out of it and win six out of

0:09:23.910 --> 0:09:26.270
<v Speaker 4>their last 10 games, which I think is more or

0:09:26.309 --> 0:09:28.510
<v Speaker 4>less the goal. They've been playing 500 ball the entire year,

0:09:28.570 --> 0:09:32.349
<v Speaker 4>but since like– not the entire year, but since May

0:09:32.370 --> 0:09:35.900
<v Speaker 4>basically they've been playing 500 ball. And so you're probably

0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:40.190
<v Speaker 4>going to need– the bare minimum above 500 to feel

0:09:40.230 --> 0:09:44.119
<v Speaker 4>like you've secured a postseason place. And that's kind of

0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.300
<v Speaker 4>how I think they should look at it. And can

0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.280
<v Speaker 4>the White Sox do that? Like, if you think they can't, sure. Like, yeah,

0:09:49.340 --> 0:09:52.420
<v Speaker 4>I'm not going to argue against it too strenuously, but

0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.310
<v Speaker 4>it's not a whole lot of fun. Like, you know,

0:09:54.330 --> 0:09:56.230
<v Speaker 4>whenever you see somebody say, I told you that they're

0:09:56.250 --> 0:09:58.630
<v Speaker 4>going to collapse, like, okay, you're sadder than everybody else.

0:09:59.710 --> 0:10:02.309
<v Speaker 4>You know, what you, congratulations for being like, you know, like,

0:10:02.460 --> 0:10:03.929
<v Speaker 4>I don't know what, I don't know what the prize

0:10:03.980 --> 0:10:07.020
<v Speaker 4>is there. Uh, if you called a collapse while everybody's

0:10:07.059 --> 0:10:11.960
<v Speaker 4>having fun, like, okay. Uh, but, uh, at this point,

0:10:11.980 --> 0:10:14.120
<v Speaker 4>it's more a matter of like, can they dig out

0:10:14.140 --> 0:10:18.420
<v Speaker 4>of it? Can these players who you've been following and

0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.360
<v Speaker 4>just at a human angle, like you've been following all

0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:22.660
<v Speaker 4>these feel good stories, you don't want the feel good

0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.000
<v Speaker 4>stories to feel bad because like none of these players

0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.500
<v Speaker 4>have done anything on the field or off the field

0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.580
<v Speaker 4>or anything like that to make you want them to

0:10:31.620 --> 0:10:34.360
<v Speaker 4>feel bad. You feel like they've, you know, it's not

0:10:34.380 --> 0:10:36.460
<v Speaker 4>like there are no like Mike Clevenger stories in this

0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:37.900
<v Speaker 4>team to where like, you know, I don't, I'm not

0:10:37.940 --> 0:10:40.290
<v Speaker 4>invested in their success. I think every player on this

0:10:40.350 --> 0:10:45.620
<v Speaker 4>roster has more or less earned real sentiment and earned

0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.900
<v Speaker 4>real investment in how they perform and wanting to see

0:10:48.940 --> 0:10:52.040
<v Speaker 4>their careers flourish from here. So you see all these

0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.750
<v Speaker 4>players making their debuts. You see all the rookies feeling this,

0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:56.429
<v Speaker 4>and you'd really like to have some kind of, at

0:10:56.610 --> 0:10:58.689
<v Speaker 4>the end of the season, at least a number of

0:10:58.750 --> 0:11:01.309
<v Speaker 4>positive resolutions to say, like, here's why it was right

0:11:01.330 --> 0:11:02.970
<v Speaker 4>to bank on these rookies, and here's why you can

0:11:03.010 --> 0:11:04.050
<v Speaker 4>bank on them going forward.

0:11:04.490 --> 0:11:09.440
<v Speaker 2>No, good points, Jim. Very good points. And the last

0:11:09.460 --> 0:11:11.200
<v Speaker 2>thing I wanted to chime in on the Cleveland series,

0:11:11.260 --> 0:11:16.740
<v Speaker 2>because this is such a baffling story to me. Tommy

0:11:16.820 --> 0:11:20.959
<v Speaker 2>Pham's elevator pitch to Chris gets to activate him sooner.

0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:25.750
<v Speaker 2>And like his first at bat against Cleveland, first pitch

0:11:25.770 --> 0:11:29.490
<v Speaker 2>ground out now to Tommy Pham's credit. on video doesn't

0:11:29.530 --> 0:11:31.950
<v Speaker 2>look very impressive. He did hit the ball pretty hard.

0:11:32.010 --> 0:11:34.610
<v Speaker 2>It was like 104 mile per hour exit velocity, just

0:11:34.650 --> 0:11:36.970
<v Speaker 2>right at the shortstop. His next at bat, he looks

0:11:37.050 --> 0:11:40.090
<v Speaker 2>at strike three on a fastball right down the middle.

0:11:40.830 --> 0:11:44.070
<v Speaker 2>And I tweeted, what's the point of Tommy Pham? Like,

0:11:44.150 --> 0:11:47.130
<v Speaker 2>what's the point of him batting cleanup if this is

0:11:47.190 --> 0:11:49.230
<v Speaker 2>the type of a bats that he's going to produce?

0:11:49.790 --> 0:11:53.190
<v Speaker 2>His third at bat hits a three run homer and

0:11:53.230 --> 0:11:56.590
<v Speaker 2>it's a tank. It's an absolute tank. that gives the

0:11:56.630 --> 0:11:59.510
<v Speaker 2>white socks to lead Jim. So I guess the elevator

0:11:59.570 --> 0:12:01.910
<v Speaker 2>pitch worked, but what do you make of it? Of

0:12:01.990 --> 0:12:05.070
<v Speaker 2>Tommy fam approaching Chris gets and telling him, giving him

0:12:05.130 --> 0:12:07.580
<v Speaker 2>his reason of why you should activate me and play

0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:08.100
<v Speaker 2>me tomorrow.

0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:14.040
<v Speaker 5>I am conflicted on one hand.

0:12:15.420 --> 0:12:18.520
<v Speaker 4>It's very much a, you know, what better choices are there,

0:12:18.790 --> 0:12:21.730
<v Speaker 4>especially if you want left, right balance throughout the lineup

0:12:21.790 --> 0:12:24.819
<v Speaker 4>against the lefty starter. It's, there's a little bit of

0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.000
<v Speaker 4>a Joshua Palacios batting cleanup feel to it in terms

0:12:28.059 --> 0:12:30.260
<v Speaker 4>of like, are you sure you want, you know, that's

0:12:30.300 --> 0:12:33.440
<v Speaker 4>a marquee spot regardless of what your, you know, analytics

0:12:33.500 --> 0:12:36.480
<v Speaker 4>say in terms of who offers the best shot against

0:12:36.540 --> 0:12:38.730
<v Speaker 4>a certain pitcher. Like it, it feels a little bit

0:12:38.750 --> 0:12:41.829
<v Speaker 4>defeating to look at your lineup and see Tommy Pham

0:12:42.450 --> 0:12:44.990
<v Speaker 4>with one plate appearance to his credits on the White

0:12:45.010 --> 0:12:47.429
<v Speaker 4>Sox after spending most of the year in AAA, like

0:12:47.490 --> 0:12:50.170
<v Speaker 4>batting cleanup fresh off the IL without a rehab stint.

0:12:51.250 --> 0:12:52.969
<v Speaker 4>And it gives you that feeling of like, this is just,

0:12:53.620 --> 0:12:54.959
<v Speaker 4>like this is not a major league lineup. This is

0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.640
<v Speaker 4>not a serious lineup. On the other hand, you know,

0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.770
<v Speaker 4>there's a case where you can say if he feels invested,

0:13:04.790 --> 0:13:08.309
<v Speaker 4>if he can sell you on it and he, you

0:13:08.350 --> 0:13:11.770
<v Speaker 4>feel like he can fire up a roster that's with,

0:13:11.850 --> 0:13:13.550
<v Speaker 4>you know, and given that he's a veteran too, like

0:13:14.410 --> 0:13:16.470
<v Speaker 4>if you have a whole bunch of rookies who are

0:13:16.510 --> 0:13:18.760
<v Speaker 4>feeling like they're trying to keep their heads above water,

0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:25.970
<v Speaker 4>Giving a allowing a veteran with attitude and you can

0:13:25.990 --> 0:13:27.989
<v Speaker 4>say it's bad attitude or good attitude, depending on whether

0:13:28.030 --> 0:13:30.830
<v Speaker 4>they're winning or losing. But if it feels like a chance,

0:13:31.820 --> 0:13:33.599
<v Speaker 4>a chance to provide a jolt to the team, I

0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.380
<v Speaker 4>could see it being a case. I think my reservation

0:13:37.420 --> 0:13:40.000
<v Speaker 4>in terms of endorsing this is like Tommy Pham given

0:13:40.020 --> 0:13:40.600
<v Speaker 4>his history.

0:13:40.620 --> 0:13:42.800
<v Speaker 5>I don't know if I.

0:13:44.050 --> 0:13:47.850
<v Speaker 4>Want decisions to be made with two people in an

0:13:47.910 --> 0:13:50.210
<v Speaker 4>elevator and no way to get out. You know, Tommy

0:13:50.250 --> 0:13:55.850
<v Speaker 4>fam famously slapped jock Peterson over a fantasy football dispute.

0:13:55.870 --> 0:13:59.820
<v Speaker 4>Like I don't necessarily given the people involved and given

0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:02.940
<v Speaker 4>that it's a very close quarters and no escape, like

0:14:03.860 --> 0:14:06.579
<v Speaker 4>I don't want the threat of physical violence being the

0:14:06.620 --> 0:14:08.380
<v Speaker 4>reason why a decision was made.

0:14:08.540 --> 0:14:09.860
<v Speaker 5>So I think that doesn't feel healthy.

0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.440
<v Speaker 4>So if we can assume that this was considered and,

0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:18.189
<v Speaker 4>fam made a plea with words only uh it gets

0:14:18.230 --> 0:14:20.710
<v Speaker 4>heated that then sure that's fine i just don't want

0:14:20.730 --> 0:14:23.480
<v Speaker 4>uh coercion uh to be part of the recipe.

0:14:23.530 --> 0:14:25.500
<v Speaker 2>You never wanted to fight your boss jim.

0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.620
<v Speaker 4>No i've been pretty lucky to have decent bosses but

0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.640
<v Speaker 4>even then like yeah it just it's um yeah you know,

0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:37.270
<v Speaker 4>given that fam, you know, likes to talk about, you know,

0:14:37.290 --> 0:14:37.950
<v Speaker 4>finishing fights.

0:14:37.970 --> 0:14:39.070
<v Speaker 5>Yeah.

0:14:39.190 --> 0:14:41.510
<v Speaker 4>Like I just, and get, you know, if eight by

0:14:41.570 --> 0:14:45.270
<v Speaker 4>eight space between floors is not, I think how I'd

0:14:45.310 --> 0:14:46.730
<v Speaker 4>want to discuss something with Tommy fam.

0:14:47.570 --> 0:14:50.620
<v Speaker 2>If Tommy fam's timing comes back because he gets angry

0:14:50.660 --> 0:14:53.359
<v Speaker 2>within a bat, maybe someone should just slap him before

0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.900
<v Speaker 2>the game and get him going. sooner, especially with runners

0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.600
<v Speaker 2>in scoring position. We'll probably see Tommy Pham in this

0:15:00.660 --> 0:15:02.940
<v Speaker 2>series for the Chicago White Sox as the Tigers will

0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:06.180
<v Speaker 2>have a couple lefties lined up to face the White Sox.

0:15:06.220 --> 0:15:09.600
<v Speaker 2>So hopefully that home run sparked something to Tommy Pham

0:15:09.660 --> 0:15:12.020
<v Speaker 2>and he can have a late season surge to help

0:15:12.060 --> 0:15:15.000
<v Speaker 2>the White Sox. That home run is his only hit

0:15:15.060 --> 0:15:17.920
<v Speaker 2>in the major leagues this season. So it was a

0:15:17.950 --> 0:15:20.620
<v Speaker 2>big home run. It's just unfortunate the White Sox Couldn't

0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:22.600
<v Speaker 2>make it count. Jim and I will take a quick

0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:24.680
<v Speaker 2>break for a word from our sponsors. But coming up next,

0:15:24.700 --> 0:15:26.420
<v Speaker 2>we're going to take a look at the last 10

0:15:26.420 --> 0:15:28.640
<v Speaker 2>games of the season for the White Sox. Also the

0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:33.340
<v Speaker 2>last games remaining for Cleveland, Texas, and Toronto. What's our

0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:35.840
<v Speaker 2>biggest worry in this last stretch for the White Sox?

