When the Chicago White Sox look back at the 2009 season, they may point to the events of July 21 as the reason that the season wasn't as successful as they had anticipated.

Clayton Richard, fighting for his life as the fifth starter, pitched eight stellar innings allowing only one run and four hits.  Best of all, he had only surrendered one walk.  It was, by most accounts, the performance of his career.

Leading 2-1, the Sox trotted out their closer Bobby Jenks for the top of the ninth.  This is where the closer makes his money.  But last night, maybe Jenks should give back part of his paycheck after a meltdown of epic proportions.  First, Jason Barrett greeted Jenks with a single.  Then Jenks hit Evan Longoria with a pitch.  Longoria was followed by White Sox antagonist Ben Zobrist who singled, loading the bases with nobody out.  That's when it got interesting,

The next man up was Pat Burrell who is having an awful year.  Jenks should have made short work of him, but walked him, forcing Barret home from third.  Forget about a win tonight, Clayton.

Carlos Pena then hit a fly ball which Jermaine Dye caught and promptly threw out Burrell trying to advance to second and scoring Longoria with the go ahead (and ultimately game winning) run.  The Answer entered the game as a pinch hitter and drew a walk from the clearly rattled Jenks.  Gabe Gross finally ended the inning with a ground out.

The Sox did get their leadoff man on in the ninth, but he got no further than first as Quentin, Nix and Beckham were unable to advance him.

It is shocking losses like this that cause teams to go into the tank.  It is shocking wins like this that cause teams to take off. 

The Sox look at the prospect of facing Tampa Bay tonight with a rookie pitcher, fresh from the minors after losing a game they should have clearly won.  This could totally realign the cosmic tumblers as they face Tampa two more times before a huge seven game stretch against Detroit and Minnesota.

There should also be concern about Bobby Jenks.  His last three outings have been adventures and should he lose confidence or Ozzie lose confidence in him, the Sox are hard pressed to find a current member of their staff capable of closing.  Sorry, but my faith in either Matt Thornton or Octavio Dotel in that situation is almost nil.

The only way the Sox can keep this from happening is to score early and score often.  But against good teams, that usually doesn't happen, so they will have to rely on everyone doing their job.  That includes Bobby Jenks.

Lightning Round

• Nobody seems to have  explained why Aaron Poreda was sent down and Carlos Torres was brought up to replace John Danks today.  Sure, Poreda might have gotten sent down Friday when Bartolo Colon was set to come off the DL, but you figure if Poreda is the future, why not give the kid a start and see what he can do?  I get the feeling that for some reason, Poreda has fallen out of favor with the Sox brass. 
• As a matter of fact, you rarely even hear Torres name come up. (South Side Sox)
• Does anyone really think Kenny Williams would come clean about anything regarding trades?  Why even bother to ask?
• Anyone who actually believes that  Ozzie Guillen is a racist for sending Brian Anderson down is a moron.  Last night's Sox lineup was comprised of six white guys, one African-American, a Cuban and a Hispanic.  Also, Ozzie doesn't have the final say anyway, so if you paint him, you might as well paint Kenny Williams as well.  (Foul Balls)