Bobby Jenks, World Series champion closer, dies at 44

My uncle and I were in attendance at U.S. Cellular Field when Bobby Jenks made his major league debut. It was July 6, 2005, against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Ninth inning, White Sox leading 7-2.

Jenks walked the first batter he faced on four pitches.

However, his fastball was lighting up the stadium radar gun at 98-99 mph. I remember telling my uncle, "If this guy can put that pitch in the strike zone, he's going to be fine."

Three batters later, Jenks had two strikeouts and three outs, and the Sox had a stress-free victory. Little did we know how significant the addition of Jenks to the roster would be.

A little more than three months later, the then-24-year-old right-hander was on the mound in a much more stressful situation.

It was the ninth inning of Game 4 of the World Series. The Sox were leading the Houston Astros 1-0, looking for a sweep and their first championship since 1917. Tying run on second base, two outs. 

Jenks got the out he needed for the Sox, getting Orlando Palmeiro to bounce out to shortstop Juan Uribe. The Sox were champions! It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

On Saturday at my mom's house, my uncle and I were discussing our memories of Jenks' big-league debut, which happened 20 years ago today. Our family gathered this weekend to mark the Fourth of July and my 49th birthday, which is Monday. During our celebration, we got the bad news that Jenks died Friday at age 44, after a battle with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer.

This is a sad time for everyone who is part of the White Sox community. There is only one Sox pitcher to record the last out of the World Series in the past 108 years. That player is Jenks, and that moment will live forever, even though the man who created it is now gone.

Jenks also closed out the division-clinching game in 2005 against the Detroit Tigers, and the clinching game of the American League Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. He appeared in all four games of the 2005 World Series, earning two saves.

By 2011, Jenks was out of baseball -- a back injury ending his time in the majors. It was not a long career, but it was a successful one. Here are some of his other accolades:

• 173 saves, second-most in Sox history
• consecutive 40-save seasons (2006-07)
• consecutive All-Star selections (2006-07)
• five saves and a 2.00 ERA in seven postseason appearances
• retired a team-record 41 batters in 2007 (a record later broken by teammate Mark Buehrle)
• had the fifth-most saves in baseball from 2006 to 2010

Jenks was a pitcher ahead of his time. In today's baseball, nearly every team in the league has a stable of relief pitchers who rush the ball up to home plate at 95 mph or more. But in 2005, there were only a handful of guys in the league like that. It got your attention when someone was hitting 98 to 102 mph with consistency. 

Jenks' fastball had both high-end velocity and a late cut that made him very difficult to square up. He also had a 12-to-6 breaking ball that he could throw for strikes with consistency. That's a good recipe for a strong closer in any era, but especially in that era, where 98 mph on the gun was uncommon.

Unfortunately, Jenks' death comes a week before the Sox are set to honor the 20th anniversary of the 2005 World Series championship. Events are scheduled throughout next week's home series against the Cleveland Guardians (July 10-13). All Sox fans had hoped Jenks would be well enough to attend those ceremonies. Sadly, that is not the case.

Fortunately, Jenks was in Chicago for SoxFest in 2015, and my girlfriend was able to get his autograph in her 2005 scrapbook (see picture). That signature has always been valuable, but it's a little more cherished right now.

Here's how I would sum up Bobby Jenks: If I had to pick one White Sox relief pitcher from my nearly 50 years of fandom to get three outs in the ninth inning, Jenks is the guy I'd want on the mound.

With all due respect to Bobby Thigpen, Roberto Hernandez and Liam Hendriks, Jenks is the best closer I've had the privilege of rooting for on the South Side of Chicago.

RIP, Bobby Jenks.

Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus help White Sox win opener in Seattle

The White Sox offense still has trouble generating runs consistently, but it does seem as though veteran right-hander Lance Lynn has regained his form.

Entering Monday's series opener at Seattle, Lynn had allowed only five earned runs over 24.2 innings over his past four starts -- two wins and two no-decisions. Over that same span, he struck out 29 batters while walking only two.

Against the Mariners, Lynn (5-5) came up with his best outing of the season. He went seven innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits in a 3-2 Sox victory.

Lynn struck out 11 and walked only one, while generating 25 swings-and-misses on 89 pitches -- 63 of them for strikes. There were some pretty nasty shadows on the field with the game starting at 3:40 p.m. Pacific time, and that made conditions rough for batters.

Nevertheless, we have to say Lynn's stuff was sharp given that he retired the last 17 men he faced, and very little contact was made against him.

The Sox scored their three runs early off Seattle starter Marco Gonzales (10-13). In the second inning, AJ Pollock hit his 11th home run of the season. Elvis Andrus also hit his 11th homer (and third since joining the Sox) -- a two-run shot in the top of the third.

Andrus added a double and went 2 for 4. For whatever reason, he swings the bat really well in Seattle. At T-Mobile Park this season, dating back to his time with Oakland, he's 10 for 24 with five of his 11 home runs.

The Sox bullpen closed it out, although in dramatic fashion. Kendall Graveman worked around a two-out single to post a scoreless eighth. Liam Hendriks gave up a run on a walk and two singles in the ninth. The Mariners had the tying run at third and the winning run at second when Hendriks fanned Adam Frazier on three pitches to record his 30th save of the season.

Hendriks becomes the sixth Sox closer to record 30 or more saves in back-to-back seasons. The others are Bobby Thigpen, Roberto Hernandez, Keith Foulke, Bobby Jenks and David Robertson.

The Sox are 68-67.

New White Sox manager Rick Renteria's coaching staff will feature familiar people

Joe McEwing

If you were hoping for significant changes to the White Sox coaching staff this offseason, prepare to be disappointed.

The only hope I have is that new manager Rick Renteria was allowed to make his own choices with regard to the coaching staff. I have no evidence one way or the other, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't suspect that these selections were made for him.

In any case, third-base coach Joe McEwing has been promoted to bench coach, taking the role vacated by Renteria when he accepted the job as manager. McEwing, 44, served as third-base coach for each of the five seasons Robin Ventura was manager. He also managed in the Sox's minor-league system for three seasons. He has been with the organization for nine years.

The McEwing move, of course, creates a need for a new third-base coach, a role that will be filled by Nick Capra, who had been serving as the team's director of player development. Capra has been in that front office role for five years, but he also has been the minor-league field coordinator, the assistant director of minor-league instruction and the minor-league hitting coordinator. Before that, he managed in the Sox's system for 10 seasons. Capra, 58, has been with the organization for 21 years.

Minor-league pitching coordinator Curt Hasler will replace Bobby Thigpen as the team's bullpen coach. Hasler, 51, has been the minor-league pitching coordinator for six years. He pitched in the Sox organization from 1987 to 1991, and he pretty much never left. He's been a pitching coach or coordinator somewhere in the organization for the past 25 years.

Don Cooper will return for his 30th year with the Sox and 16th as pitching coach. Hitting coach Todd Steverson and assistant hitting coach Greg Sparks also return. Daryl Boston remains as the first-base coach.

The organization men have been shuffled around a little bit, but basically, the gang is still all here -- except for Ventura. Typically, you'd expect bigger changes after four consecutive losing seasons, but as we've learned, that's not the Jerry Reinsdorf way.