Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
White Sox avoid the sweep against Yankees in impressive fashion
19 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Juneteenth in today's discussion?
That's right. It is Raheem Harrison Grody right here on 104.3 The Score. And I am Gabe Ramirez filling in today. But Marshall Harris still in the building. What up? Beep, beep, beep.
what up game i'm so happy i i hope everyone has as good a day as the day i am about to have that we are about to have i was gonna say what foresight you have yeah because you got to see it to believe it right or something like that what's like the number one thing you see that because i'm trying to be on that zone like what's the number one thing you see the number one thing is um i'm out of here at approximately 12 38 and then my day day will start
It's also Juneteenth. So happy Juneteenth to all those who celebrate. And I don't know if I'm going to say happy Juneteenth to the people who don't celebrate, but yet still get the day off because that seems foul.
Well, then I don't know if you know this, Marshall, but they are in fact celebrating it with the day off. So. Everybody.
Do you think if you just have the day off, that's celebrating a holiday?
You don't have to do anything? You don't have to acknowledge? Let's be real. Let's have a real black and brown conversation right here. July 4th, there's people that don't, air quote, celebrate it, but they got the day off, so they're celebrating it. I don't agree. I know. That's why I did that. That's why I did that. Because I feel like that's the other side of that one right there.
But yeah, shout out. Happy Juneteenth as we celebrate freedom, black history, and just the contributions to black Americans to the United States of America. It's going to be an amazing day, not just because it's Juneteenth, but of course, as Marshall mentioned, Cubs baseball today, a little bit later, you get a nice little Friday matinee. And then Team USA, speaking of America. America.
Playing at 2 o'clock, getting things going. We'll get a chance to get into that.
Can I tell the people what you were doing walking to the studio today? I believe that we can win. I believe that we can win.
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Chapter 2: How did the White Sox perform against the Yankees?
Where I'm wondering, like, why is this guy playing the last 10, 15 minutes of the game? Why are they putting this dude in? And it's like, oh, because they want to then log his minutes so then when they try to transfer him, they can say, well, look, he's played in 18 matches. Well, yeah, well, 10 minutes at the end of the game. But these are things you get to say.
Well, same thing holds true for a guy like Perez. Look, he got a cannon. Right? No, that's what you get to say. You want my outfielder? Look at him. But that happens when you play guys and you get an opportunity to show them off. And several guys have had that opportunity. Luis Acuna, obviously, from the very beginning, getting an opportunity. You've seen his speed there.
Sam Antonacci letting you know he's the firecracker that everybody wants there. Brady Montgomery. I mean, you're seeing a lot of guys get the opportunity to come up and pitch as well. And so, but I... I wonder, in your mind, Marshall, after you heard what I said, do you think it's a showcase or more they're getting these guys up out of necessity?
No, I think it's a necessity thing. You saw Everson Pereira. He's had some bad luck this season. Seven-day injured list with a concussion. And it's been remarkable that they've just had guys who could backfill every time. Every time they're calling on someone to do more, that player has done more. Tristan Peters is a great example, former Savannah Banana.
He's out here as a mainstay in center field. Sam Antonacci, he wasn't even playing in the outfield when the season started. Now he looks pretty good out there as a left fielder. And what I think it's allowed Will Venable to do, and this dude is in the driver's seat and maybe a couple of laps ahead of everyone else for American League Manager of the Year right now.
He's been able to punch the right buttons because he gets in situations where he feels like, I know what my guys can do. And I think the best example of that is when you go to the eighth inning of last night's game. Because understand this. He had, what, Andrew Benintendi replace... Gritchick, and that was who hit the grand slam on the first pitch that he saw. Disgusting.
He had Jacob Gonzalez, who was hit by a pitch when he comes in, and he has Sam Antonacci, who leads off the inning with the double after he replaces Luis Angel Acuna. The fact that he has the bench depth to be able to make those moves late in games against relief, middle relief, not late inning, we're down by three relief, but just in a game where theā The outcome is still in doubt.
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Chapter 3: What pressure did the White Sox face in avoiding a sweep?
Will Venable, more times than not, has been able to punch the right buttons because he's had the players available to him that have gotten the job done.
