Imrem: Will seat get hot soon for White Sox' Ventura?

As far as we know, Robin Ventura still is manager of the White Sox, though for how much longer is a mystery.

Two questions:

First, will Ventura deserve to be fired this season?;

Second, will Sox management dare whack him?

Actually, Ventura was fired by fans Friday as the Sox lost their Comiskey Park opener to the Twins 6-0.

Many in the crowd booed Ventura when he finally came out to yank starting pitcher Hector Noesi … less than five innings into the home schedule.

Fans still around at the end weren't happy, either, when Adam Eaton inexplicably made the final out trying to score on a popout with the Sox trailing by 6 runs.

Ventura has been a victim of the worst circumstances during the first week of the season: high expectations and low output.

Sox general manager Rick Hahn wheeled and dealed during the winter. The club appeared to be greatly improved. The first-week record is 0-4. "You evaluate it differently than the last couple years," Hahn said.

The last couple of years the Sox were awful at a combined 136-188. They were bad, and Ventura couldn't be blamed for not making them better.

"There are more weapons at (Ventura's) disposal," Hahn said of this season. "It's only fair for all of us to be judged by a different standard."

The Sox can't afford to squander the goodwill that their critically acclaimed off-season moves brought them.

After attendance fell each of the past eight seasons, Sox fans are supposed to return now. Friday's sellout crowd of 38,533 was a good start.

Then the Sox not only lost, they lost to the previously winless Twins. They not only lost to the previously winless Twins, they had only 3 hits. They not only had only 3 hits, they continued being sloppy.

The Sox looked dead again. Teams always do when they aren't hitting, but the Sox appear incapable of consistently executing basic baseball plays.

"We haven't done a whole lot well," Ventura said.

Fans aren't sympathetic. They bought tickets over the winter because they believed the sales pitch that the Sox filled holes on the roster.

If the Sox continue to underperform - at least in relation to expectations - Ventura should be fired.

Sometimes baseball managers must go just for the sake of change. Robin Ventura isn't Tom Thibodeau, about whom fans wonder whether the Bulls could find anyone better to replace him.

This is Robin Ventura, at best an experiment when hired in the first place. But will anyone in Sox management be willing to deliver the knockout blow?

Four games don't a season make, but every year some teams have to decide when early is getting late.

The Sox think they can win something in 2015. Management should be impatient for them to improving, starting with the manager.

Ventura is a Sox favorite, however, a beloved member of the family. He was adored for a decade as a player. Club chairman Jerry Reinsdorf likes him, which always is a benefit.

So the situations is sensitive. Hahn never fired a manager and making Ventura his first would be agonizing.

Where this goes from here will be interesting: The Sox rallying, the season ending too soon, Ventura surviving regardless, a new manager replacing him regardless. It's all on the table.

The only certainty is that Robin Ventura will manage the Sox today.

At least it looks like he will.

mimrem@dailyherald.com