CHICAGO -- As their win total plummeted last season, one thing remained steady for the Chicago White Sox -- their faith in Robin Ventura. cheap nfl jerseys . The White Sox rewarded their manager with a multi-year contract extension Friday, announcing the move hours before their annual fan convention opened. The terms were not disclosed. The extension comes after the White Sox dropped from second in the AL Central in Venturas first season to last with 99 losses in his second year. "You lose 99 games, there are going to be questions like that, about where this organizations headed and why they think the people in charge are the right people to get them through their end goal," general manager Rick Hahn said. "I would say we saw in 2012 and 2013 two extremes in terms of being a first-place club and being a club that was a disappointed in terms of performance. Throughout each of those extremes, Robins leadership was unwavering." Venturas contract was set to expire after this year. He turned down an extension before the 2013 season, leading to speculation that he might not want to stick around much longer, but he insisted that wasnt the case. He wanted to give Hahn -- then in his first season as GM -- a chance to work with him before making a long-term commitment. "I just felt it was important for Rick to have a full year of doing the job, us working together," Ventura said. "Then, you have the ability and freedom to decide if Im the right guy for the job. Nothing really changed in my mind of where I want to be and what I want to do. Its just more of it being his first time going through, I just wanted to make sure he had the ability and the freedom to do that. Now with the way last year went, the off-season, a lot of communication, a lot of talks of where were headed, how were going to do it -- Im excited to just keep going." Hahn, who got bumped up from assistant GM in October 2012 to replace the promoted Ken Williams, called it a selfless act by Ventura. "(It) allowed me the latitude to get comfortable," Hahn said. "It speaks to what kind of good man he is and actually makes a decision like this all the easier because of it." A former All-Star third baseman, Ventura had never managed at any level when he replaced Ozzie Guillen. And the results his first season were promising. The White Sox led the Central for much of 2012 before finishing second to Detroit with 85 wins, but there was a huge drop-off last year. Chicago wound up last in the division at 63-99, giving Ventura a 148-176 mark in two seasons. The White Sox hit just .249 as a team and their home run total dropped from third in the majors at 211 to 19th at 148. With little speed, there was no way to make up for the drop in power, and compounding the problem was the poor play on defence. They went from leading the majors in fielding percentage to ranking 29th, with Alexei Ramirez committing 22 errors and tying the Cubs Starlin Castro for the major league lead among shortstops. "Its imperative that we show improvement," Hahn said. "Its imperative that we show growth, especially on the position player side. We feel we have the ability to contend. But the most important thing for us is going to be allowing these young guys room to grow." Venturas steady hand, his ability to relate, came up over and over on Friday. Its why the White Sox believe he is the right manager, particularly on a team with some key young players. They signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu to a six-year, $68 million contract, hoping he can add pop. Theyll have a full year with outfielder Avisail Garcia after acquiring him from Detroit in the midseason deal that sent Jake Peavy to Boston, too. Theyve added some youth, athleticism, to their lineup. They believe they have enough pitching to compete with Chris Sale leading the rotation, even if they didnt land Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka. And they insist Venturas the man to lead them. "He just doesnt miss on how to handle guys," longtime star Paul Konerko said. "Hes stern with them, he gets his point across. But for a team of this makeup, Robin is such a good fit. Im glad he would want to stay." wholesale jerseys.C. -- Bobcats centre Al Jefferson says hell play in Game 3 Saturday night against the Miami Heat. wholesale nfl jerseys . The Indians scored twice in the top of the ninth, getting the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by closer Matt Lindstrom. Axford (0-1) came in seeking his fifth save in as many chances.S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands -- Benjamin Becker of Germany reached his first ATP semifinals in almost 2 1/2 years when he beat the equally desperate Vasek Pospisil of Canada 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-4 at the rainy Topshelf Open on Thursday. Becker, who won his only ATP title here in 2009, was leading in the second set when their quarterfinal was interrupted for 90 minutes by rain. It didnt help Pospisil, who has been dealing with a lower back strain and lost for the 10th time in 13 matches since the Australian Open. In his first semi since Memphis in February 2012, Becker will face Joao Sousa, the Portuguese qualifier who put away Dutch wild card Thiemo de Bakker 6-4,, 6-2. cheap jerseys. Meanwhile, second seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain and eighth seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria were stopped by darkness at 6-7 (3), 7-6 (6). Melzer double-faulted at 6-6 and Verdasco finished the second set with an ace to tie the set score. On the womens side, Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic, who won her first tournament here in 2005, dispatched Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-2 6-4. She will face Coco Vandeweghe after the American qualifier defeated seventh seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (3), 6-1. The other semi features Zheng Jie of China against Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, both winners of four titles on tour. cheap jerseys ' ' '
