As Hawk Harrelson  likes to say "To win, you have to hit the baseball and catch the baseball.:  Last night in Minnesota, the Chicago White Sox did neither and lost to the Twinkies 7-4

The Sox were once again without the services of Carlos Quentin who is nursing a bruised right wrist.  Is this guy held together with chewing gum and bailing wire?  He's a good player, but has rightfully earned the "when he's healthy" moniker behind that.  One thing about Jermaine Dye: The guy rarely took a day off.

The two opportunities the Sox had to get back into the game were thwarted by a lack of clutch hitting.  In the fifth, with two on and two out, Alex Rios struck out a pitch that prompted my wife to say "Why did he swing at that?"

In the ninth, with two in and the bases loaded, Paul Konerko whiffed on three pitches that looked unhittable, at least on TV.

In between, the Sox mad four errors, including two huge ones from Gordon Beckham and The Cuban Sandwich.  I love the Sandwich, but his defense will not remind anyone of Joe Crede (or, for that matter Mark Teahen) any time soon.

Fortunately for the Sox, Cleveland beat Detroit, so they still have their lead over the Tigers.

Pink Gavin Floyd didn't pitch particularly well last night, but may have deserved a better fate.

The defense has struggled the last couple of games and hopefully will get it back together tonight.  The Sox need to step on Minnesota's throat while they have the opportunity.  Mark Buehrle, who has had his moments in the great white north, takes the ball for the Sox.

Lightning Round

• You know the ESPY's are rigged when Mark Buehrle's spectacular opening day play loses out to the Elderly Hillbilly .  ESPN continues their long standing policy of servicing Brett Favre so that when he does finally quit, he'll come to work for them.
• Like George Steinbrenner, The Chairman has his good moments and his bad moments.  Here's one of his bad ones (Sports By Brooks)
• Perhaps the most exciting reality show ever (is that an oxymoron?) comes to TV Sunday night .
• For those that complain that Hawk is an insufferable homer, the only outlet I had to watch the game last night was the Minnesota broadcast.  Dick and Bert do a nice job (except when Blyleven refers to the Sox as the She-cago White Sox) but these two guys are clearly and annoyingly rooting for the Twinkies.  That's their job, I respect that, but boy does it drive me up the wall.