The M's were up 6-2 before the rain, but after the rain, the Tigers came roaring back to win in the bottom of the ninth 7.6. If anyone has David Aardsma seller's remorse, don't.  He made Mike MacUseless look like Mariano Rivera yesterday.

In the space of one inning, the Sox went from potentially being 1½ out to 2½ out.

The Sox play Baltimore tonight.  Detroit is in Oakland, so hopefully the late flight will screw up their mojo.

Are we agreed the Twinkies are probably out of it?  I just hate counting them out of anything, because of all the teams in the division, they are the ones most capable of going on a roll.  Of course, with Justin Morneau's ear issue, that might be the death blow right there.

Jim Thome should be back in the lineup.  With Carlos Quentin finally hitting a little bit and Scotty Pods vital to the leadoff spot, you wonder where Alex Rios will play tonight.  Plus everyone had a day off yesterday.  Hmm.  Interesting.  I think Pods sits tonight.  I hate to say it, but I'm kind of fond of the lineup with Pods at DH, Q in left, Rios in center and Dye in right.  The only problem is if someone gets hurt (like Q) you either lose the DH or have to deploy an infielder (Nix or Lillibridge) in the outfield.  The defense is bad enough as it is and that doesn't help.

The Sox will need a sweep of this series if they want to gain any ground on Detroit.  After this series, life becomes hell with the Boston trip up next and no days off until after Labor Day.  Of course, the Bosox are playing the Yankees this weekend, so maybe they will get beat up a bit.  of course, they now have a secret weapon against the White Sox---Victor Freaking Martinez, Sox killer first class.  However, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.  Let's shoot some birds in a barrel and then worry about Boston.