0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:38.560
<v Speaker 2>And what is our greatest hope for this White Sox

0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:41.210
<v Speaker 2>team to make the postseason? We'll be talking about that

0:15:41.260 --> 0:15:43.170
<v Speaker 2>next on the Sox Machine Podcast.

0:15:44.940 --> 0:15:49.280
<v Speaker 6>Today's episode is presented by the ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program.

0:15:49.300 --> 0:15:53.000
<v Speaker 5>Krath, we love our pups. Yes, I love my mini

0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:53.980
<v Speaker 5>golden doodle, Bella.

0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:58.120
<v Speaker 7>But you can't miss this opportunity, just like Bella misses

0:15:58.180 --> 0:15:59.540
<v Speaker 7>the ball when you bounce.

0:15:59.340 --> 0:15:59.680
<v Speaker 1>It to her.

0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:01.360
<v Speaker 2>Bella, you're almost there.

0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:06.070
<v Speaker 6>The ASPCA Pet Health Insurance Program offers customizable accident and

0:16:06.130 --> 0:16:08.470
<v Speaker 6>illness plans that can fit your budget, your lifestyle, and

0:16:08.530 --> 0:16:11.870
<v Speaker 6>even your pet's particular quirks. Because let's be honest, vet

0:16:11.910 --> 0:16:15.450
<v Speaker 6>bills can add up fast. ASPCA Pet Health Insurance has

0:16:15.470 --> 0:16:18.310
<v Speaker 6>been around for almost 30 years and has covered over

0:16:18.310 --> 0:16:24.670
<v Speaker 6>1 million pets. To explore coverage, visit ASPCAPetInsurance.com slash foul.

0:16:24.750 --> 0:16:31.970
<v Speaker 6>That's ASPCAPetInsurance.com slash foul. Again, ASPCAPetInsurance.com slash foul. This is

0:16:32.030 --> 0:16:35.500
<v Speaker 6>a paid advertisement. Insurance is underwritten by either Independence American

0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.940
<v Speaker 6>Insurance Company or United States Fire Insurance Company and produced

0:16:38.980 --> 0:16:42.200
<v Speaker 6>by PTZ Insurance Agency Limited. The ASPCA is not an

0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.620
<v Speaker 6>insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance.

0:16:47.180 --> 0:16:47.680
<v Speaker 8>Hey, Howard.

0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:49.880
<v Speaker 1>In case you need a lawyer, here's my business card.

0:16:50.590 --> 0:16:54.130
<v Speaker 1>I'm attorney Howard Ankin. You or someone you know has

0:16:54.170 --> 0:16:57.180
<v Speaker 1>been hurt at work. Ankin Law can get the medical

0:16:57.220 --> 0:17:02.820
<v Speaker 1>bills paid, the lost wages reimbursed, and the compensation you deserve.

0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:05.909
<v Speaker 1>We're one of the largest filers throughout the state of

0:17:05.930 --> 0:17:12.190
<v Speaker 1>Illinois of workers' compensation claims. We're here to help. Call 312-6-MILLION.

0:17:12.890 --> 0:17:15.650
<v Speaker 1>Injury law made personal. That's Ankin Law.

0:17:17.270 --> 0:17:20.330
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back to the Sox Machine Podcast. Again, the standings.

0:17:20.430 --> 0:17:24.300
<v Speaker 2>The Cleveland Guardians are 78-75. They have a half-game lead

0:17:24.390 --> 0:17:27.879
<v Speaker 2>over the Chicago White Sox, which the White Sox are 77-75.

0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:31.320
<v Speaker 2>The Guardians are off on Thursday. The White Sox will,

0:17:31.340 --> 0:17:33.419
<v Speaker 2>of course, be playing tonight against the Tigers. So if

0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.639
<v Speaker 2>the White Sox win, they'll be tied with the Guardians,

0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:39.669
<v Speaker 2>but also hold the tiebreaker over Cleveland. And when you

0:17:39.710 --> 0:17:42.930
<v Speaker 2>take a look at the American League wildcard, Yankees clinched

0:17:42.990 --> 0:17:46.230
<v Speaker 2>a playoff spot. The Red Sox are six games back

0:17:46.430 --> 0:17:48.650
<v Speaker 2>of the Yankees, so it looks like they're firmly going

0:17:48.670 --> 0:17:51.230
<v Speaker 2>to be the fifth seed in the upcoming postseason as

0:17:51.250 --> 0:17:54.540
<v Speaker 2>the Red Sox are 82-70. And the White Sox hold

0:17:54.619 --> 0:17:56.900
<v Speaker 2>a one-game lead over the Rangers in which the White

0:17:56.940 --> 0:18:00.040
<v Speaker 2>Sox own the tiebreaker over Texas. And they have a

0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.939
<v Speaker 2>game-and-a-half lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in which the

0:18:02.980 --> 0:18:07.730
<v Speaker 2>White Sox hold a tiebreaker over Toronto. Baltimore... has a

0:18:07.750 --> 0:18:10.210
<v Speaker 2>tiebreaker over the white Sox. The Orioles are two and

0:18:10.230 --> 0:18:12.409
<v Speaker 2>a half games back of the white Sox. So the

0:18:12.430 --> 0:18:14.750
<v Speaker 2>white Sox have a bunch of tiebreakers that they hold.

0:18:15.390 --> 0:18:17.560
<v Speaker 2>And when you take a look at the remaining schedule

0:18:17.619 --> 0:18:20.460
<v Speaker 2>for the white Sox, it's four at home against Detroit

0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.580
<v Speaker 2>day off. Then they head to Kansas city for three games.

0:18:25.140 --> 0:18:27.859
<v Speaker 2>And then they come home to face the Colorado Rockies

0:18:28.460 --> 0:18:32.000
<v Speaker 2>to conclude the season. So that's what the last 10

0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.460
<v Speaker 2>games look like for the Chicago white Sox and the

0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.420
<v Speaker 2>current playoff picture, Jim. And also running down the list,

0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.380
<v Speaker 2>like Cleveland, they have nine games remaining. They have their

0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.700
<v Speaker 2>final three games at home against the Athletics. Then they're

0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.220
<v Speaker 2>at Boston for three. And then they end their season

0:18:48.460 --> 0:18:52.540
<v Speaker 2>at Kansas City. The Rangers have one game tonight against

0:18:52.580 --> 0:18:55.830
<v Speaker 2>the Red Sox. They're going for the sweep against Boston

0:18:55.869 --> 0:19:01.150
<v Speaker 2>at home. And then this weekend, huge series. Again, just

0:19:01.170 --> 0:19:04.120
<v Speaker 2>bringing up as far as the playoff picture. the Texas

0:19:04.180 --> 0:19:07.850
<v Speaker 2>Rangers are hosting the Toronto Blue Jays. So that could

0:19:07.950 --> 0:19:10.490
<v Speaker 2>be a benefit for the White Sox in which these

0:19:10.550 --> 0:19:13.130
<v Speaker 2>two teams beat each other up and that neither team

0:19:13.150 --> 0:19:16.840
<v Speaker 2>gains too much ground over the weekend, especially if one

0:19:16.900 --> 0:19:20.080
<v Speaker 2>team wins two and the other wins one. If one

0:19:20.100 --> 0:19:24.280
<v Speaker 2>of the teams sweep each other, then maybe it reduces

0:19:24.340 --> 0:19:27.700
<v Speaker 2>the postseason race down by a team. But the Texas

0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.030
<v Speaker 2>Rangers are also going to finish the season on the road.

0:19:31.050 --> 0:19:35.130
<v Speaker 2>They'll be at Minneapolis. The Blue Jays, three at Texas,

0:19:35.310 --> 0:19:39.179
<v Speaker 2>three at Baltimore, and they finished their season three at

0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:42.940
<v Speaker 2>home against the Cincinnati Reds. But the White Sox really

0:19:42.980 --> 0:19:46.950
<v Speaker 2>control their own destiny here, Jim. What's your overall feeling

0:19:47.150 --> 0:19:49.750
<v Speaker 2>about the remaining 10 games on the schedule for the

0:19:49.770 --> 0:19:49.980
<v Speaker 2>White Sox?

0:19:50.170 --> 0:19:50.490
<v Speaker 9>Sox?

0:19:53.190 --> 0:19:55.800
<v Speaker 4>When the dust settles, I guess no matter how it settles,

0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.080
<v Speaker 4>you can look at the schedule and say, well, it

0:19:58.119 --> 0:20:03.980
<v Speaker 4>wasn't that. The Tigers have been playing better, but the

0:20:04.020 --> 0:20:04.940
<v Speaker 4>record is still the record.

0:20:04.980 --> 0:20:05.880
<v Speaker 5>Same thing with the Royals.

0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:10.010
<v Speaker 4>They've had moments of feistiness, but also they're eliminated. and

0:20:10.030 --> 0:20:13.649
<v Speaker 4>the Rockies are better than they've been. I think they're

0:20:14.470 --> 0:20:16.149
<v Speaker 4>in the right direction, but as we've seen with the

0:20:16.190 --> 0:20:19.139
<v Speaker 4>White Sox after losing 121 games, they better be in

0:20:19.160 --> 0:20:22.760
<v Speaker 4>the right direction because they can't go further down. It's

0:20:22.780 --> 0:20:24.500
<v Speaker 4>hard to imagine how they could go further down than

0:20:24.540 --> 0:20:27.340
<v Speaker 4>where they were. So you look at the last three series, like.

0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:28.300
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, that's what you want.

0:20:28.740 --> 0:20:32.869
<v Speaker 4>Those are three opponents you want to see, and if

0:20:32.900 --> 0:20:34.970
<v Speaker 4>the White Sox don't get the job done against them.

0:20:35.390 --> 0:20:37.810
<v Speaker 5>It's their fault, I guess.

0:20:38.430 --> 0:20:41.250
<v Speaker 4>It's a little bit of the Herb Brooks speech against Finland,

0:20:41.290 --> 0:20:42.730
<v Speaker 4>but that's kind of what it looks like to me.

0:20:44.290 --> 0:20:46.420
<v Speaker 4>The problem is when you look at the probable pitchers,

0:20:47.460 --> 0:20:51.619
<v Speaker 4>seeing Eric Fetty in three TBDs is where you think like,

0:20:52.630 --> 0:20:54.669
<v Speaker 4>How much better are the White Sox than the Tiger?

0:20:54.710 --> 0:20:56.450
<v Speaker 4>The Tigers have all their starters lined up, as you're

0:20:56.470 --> 0:20:59.780
<v Speaker 4>showing right there on the screen. They have four credible

0:20:59.910 --> 0:21:03.220
<v Speaker 4>options for starting. Andrew Sears might be the weak link,

0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:04.859
<v Speaker 4>but they know who they're going to start on a

0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.720
<v Speaker 4>given day. The White Sox have Eric Fetty and then

0:21:08.020 --> 0:21:09.780
<v Speaker 4>kind of three shrugs, or at least trying to figure

0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:10.480
<v Speaker 4>out who's left.

0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.369
<v Speaker 5>And that's, I think, when you look at.

0:21:14.450 --> 0:21:17.640
<v Speaker 4>The White Sox compared to the Tigers and Royals and Rockies,

0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.400
<v Speaker 4>that's one area where it's like, yeah, the White Sox

0:21:21.420 --> 0:21:24.000
<v Speaker 4>have better records, but are they in better shape? And

0:21:24.100 --> 0:21:26.790
<v Speaker 4>when you have that much open-endedness on the pitching side,

0:21:26.830 --> 0:21:30.990
<v Speaker 4>that's where it's hard to generate the buy-in until the

0:21:31.030 --> 0:21:31.929
<v Speaker 4>results start showing up.

0:21:32.790 --> 0:21:36.680
<v Speaker 2>So let's go into our biggest worry and our greatest

0:21:36.740 --> 0:21:38.869
<v Speaker 2>reason behind. for hope for the White Sox in the

0:21:38.890 --> 0:21:42.619
<v Speaker 2>last 10 games. Jim, is that your biggest worry for

0:21:42.630 --> 0:21:44.600
<v Speaker 2>the White Sox in the last 10 games? It's just

0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:46.920
<v Speaker 2>the uncertainty when it comes to the starting pitching.

0:21:48.740 --> 0:21:52.340
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, and the cascade failure that generates, like just writing

0:21:52.380 --> 0:21:55.570
<v Speaker 4>about and looking into Sean Newcomb and Grant Taylor's struggles,

0:21:55.850 --> 0:22:00.830
<v Speaker 4>and they've had trouble going a second inning, and so

0:22:00.869 --> 0:22:02.370
<v Speaker 4>many White Sox wins.

