Before his four year stint with the Chicago White Sox, Jim Thome was a notorious Sox killer.  In his career, Thome is hitting .302, with 43 home runs, 112 RBIs, an on base percentage of .410, a slugging percentage of .650 and an OPS of 1.060.  There are players who don't have careers that good.

So, it should come as no surprise that Thome was the heavy last night in the Twinkies 7-6 win over the reeling White Sox.  Just as Brett Favre has tortured the Bears for the last couple of decades, Thome has been an Achilles heel for the White Sox.  The difference is that he is one of the nicest guys on the planet and he also used to wear a Sox uniform.

I've already addressed the situation about what if Ozzie had decided to bring Thome back this year.  Hindsight being what it is, you can theorize all you want and it still won't change the outcome.  And, even if Thome were still with the White Sox, odds are, given the same scenario, it would have been someone else breaking our hearts.

On to the bigger issues of the game.  John Danks came out and put his team behind the eight ball, giving up four runs in the first inning.  The Sox crawled back, tied it and led in the bottom of the tenth before Thome ended it.

Matt Thornton was left out on the mound to pitch a second inning because Bobby Jenks was unavailable.  I have said this a thousand times but I will say it one more: As a closer, Matt Thornton is a great set up man.  He has a closer's stuff but not a closer's mentality.  The Sox know this which is why he's never been given a chance to compete for the job.

The loss, the third one in a row that got away, puts the Sox four games out.  It also continues to drill the message in to their heads that no matter if they play inside or outside in the state of Minnesota, they are going to get beat.  This is hard to fix.

Let's put this in terms you understand.  The low point of the season was not June 9th when the Sox were down 9½ games and began their improbable run  to the top.  The low point is now.  Down four games, losing the last three of four to the Twinkies with 43 games left, this is a hole that this team may not be able to crawl out of.  Sure there's the "tomorrow's another game" post game quotes, but reality says this team can't beat the teams it needs to.  And if that's true, warm up Wynonna because this one is over.

The only way the Sox stay in it is if they cinch it up and hunker down and get hot for a couple of weeks. At this point, this team looks out of gas.