The White Sox can send the champagne home after losing on Monday. They won’t be able to clinch the AL Central title here after the Twins beat them 9-3 to move within 11/2 games of first place with five to play - possibly six for the Sox if they have to make up the rained out game with Detroit on Monday.

“We played a bad game all around,” White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen said.

Chicago didn’t get any timely hits. The big missed opportunity came in the fifth when the White Sox loaded the bases for A.J. Pierzynski, who grounded out to short to end the inning.

Pierzynski is batting just .186 this month.

“I’ve messed us up this month,” he said. “Hopefully, somebody is going to pay. Hopefully it starts tomorrow.”

Never count out Pierzynski. When he falls 0-2 in the count, it seems like the at-bat is just beginning.

Other Sox notes:

• They are 5-10 in their last 15 road games.
• They are 1-6 at the Dome this year.
• Ken Griffey, Jr., hit his 610th career homer, moving past Sammy Sosa and into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list.
• Justin Morneau was a guest on ESPN’s, `Baseball Tonight.’ A few moments after Morneau was off, Karl Ravech said that the Rays would play the White Sox in the first round of the playoffs if Tampa Bay wins the division…..

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 at 11:25 pm and is filed under The race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.