I don't want to sound too hyperbolic, because a win in tomorrow's game with the Twins puts the White Sox right back at square one, 2.5 games up with 4+ games left to play, but the Sox looked like a team that had already begun to play out the string Tuesday night; like they had conceded the fact that they can't play in domes (4-14 in '08), let alone the Metrodome in September with the season on the line.

Ozzie Guillen issued a challenge to Javier Vazquez this week with some less than flattering comments. Vazquez responded by saying he didn't care, the controversy 'overblown,' then let it slip that he was teething "had an ear infection," or some other infantile malady. Vazquez had the opportunity to prove his detractors wrong; to reinvent himself as an ace, if only for a short time, as Jose Contreras did in late '05. But with the ear infection talk, it was almost as if he was looking for an out, an excuse for his poor performance, even before he threw a pitch.

Vazquez was staked* to early lead thanks to what appeared to be some inspired play by the white, immobile veterans. Jim Thome led off the second inning with a opposite field single to beat the shift, and advanced to third when he got a great read on Paul Konerko's bloop single (Yes, you read that right.). That was the extent of the Sox offensive highlights for the night, however, as Ken Griffey Jr. erased the threat, and gave the Sox the lead, with a routine double play ball.

Vazquez greeted the lead by throwing 6 straight balls to put the go-ahead run at the plate with a hitter's count. Seconds later, Hawk broke into "and we've got ourselves a 2-1 game" about halfway through Jason Kubel's swing on an absolute no-duobter of a homerun on a hanging changeup from Vazquez. In the span of 8 minutes, the Sox had gone from runners on the corners nobody out, to down by 1, and going through the motions.

Kubel led off the bottom of the 4th with a triple beyond the reach of a diving Griffey (read: an out for Brian Anderson), and quickly scored a bloop double that fell in front of Jermaine Dye (poor range again allowing the ball to find safety). What Griffey and Dye lack in range, they've clearly made up for at the plate, especially since Quentin's departure. (.257/.325/.343 6 extra-base hits, 0 HR for Dye; .244/.311/.341 4 XBH, 0 HR for Griffey)

The entire inning was a microcosm of the difference between the two clubs. Minnesota's first two runs of the inning came courtesy of the Sox' poor defense combined with some timely hitting, while their final run crossed home thanks to a stolen base and a suicide squeeze. The Sox showed a faint heartbeat in the top of the fifth, when the first two batters reached on a hit and a walk. The runners would stay right there for two outs, however, and when Orlando Cabrera came up with a clutch hit with a Runner In Scoring Position, the Sox only such hit on the night, Junior was unable to score.

That just about says it all right there. The Sox get a rare hit w/ RISP, nobody scores; and their offensive highlight is a second inning GIDP that plates a run. I suppose you could count Griffey's 9th inning HR as a highlight if 9th-inning-down-by-8-run-homers are your type of thing, but I can't count any play that makes his presence in tomorrow's lineup more likely as a highlight. The Sox finished the game win 1 extra base hit (Griffey's 26th out HR), and only put a runner in scoring position, a laughable term with this team, in the 2nd and 5th innings.

If there was a You-Just-Have-To-Laugh moment in Tuesday night's mess, it had to be the last inning. First it was Horacio Ramirez proving he is good for something; he's good for a perfect inning of work anytime the game has a margin of 8 runs. Seriously, he has two perfect outings in his White Sox career, one in the 9th while up by 8 runs, and Tuesday in the 8th with the Sox trailing by 8. You can't make that shit up. Then it was Griffey, who hasn't homered in over a month, putting one deep over the baggy, all but ensuring he'll see more time in center this series.

Back when I was wondering what the heck the Griffey deal was all about, I never could have imagined that we'd still be complaining about Griffey in center field in the final week of the season... with the Sox holding onto a 1.5 game lead... in a Carlos Quentin-less outfield... with Nick Swisher on the bench. I gave Joe Cowley shit earlier in the year when he called Cabrera the 4th best shortstop on the White Sox--Cabrera's hit .301/.353/.392 since then--but you could honestly make a case for Griffey, who is, without a doubt, a first-ballot HOFer, being the Sox' 4th best CFer right now; even on a night when he drove in all 3 of the Sox runs.

Is it OK for me to use the word staked as a verb here, or does the only acceptable use refer to the act of driving a peg through Vazquez?

Not much went right for the White Sox and John Danks on Wednesday night. Danks was pulled with 1 out in the third when he forced Ozzie's second trip to the mound of the inning by walking in a run ushering in Masset time.

Danks failed to make it through the lineup twice, facing only 16 batters in his outing. Of those 16, he walked 3 and struck out two. Simple math tells us that 11 balls were but into play, with 7 of them finding a soft spot in the defense. All 7 hits Danks allowed were singles.

Rounding up Danks outing is a simple one. He was falling behind hitters, and paying for it. When he wasn't falling behind hitters, he was unable to put them away. The Twins didn't really hit him hard, but he was visibly out of sorts with the number of piranhas circling the bases.

Nick Masset came on in "relief" and quickly turned a bad situation worse, clearing the the bases of inherited runners and allowing the games first extra-base hit. After limiting damage for a few innings, allowing the Sox to briefly make a game of it with solo homers by Nick Swisher, Paul Konerko, and Joe Crede, Masset blew up in his fourth inning of work. He walked Delmon Young -- No easy task. Delmon entered the day without a walk in his last 97 trips to the plate -- after being ahead 0-2, then gave up a grand slam to Jason Kubel on the next pitch.

The Twins had scored just 23 runs in their first 8 games (2.75 R/G), yet managed to score 5 runs in an inning twice Wednesday. Not surprisingly, Masset was involved in both innings.

Trivially, the Sox have yet to have a lead after the 3rd or 4th inning this season.

* * * * *

Ozzie Guillen has remained true to his word. He's got it turned up to 11, continuing to call out umpire and Sopranos reject Phil Cuzzi.

"I don't like that guy behind the plate, and I'm going to let him know," said Guillen, during his pregame meeting with the media. "It's one reason if you don't like me as a man and what I do, I respect that. But if you don't like me, and all of a sudden you're going to take it out on my players, you're wrong.

"That's unprofessional, and I just let him know I didn't like him the first day I saw him, and I think he feels the same way about me. Every time he's behind the plate, we might have a problem. We might. We have. I think the last couple times behind the plate, we have a problem."

Ozzie must have known the Sox were gonna stink up the joint Wednesday, so he decided to take the heat off his players. That Ozzie, he's sly like a, well, like a something.

* * * * *

Andy Sisco, obtained from the Royals before the '07 season in exchange for Ross Gload, will undergo Tommy John surgery. Of all the moves Kenny Williams made last off-season, the Sisco deal was on the one I liked best. I thought acquiring a high-upside arm in exchange for a perennnially underutilized career back-up was a great move. Of course, I was basing that assumption off Sisco, who lacked in minor-league seasoning, spending all of 2007 in the Charlotte rotation. The Sox put him on the 2007 opening day roster over Boone Logan, and he never settled into a role.

Sisco was always a bit of a long-shot to succeed, but the Sox, like the Royals before them, never seemed to be focused on the long-term with Sisco. With the injury, Sisco is probably done with the Sox, and maybe done with baseball altogether. He'll be out of options next year, so if the Sox elect to keep him (doubtful) he'll have to go straight from the DL to the bigs with only a rehab assignment to get things straightened out.

In short, adios Andy.