0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:04.740
<v Speaker 5>were predicated.

0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:07.060
<v Speaker 4>On Newcomb doing the job of two people in a

0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:09.480
<v Speaker 4>given game that was important to win or Taylor doing

0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:12.930
<v Speaker 4>the same. And when your starter is only going four

0:22:12.990 --> 0:22:15.010
<v Speaker 4>innings or in the case of Anthony Kaye, because he's

0:22:15.030 --> 0:22:18.590
<v Speaker 4>been so bad the third time through, Will Venables, he's like,

0:22:18.970 --> 0:22:22.160
<v Speaker 4>after four innings, I got to look elsewhere and try

0:22:22.180 --> 0:22:24.300
<v Speaker 4>to get two innings from Hagen and two innings from

0:22:24.980 --> 0:22:27.220
<v Speaker 4>Newcomb and then see where we're at afterwards.

0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.490
<v Speaker 5>And When that doesn't work.

0:22:29.590 --> 0:22:32.970
<v Speaker 4>Then you then makes first guessing or make second guessing

0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:36.640
<v Speaker 4>Anthony Kane or moving him the issue, even though like

0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:38.879
<v Speaker 4>Venable is trying to be proactive and try not to

0:22:38.940 --> 0:22:41.720
<v Speaker 4>fail the way that UK has failed basically four times

0:22:41.740 --> 0:22:44.240
<v Speaker 4>in a row before that. So that's I think what

0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:47.080
<v Speaker 4>makes it so challenging is that when you don't have starters,

0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:49.460
<v Speaker 4>you're not sure who the starters are and those starters

0:22:49.500 --> 0:22:52.010
<v Speaker 4>not going even five innings and you leave more than

0:22:52.050 --> 0:22:54.880
<v Speaker 4>half of the game for the bullpen to cover. The

0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:57.939
<v Speaker 4>recipe that they've been using to cover that doesn't seem

0:22:57.960 --> 0:22:59.659
<v Speaker 4>to be working anymore. So now you have to get

0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:02.590
<v Speaker 4>in the situation of who's going to provide an inning

0:23:02.630 --> 0:23:05.450
<v Speaker 4>and high leverage that hasn't been counted upon to do that.

0:23:05.850 --> 0:23:08.730
<v Speaker 4>And they're going to have to turn that way and

0:23:09.070 --> 0:23:12.109
<v Speaker 4>just leave so much second guessing, which is my. Least

0:23:12.230 --> 0:23:15.700
<v Speaker 4>favorite parts of October baseball, like, you know, and we've

0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:17.800
<v Speaker 4>talked about this before from a remove because the White

0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.360
<v Speaker 4>Sox haven't been in the postseason. But I, you know,

0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:23.690
<v Speaker 4>part of the thing that annoys me about October baseball

0:23:23.770 --> 0:23:27.130
<v Speaker 4>is so much is dependent on or so much conversations

0:23:27.150 --> 0:23:30.980
<v Speaker 4>about managerial decisions. when it's not about player failure or

0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:34.060
<v Speaker 4>player successes like PD help and blowing up Sean Newcomb,

0:23:34.100 --> 0:23:36.510
<v Speaker 4>that becomes like a referendum on Will Venable when it's like,

0:23:36.530 --> 0:23:39.050
<v Speaker 4>holy crap, look at what PD help and just did

0:23:39.090 --> 0:23:42.050
<v Speaker 4>against Sean Newcomb. Like that's, I'm inclined to process it

0:23:42.109 --> 0:23:44.590
<v Speaker 4>that way versus like what could Venable have done to

0:23:44.650 --> 0:23:48.620
<v Speaker 4>avoid this? And, you know, there are decisions to second guess,

0:23:48.630 --> 0:23:50.220
<v Speaker 4>but I think at this point in the season when they've,

0:23:50.500 --> 0:23:53.060
<v Speaker 4>you know, kind of, I think pushed to the point

0:23:53.100 --> 0:23:55.700
<v Speaker 4>of limitations for their relievers and the starters seem to

0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:57.180
<v Speaker 4>be running out of gas that like at this point

0:23:57.220 --> 0:24:00.929
<v Speaker 4>it's about, What are sensible options and what aren't? And

0:24:00.950 --> 0:24:02.810
<v Speaker 4>then any sensible options, you got to say, like, can

0:24:02.830 --> 0:24:05.290
<v Speaker 4>the player get the job done? And that's kind of

0:24:05.310 --> 0:24:05.990
<v Speaker 4>where I'm at right now.

0:24:06.470 --> 0:24:09.230
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you bring up a good topic, like how do

0:24:09.290 --> 0:24:14.230
<v Speaker 2>you analyze and criticize managers in this stretch? Like for me,

0:24:15.350 --> 0:24:18.210
<v Speaker 2>game two of the Cleveland series, Jim, we talked about

0:24:18.230 --> 0:24:21.700
<v Speaker 2>the uneasiness of Chris Murphy opening that game and also

0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:25.800
<v Speaker 2>the uneasiness of having Mutataka Murakami in the lineup. to

0:24:25.880 --> 0:24:28.939
<v Speaker 2>face Foster Griffin. We ended up being right. Like, I

0:24:28.980 --> 0:24:31.960
<v Speaker 2>think if you call those things out and you don't

0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:37.340
<v Speaker 2>see the logic in those decision-making, I think then it's

0:24:37.460 --> 0:24:40.520
<v Speaker 2>fair to criticize the manager because you kind of laid

0:24:40.580 --> 0:24:44.540
<v Speaker 2>out everything before the game and what happened. Sure, you

0:24:44.580 --> 0:24:47.479
<v Speaker 2>have to eat crow if Munataka Murakami hits two homers

0:24:47.540 --> 0:24:50.720
<v Speaker 2>and Chris Murphy pitches a clean first inning. We're idiots.

0:24:50.940 --> 0:24:54.420
<v Speaker 2>Venable's a genius. But I didn't mind like going to

0:24:54.460 --> 0:24:56.840
<v Speaker 2>Sean Newcomb because I think you pointed out like Newcomb's

0:24:56.920 --> 0:24:59.120
<v Speaker 2>one of the best relievers the White Sox have when

0:24:59.140 --> 0:25:01.960
<v Speaker 2>there are runners on base. And he does a good

0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:05.220
<v Speaker 2>job of preventing inherited runners from scoring. He had a

0:25:05.270 --> 0:25:09.530
<v Speaker 2>bad day and he fell 3-0 in that at bat.

0:25:09.590 --> 0:25:13.449
<v Speaker 2>Like he was in trouble in that particular sequence. So

0:25:13.470 --> 0:25:15.950
<v Speaker 2>I don't fault Venable's decision making. That's just kind of

0:25:16.010 --> 0:25:18.369
<v Speaker 2>how I feel like when we are critiquing managers and

0:25:18.390 --> 0:25:22.020
<v Speaker 2>their decisions. making in the future. The one thing I

0:25:22.060 --> 0:25:24.340
<v Speaker 2>will say about like on the starter front, I think

0:25:24.400 --> 0:25:27.900
<v Speaker 2>it's key now for Will Venable to show some confidence

0:25:28.160 --> 0:25:31.020
<v Speaker 2>in his guys. Like I understand what the numbers say

0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:34.320
<v Speaker 2>that Anthony Kaye is really bad third time to the order, Jim,

0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.090
<v Speaker 2>but if Kaye, but you have pushed Kaye through the

0:25:38.130 --> 0:25:41.889
<v Speaker 2>third time, the order many times this season. And if

0:25:41.930 --> 0:25:46.510
<v Speaker 2>he's looking solid, maybe go against the numbers. Like if

0:25:46.550 --> 0:25:50.680
<v Speaker 2>he's giving you four clean innings, Push him in the fifth? Like,

0:25:50.960 --> 0:25:54.250
<v Speaker 2>you pushed Davis Martin an extra batter and Travis Bazzana

0:25:54.550 --> 0:25:57.330
<v Speaker 2>burned him for a home run. Why didn't you give

0:25:57.390 --> 0:26:01.290
<v Speaker 2>that same leeway to Anthony Kaye to see if Anthony

0:26:01.330 --> 0:26:04.020
<v Speaker 2>Kaye can get through the fifth inning? That's been my

0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:06.919
<v Speaker 2>problem in the last month with Will Venable and the

0:26:06.960 --> 0:26:10.560
<v Speaker 2>whole coaching staff like Walker McKimbin is that their decision

0:26:10.600 --> 0:26:13.720
<v Speaker 2>making has not been consistent. So that's what makes things

0:26:13.760 --> 0:26:18.120
<v Speaker 2>really uneasy when trying to criticizing what the White Sox

0:26:18.180 --> 0:26:19.859
<v Speaker 2>are doing in a decision-making front.

0:26:21.460 --> 0:26:22.540
<v Speaker 9>Yeah, I can see that.

0:26:22.660 --> 0:26:25.119
<v Speaker 4>I think the thing with consistent is like, well, if

0:26:25.140 --> 0:26:28.880
<v Speaker 4>you pushed Davis Martin in a bad matchup against Bazan

0:26:28.900 --> 0:26:32.330
<v Speaker 4>and got burned, why would you do it with Kay

0:26:32.710 --> 0:26:35.890
<v Speaker 4>again and just say, well, we're being consistent and suffering T-top.

0:26:36.070 --> 0:26:38.810
<v Speaker 4>That's not necessarily– or that might be how they come

0:26:38.830 --> 0:26:40.840
<v Speaker 4>out and defend it. I do think like at this point,

0:26:40.859 --> 0:26:43.780
<v Speaker 4>given the bullpen's struggles, and I think like in this case,

0:26:43.820 --> 0:26:46.770
<v Speaker 4>he saw Kay– If you get four good innings from

0:26:46.830 --> 0:26:48.990
<v Speaker 4>Anthony Kaye, then you have line up for Hagen for

0:26:49.030 --> 0:26:51.050
<v Speaker 4>two and Newcomb for two and then see what happens.

0:26:51.090 --> 0:26:52.490
<v Speaker 5>I think that was the roadmap.

0:26:52.520 --> 0:26:54.820
<v Speaker 4>You can question it, but just in terms of like

0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:58.179
<v Speaker 4>that was the plan and Kaye delivered on his part

0:26:58.200 --> 0:27:00.900
<v Speaker 4>of the plan. And I think they thought that that

0:27:00.960 --> 0:27:07.340
<v Speaker 4>was enough. Now, I think with Newcomb repeatedly failing. With,

0:27:07.359 --> 0:27:10.300
<v Speaker 4>you know, Smith, I think they can go to him

0:27:10.340 --> 0:27:12.300
<v Speaker 4>again for two innings. I think just it was every

0:27:12.340 --> 0:27:13.980
<v Speaker 4>other day they've been going two innings. That's like 162

0:27:13.980 --> 0:27:17.919
<v Speaker 4>inning relief pace, which is like there's eventually diminishing returns

0:27:17.980 --> 0:27:18.300
<v Speaker 4>for that.

0:27:18.359 --> 0:27:19.940
<v Speaker 5>So, yeah, I think they have to back off a

0:27:20.000 --> 0:27:21.940
<v Speaker 5>little bit. Yeah.

0:27:22.040 --> 0:27:24.460
<v Speaker 4>So, you know, so you can only do that so

0:27:24.500 --> 0:27:27.260
<v Speaker 4>many times. And I think, you know, Venable, that was

0:27:27.300 --> 0:27:31.149
<v Speaker 4>his biggest point of concern and debate was, you know,

0:27:31.210 --> 0:27:34.370
<v Speaker 4>whether they should try Hagen, you know, two innings or

0:27:34.980 --> 0:27:39.520
<v Speaker 4>you know, for a third time after one day rest. That's,

0:27:42.040 --> 0:27:44.440
<v Speaker 4>at that point, like when you have like, as I

0:27:44.460 --> 0:27:46.850
<v Speaker 4>wrote about, you can trust Hagan, I think, going forward.

0:27:46.869 --> 0:27:48.929
<v Speaker 4>But I think at this point, knock Taylor down to

0:27:48.950 --> 0:27:51.750
<v Speaker 4>winning one inning, knock Newcomb down to one inning.

0:27:52.530 --> 0:27:53.810
<v Speaker 5>And then that leaves innings to pick up.