And versatile players, too, right? I mean, because you're looking at the changes, right? Sam Antonacci comes in for Luis Acuna, but Sam goes to left field. Montgomery goes from third to shortstop. It's like they're able to make those adjustments. When Gonzalez comes in to play first base, Miguel Vargas goes back to his original position at third.
So it's not only the foresight and the wherewithal to bring guys in in perfect timing, but it's also the ability to move guys around and understand that they're capable of playing at those positions at a high level to hold on to the lead in the late innings because you need this victory against, or you want this victory against the Yankees. Yeah, this is a team in the truest sense, right?
When you're looking at the roster, not only do they have this great, camaraderie and gel that exists in the dugout. But these guys all play baseball. Baseball players are in the truest sense of the word. And the fact that they're able to feed off one another. I was talking about this yesterday as well. When you're looking at Colson Montgomery,
If he were on any other team, I don't want to say it like that because that's too much of a bold statement, but if he were on a majority of teams in Major League Baseball, I don't know if he'd have the same success that he's having right now after dealing with the struggles that he dealt with last year and the year prior.
I think the locker room that he's in right now, like if he was in Philly, you know Philadelphia very well, Marshall. If he was in Philly, I don't know if he would have been able to deal with the bumps and bruises the same way that he was given the grace here and then given the opportunity to be in a locker room and a dugout full of like-minded individuals that are growing in the same way.
And then you don't feel that same amount of pressure and you're able to break out of whatever it is funk that you were in at one point.
No, no, I understand that. I can see why you would believe that, because other teams have expectations. The White Sox have a simple expectation. That's to play hard, do your best. But there's not, hey, we assembled this multi-nine-figure team that's top ten in payroll, and we expect to be division champs. That's not what's going on here. It's very much a development year for the Sox.
Now, if it's development that comes with an AL Central title, no one's going to complain, players included, but they're just doing their job, and I think they believe in Will Venable, and they all understand their role, and that's whether they start the game on the bench or they start the game in the starting lineup, knowing either way, they may come out of the game as a starter, they may get in the game later in an important situation, and they've been able to rise to the occasion a lot, especially when you look at the series against the Yankees.
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Chapter 4: How did Sean Burke's pitching impact the game?
The Southside Summer Festival presented by Marist July 8th.
The lineup I care about right now is the one with Colson Montgomery in it. Let me give you a couple of things here, Gabe. Colson Montgomery has now played 140 games as a major leaguer. He's got 41 home runs. That's crazy. He's a guy who's only 24 years old. He's on pace to hit 46 home runs this season.
And what we can say, looking at what he's done against both righties and lefties as a left-handed hitter in baseball, is that last year was no fluke. And I think that's important because it was a very feel-good story when it happened. Oh, this guy has to go to Arizona and fix his whole everything. Right. And then he gets called up to the big leagues and has raked ever since.
And after a slower start to start this season, he's now right back on pace of doing the same things he was doing last year. And if you're a 24-year-old shortstop playing above average defense at shortstop, and you've got that kind of power, that's the type of position that other teams don't have. That's where you can make up the margin if you're lacking somewhere else.
Right now the Sox are clearly lacking in pitching. But that offense is undeniable. I made the prediction at the beginning of the season they would be a top 10 offense. I may have undersold. I may have underestimated what they could do. Because right now they've got over 100 home runs as a team. They're going to be top five in home runs.
Again, Murakami hasn't played in a minute now, and they're still out here banging him over the fence.
20 homers just sitting on the sidelines waiting to come get injected into that lineup. But you're right. I think you can't emphasize enough, and if you're listening right now, I really want you to hear what Marshall said because the splits are eerily similar. I think it's like 70 games that he's played so far this year and 71 that he played last season.
And when you look at batting average, home runs, hits, touchdowns, The numbers are a slug. So you're looking at two separate seasons, but the same amount of games. So the sample size is there for you. And the numbers, when you look at them, again, it just proves to you what Marshall's saying. There's a level of consistency that he's already reached.
And he's proven it through two halves of two different seasons that he's capable of putting up those numbers.
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