At the end of the season, the Chicago White Sox may look back at a few games and realize that they were the difference between making the playoffs and an early October tee time.  Yesterday's 2-1 loss to Texas will be one of those games.

The White Sox squandered a good pitching effort by Gavin Floyd by not being able to pull the trigger in the clutch.  Time after time, the Sox got base runners on, only to hit into double plays, strike out at critical moments or, as A.J. Pierzynski did on final play of the game, hit harmless pop ups.

This on a day where everybody around them lost and they had the opportunity to get within three games of .500, get within eight games of division leading Cleveland and take over third place from the now struggling Kansas City Royals.  Sorry, no.

Worse, the Sox have the next seven games against the eastern division, starting tonight in Toronto.  One of the things that I've noticed is that this team doesn't travel well.  The first game in a road city is usually a loss and a day game after a night game is usually a loss.  A night game after a day game, who knows?  The point being, if these guys don't get it together in the next couple of weeks, it's not going to matter.

Boston may have exposed Cleveland as frauds yesterday by pounding the Tribe 14-2.  But the White Sox have to play the same Red Sox beginning Monday at Fenway.  And unless this lineup can get consistent in a hurry, the same fate may await them.