0:27:53.830 --> 0:27:55.330
<v Speaker 4>So I think at this point, yeah, you do have

0:27:55.350 --> 0:27:58.169
<v Speaker 4>to trust K maybe for a fifth inning after he

0:27:58.210 --> 0:28:00.800
<v Speaker 4>goes four good ones and just live with the consequences

0:28:00.859 --> 0:28:03.140
<v Speaker 4>or have somebody up right away to, you know, first

0:28:03.160 --> 0:28:06.080
<v Speaker 4>sign of trouble. Same with Davis Martin, like David Sandlin

0:28:06.119 --> 0:28:09.260
<v Speaker 4>is somebody who I think is now somebody who you

0:28:09.300 --> 0:28:11.260
<v Speaker 4>have to, as long as he comes out of the

0:28:11.280 --> 0:28:13.899
<v Speaker 4>gate clean, you know, if he gets like two good

0:28:13.940 --> 0:28:15.929
<v Speaker 4>innings under his belt and I think, okay, push for

0:28:15.950 --> 0:28:17.649
<v Speaker 4>a quality start at this point, like that's kind of

0:28:17.690 --> 0:28:19.109
<v Speaker 4>gotta be your outcome. That's gotta be the goal is

0:28:19.130 --> 0:28:22.449
<v Speaker 4>a quality start. Uh, and then, you know, leave three

0:28:22.470 --> 0:28:23.310
<v Speaker 4>innings for the reliever.

0:28:23.350 --> 0:28:23.930
<v Speaker 5>That's the goal.

0:28:24.730 --> 0:28:27.110
<v Speaker 4>Uh, you have to be responsive if he doesn't get there,

0:28:27.230 --> 0:28:29.229
<v Speaker 4>but I think you have to treat him like a grownup,

0:28:29.450 --> 0:28:33.409
<v Speaker 4>even though he's a rookie and has the, yeah, you

0:28:33.430 --> 0:28:35.389
<v Speaker 4>don't want to necessarily put him in a position to fail.

0:28:35.550 --> 0:28:38.260
<v Speaker 4>But I think at this point, if Sandlin, if the

0:28:38.300 --> 0:28:40.420
<v Speaker 4>quest to get Sandlin a sixth inning, if the bullpen

0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:44.120
<v Speaker 4>is gassed, you know, it's a case where not your fault, Sandlin,

0:28:44.140 --> 0:28:46.540
<v Speaker 4>like you're just trying to, you're, Just needed somebody to

0:28:46.560 --> 0:28:48.840
<v Speaker 4>step up and you just happened to draw the short straw.

0:28:49.460 --> 0:28:51.110
<v Speaker 4>Like that's, I think, you know, kind of how you

0:28:51.120 --> 0:28:52.850
<v Speaker 4>have to look at it if you want to avoid

0:28:52.870 --> 0:28:55.070
<v Speaker 4>the repeated failures of like, well, we tried Taylor for

0:28:55.110 --> 0:28:55.970
<v Speaker 4>two innings again, didn't work.

0:28:56.030 --> 0:28:59.290
<v Speaker 5>Or Newcomb, the same thing. That's, I think, what's iffy.

0:28:59.310 --> 0:29:00.910
<v Speaker 9>And, you know, it all comes back to the offense.

0:29:00.930 --> 0:29:03.090
<v Speaker 4>That's the other thing that's tricky about like second guessing

0:29:03.130 --> 0:29:05.969
<v Speaker 4>Venable on all the pitching moves. Like when the offense

0:29:06.020 --> 0:29:07.760
<v Speaker 4>doesn't provide low leverage situations.

0:29:07.800 --> 0:29:07.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

0:29:08.770 --> 0:29:11.830
<v Speaker 4>Every situation important, every reliever is overworked aside from Jordan Hicks.

0:29:11.890 --> 0:29:14.530
<v Speaker 4>And that's another guy I look to like, OK, if

0:29:14.610 --> 0:29:16.680
<v Speaker 4>Taylor can't go to, then Jordan Hicks has to step

0:29:16.760 --> 0:29:18.860
<v Speaker 4>up and be a high leverage guy now. Or at

0:29:18.880 --> 0:29:20.220
<v Speaker 4>least they have to put him in high leverage and

0:29:20.240 --> 0:29:23.260
<v Speaker 4>see how it works out. That's I think, you know,

0:29:23.280 --> 0:29:25.220
<v Speaker 4>when you when you have these minimal leads and you

0:29:25.270 --> 0:29:27.950
<v Speaker 4>don't have the offense cashing in opportunities and you're kind

0:29:27.990 --> 0:29:30.650
<v Speaker 4>of trying to nurse these one run leads across three,

0:29:30.710 --> 0:29:34.680
<v Speaker 4>four or five innings. That's where I think like Venable,

0:29:35.180 --> 0:29:37.010
<v Speaker 4>if it all comes down to Venable pitching decisions like

0:29:37.410 --> 0:29:40.360
<v Speaker 4>the White socks have um yeah they weren't producing enough

0:29:40.420 --> 0:29:42.740
<v Speaker 4>runs to make the whole thing work to begin with.

0:29:43.180 --> 0:29:46.630
<v Speaker 2>True true and i think with k2 what doesn't help

0:29:46.730 --> 0:29:50.270
<v Speaker 2>is you know chase my droth had uh that mistake

0:29:50.310 --> 0:29:52.450
<v Speaker 2>where he tried to tag the runner the ball bounced

0:29:52.610 --> 0:29:54.930
<v Speaker 2>out and those are two runs that should have really

0:29:54.970 --> 0:29:57.190
<v Speaker 2>never happened just like anthony k's accord.

0:29:57.730 --> 0:30:02.150
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, the defense has been– they've had some failures at

0:30:02.170 --> 0:30:06.340
<v Speaker 4>some key times. Like Montgomery boxing that grounder that could

0:30:06.360 --> 0:30:09.900
<v Speaker 4>have got Sandlin out of a six-inning scoreless. Instead, he

0:30:09.920 --> 0:30:12.260
<v Speaker 4>leaves the door open for Alec Burleson to have a

0:30:12.540 --> 0:30:16.630
<v Speaker 4>bases-clearing double. With the pitching staff and the shape that

0:30:16.650 --> 0:30:19.690
<v Speaker 4>it's in, it needs a defense to convert defense. outs

0:30:20.010 --> 0:30:23.530
<v Speaker 4>and you know Antonacci's one you know that's that's asking

0:30:23.570 --> 0:30:25.560
<v Speaker 4>a lot from him you know in terms of he's

0:30:25.580 --> 0:30:27.880
<v Speaker 4>he's been a bad left fielder all year and uh

0:30:27.890 --> 0:30:32.340
<v Speaker 4>you know that's one where it's yeah it's it's should

0:30:32.360 --> 0:30:34.760
<v Speaker 4>have been a catchable ball but when you have like

0:30:34.820 --> 0:30:37.240
<v Speaker 4>my droth dropping a ball on a tag when you

0:30:37.260 --> 0:30:39.979
<v Speaker 4>have Colson uh ball going off his glove it's hit

0:30:40.020 --> 0:30:43.840
<v Speaker 4>right at him like Then the Antonacci failure really plays

0:30:43.960 --> 0:30:47.160
<v Speaker 4>up in the bad defense from your bad defenders. It's

0:30:47.180 --> 0:30:49.820
<v Speaker 4>something that you've been accepting all year and been absorbing

0:30:49.840 --> 0:30:53.520
<v Speaker 4>all year. All of a sudden, the pitching staff is

0:30:53.600 --> 0:30:57.390
<v Speaker 4>oversaturated to where they can't accept any or absorb any

0:30:57.450 --> 0:31:00.150
<v Speaker 4>kind of issue from your bad defenders.

0:31:00.190 --> 0:31:00.990
<v Speaker 5>So, yeah, it's just.

0:31:01.920 --> 0:31:03.680
<v Speaker 4>And you have a bad defender left because you had

0:31:03.700 --> 0:31:05.680
<v Speaker 4>to substitute earlier in the game because you have so

0:31:05.700 --> 0:31:09.400
<v Speaker 4>many platoon issues. It's such a such a thin roster

0:31:09.480 --> 0:31:11.570
<v Speaker 4>right now to where like, yeah, Venable just has to

0:31:11.610 --> 0:31:16.370
<v Speaker 4>pull so many levers that it really is like if

0:31:16.430 --> 0:31:20.709
<v Speaker 4>he's if his hair goes like Obama gray afterwards, like

0:31:20.750 --> 0:31:22.930
<v Speaker 4>when you see like the how a president has aged

0:31:23.030 --> 0:31:25.540
<v Speaker 4>from his first year in office to his fourth year

0:31:25.580 --> 0:31:27.780
<v Speaker 4>to his eighth year, like if Venable looks like that

0:31:28.340 --> 0:31:30.820
<v Speaker 4>at the end of this month, like I could understand why.

0:31:31.290 --> 0:31:34.969
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I can understand why, too. That's why, as far

0:31:35.010 --> 0:31:37.950
<v Speaker 2>as critiquing the decision-making for Will Venable, I think most

0:31:37.990 --> 0:31:41.250
<v Speaker 2>of it has to be pregame. The thing I would

0:31:41.430 --> 0:31:45.820
<v Speaker 2>ask is your pregame pitching plan to success, that if

0:31:45.860 --> 0:31:49.300
<v Speaker 2>you have a starter that is looking strong, it's okay

0:31:49.320 --> 0:31:51.980
<v Speaker 2>to push him an extra inning. I just like a

0:31:51.980 --> 0:31:56.320
<v Speaker 2>little bit more consistency on that front. Chris Murphy, we

0:31:56.360 --> 0:31:58.860
<v Speaker 2>called that out, and Mutataka Murakami, we called that out.

0:31:59.630 --> 0:32:01.190
<v Speaker 4>Well, I think now that the bullpen has proven to

0:32:01.230 --> 0:32:04.350
<v Speaker 4>be like the usual sources of multiple innings aren't there

0:32:04.390 --> 0:32:07.150
<v Speaker 4>right now, you have to push your starters one inning

0:32:07.190 --> 0:32:08.930
<v Speaker 4>longer to try to help them out. Like it's a

0:32:08.930 --> 0:32:11.590
<v Speaker 4>case where he's trying to be proactive, but the way

0:32:11.630 --> 0:32:15.930
<v Speaker 4>the bullpen is right now, he can't be that proactive.

0:32:16.050 --> 0:32:18.800
<v Speaker 4>It feels like game six of a seven game series

0:32:18.840 --> 0:32:20.820
<v Speaker 4>when a team has seen a reliever for the fourth

0:32:20.860 --> 0:32:23.920
<v Speaker 4>time in five games and just like the returns aren't

0:32:23.980 --> 0:32:26.940
<v Speaker 4>there that there were in game one. The calculations have

0:32:26.980 --> 0:32:29.940
<v Speaker 4>to shift to where if K fails in the fifth

0:32:30.020 --> 0:32:33.690
<v Speaker 4>inning or leaves an inherited runner that a reliever can't strand,

0:32:34.510 --> 0:32:36.050
<v Speaker 4>you can kick yourself and say, I should have been

0:32:36.070 --> 0:32:37.550
<v Speaker 4>on top of that. But at some point you have

0:32:37.570 --> 0:32:38.950
<v Speaker 4>to be like, you have to shift it and be like,

0:32:39.470 --> 0:32:42.070
<v Speaker 4>where can I accept the failure? Is it in the

0:32:42.270 --> 0:32:44.010
<v Speaker 4>trying to get a fifth thing out of K or

0:32:44.090 --> 0:32:46.650
<v Speaker 4>trying to get an eighth inning out of Taylor after

0:32:46.670 --> 0:32:51.080
<v Speaker 4>he enters in seventh or whatever the reliever equivalent of

0:32:51.120 --> 0:32:51.640
<v Speaker 4>that is.

0:32:51.660 --> 0:32:55.000
<v Speaker 5>You know, that's, I think where you have to, You.

0:32:54.980 --> 0:32:57.950
<v Speaker 4>Just have to choose acceptable risks, calculated risks, and if

0:32:57.990 --> 0:33:00.230
<v Speaker 4>they don't pan out, then you have to be comfortable

0:33:00.250 --> 0:33:00.510
<v Speaker 4>with that.

0:33:01.150 --> 0:33:04.080
<v Speaker 2>My biggest worry is still with the bullpen. I just

0:33:04.120 --> 0:33:06.440
<v Speaker 2>don't trust this bullpen to hold a one-run lead for

0:33:06.480 --> 0:33:09.300
<v Speaker 2>three innings. If the White Sox have a one-run lead

0:33:09.320 --> 0:33:12.560
<v Speaker 2>in the seventh inning, the offense– has to score more runs.

