Just Brutal.

Sadly, this isn't a book review. It isn't even a movie review. How much of a coincidence is it that on the day I go see the film version of probably my favorite novel of all time, the Chicago White Sox sit a half game back in a division that they led almost wire to wire? Doing their best Victor Mancini impression, the ChiSox went into Minnesota with a chance to finally put the Twins away and start preparing for the postseason, but left beaten, defeated and embarrassed. (Well I'm embarrassed anyway.) All they needed to do was not get swept...but they did.

Last night's game was especially brutal because they had a two run lead in the eighth inning and Bobby Jenks gave up a single and a triple allowing the Twins to tie the game and go on to win it in the 10th. It's his first loss of the entire year. For the series, they got out hit 36-22 and outscored 19-11. How did this happen? Well for starters, you know things probably aren't going to end well when Ozzie Guillen (rightfully) called out Javier Vazquez before Friday night's game and said that he has never been a big game pitcher. Sure, he gets a lot of strikeouts but ever since the All-Star break, Vazquez has been terrible, highlighted by his 4.94 September ERA. Which of course includes his stellar 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER performance on Friday. Great, really set the tone there Javy.

Of course, Chicago's problems go a little deeper than Vazquez not being a clutch performer. (I guess this is around the time where anyone who is reading this will probably ask a) Who gives a rat's ass about the White Sox? and b)Didn't they just win the World Series in 2005?) Their bullpen has absolutely fallen apart. Scott Linebrink, one of their big free agent signings this year was phenomenal until he got hurt and missed all of August. Matt Thornton has been fairly consistent but guys like Boone Logan and Mike MacDougal have been awful. Octavio Dotel apparently forgot how to pitch over the last two months as well.

Oh yeah, having a potential American League MVP break his wrist down the stretch isn't going to help the cause. Carlos Quentin was having just a monster of a year before he got hit by one pitch too many. He hasn't played since September 1st. He still leads the AL in home runs. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, fun stuff like 100 RBIs and a .965 OPS. He carried the team on his back offensively for most of the year when Crede inevitably went down and Konerko looked like Jason Varitek at the plate. And the Griffey trade? Yikes. I know they didn't give up much for him but he hasn't done jack squat for the team besides look old.

You knew this picture was coming.

Anyway, the whole season, Minnesota never gave up and went on some nice winning streaks. But Chicago managed to stay ahead of them for the most part. Granted, both teams have looked pretty bad over the past few weeks, but looking at the schedule, I knew the division race would come down to this series. Maybe if it was John Danks' turn in the rotation, they could have gotten a win. Who knows. I do know that he's pitching tonight against the Indians in Chicago. If things go down to the wire, Chicago will have to play Detroit on Monday in a make up game, also in Chicago. Minnesota on the other hand hosts the Royals for their final three. (C'mon Gil Meche! Yes, this is what I've resorted to. Rooting for Gil Meche.)

I suppose I can look at all this in a positive light. I mean, every "expert" on the planet had Cleveland and Detroit on top of the Central. Minnesota just lost Johan and Toriiiii Hunter. The White Sox were coming off a dismal 2007 and didn't look like they did much to improve the team. Many of those same experts are claiming that the White Sox and Twins are simply overachieving. That could be the case. I mean, I'm obviously a huge Sox fan and I sure as hell didn't expect Quentin to have the year he's had. But Danks and Gavin Floyd have really stepped up and my boy Alexei Ramirez, .295 20 73 in 131 games, would definitely get Rookie of the Year honors if it weren't for Evan Longoria. Jermaine Dye is having another tremendous year as well.

In the end, I still can't help but feel really disappointed about how the past three games turned out. I mean, Quentin might be ready for the playoffs and with a rotation of Danks, Mark Buehrle and Floyd, the team has a chance to make some noise in October. But their chances of getting in now are severly diminished. They still control their own fate by winning the last four games. Do they have anything left? Can Ozzie pull a rabbit out of the hat? Or will all that time they spent in first place this year be for naught because of a choke job in Minnesota? I don't know. I gotta go clear my head by seeing a movie about a sex addict who works in a colonial theme park.

EDIT: According to Phil Rogers at the Chicago Tribune, Chicago has been in first place for 145 days this season. Nice.