It's not the end of the world, but it's close as the White Sox begin a three game series tonight against the Twins.  Despite all of the claims of "there's a lot of baseball left to be played", anything less than taking a minimum of two of the three games in this series would be a failure for the Chicago White Sox.

Down three games to the surging Twinkies, this series will either represent the Sox throwing down the gauntlet or the Twinkies hammering a few nails into the Sox coffin.  And, in addition to the Twinkies, the Tigers have found their second wind and have been playing much better lately.  The way it seems to be trending, it may be the Tigers and not the White Sox breathing down the Twinkies necks come mid-September.  It seems like the Sox are begining to get squeezed from above and below.

The Sox will come in with their three big guns, Danks, Floyd and Buehrle ready to do battle.  We've seen this before and we've also seen the Sox get destroyed at the Hump Dome.  Now, it's Target Field, but the question is, who is really wearing the target?

In order for the Sox to have any chance in this series they will need to regain their timely hitting of mid-June and July.  They also have to hope that some of the arms in the bullpen aren't too tired to get people out.  Unfortunately, with Bobby Jenks ailing and more responsibility being thrust upon J.J. Putz, Matt Thornton and Sergio Santos, that very well may be the case.  Even with Jenks, it's become a risky proposition for the men of the pen.

Ozzie has always believed that if his starting pitcher can give him anywhere between six and seven solid innings, the pen can close it down.  That hasn't been the case lately with the Sox blowing two must have games over the weekend to Detroit.  Blown leads and blown saves, especially when the game appears in the bag get in the heads of relief pitchers, which leads to them pressing which leads to epic breakdown and failure.

I've been positive all year about this team.  When they struggled in May, I was one of the few who stuck up for them.  Now, I have to admit, I am on the fence.  Do I think the Sox can beat these guys?  Yes.  Will they?  I have no clue.  And, unfortunately, I fear neither do they.