Pregame notes: A rushed finale

This is a website devoted to covering the bizarre animal that is the Chicago White Sox, so why would my final pregame notes be anything other than deeply weird?

At 10:10am CT, just before the home clubhouse opened to media, the White Sox announced that they were moving the start time of Thursday's series finale up by an hour, to 12:10pm CT, to avoid a nearing storm front. Notice to the parties involved in playing this game didn't come much earlier than that.

"We talked about it in the 9 o'clock hour and shortly after that," said Will Venable, who confirmed this change was not discussed Wednesday night. "We obviously communicated with the Reds, MLB, the starter Davis [Martin], just to make sure we could even get there and everyone was on board."

Venable asserted that the players are "the best in the world at making adjustments" and that everyone will "be ready to go," but ask about the process of his day and the havoc that he's navigated becomes more clear.

"Everything changed," Venable said. "We had some meetings in place that we had to make adjustments on and canceled, or adjusted how those meetings kind of took shape, and then obviously we were going to take ground balls today. We weren't able to do that. A little bit of a scramble."

Ultimately, the Sox viewed it as a choice of moving the start of the game, or facing a shortened affair washed out by weather at the end, right as they try to fly out to Detroit for the weekend. They chose the former.

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Munetaka Murakami is getting the same brand of scheduled day off for rest as Miguel Vargas received on Wednesday. A happy result would see him get the whole game off while the White Sox cruise to victory. A more likely outcome is he pinch-hits against a righty later in the game.

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You're not crazy, they've dropped Colson Montgomery in the lineup.

"I talked to Colson the other day," Venable said. "'Hey, [gonna] move you down a spot or two in the order. No big deal. Just want to take a little pressure off you to be the guy right there in the middle.' He’s still an important part of this lineup and in an impactful [spot]. Just wanted to take a little bit of pressure off him to not to feel he had to do anything more than get back on line and be more like himself."

Montgomery has been trying to start the coil move in his swing a little bit earlier, so that he's ready to fire his hands upon the ball being released. The hope is that it gets him primed earlier to see the ball better and make good swing decisions, and also eliminate some of the slack in his arms that lead him to swinging under the ball and popping up pitches he can drive.

Turns out, like all things in baseball, it's extremely difficult to master.

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Discussion around Davis Martin still sounds like a pitcher trying to manage a physical issue of some stripe.

"Your mechanics, the way you feel physically, the way they feel mentally is going to change throughout the year and you have to figure out how to find the best version of yourself, and some of these guys are being challenged to do that for the first time, or being challenged in ways that they haven't had to find solutions for before," Venable said. "There's some mechanical stuff that he's working on, some things just as far as whether it's grips, tapping into some shapes. Also just physically, this guy has pitched so much this year and he's done so well and really carried a load. That's going to take a toll, and he's got to figure out as his body changes how to make sure that he can keep his mechanics and every thing in line."

Martin has a 6.83 ERA with a 14.4 percent strikeout rate since June 1, and the White Sox have gone 4-8 in those 12 outings.

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"He’s pitching really well so we are excited about that and the opportunity to add a depth piece here down the stretch," Venable said of Drew Thorpe after he threw five innings of one-run ball for Triple-A Charlotte on Wednesday night.

Billy Carlson has been placed on the injured list again at Low-A Kannapolis. From the sounds of it, he's being treated for a skin infection.

First pitch: White Sox vs. Reds

TV: CHSN

Radio: ESPN 1000 AM

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