0:33:12.700 --> 0:33:16.000
<v Speaker 2>I just don't trust this bullpen right now. They're not

0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:19.580
<v Speaker 2>that locked out. Like the secret, I think what, why

0:33:19.600 --> 0:33:22.340
<v Speaker 2>I could send, I can say that the bullpen has

0:33:22.380 --> 0:33:24.460
<v Speaker 2>been successful this year, Jim, is that I think they've

0:33:24.500 --> 0:33:28.550
<v Speaker 2>done pretty well in opening games and taking on multiple

0:33:28.650 --> 0:33:31.170
<v Speaker 2>innings in the middle of the game. They've done good

0:33:31.210 --> 0:33:33.850
<v Speaker 2>jobs there, but with the game on the line, high

0:33:33.890 --> 0:33:37.430
<v Speaker 2>leverage situations, I think everyone is still uneasy, even when

0:33:37.490 --> 0:33:41.390
<v Speaker 2>Grant Taylor is throwing 102 mile per hour sinkers. I

0:33:41.430 --> 0:33:43.630
<v Speaker 2>think there's just a sense of uneasiness right now. So

0:33:43.670 --> 0:33:46.830
<v Speaker 2>that's my biggest worry is can this bullpen, if they

0:33:46.870 --> 0:33:48.990
<v Speaker 2>are given a one-run lead in the seventh inning, can

0:33:49.010 --> 0:33:54.620
<v Speaker 2>they actually hold it for nine outs? Now, that's a

0:33:54.630 --> 0:33:59.300
<v Speaker 2>pretty dour atmosphere we created. So let's flip the switch.

0:33:59.380 --> 0:34:02.680
<v Speaker 2>Greatest reason for hope for the Chicago White Sox in

0:34:02.700 --> 0:34:05.560
<v Speaker 2>the last 10 games. So Jim, what fuels your hope

0:34:05.580 --> 0:34:07.820
<v Speaker 2>that the White Sox can be successful in the last

0:34:07.820 --> 0:34:09.020
<v Speaker 2>10 and make the postseason?

0:34:11.060 --> 0:34:15.089
<v Speaker 4>I think David Sandlin is somebody who is better late

0:34:15.110 --> 0:34:17.890
<v Speaker 4>than never. I think he's showing as much as he

0:34:17.930 --> 0:34:19.090
<v Speaker 4>possibly can at this point.

0:34:19.350 --> 0:34:19.970
<v Speaker 5>He's a rookie.

0:34:20.830 --> 0:34:23.629
<v Speaker 4>There's going to be uneven performances. But in terms of

0:34:24.190 --> 0:34:28.319
<v Speaker 4>pitch mix, his comfort throwing his entire arsenal, the velocity

0:34:28.400 --> 0:34:33.120
<v Speaker 4>with which he's throwing it, ability to sustain that velocity

0:34:33.219 --> 0:34:37.200
<v Speaker 4>later in games. He's showing as much as he possibly can. And,

0:34:37.219 --> 0:34:40.900
<v Speaker 4>you know, for all of the talk and warranted talk

0:34:40.980 --> 0:34:44.730
<v Speaker 4>about like how pitching development has let the White Sox down,

0:34:44.790 --> 0:34:46.910
<v Speaker 4>like hoping to get a line change of worth of

0:34:46.969 --> 0:34:48.570
<v Speaker 4>starters out of Charlotte and not getting.

0:34:48.430 --> 0:34:49.250
<v Speaker 5>Any of them, basically.

0:34:50.570 --> 0:34:53.049
<v Speaker 4>If Sandlin shows up in the last three weeks and

0:34:53.150 --> 0:34:55.219
<v Speaker 4>is delivering that kind of rookie value you thought you'd

0:34:55.260 --> 0:34:59.260
<v Speaker 4>be getting from Hagen Smith or Noah Schultz or Tanner McDougal.

0:34:59.940 --> 0:35:03.800
<v Speaker 4>then that's pretty valuable. And so I'm looking forward to

0:35:03.840 --> 0:35:04.720
<v Speaker 4>seeing his starts.

0:35:05.660 --> 0:35:06.920
<v Speaker 9>Might not go, like, he's a rookie.

0:35:06.960 --> 0:35:08.779
<v Speaker 4>Like, you know, I don't want to put all the

0:35:08.800 --> 0:35:12.020
<v Speaker 4>stress on him, but just, he's got the stuff at

0:35:12.060 --> 0:35:14.040
<v Speaker 4>least to where you can see like, oh, this, you know,

0:35:14.120 --> 0:35:17.110
<v Speaker 4>when he throws a one, two, three inning on 11 pitches, like, oh,

0:35:17.150 --> 0:35:20.009
<v Speaker 4>that was great stuff. You understand why it worked. So

0:35:20.070 --> 0:35:22.830
<v Speaker 4>that's why I'm looking forward to seeing his starts and

0:35:23.170 --> 0:35:25.870
<v Speaker 4>looking forward to seeing how far he can take it. And,

0:35:26.190 --> 0:35:28.330
<v Speaker 4>you know, whether it's in game or, or over the

0:35:28.370 --> 0:35:30.430
<v Speaker 4>rest of the year, including, you know, knock on wood,

0:35:30.489 --> 0:35:34.009
<v Speaker 4>the postseason, if the White Sox get there. Also, like,

0:35:34.550 --> 0:35:39.670
<v Speaker 4>Gritchick is still delivering. You know, Teal is looking, but.

0:35:39.710 --> 0:35:40.850
<v Speaker 9>Like, he's drawing walks.

0:35:40.969 --> 0:35:44.469
<v Speaker 4>Antonacci has found this ground in terms, like, they have

0:35:44.489 --> 0:35:48.230
<v Speaker 4>a top four, especially, like, you know, Maidroth batting, you know,

0:35:48.330 --> 0:35:51.069
<v Speaker 4>eighth or ninth towards the bottom of the order. They have, like,

0:35:51.430 --> 0:35:53.830
<v Speaker 4>hitters that can start rallies. So it's a case of, like,

0:35:53.870 --> 0:35:56.590
<v Speaker 4>they're able to apply pressure. They're able to generate runners

0:35:56.640 --> 0:35:59.529
<v Speaker 4>in scoring position. It's just, the lack of the middle

0:35:59.550 --> 0:36:02.810
<v Speaker 4>of the order is what's killing them. But they have

0:36:02.870 --> 0:36:09.290
<v Speaker 4>table setters. And that's not something, especially with Teal looking rusty,

0:36:09.370 --> 0:36:15.030
<v Speaker 4>with Antonacci showing some either wear or just having adjustments

0:36:15.090 --> 0:36:16.700
<v Speaker 4>made to them that have kind of sapped his power

0:36:16.719 --> 0:36:18.160
<v Speaker 4>and made me think, how much more can they get

0:36:18.219 --> 0:36:19.520
<v Speaker 4>out of him over the course of the year?

0:36:20.520 --> 0:36:21.400
<v Speaker 5>They're doing things.

0:36:21.800 --> 0:36:26.799
<v Speaker 4>It's just the Vargas, Murakami, Coulson, Montgomery sector of the

0:36:26.820 --> 0:36:29.660
<v Speaker 4>line-up you know, that hasn't been replaced.

0:36:29.680 --> 0:36:31.600
<v Speaker 5>You know, Vargas is still there, obviously, but in terms

0:36:31.660 --> 0:36:33.100
<v Speaker 5>of the lefty.

0:36:32.860 --> 0:36:36.600
<v Speaker 4>Power, you know, that's missing. That's a missing ingredient. But

0:36:36.660 --> 0:36:38.680
<v Speaker 4>the table setters that made that middle of the order,

0:36:40.170 --> 0:36:42.690
<v Speaker 4>allowed that middle of the order production to play up,

0:36:43.310 --> 0:36:45.690
<v Speaker 4>I think is still there. So I think they're still

0:36:45.730 --> 0:36:48.930
<v Speaker 4>giving starters a tough time. They're still seeing pitches. And

0:36:48.989 --> 0:36:52.819
<v Speaker 4>you hope against, you know, lesser pitchers, which they will

0:36:52.880 --> 0:36:55.859
<v Speaker 4>face over the last three series, that they're able to

0:36:56.460 --> 0:37:00.060
<v Speaker 4>apply those skills and that pressure to wear down bullpens

0:37:00.100 --> 0:37:03.120
<v Speaker 4>that are worse or starters that don't have it or

0:37:04.260 --> 0:37:06.640
<v Speaker 4>pitchers who are going through auditions for next year and

0:37:06.680 --> 0:37:08.600
<v Speaker 4>may not be the kind of pitchers you'd see in

0:37:08.660 --> 0:37:11.540
<v Speaker 4>normal high leverage situations or medium leverage situations over the

0:37:11.860 --> 0:37:12.620
<v Speaker 4>remainder of the season.

0:37:14.290 --> 0:37:17.190
<v Speaker 2>For me, the greatest reason to hope is that seven

0:37:17.210 --> 0:37:19.750
<v Speaker 2>of the last 10 games, Jim, are at home. The

0:37:19.790 --> 0:37:23.350
<v Speaker 2>White Sox are just a much better team at home

0:37:23.410 --> 0:37:26.250
<v Speaker 2>this year than on the road. And I understand they

0:37:26.290 --> 0:37:29.270
<v Speaker 2>lost their last three games at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates,

0:37:29.310 --> 0:37:33.580
<v Speaker 2>but offensively, they're averaging 4.89 runs per game. On the

0:37:33.620 --> 0:37:35.859
<v Speaker 2>pitching front, the White Sox are one of the best

0:37:35.960 --> 0:37:38.350
<v Speaker 2>teams as far as team earn run average in Major

0:37:38.370 --> 0:37:42.700
<v Speaker 2>League Baseball pitching at home. They only allow 4.06 runs

0:37:43.280 --> 0:37:47.359
<v Speaker 2>per game at rate field. I think having the home

0:37:47.400 --> 0:37:52.180
<v Speaker 2>crowd behind you and feeling that energy towards the postseason,

0:37:52.219 --> 0:37:55.580
<v Speaker 2>especially if you can start games well, I think is

0:37:55.620 --> 0:37:58.680
<v Speaker 2>going to fuel this White Sox team to 83 wins.

0:37:58.940 --> 0:38:01.379
<v Speaker 2>I do think that they're going to go 6-4 in

0:38:02.180 --> 0:38:06.279
<v Speaker 2>their last 10, finish 83-79, and I do feel like

0:38:06.320 --> 0:38:08.859
<v Speaker 2>that's going to be good enough to get into the postseason.

0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:12.020
<v Speaker 2>I think Cleveland will also finish 83 and 79. So

0:38:12.440 --> 0:38:15.759
<v Speaker 2>we're going to have this great debate about tiebreakers at

0:38:15.800 --> 0:38:17.900
<v Speaker 2>the end of the season. And would people prefer a

0:38:18.110 --> 0:38:22.890
<v Speaker 2>game one 63 instead in the future? But that's what

0:38:23.050 --> 0:38:26.670
<v Speaker 2>drives my hope is the way that they play at home,

0:38:26.910 --> 0:38:30.210
<v Speaker 2>the sense of urgency that they bring to the field.

0:38:30.870 --> 0:38:32.850
<v Speaker 2>I think they're going to respond in a great way

0:38:32.890 --> 0:38:37.630
<v Speaker 2>against Detroit this weekend and come on Sunday. Hopefully they,

0:38:38.239 --> 0:38:41.180
<v Speaker 2>all White Sox fans have a little bit more hope,

0:38:42.110 --> 0:38:44.649
<v Speaker 2>maybe a little bit more relief and not such filled

0:38:44.690 --> 0:38:47.109
<v Speaker 2>with anxiety. But I understand the other side, if they

0:38:47.170 --> 0:38:49.950
<v Speaker 2>don't do well against Detroit at home, they can really

0:38:50.010 --> 0:38:53.490
<v Speaker 2>feel like it's over. So I think the White Sox

0:38:53.530 --> 0:38:56.190
<v Speaker 2>are going to respond. We've seen them respond in big

0:38:56.270 --> 0:38:59.200
<v Speaker 2>ways at home. And that's what's driving my hope, Jim.

