Forget the fight.  Forget the heat.  Forget everything about yesterday's 14-3 loss to the Royals except this: This must end now.

For stretches this season, the Chicago White Sox have looked like one of the best teams in baseball.  The sweep at U.S. Commiskey Park over the Cubs may have been a high point, not because it was the Cubs, but because the Sox played on all six cylinders.  The last six games, the Sox look like they may have blown their head gasket.

The starting pitching has been shaky with Mark Buehrle getting lit up on Saturday and rookie Clayton Richards going Arne Munoz yesterday.  The bullpen has been equally sad, with the entire group, save for maybe Bobby Jenks struggling right now.  And the offense is as inconsistent as ever, able to put up seven runs on Saturday, but only three yesterday.

And, after all of the above seems to have come together the minute the calendar hit August 1st, the Sox find themselves ½ game behind the Twinkies in second place in the AL Central.  And you have to ask yourself, is there where the Twinkies lift and separate or do the Sox dig in, get some players back and make something happen and play like that team we remember from June?

I'm not ready to jump off the ledge yet, but I will tell you, I have the window open.  For all of the Sox fans that like to downgrade the Twinkies, I think that despite all of the bad things that have happened to them, they are still are good team.  Underrated, too as you might have guessed.  And it's laughable how a team with the offensive firepower of the White Sox can possibly be behind them in the standings.  But the truth is, the Twins execute every facet of the game well while the White Sox, on any given day have issues hitting, pitching and catching.

If you are looking for a silver and black lining, the Sox have played one game less than the Twinkies, so mathematically, if they win one more game the rest of the way, they will win the division.  After yesterday's train wreck, you wonder if the White Sox will win one more game period.