Tag / White Sox

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Against The Mets All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the New York Mets.

The Mets began life in 1962, joining the National League following the abandonment of the New York market by both the Dodgers and Giants in 1957.  I’ve seen them play 21 times, including Tom Glavine’s 300th career victory, their pennant clinching victory in the 2015 NLCS, and, most recently, this past August at Rate Field.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Chicago Cubs 11 8 0.579
Chicago White Sox 1 1 0.500
New York Mets 9 12 0.429

Home Runs

Name Total
Corey Patterson 4
Aramis Ramirez 2
Nico Hoerner 2

Hits

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 10
Moises Alou 8
Mark Gruzielanek 8

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Derrek Lee 5
Corey Patterson 4
Moises Alou 4
Michael Barrett 4
Sammy Sosa 4
Nico Hoerner 4

RBI

Name Total
Corey Patterson 10
Aramis Ramirez 7
Michael Barrett 6

Doubles

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Michael Barrett 3
7 tied with 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Yeah Buddy

After three error-plagued seasons, the White Sox announced on Monday that they would not be extending the contract of embattled television play-by-play man John Schriffen.  Schriffen, who first got the job in 2024 after Jason Benetti was allowed to leave the booth due to growing frustrations with the franchise, started with three strikes against him.

  1. He was coming in to replace a popular broadcaster many felt was treated unfairly by Jerry Reinsdorf and Brooks Boyer
  2. He was considerably less polished, let alone skilled, than the broadcaster he was replacing
  3. His first season coincided with the White Sox becoming the worst team in MLB history

That said, he certainly made numerous unforced errors along the way that did not help his case, including not knowing why White Sox fans would boo Tigers infielder (and former Cub) Javy Baez and mispronouncing Bill Veeck’s name during a pre-planned bit and subsequently refusing to quickly address it, making sure it turned into a thing.  Both showed a lack of preparation that his over-the-top enthusiasm, especially for a team on its way to the most losses in MLB history. couldn’t cover.  When good things did happen and he pulled out what I’m sure he thought would be his winning catch phrase, “South Side, stand up”, he didn’t have the skills to make it seem like it wasn’t a pre-planned saying that he had been waiting to cram in.

Along the way, he improved a little as he went on, but was always awkward, whether it was using the White Sox airway to fight with the local radio hosts he was too afraid to speak with directly, growling when using Luis Robert’s big cat-inspired nickname, or his absolutely bizarre tirade on behalf of Tommy Pham after the later was thrown out easily in a play at the plate against the Brewers in 2024.  Even with the improvements, he still regularly confused left and right field and never seemed to bring any particular baseball knowledge or insight to the broadcast, which is strange considering he played the game at the collegiate level.

The writing was likely on the wall for Schriffen when, this past September 24, he chose to leave the booth for the night to call a UFC event rather than the game where the White Sox clinched a playoff spot.  Hopefully the UFC keeps calling as I doubt he ever works regularly in MLB again.

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Against The Nationals All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We continue today with the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals began life in 1969 as the Montreal Expos.  When the Expos missed out on their best opportunity to win a World Series due to the work stoppage of 1994, followed by years of alleged mismanagement, fan support dropped away, and the team moved to Washington in 2005.  I’ve seen them play 20 times, five as the Expos and fifteen as the Nationals, including a neutral site game at US Cellular Field in 2004, two games of the 2017 NLDS at Wrigley Field, and once at their home stadium in 2019.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 1 0 1.000
Washington Nationals 9 6 0.600
Chicago Cubs 7 8 0.467
Montreal Expos 2 3 0.400
Chicago White Sox 1 3 0.250

Home Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Corey Patterson 2
12 tied with 1

Hits

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 8
Ryan Theriot 7
Michael Barrett 6
Derrek Lee 6
Mark Grudzielanek 6
Juan Pierre 6

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Ryan Theriot 4
Derrek Lee 4
Moises Alou 4

RBI

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 13
Moises Alou 4
Jeff Conine 3

Doubles

Name Total
Moises Alou 3
Jacque Jones 2
Ben Zobrist 2
Michael Busch 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Manager Of The Year Part The First

The first group of year end awards were announced yesterday by The Sporting News and White Sox manager Will Venable is their AL Manager of the Year.  These awards are voted on by peers and, more often than not, returns the same result as the “official” awards handed out by the Baseball Writers of America.  Venable is just the sixth White Sox manager to win this version of the award, following Ozzie Guillen in 2005, Jerry Manuel in 2000, Jeff Torborg in 1990, Tony La Russa in 1983, and Chuck Tanner in 1972.

On the player side, Chase Meidroth was named to The Sporting News American League All-Star Team as the second baseman.  He’s the first White Sox player to be named a year-end All-Star since José Abreu in 2020.