0:38:59.660 --> 0:39:01.920
<v Speaker 2>If this was in the flip side, if the White

0:39:01.940 --> 0:39:04.400
<v Speaker 2>Sox had seven road games left in the last 10 years,

0:39:05.820 --> 0:39:08.259
<v Speaker 2>I would be the canary in the coal mine. This

0:39:08.280 --> 0:39:11.300
<v Speaker 2>could go bad because they're just not that good away

0:39:11.340 --> 0:39:13.700
<v Speaker 2>from right field this year. But yeah, I'm going to

0:39:13.719 --> 0:39:16.040
<v Speaker 2>go with home field advantage as my greatest reason for hope.

0:39:17.500 --> 0:39:21.239
<v Speaker 9>From your lips to the Pope's ears.

0:39:22.130 --> 0:39:24.509
<v Speaker 4>The thing about this team is like if you're skeptical

0:39:24.550 --> 0:39:26.270
<v Speaker 4>of them or you're saying like they take advantage of

0:39:26.290 --> 0:39:29.430
<v Speaker 4>soft schedules or like if they're front runners, if they

0:39:29.450 --> 0:39:33.900
<v Speaker 4>have a hard situation. like coming back or like digging

0:39:33.980 --> 0:39:35.740
<v Speaker 4>deeper against more talented opponents.

0:39:36.500 --> 0:39:38.640
<v Speaker 9>Then yeah, try to summon that front runner energy of.

0:39:38.620 --> 0:39:41.120
<v Speaker 4>Just having, you know, getting a lead early and having

0:39:41.160 --> 0:39:44.230
<v Speaker 4>a crowd behind them and just being able to push, push, push,

0:39:44.330 --> 0:39:48.090
<v Speaker 4>push versus, you know, early deficits and feeling like, well,

0:39:49.050 --> 0:39:51.370
<v Speaker 4>you know, You look at who's batting cleanup, whether it's him,

0:39:51.410 --> 0:39:53.790
<v Speaker 4>and we'll see what happens with the lineup with Murakami

0:39:53.870 --> 0:39:56.069
<v Speaker 4>coming back, Colson getting a pitch on the wrist, like

0:39:56.090 --> 0:39:57.680
<v Speaker 4>a lot of variables now to this lineup.

0:39:58.340 --> 0:40:01.960
<v Speaker 2>Do we get confirmation on Colson's wrist contusion, Jim? Is

0:40:01.980 --> 0:40:05.760
<v Speaker 2>he strictly day-to-day, or did they see something in the x-rays?

0:40:06.920 --> 0:40:10.140
<v Speaker 4>I haven't seen anything more than that, but then again,

0:40:10.160 --> 0:40:12.380
<v Speaker 4>Twitter keeps– like in terms of like every time I

0:40:12.400 --> 0:40:15.379
<v Speaker 4>go to Twitter, it gives me tweets from three days ago.

0:40:16.200 --> 0:40:19.660
<v Speaker 5>So it's– yeah, I don't necessarily count on it for–

0:40:20.590 --> 0:40:21.950
<v Speaker 5>I understand.

0:40:22.430 --> 0:40:25.770
<v Speaker 4>Or just, yeah, I never know when I'm getting the

0:40:26.969 --> 0:40:30.630
<v Speaker 4>great updates. But yeah, I think either way, you just

0:40:30.650 --> 0:40:31.910
<v Speaker 4>have to look at the middle of the order. If

0:40:32.910 --> 0:40:38.069
<v Speaker 4>Murakami's sitting at least until he couldn't sit and not

0:40:38.090 --> 0:40:39.219
<v Speaker 4>being in the middle of the order, is that the

0:40:39.260 --> 0:40:44.060
<v Speaker 4>start of a demotion or a downplaying or batting lower

0:40:44.080 --> 0:40:45.680
<v Speaker 4>in the order? I'd love to see him batting ninth

0:40:45.719 --> 0:40:47.600
<v Speaker 4>like I've talked about and just taking advantage of the

0:40:47.640 --> 0:40:52.050
<v Speaker 4>walks to Get somebody on base for your better hitters.

0:40:52.090 --> 0:40:53.420
<v Speaker 4>Like that's kind of where I'd want to see him.

0:40:53.480 --> 0:40:54.660
<v Speaker 4>But yeah, a lot of variables.

0:40:55.160 --> 0:40:57.739
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, Venable disagrees with you. I think Venable in his

0:40:57.780 --> 0:41:01.380
<v Speaker 2>postgame comments, I think he's going to continue batting Murakami

0:41:01.440 --> 0:41:04.569
<v Speaker 2>third or fourth in the lineup, Jim. Because Venable just

0:41:04.610 --> 0:41:07.569
<v Speaker 2>doesn't believe that if I push him down the lineup,

0:41:07.590 --> 0:41:09.090
<v Speaker 2>that's not going to make him a better hitter.

0:41:10.910 --> 0:41:12.540
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

0:41:14.340 --> 0:41:16.029
<v Speaker 4>Batting batting third and fourth has not done the same

0:41:16.070 --> 0:41:19.350
<v Speaker 4>thing either but yeah it's uh i understand like there's

0:41:19.370 --> 0:41:22.529
<v Speaker 4>a there's a human component there's like a thing like

0:41:22.550 --> 0:41:24.250
<v Speaker 4>you're you're not in the room you're not getting buy-in

0:41:24.270 --> 0:41:26.910
<v Speaker 4>from the rest of the players um you know you

0:41:27.469 --> 0:41:29.739
<v Speaker 4>you've heard all season how important he is to just

0:41:29.780 --> 0:41:32.419
<v Speaker 4>what the white socks have done the attitude etc so

0:41:33.100 --> 0:41:35.680
<v Speaker 4>i understand it's easier said than done or there may

0:41:35.700 --> 0:41:38.510
<v Speaker 4>be unintended consequences from hosting a lineup card that has

0:41:38.550 --> 0:41:41.810
<v Speaker 4>murakami batting ninth but in terms of just The only

0:41:41.830 --> 0:41:44.610
<v Speaker 4>thing he's providing is walks. That's the only way to

0:41:44.630 --> 0:41:47.509
<v Speaker 4>get value out of it is by having him try

0:41:47.530 --> 0:41:50.450
<v Speaker 4>to be the second leadoff man ahead of your best hitters.

0:41:51.210 --> 0:41:55.590
<v Speaker 2>Well, maybe because Murakami has hit pretty well at home. Again,

0:41:55.650 --> 0:41:59.700
<v Speaker 2>home cooking helps Mutataka Murakami get back on track. So

0:41:59.719 --> 0:42:02.959
<v Speaker 2>that's the last 10 games. Let's talk about tonight after

0:42:03.000 --> 0:42:04.720
<v Speaker 2>a quick word from our sponsors.

0:42:06.489 --> 0:42:08.810
<v Speaker 8>Back in the day, Kratzy and I were looking for tickets.

0:42:08.870 --> 0:42:12.279
<v Speaker 8>It was so hard to find a seat or anything available.

0:42:12.340 --> 0:42:14.180
<v Speaker 8>You'd have to go online and there was nothing there.

0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:17.660
<v Speaker 8>But now with SeatGeek, they make it so much easier

0:42:17.700 --> 0:42:19.719
<v Speaker 8>for you. They have the green light special. What does

0:42:19.739 --> 0:42:21.759
<v Speaker 8>that mean? It means when the green light is on,

0:42:21.800 --> 0:42:24.379
<v Speaker 8>you can get some of the best seats available. Go

0:42:24.400 --> 0:42:26.570
<v Speaker 8>to SeatGeek. Kratzy understands how.

0:42:26.489 --> 0:42:26.969
<v Speaker 5>Easy it is.

0:42:27.260 --> 0:42:29.540
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, I know you used to scalp your tickets, but look,

0:42:29.640 --> 0:42:32.200
<v Speaker 7>it's way, way better now because you get to just

0:42:32.239 --> 0:42:35.990
<v Speaker 7>go right on SeatGeek and find your postseason tickets. I'm

0:42:36.030 --> 0:42:37.680
<v Speaker 7>not even going to fast forward to the postseason. I'm

0:42:37.700 --> 0:42:41.169
<v Speaker 7>going to say the run to October because some teams

0:42:41.230 --> 0:42:43.210
<v Speaker 7>aren't in yet, so right now is the time to

0:42:43.250 --> 0:42:44.630
<v Speaker 7>get it, and those seats are available.

0:42:44.790 --> 0:42:47.450
<v Speaker 8>And it's playoff time, the best time for baseball. And,

0:42:47.489 --> 0:42:49.549
<v Speaker 8>of course, I have a code for you all. You

0:42:49.590 --> 0:42:53.210
<v Speaker 8>can use code TERRITORY10 for 10% off your next set

0:42:53.230 --> 0:42:56.950
<v Speaker 8>of MLB tickets at SeatGeek. That's 10% off MLB tickets

0:42:56.989 --> 0:43:00.290
<v Speaker 8>with promo code TERRITORY10. Make sure you click the link

0:43:00.330 --> 0:43:02.390
<v Speaker 8>in the description to download the app and have the

0:43:02.450 --> 0:43:05.609
<v Speaker 8>code automatically added to your account so you can use

0:43:05.650 --> 0:43:06.090
<v Speaker 8>it later.

0:43:07.430 --> 0:43:10.620
<v Speaker 10>White Sox fans, catch me, AJ Pruszynski, on Foul Territory

0:43:11.080 --> 0:43:15.200
<v Speaker 10>every weekday, 12 to 2 Central Time, after Sox Machine.

0:43:15.219 --> 0:43:17.680
<v Speaker 10>We'll talk White Sox. We'll talk all the teams. Come

0:43:17.719 --> 0:43:19.480
<v Speaker 10>here for a fun time the way baseball should be

0:43:19.520 --> 0:43:20.640
<v Speaker 10>covered on Foul Territory.

0:43:20.680 --> 0:43:21.040
<v Speaker 7>See you there.

0:43:22.280 --> 0:43:26.259
<v Speaker 2>Thanks, AJ, and visit the Foul Territory store at FoulTerritoryShop.com

0:43:26.280 --> 0:43:29.339
<v Speaker 2>to pick up your Sam Antonacci, Munataka Murakami, and now

0:43:29.460 --> 0:43:32.670
<v Speaker 2>a new Tristan Peters shirt. Officially licensed gear from the

0:43:32.790 --> 0:43:37.890
<v Speaker 2>MLB Players Association. They also have the 2026 All-Star shirts. Again,

0:43:37.950 --> 0:43:45.890
<v Speaker 2>visit FoulTerritoryShop.com. And it's White Sox Tigers. First game, Thursday night,

0:43:45.890 --> 0:43:50.270
<v Speaker 2>6.40 p.m. Central Time. This is the return of the

0:43:50.350 --> 0:43:53.070
<v Speaker 2>Southside game. So the White Sox are bringing back their

0:43:53.360 --> 0:43:56.719
<v Speaker 2>first edition of the City Connect jerseys as they'll be

0:43:57.140 --> 0:44:00.799
<v Speaker 2>honoring Tim Anderson, who recently announced his retirement. We'll talk

0:44:00.840 --> 0:44:04.610
<v Speaker 2>about T.A. in a moment. But it'll be Fran Brevaldez

0:44:04.640 --> 0:44:07.870
<v Speaker 2>in the first game for Detroit. Andrew Sears, the young lefty,

0:44:07.910 --> 0:44:10.930
<v Speaker 2>will take on Friday's game at 6.40 p.m. Central Time.

0:44:11.489 --> 0:44:14.939
<v Speaker 2>Saturdays is 6.10 p.m. Central Time. Jackson Jobe will start

0:44:14.980 --> 0:44:18.710
<v Speaker 2>for Detroit. And then on Sunday at 1.10 p.m. Central Time,

0:44:18.810 --> 0:44:21.440
<v Speaker 2>Troy Melton will make the start. For the Tigers, the

0:44:21.460 --> 0:44:24.319
<v Speaker 2>White Sox did get to both Jobe and Melton last

0:44:24.360 --> 0:44:27.570
<v Speaker 2>time they saw them in August in Detroit. For the

0:44:27.590 --> 0:44:30.430
<v Speaker 2>White Sox, it's Eric Betty. We are hearing that we

0:44:30.469 --> 0:44:33.950
<v Speaker 2>will be seeing David Sandlin, Davis Martin, and Sean Burke

0:44:33.989 --> 0:44:36.950
<v Speaker 2>at some point this weekend. For the White Sox, there

0:44:37.110 --> 0:44:40.930
<v Speaker 2>is also the situation with Luis Castillo and how that

0:44:40.969 --> 0:44:45.160
<v Speaker 2>he plays a factor this weekend. And take a look

0:44:45.260 --> 0:44:48.160
<v Speaker 2>at the American League Central. So White Sox, Tigers tonight,

0:44:48.580 --> 0:44:51.859
<v Speaker 2>Twins and Angels tonight. The Guardians are off. And then

0:44:51.920 --> 0:44:56.620
<v Speaker 2>when you look to Friday, again, the Guardians will be

0:44:56.680 --> 0:44:59.739
<v Speaker 2>taking on the Athletics. That game is going to start

0:44:59.860 --> 0:45:03.320
<v Speaker 2>at 6.10 p.m. Central Time. So if you're scoreboard watching,

0:45:03.340 --> 0:45:05.980
<v Speaker 2>the Guardians will start 30 minutes before the White Sox do.

