While the Twins are worrying about catching the White Sox, the talk in Chicago is about why the Sox can’t put away the Twins.

But White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on Monday sensed that the Twins are turning into dead crappies - to borrow a phrase from a local columnist.

“Those little piranhas are out of teeth now,” Guillen told the Chicago media. “I got the feeling they don’t have any teeth left. They’ve been fighting and grinding all year long. They should have little teeth now.

“It’s time for us to pull them out and win it. Hopefully we stay in the pennant race.”

Guillen probably was joking - but this team has lacked bite lately.

I made a big deal yesterday  out of how the Twins struggle with lefties they’ve never seen before. Sure enough, they lost to Scott Lewis. But that can’t be an excuse at this point of the season.

Lewis has pitched at Class AAA Buffalo and Class AA Akron, teams that play in the same league as Twins affiliates. There should have been plenty of info to go on. Ultimately, the Twins hitters should be good enough to figure out a new pitcher - or sit down and let Matt Macri, Matt Tolbert and Randy Ruiz get after him.

Here comes another soft-tossing lefty tonight in Zach Jackson. Are we going to see more of the same? Is Guillen right? The calendar is beginning to work against the Twins, so it’s time for them to beat up on an inexperienced Jackson before they face future Cy Young winner Cliff Lee on Thursday.

If you thought the end of the 2006 season was crazy, get ready for possibly an ever crazier finish to the 2008 season. 

The White Sox had their doubleheader with the Tigers rained out today. They’ll play two on Sunday - with a makeup game with the Tigers left.

When will that game be played?

The White Sox have an off-day on Sept. 22 - the Tigers don’t.

Know what that means? If the White Sox are within 1/2 game of the Twins after Sept. 28, they will make up the game with the Tigers on Mon., Sept. 29. If there’s a tie after that, a one-game Twins-Sox playoff would go down on the 30th - with the ALDS possibly starting on Wed., Oct. 1.

And the Twins lost the coin flip for home field if they are tied with the Sox.

Oh joy!

So pull for the Twins to blow past the Sox and pull away in the AL Central.

The Twins held their annual rookie hazing after Thursday’s loss to the Royals.

In a switch from previous years, when the rookies were forced to wear an array of hideous and embarrassing costumes, the Twins went with a theme this year. Daisy Dukes, shirts unbuttoned and tied at the belly, and wigs. The rooks were ordered to walk out to the parking lot and sign autographs for any fan in sight.

They got off easy. In past years, the costumes were much more embarrassing - and more revealing in some cases.

Not everyone thought the timing was right for the annual prank, since they were coming off of a loss to the Royals. But if it puts them in a good mood for the 10-game road trip, good for them.

My suggestion would have been for Corey Koskie, Doug Mientkiewicz  and Torii Hunter to appear and talk to them about the great chance they have to reach the playoffs. Haze the rookies into taking their game to even another level.

It’s great that they are in this position. I’m one of the people who predicted that they would win only 73 games this season, so I have to eat some crow at the end of the season. But this team lacks one key trait from past Twins teams - they don’t grind out wins.

Patrick Reusse wrote the other day about how the offense is more productive than in recent years. And I have said on KFAN that this is one year I don’t go the park wondering how the runs will be scored.

 I also remember when the Twins won division titles from 2002-04, and the complaint from opponents was, “we look at this lineup, and don’t know how it scores runs.”

Those Twins teams would hook and crook and chop and gork and flare and bloop their way to hits and runs. Those teams would forget how poorly the starters did, or that Tony Fiore was on the mound, or how Joe Roa did, or that Matt Kinney was on the mound.

They had KieltyMohr or MohrKielty in right field. The lineup wasn’t imposing, but it got things done. There was a hit or a pitch made in a key situation to make everything right. And those teams played with emotion.  There’s no way they would score just two runs off of Brandon Duckworth - like the current squad did on Thursday.

Mike Redmond said after the game that the Twins need to bottle up the energy they have at home and bring it on the road. They need a keg of emotion on this trip. 

 They’ve got to attack, and keep attacking. We know Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will hit. It’s up to the players around them to get on base in front of them or make opponents pay for pitching around them. And just put the ball in play when it’s time to move someone over or get someone home. And let the relay team loose on the basepaths.

And even if someone screws up - like Carlos Gomez did Thursday when he was picked off first - pick someone up.

The starters have exceeded expectations, but the best way to bypass the struggling bullpen is to pitch seven or eight innings. And maybe, just maybe, the bullpen has used up all of its bad pitches this season.

The division title is sitting there for them. It’s time for the Twins to throw their best games on the field.

A couple more things: Those 2002-04 teams fed off their great defense. And the 2002 team was motivated after blowing the division the year before. This year’s team is not as gifted defensively and a lot of these players are in the hunt for the first time.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is trying to find a spot to get a look at lefthander Jose Mijares. The ninth inning last night seemed to be a good time,  but the manager - with memories of several blown leads this season fresh in his mind - didn’t want a situation where Mijares gave up a couple runs and force him to warm up Joe Nathan. “Six runs is not that big of a lead in this league,” he said.

Mijares did warm up in the eighth, but sat back down.

I can see where Gardy is coming from, but I’m anxious to see what Mijares can do. In 370 minor league innings Mijares has struck out 419 batters. He’s a lefty who hit 93-94 on the gun at Class AA New Britain this year.

The Twins seem to be in good shape with left-handed relievers, with Dennys Reyes and Craig Breslow in the majors and younger arms like Mijares here and Mariano Gomez at Class AAA Rochester. Not sure what future Carmen Cali and Ricky Barrett have in the organization.

Couple other things:

How about those Rays? Two straight nights of battlin’ baseball with Boston and winning both close games.

The Royals plan to throw Gil Meche and Zack Greinke at the Twins during the final series of the year.

Lineups

Royals (61-83)

1. David DeJesus, CF
2. Mike Aviles, SS
3. Jose Guillen, RF
4. Billy Butler, DH
5. Miguel Olivo, C
6. Ryan Shealy, 1B
7. Esteban German, LF
8. Mark Teahen, 3B
9. Alberto Callaspo, 2B

Pitching: Brandon Duckworth -lefties are 9 for 22 - .409 - against him.

Twins (80-65)

1. Denard Span, RF.
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. joe Mauer, DH
4. Justin Morneau. 1B
5. Jason Kubel, LF
6. Mike Redmond, C
7. Brian Buscher, 3B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Pitching: Francisco Liriano 5-0, 1.44 since his return.

Maybe I get too wound up when pitchers do well, but I felt Kevin Slowey did a very good job on Wednesday  - especially after learning during the post-game pressers that Slowey had a bad bullpen session before the game and really didn’t feel right until the third inning.

I’ve seen so many pitchers identify problems but, for whatever reason, couldn’t make make the adjustment. Slowey seems able to do that, which is why he’s 6-2 since late July.

I wondered if Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was going to give Jose Mijares a shot late in the game, but he went with Boof Bonser and Craig Breslow. I don’t view it as a disaster if a double-A pitcher who was injured for half the season doesn’t get in. I would, however, like to see what Mijares has.

With the Twins safely ahead late, fans turned toward the scoreboard.

Toronto scored twice in the eighth and three in the ninth to close within 6-5. Bobby Jenks was struggling. It was obvious that a few fans were watching the scoreboard because a couple of them began to cheer, `Let’s go Blue Jays! Let’s go Blue Jays!’

Jenks struck out Alex Rios to end the game and end Toronto’s ten-game winning streak. Many among the announced crowd of 20,421 groaned when the 6-5 score went final.