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Against The Rockies All Time Leaders – Through 2026

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  As we wait for the World Series to start and prepare for the uncertainty of the 2027 season due to labor strife, this offseason we will once again take a look at the leaders, both offensively and defensively, against all 30 clubs.  We start today with the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies began life in 1993, joining the National League along with the then-Florida Marlins.  I saw them for the first time in 2002, as they came to town to battle the Cubs.  Since then, I’ve seen them 21 additional times, including the 2018 Wild Card game, a trip to their home stadium of Coors Field in 2022, and to wrap up the 2026 regular season at Rate Field.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Chicago White Sox 4 3 0.571
Colorado Rockies 11 11 0.500
Chicago Cubs 7 7 0.500
Cincinnati Reds 0 1 0.000

Home Runs

Name Total
Todd Walker 2
Munetaka Murakami 2
21 tied with 1

Hits

Name Total
Derrek Lee 10
Alfonso Soriano 8
Aramis Ramirez 6
Corey Patterson 6
Mike Fontenot 6

Runs

Name Total
Derrek Lee 6
Alfonso Soriano 5
Ryan Theriot 5

RBI

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 6
Alfonso Soriano 4
Mark DeRosa 4
Jeromy Burnitz 4

Doubles

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 3
Mike Fontenot 3
Corey Patterson 2
A.J. Pollock 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Fitbit 12 – Week 38

Another great week, surpassing my daily goal three times while extending my streak of 40,000 step weeks to seventeen.  The week got off to a great start, scoring 8500 steps on Sunday thanks to a long morning walk.  Monday once again saw me finish above my daily goal, finishing with 7800 steps.  Things slowed down a bit on Tuesday, falling to 4700 steps.  Wednesday improved to 6700 steps as the ALDS moved to Rate Field.  Thursday’s Game 4 between the White Sox and Guardians finished with me over 8300 steps.  Another slow day on Friday left me 15 steps shy of 5100.  Two smaller walks on Saturday, in addition to a haircut, finished the week with 37 steps shy of 6800.

Total steps: 47,994

Daily average: 6856.3

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2026 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with both the White Sox and the Cubs advancing to the postseason for the first time since the pandemic year of 2020, with overachieving White Sox falling in the ALDS and the underachieving Cubs bowing out in the Wild Card round.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 44 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Munetaka Murakami 13
Miguel Vargas 9
Colson Montgomery 6
Pete Crow-Armstrong 6
Randal Grichuk 6

Hits

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 32
Sam Antonacci 31
Munetaka Murakami 26
Chase Meidroth 26
Colson Montgomery 22

Runs

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 27
Munetaka Murakami 27
Continue reading →
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You Ought To Be In (19) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 111 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of August 1.

We continue today with the five actors that have starred in exactly 19 movies that I have seen, a decrease of one from three years ago.

Jennifer Aniston

The former Friends star first burst through onto my movie screen in 1997, with a double feature of She’s The One and Leprechaun.  In years since, she was a pretty steady contributor until 2014, with multiple films in 1997, 1998, 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2013, with a high-water mark in 1998, when I saw her in three starring roles.  Her most recent entry came in 2014, when I saw 2013’s We’re the Millers.

John Cusack

Local boy done good John Cusack entered my movie-watching consciousness in 1988 when he portrayed disgraced White Sox third baseman Buck Weaver in Eight Men Out.  After a nine-year dry spell, Cusack came back with a vengeance with three films in 1997 which started a run of eight films in four years.  Aside from 1997, he notched multiple films in 2000, 2004, and 2010.  His most recent film that I’ve seen remains 2012’s The Factory, which I watched in 2015.

Matt Damon

In 1994, Matt Damon made his first appearance on my personal movie screen with his role in 1992’s School Ties.  He disappeared for a while until reappearing in 1999 with three different films.  From that point on, he has been a pretty regular entrant in my watched films, including a four-year run from 2005-2008.  The last film of his I’ve seen was in 2019, when I saw 2017’s Downsizing.

Robert DeNiro

My first experience with Robert DeNiro was back in 1988, when I saw Angel Heart.  He then went quiet to me for eight years, coming back in 1996 with Sleepers.  2000 was my high-water mark with his work when I saw three of his films, while he showed up twice in 2004, 2011, and 2016.  My most recent experience with him was in 2020, when I saw 2008’s Righteous Kill.

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves slinked on to my movie screens in 1988 in a small film called Permanent Record.  The following year, he became huge thanks to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  2020 stands out as my best Reeves year, when I managed to see three of his films.  His most recent appearance came in 2022, when I watched the 2020 sequel Bill & Ted Face the Music.

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2026 Final Standings

The Cinderella story that was the 2026 White Sox turned back into a pumpkin last night as they dropped the fifth and decisive game of the ALDS to the Guardians, bringing the 2026 Chicago baseball season to a close.  The White Sox became the first team in MLB history to make the playoffs following two (let alone three) consecutive 100+ loss seasons, winning their first postseason series since 2005.  The Cubs, meanwhile, faltered down the stretch, dropping out of the top Wild Card spot and found themselves having to travel to San Diego, where they were quickly swept.  Overall, I managed to attend 44 games, my eleventh highest total, at four different stadiums, seeing 23 of the 30 teams along the way.

2026 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Cincinnati Reds 2 0 1.000
Milwaukee Brewers 2 0 1.000
Washington Nationals 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
Atlanta Braves 1 0 1.000
Boston Red Sox 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 10 5 0.667
Cleveland Guardians 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 18 16 0.529
Houston Astros 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Continue reading →