0:45:06.760 --> 0:45:11.709
<v Speaker 2>And on Saturday, again, for scoreboard watching reasons, 5.10 p.m.

0:45:11.770 --> 0:45:14.070
<v Speaker 2>Central Time for the Guardians. That's an hour before the

0:45:14.110 --> 0:45:17.029
<v Speaker 2>White Sox start. And then on Sunday, which I know

0:45:17.050 --> 0:45:19.790
<v Speaker 2>a lot of people will be watching the NFL, But still,

0:45:19.790 --> 0:45:23.630
<v Speaker 2>12.40 p.m. Central Time start for the Guardians. Gavin Williams

0:45:23.650 --> 0:45:26.270
<v Speaker 2>will be taking the ball in that final game for

0:45:26.350 --> 0:45:31.540
<v Speaker 2>Cleveland against the Athletics. So that's what's ahead for this weekend.

0:45:32.160 --> 0:45:35.740
<v Speaker 2>And let's talk about tonight, Jim, for the White Sox.

0:45:35.780 --> 0:45:38.980
<v Speaker 2>They need a good start to this weekend. They're facing

0:45:39.020 --> 0:45:41.300
<v Speaker 2>Frambois Valdez. So this is going to be the third

0:45:41.550 --> 0:45:45.550
<v Speaker 2>straight left-handed starter tonight. that the Chicago White Sox have faced.

0:45:45.989 --> 0:45:48.290
<v Speaker 2>With the way that the right-handed bats have stepped up,

0:45:48.630 --> 0:45:52.390
<v Speaker 2>Randall Gritchick, Chase Midroth's had good at-bats. Brenton Doyle has

0:45:52.410 --> 0:45:54.660
<v Speaker 2>been having good at-bats as well for the White Sox.

0:45:54.680 --> 0:45:56.500
<v Speaker 2>Do you feel a little bit more confident in this

0:45:56.680 --> 0:46:00.899
<v Speaker 2>offensive ability, knowing that, again, this will be the third

0:46:00.940 --> 0:46:03.280
<v Speaker 2>straight game against the lefty, even though it's Frambois Valdez?

0:46:05.180 --> 0:46:05.960
<v Speaker 5>They're doing okay.

0:46:06.820 --> 0:46:09.960
<v Speaker 4>I think my concern is just, you know, when you

0:46:10.000 --> 0:46:13.560
<v Speaker 4>have this lineup that is so specialized against right-handed or

0:46:13.580 --> 0:46:17.020
<v Speaker 4>left-handed starters with the right-handed bats, you look to see like, okay,

0:46:17.060 --> 0:46:20.620
<v Speaker 4>who's subbing in for who? And then at that point,

0:46:21.230 --> 0:46:23.010
<v Speaker 4>what does the outfield look like? What does the infield

0:46:23.050 --> 0:46:25.509
<v Speaker 4>look like? What does the middle of the order look like?

0:46:25.989 --> 0:46:29.790
<v Speaker 4>And that's where, you know, the uneasiness comes in later

0:46:29.810 --> 0:46:34.770
<v Speaker 4>bullpen matchups. But yeah, based on just The calculations Venable

0:46:34.810 --> 0:46:37.290
<v Speaker 4>staff uses in terms of just important to get a lead,

0:46:37.630 --> 0:46:40.109
<v Speaker 4>the first innings can be high leverage if that's what

0:46:40.130 --> 0:46:44.980
<v Speaker 4>determines the game and determines every single decision made afterwards

0:46:45.040 --> 0:46:48.200
<v Speaker 4>by both managers. You kind of have to just throw

0:46:48.239 --> 0:46:50.600
<v Speaker 4>your best at who they're starting and then just let

0:46:50.620 --> 0:46:52.939
<v Speaker 4>the chips fall where they may. But that's, I think,

0:46:53.340 --> 0:46:56.660
<v Speaker 4>when it comes to the initial wave of production against lefties,

0:46:56.700 --> 0:46:58.980
<v Speaker 4>I think the White Sox are doing about as well

0:46:59.040 --> 0:47:01.380
<v Speaker 4>as they can. It's just, where does it leave them afterwards?

0:47:02.160 --> 0:47:05.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's a good question, especially with Colson Montgomery's uncertain status.

0:47:07.100 --> 0:47:11.140
<v Speaker 2>He got hit flushed in that wrist, Jim. And I'm

0:47:11.180 --> 0:47:14.859
<v Speaker 2>a bit concerned because if Montgomery needs several days off,

0:47:14.960 --> 0:47:18.180
<v Speaker 2>that feels like Chase does a pretty good job filling

0:47:18.219 --> 0:47:21.980
<v Speaker 2>in at shortstop. So you go with Maidroth and then

0:47:22.340 --> 0:47:26.259
<v Speaker 2>Antonacci at second and then having Gritchick start games in

0:47:26.280 --> 0:47:29.219
<v Speaker 2>left field. With the way that Gritchick's been hitting, I

0:47:29.260 --> 0:47:30.319
<v Speaker 2>don't have a problem with that.

0:47:31.219 --> 0:47:32.860
<v Speaker 5>I think that's probably the best option.

0:47:33.080 --> 0:47:37.750
<v Speaker 4>Otherwise it involves Luis Angel Acuna and that's not somebody

0:47:37.810 --> 0:47:41.310
<v Speaker 4>you want in starting lineups being like the primary option.

0:47:41.330 --> 0:47:43.550
<v Speaker 4>Like I think you leave him on the bench for

0:47:44.550 --> 0:47:49.160
<v Speaker 4>late game substitutions, your better, uh, defensive alignments, uh, to

0:47:49.380 --> 0:47:52.400
<v Speaker 4>close out games in hopes of avoiding, uh, the kind

0:47:52.440 --> 0:47:55.880
<v Speaker 4>of crucial late errors or the, uh, Backbreaking errors that

0:47:55.920 --> 0:47:58.279
<v Speaker 4>have been made. But yeah, I think you try to

0:47:58.300 --> 0:48:02.080
<v Speaker 4>start Acuna as little as possible over the last 10 games.

0:48:03.060 --> 0:48:05.100
<v Speaker 2>It would really help if Brady Montgomery, if I had

0:48:05.200 --> 0:48:09.719
<v Speaker 2>any confidence in his ability to bat right-handed. I just

0:48:09.760 --> 0:48:12.140
<v Speaker 2>don't right now. So I'm almost wondering, Jim, do you

0:48:12.180 --> 0:48:16.360
<v Speaker 2>go Gritchick, Doyle in center, Peters in right? Do you

0:48:16.400 --> 0:48:18.740
<v Speaker 2>have Tristan Peters start over Brady Montgomery?

0:48:20.130 --> 0:48:24.250
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, or just have like a bunt forward offense to

0:48:24.290 --> 0:48:26.560
<v Speaker 4>try to make things happen with runners on base or

0:48:27.140 --> 0:48:29.440
<v Speaker 4>create action where they haven't been creating action.

0:48:29.480 --> 0:48:32.280
<v Speaker 5>But yeah, it's a whole bunch of unenviable choices.

0:48:33.380 --> 0:48:36.319
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, it's really on Eric Fetty. Eric Fetty's been

0:48:36.360 --> 0:48:39.069
<v Speaker 2>pitching pretty well lately for the White Sox, Jim. He

0:48:39.110 --> 0:48:40.890
<v Speaker 2>hasn't been picking up a lot of strikeouts, but he

0:48:40.930 --> 0:48:43.880
<v Speaker 2>hasn't been allowing And he runs for the White Sox.

0:48:43.900 --> 0:48:46.140
<v Speaker 2>He's been doing a good job on the run prevention side.

0:48:46.200 --> 0:48:48.440
<v Speaker 2>So fingers crossed that Eric Fetty steps up in a

0:48:48.480 --> 0:48:52.040
<v Speaker 2>big way for the White Sox tonight against the Detroit Tigers.

0:48:52.120 --> 0:48:55.080
<v Speaker 2>It really sets the stage. And we'll see what happens

0:48:55.120 --> 0:48:58.400
<v Speaker 2>in the later inning situations for the White Sox. But really,

0:48:58.420 --> 0:49:00.910
<v Speaker 2>the offense would be great if they can give a

0:49:00.969 --> 0:49:04.390
<v Speaker 2>multiple run lead to make those high leverage situations more

0:49:04.469 --> 0:49:08.550
<v Speaker 2>medium leverage or really a low leverage 10 run win

0:49:08.590 --> 0:49:12.190
<v Speaker 2>tonight would be great for the White Sox. It'll be

0:49:12.680 --> 0:49:17.870
<v Speaker 2>Much needed. But also tonight is the White Sox returning

0:49:17.890 --> 0:49:23.169
<v Speaker 2>to their Southside City Connect. uniforms. And this also means

0:49:23.230 --> 0:49:26.710
<v Speaker 2>that Tim Anderson will be getting recognized by the Chicago

0:49:26.750 --> 0:49:31.360
<v Speaker 2>White Sox. And Jim, with T.A. returning, he's going to

0:49:31.380 --> 0:49:33.200
<v Speaker 2>be part of the broadcast. He's going to throw out

0:49:33.239 --> 0:49:36.120
<v Speaker 2>the first pitch. There's definitely going to be highlights during

0:49:36.160 --> 0:49:39.380
<v Speaker 2>the broadcast on all the things that Tim Anderson did

0:49:39.750 --> 0:49:44.259
<v Speaker 2>did for the Chicago White Sox. Reflecting back during the

0:49:44.340 --> 0:49:48.360
<v Speaker 2>TA years, what's your favorite thing about watching Tim Anderson

0:49:48.380 --> 0:49:49.200
<v Speaker 2>with the White Sox?

0:49:51.260 --> 0:49:54.259
<v Speaker 4>When he was right, when he had his legs under

0:49:54.320 --> 0:49:58.689
<v Speaker 4>him and after years of hard-earned development with his hit tool,

0:50:00.010 --> 0:50:02.080
<v Speaker 4>it was a very enjoyable brand of baseball. I hear

0:50:02.100 --> 0:50:04.140
<v Speaker 4>a lot about how, you know, there aren't enough balls

0:50:04.200 --> 0:50:07.500
<v Speaker 4>in play, not enough, you know, um, base runners moving,

0:50:07.520 --> 0:50:09.879
<v Speaker 4>you know, whether it's stealing bases, whether it's taking extra

0:50:09.900 --> 0:50:12.440
<v Speaker 4>bases because of balls in the gap, uh, like his

0:50:12.480 --> 0:50:15.260
<v Speaker 4>ability to hit with his hands to kind of manipulate

0:50:15.280 --> 0:50:18.040
<v Speaker 4>the barrel and pull balls left and push balls to

0:50:18.120 --> 0:50:21.640
<v Speaker 4>right and, uh, stretch singles into doubles. Like that was

0:50:21.660 --> 0:50:25.759
<v Speaker 4>just a very aesthetically pleasing form of baseball that, you know,

0:50:26.200 --> 0:50:28.430
<v Speaker 4>as we saw with him, you know, later in his career, when,

0:50:29.390 --> 0:50:31.250
<v Speaker 4>He had the leg issues and just wasn't able to

0:50:31.510 --> 0:50:33.610
<v Speaker 4>generate enough power to make it work. It's a very

0:50:34.590 --> 0:50:36.910
<v Speaker 4>tough line to walk, a very hard way to make

0:50:36.950 --> 0:50:39.490
<v Speaker 4>a living, but he made that living.

0:50:39.330 --> 0:50:40.310
<v Speaker 5>For a few years in a row.

0:50:40.330 --> 0:50:45.130
<v Speaker 9>If more players.

0:50:44.660 --> 0:50:48.780
<v Speaker 4>Could play like that, if modern-day pitching with everybody averaging 96,

0:50:48.780 --> 0:50:57.100
<v Speaker 4>if it allowed more hitters to get away with medium contact.

0:50:56.200 --> 0:50:57.920
<v Speaker 5>And be able to make that productive.

