Give Ventura, Chicago White Sox credit for keeping collective cool

When I was on CLTV's Sports Feed Chicago White Sox baseball with Jarrett Payton and Josh Frydman, the question came up.

"Do you think the Sox should give manager Robin Ventura a contract extension?"

That was three weeks ago.

You'll often here the phrase, "Baseball is a funny game," and this is a perfect example.

A mere three weeks ago, the White Sox were sitting pretty at 23-12, they were leading the AL Central by 5 games, there was open talk about an all-Chicago World Series, and Ventura was being hailed as one of the top managers in the game.

Getting back to the question, my answer was no, it was way too early to be talking contract extension for the manager.

First, the season is a marathon, and even an impressive month or two can instantly disappear with one bad stretch.

Looking back at that time, the Sox's bad stretch was just beginning.

Boosted early be strong pitching, the rotation tailed off a bit and the inability of anyone not named Chris Sale or Jose Quintana to go deep into games finally took a toll on the bullpen.

Playing the opportunistic Royals at Kansas City last weekend, the White Sox held a 5-2 lead in the seventh inning Friday and lost 7-5.

The Sox held a 7-1 lead in the ninth inning Saturday and lost 8-7.

The White Sox held a 4-2 lead in the eighth inning Sunday and lost 5-4.

Ventura made some questionable decisions during the stunning collapse, making four pitching changes in the seventh inning Friday and letting closer David Robertson get his brains beat in Saturday.

Forget all the extension talk … fire Ventura!

The Sox limped out of Kansas City and stumbled into New York on Monday for a Memorial Day matinee against the defending National League champion Mets.

General manager Rick Hahn was nowhere to be found, and Ventura's seat really seemed to heat up after a 1-0 setback ran the White Sox's losing streak to seven games.

Hahn was in New York on Tuesday, but he didn't travel to Citi Field to fire his manager.

"Obviously, a very frustrating last couple of weeks culminated by a very difficult and painful weekend in K.C.," Hahn told reporters. "But as we've talked about since going back to spring training, we knew the AL Central was going to be an extremely tight race over the course of the season and we don't think that's going to be any exception.

"We think it will be like this through October and our intention is to be very much a part of it through the end of the season."

Is Ventura still going to be the Sox's manager in October? September? August?

Your guess is as good as mine, but here are a few things to consider.

Having covered five Sox managers over the past 20-plus seasons, the first thing to look at it is the clubhouse.

When a manager loses his players, it's time to go.

Ventura has not lost this team.

When a manager starts losing his mind, when he makes out lineups that don't make sense or is constantly on the field arguing with the umpires, it's time to go.

Ventura has remained levelheaded.

He was grounded during the fast start, grounded when the bottom fell out, and he's still grounded after the White Sox reversed their slide with a pair of wins over the Mets after dropping the opener.

Jerry Reinsdorf is a very patient owner, Hahn is a patient GM, and Ventura is a patient manager.

That could all change if the Sox really slip and wind up with their fourth straight losing season.

For now though, in my opinion, Ventura is not going anywhere.