There can be an argument made that Joe West cost the White Sox this series (and maybe the season in the process), but that's the type of excuse losers make. The Comcast Sports Net broadcast was unlistenable today, as Hawk, completely unchecked with yes-man Frank Thomas in the booth, got to whine about every blown strike call.

Look, Joe West sucks. He's a terrible umpire with an obvious grudge and an agenda. But these are the Royals, who suck at baseball more than West sucks at objectivity. Good teams overcome small obstacles like Joe West.

The White Sox are not a good team right now. Sunday's game marks the 8th time in the last 17 days that they've lost a game by one run. They're good enough to lose close.

I know many of you want to blame West for a weekend that saw the Sox play 30+ innings in 22 hours with an already depleted pen and one starter short. But Ozzie needs to recognize that West is gonna be a douche about Friday's start time, and burn Linebrink instead of Jackson. He didn't make a proactive decision that could have helped his team immensely.

I'd go on, and I might later tonight, but the point is this; you're probably not going to find another absurd series like this for the rest of your life. I think we can all be thankful for that.