0:50:59.070 --> 0:51:01.260
<v Speaker 9>It would be the league would be better for it.

0:51:01.290 --> 0:51:04.570
<v Speaker 4>The game would be more aesthetically pleasing just in terms

0:51:04.610 --> 0:51:07.560
<v Speaker 4>of like a televised product of more bodies in motion

0:51:08.120 --> 0:51:10.460
<v Speaker 4>on the field. You know, people talk about like the

0:51:10.739 --> 0:51:13.799
<v Speaker 4>1980s being kind of this peak value or peak form

0:51:13.840 --> 0:51:17.140
<v Speaker 4>of this kind of offensive value because of just how

0:51:17.180 --> 0:51:18.330
<v Speaker 4>much action there was.

0:51:19.250 --> 0:51:21.690
<v Speaker 5>And when Anderson was right, he provided so much of that.

0:51:23.130 --> 0:51:25.930
<v Speaker 2>No, those are really good points. I think my favorite

0:51:25.950 --> 0:51:30.140
<v Speaker 2>thing about Tim Anderson was just his ability to overcome.

0:51:30.160 --> 0:51:32.279
<v Speaker 2>I don't want to say a rough start, but he

0:51:32.320 --> 0:51:35.939
<v Speaker 2>had a really rough 2017 season. He lost his best

0:51:36.000 --> 0:51:40.080
<v Speaker 2>friend and for him to be able to overcome that

0:51:40.320 --> 0:51:42.960
<v Speaker 2>and figure out how to hit sliders. Like we watched

0:51:43.020 --> 0:51:46.000
<v Speaker 2>the progression of Tim Anderson, not only through the minor leagues,

0:51:46.120 --> 0:51:49.180
<v Speaker 2>but how the league was attacking him. And then when

0:51:49.260 --> 0:51:51.640
<v Speaker 2>it all clicked, I mean, he won a batting title.

0:51:52.190 --> 0:51:55.790
<v Speaker 2>He was phenomenal in the postseason for the White Sox

0:51:55.850 --> 0:51:59.550
<v Speaker 2>as well. He was the guy that got everything going

0:51:59.590 --> 0:52:02.270
<v Speaker 2>for the White Sox offense from 2019 through 2021. And

0:52:02.370 --> 0:52:06.610
<v Speaker 2>it was just so much fun to watch Tim Anderson.

0:52:08.030 --> 0:52:10.520
<v Speaker 2>And he just had those big moments. And I felt

0:52:10.560 --> 0:52:14.260
<v Speaker 2>like when T.A. was going, so did the White Sox offense.

0:52:14.739 --> 0:52:16.420
<v Speaker 2>And there's a part of me that's like, if I

0:52:16.440 --> 0:52:19.760
<v Speaker 2>can go back in time and pluck someone from from

0:52:20.219 --> 0:52:22.719
<v Speaker 2>the 2021 or even like if I could pluck 2019

0:52:22.719 --> 0:52:26.740
<v Speaker 2>Tim Anderson and bring them to this White Sox team, Jim,

0:52:27.020 --> 0:52:29.840
<v Speaker 2>I'd feel a lot better about the White Sox in

0:52:29.860 --> 0:52:32.029
<v Speaker 2>their last 10 games. Like that's the type of guy

0:52:32.090 --> 0:52:36.029
<v Speaker 2>that they need right now in their lineup. And that's

0:52:36.070 --> 0:52:39.049
<v Speaker 2>the thing. Like we've been podcasting right about the White

0:52:39.070 --> 0:52:42.650
<v Speaker 2>Sox for so long, Jim. It's great to see in

0:52:42.690 --> 0:52:45.150
<v Speaker 2>just how that entire career arc. And I know it

0:52:45.170 --> 0:52:47.660
<v Speaker 2>didn't end up well because of the injuries, but but

0:52:47.700 --> 0:52:51.360
<v Speaker 2>the peak of Tim Anderson was so much fun to watch.

0:52:51.500 --> 0:52:53.520
<v Speaker 2>And it was great that we got a chance to

0:52:53.580 --> 0:52:57.800
<v Speaker 2>see that when it was so uncertain 2017 and 2018

0:52:57.800 --> 0:52:59.580
<v Speaker 2>of what kind of player he was going to be.

0:53:00.980 --> 0:53:01.180
<v Speaker 9>Yeah.

0:53:01.260 --> 0:53:05.580
<v Speaker 5>I mean, you understand the human inputs behind it.

0:53:05.640 --> 0:53:08.339
<v Speaker 4>You know, it's very easy to look at projections and

0:53:08.380 --> 0:53:11.220
<v Speaker 4>look at scouting reports and then development is in linear,

0:53:11.280 --> 0:53:13.940
<v Speaker 4>but you look at just, you kind of look at

0:53:13.960 --> 0:53:17.270
<v Speaker 4>in terms of what's, a baseball player can do against

0:53:17.310 --> 0:53:19.170
<v Speaker 4>other baseball players doing baseball things.

0:53:19.250 --> 0:53:22.890
<v Speaker 5>But yeah, given all the, uh, you.

0:53:21.830 --> 0:53:24.129
<v Speaker 4>Know, just his unusual background of being a two sports starter,

0:53:24.170 --> 0:53:28.060
<v Speaker 4>like barely played baseball in Mississippi is not a great

0:53:28.100 --> 0:53:30.880
<v Speaker 4>talent ground for baseball. And, you know, he moved to Alabama,

0:53:30.920 --> 0:53:34.680
<v Speaker 4>but he just, he had to, uh, more or less

0:53:34.719 --> 0:53:37.260
<v Speaker 4>like his talents got him so far.

0:53:37.480 --> 0:53:38.879
<v Speaker 5>And then, as you mentioned, just.

0:53:38.940 --> 0:53:42.650
<v Speaker 4>Kind of closing that last mile, uh, was very hard earned,

0:53:42.810 --> 0:53:47.489
<v Speaker 4>but between, uh, the kind of late bloomer aspect of

0:53:47.690 --> 0:53:52.399
<v Speaker 4>just learning how to perform against more advanced competition. And then,

0:53:52.719 --> 0:53:55.580
<v Speaker 4>as you mentioned, with the loss of his friend, like

0:53:55.600 --> 0:53:59.360
<v Speaker 4>the human toll behind it, just a whole lot of

0:53:59.400 --> 0:54:01.799
<v Speaker 4>factors of just like, oh, this is his background. This

0:54:01.940 --> 0:54:07.530
<v Speaker 4>is just some trauma that happened to say like, well,

0:54:08.730 --> 0:54:11.460
<v Speaker 4>when he finally got to that peak, starting in 2019,

0:54:11.450 --> 0:54:13.370
<v Speaker 4>of just like, oh, this is why it didn't work

0:54:13.469 --> 0:54:18.339
<v Speaker 4>for reasons Yeah, baseball related, not baseball related. And it's

0:54:19.400 --> 0:54:22.549
<v Speaker 4>nice when you can't write somebody off. Like, it's nice

0:54:22.590 --> 0:54:24.230
<v Speaker 4>when you don't know what the finished product is going

0:54:24.250 --> 0:54:27.109
<v Speaker 4>to be. That's why you watch. That's why as much

0:54:27.130 --> 0:54:29.410
<v Speaker 4>as you want to say DFA everybody who is underperforming

0:54:29.469 --> 0:54:30.430
<v Speaker 4>or say like, this guy's.

0:54:30.270 --> 0:54:30.830
<v Speaker 2>A bust, like.

0:54:31.660 --> 0:54:33.080
<v Speaker 9>you always hold out hope.

0:54:32.910 --> 0:54:37.100
<v Speaker 4>Or you just, you know, cause these guys, they work hard. Uh, they,

0:54:37.360 --> 0:54:38.980
<v Speaker 4>you know, if they didn't work hard, they wouldn't even

0:54:39.020 --> 0:54:40.680
<v Speaker 4>get to triple a, they wouldn't get double.

0:54:40.520 --> 0:54:41.980
<v Speaker 9>A, everybody works hard.

0:54:42.000 --> 0:54:46.600
<v Speaker 4>Uh, and, uh, they're constantly grinding away and constantly like

0:54:46.920 --> 0:54:49.140
<v Speaker 4>hitting their heads against their ceilings until they, they finally

0:54:49.180 --> 0:54:49.780
<v Speaker 4>break through.

0:54:50.719 --> 0:54:52.760
<v Speaker 5>And he's somebody who embodies.

0:54:52.360 --> 0:54:54.420
<v Speaker 4>That of just, you know, Lucas Chialito is another one

0:54:54.460 --> 0:54:56.779
<v Speaker 4>of just hitting a wall, hitting a wall, hitting a wall,

0:54:56.840 --> 0:54:59.620
<v Speaker 4>and finally unlocking something that allows them to reach an

0:54:59.660 --> 0:55:04.140
<v Speaker 4>all-star form. And that's what you want when you're watching

0:55:04.180 --> 0:55:09.779
<v Speaker 4>these guys and wanting to see how they just wreck

0:55:09.800 --> 0:55:12.500
<v Speaker 4>your expectations for the better. I thought they were going

0:55:12.520 --> 0:55:13.800
<v Speaker 4>to be one thing and now they're another.

0:55:13.820 --> 0:55:17.020
<v Speaker 5>I was wrong. Cool that I was wrong because.

0:55:18.180 --> 0:55:22.060
<v Speaker 4>You want good things to happen on the field and

0:55:23.020 --> 0:55:24.480
<v Speaker 4>be able to be pleasantly surprised.

0:55:25.200 --> 0:55:27.610
<v Speaker 2>And that kind of sums up this 2026 season for

0:55:27.620 --> 0:55:29.050
<v Speaker 2>the White Sox. We were expecting.

0:55:30.610 --> 0:55:31.140
<v Speaker 2>Not this.

0:55:32.110 --> 0:55:35.830
<v Speaker 5>Yeah. Yeah.

0:55:36.010 --> 0:55:38.150
<v Speaker 4>And now what's your reward is just agonizing over a

0:55:38.170 --> 0:55:40.210
<v Speaker 4>single every single decision made over the last two weeks

0:55:40.230 --> 0:55:42.950
<v Speaker 4>of the season. Did you really want this? And of course,

0:55:42.969 --> 0:55:45.799
<v Speaker 4>the answer is yes. But yes, it's it would be

0:55:45.860 --> 0:55:48.520
<v Speaker 4>nice to have that kind of series they've had against

0:55:48.540 --> 0:55:53.440
<v Speaker 4>Detroit earlier this year to where they're able to alleviate

0:55:53.460 --> 0:55:53.880
<v Speaker 4>some fears.

0:55:54.610 --> 0:55:54.840
<v Speaker 7>Yes.

0:55:55.140 --> 0:55:59.080
<v Speaker 2>Well, we'll be recapping the Tigers and White Sox game

0:55:59.200 --> 0:56:02.120
<v Speaker 2>that happens tonight. We'll be doing that tomorrow in another

0:56:02.160 --> 0:56:05.000
<v Speaker 2>live stream on YouTube dot com slash Sox machine. But

0:56:05.040 --> 0:56:08.890
<v Speaker 2>thank you to everyone that watched this live stream edition

0:56:09.010 --> 0:56:12.489
<v Speaker 2>of the Sox machine podcast alongside Jim Margulis. I am

0:56:12.550 --> 0:56:16.560
<v Speaker 2>Josh Nelson and. This is a video podcast, so please

0:56:16.600 --> 0:56:19.040
<v Speaker 2>hit the subscribe button on our YouTube channel at youtube.com

0:56:19.060 --> 0:56:21.060
<v Speaker 2>slash Sox Machine. If you need something to listen to

0:56:21.580 --> 0:56:24.680
<v Speaker 2>on the way home, we'll be uploading the live streams

0:56:24.840 --> 0:56:27.660
<v Speaker 2>into our podcast feed so you have something to listen to.

0:56:27.700 --> 0:56:29.840
<v Speaker 2>You can subscribe to the Sox Machine podcast wherever you

0:56:29.880 --> 0:56:33.529
<v Speaker 2>listen to podcasts such as Spotify and Apple Music. And

0:56:33.590 --> 0:56:36.930
<v Speaker 2>the Sox Machine podcast is a production of SoxMachine.com. You're

0:56:36.989 --> 0:56:39.270
<v Speaker 2>all about Chicago White Sox baseball and part of the

0:56:39.310 --> 0:56:43.310
<v Speaker 2>Foul Territory Network. Alongside Jim Margulis, I'm Josh Nelson. Thanks

0:56:43.330 --> 0:56:44.820
<v Speaker 2>for watching and listening.