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Very disappointing loss. KC's team is so bad it's laughable. Aside from beating up on Seattle, they have been a disgrace to baseball. Good job playing when it counts, White Sox. What a joke tonight.

Excellent point. That's an automatic Twins' win. Can we beat KC to nab 2 of 3 in KC?

Do any of you really think there's any way in hell we win MORE than one that series? We lose two minimum. The question is can we get one or do we get swept?

Blame the manager if it makes you feel better. Rest assured it wasn't his decision alone. If you don't think KW and Coop and other minds discussed it, then you are crazy. But if you can sleep better by blaming Oz, go ahead by all means. There are plenty of goats to go around. Mark had a quality start last night. We should have scored more than five runs tonight, case closed. We have not played like a team worthy of the playoffs in September, but neither has Minnie.

To each his own, but I don't share the manlove of Swish. He's another of our veterans who could have carried us to some big wins of late. Instead he's sucked. I could see trying again next season with a new ss and a new cf. Next.

Uribe's been good but a healthy Crede wouldn't hurt either. We're staggering right now, luckily so are the Twins. They have been almost equally bad.

That's a little harsh. The guy is coming off huge back surgery. My god.

The guys are going to regret tonight's game before it's over. There will some big time pressure on in some of these upcoming games, maybe even a final against Detroit. We still could lose 2 of 3 to KC which I know won't surprise any of us. Please take the finale.

I love the sox but jeezus christ. I guess we're just not that good and if we make it, it's a nice thing but nothing we should have expected. We don't have the ability to grab the division by the balls. Unacceptable loss with so much on the line. Very very sad performance. Had we won and gone up 4 in loss column I think everybody would agree the division finally was ours.

Maybe it's cause I see the Royals so often and know how horrid they are. But with Minnie losing, can't we find a way to beat this awful team???

We are horrid road team, but my god, this is it tonight. Like Oz said in media it's what they have played for since Feb. We can win it tonight. s***.

This is unacceptable. Minnie loses; we have to win; case closed. Awful.

Great title to this thread. We were looking for a hero. How bout having a title for every thread the rest of the way? We need karma.

Thanks for doing this great project. Was happy to do my tiny part. THANK YOU!

Say what you want about Ozzie, but you have to respect his passion. Read Mark Gonzales' cool game story: By Mark Gonzales Chicago Tribune chicagosports.com KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The intensity returned Friday night. So did the power. Hours after a team meeting in which manager Ozzie Guillen questioned the White Sox’s passion and lack of swagger, they responded with four home runs to pull away to a 9-4 victory over the Royals. With Minnesota’s 11-1 loss at Tampa Bay, the Sox can feel giddy about their current state as they expanded their lead in the American League Central to 2 1/2 games and reduced their magic number to seven with nine games left. After saying his players were too content with a small division lead and didn’t act like a first-place team, Guillen raised his hands in elation after Alexei Ramirez snapped a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with a two-out grand slam that tied a major league record for rookies with his third of the year. “Everyone yelled at one time,” said winning pitcher Mark Buehrle, who became the first active pitcher to win 10 games, make 30 starts and throw 200 innings for eight consecutive seasons with six innings on three days rest. “It was a huge pick-me-up.” Ramirez now shares the rookie record with the New York Yankees’ Shane Spencer, who accomplished the feat in 1998. “I’m really glad I got to tie the record,” Ramirez said after hitting his 19th homer. “Especially fighting for the (AL) rookie of the year and the way the team is playing, everything has been so great this year.” Guillen, who has challenged the Sox during slumps, was pleased that they heeded his words to play with more zest. “At least they listen,” Guillen joked. “I think this club is about reaction.” Ramirez’s slam barely cleared the left-field wall but capped a sequence of persistent at-bats of the type Guillen stressed in the meeting. For example, A.J. Pierzynski fouled off three consecutive pitches before drawing a walk to load the bases, and Ramirez fouled off five straight before cranking his homer on a 2-2 count. In the fifth, Jim Thome hit his 540th career homer to snap an 0-for-11 slump. Dewayne Wise hit two home runs and Nick Swisher snapped an 0-for-14 rut with two hits. “You win pennant races when you do it yourself,” Guillen said before the game. “The last couple of days I didn’t see the intensity. When you don’t hit well, don’t see many people on base, when you don’t make pitches and when you aren’t winning games, it seems like the intensity is not there. “I don’t say we don’t try. Yes, we play hard. But we have to keep the intensity level up. We’ve been fighting since February and we only have (nine) games left.” Buehrle hopes the Sox can trim the magic number before a three-game series begins Tuesday in Minnesota. “You know how we play there, and how they play at home,” Buehrle said. “We’d like to be at least 2 1/2 games up going in there. And if better things happen, we could clinch there. “But we have to take this one game at a time.”

If he's healthy I'd play him, though I tip my cap to Wise after tonight. Great game, Wise. CQ crowds the plate so much I don't think he'll be a strikeout king even with his timing off. I'd play him if the doctors clear him. Anybody worried his career will be short because he will get plunked in the wrist many more times as much as he crowds the plate.

It's nice to see us continue to play well against bad teams. It's better than the alternative. This is obvious, but that bomb by Alexei was huge. We were about to get blanked that inning against the soft-throwing Bannister after Paulie's miserable pop up. Alexei fouls off a lot of slow crap then hits the high arching grand slam. We get six that inning which was enough. Mark was quite good enough; Wise was great and our bullpen only gave up one run. We got the good Dotel for consecutive outings and Linebrink looked good. I'll take wins against bad teams; hope we can win Saturday. I mean this is the pennant right here. I'd feel so much better if those games against the Twins were in the Cell. But they ain't and we need to be up four in the loss column entering that series. If we are up four in the loss column, I would think we could muster one win out of the three. If we are up four in the loss column and somehow win the opener there, we win the pennant. At any rate, we could have folded after sucking in NYC, but instead won the opener against the horrid, yet hot Royals. One question: We all get worked up about our team. Is the victory formula just this simple? Hit four homers or more and we're fine?? Don't whack four and we probably lose? Are we simply a slowpitch softball team? We all can sleep well this night. GO SOX!

No, I'm just saying I doubt it's just Oz that should be flamed when this blows up. It might be his sole idea, but I would doubt that. Like you said if we can't beat KC we don't deserve it anyway. Parallels to 1967 when the Sox tanked in KC and that was that. Unfortunately KC has played better since an article in the local rag stating that the players thought Hillman was a joke. Kind of woke up the place. That sad, the crowds will be horrific this weekend and if the Sox fans make the drive like they usually do, should be about 20 percent Sox fans; the rest Royals out of a crowd of less than 20,000 each day.

I hate the perception, real or not, that the team is dead tired. For the WS champ, there's still about six weeks left. Minnie didn't look tired last night and we didn't look tired after blowing the lead against Detroit rallying to win it on the late home run.

Wow. We got the good Dotel tonight in a wasted cause. I can't believe that bum is a zillionaire. MacDougal is stealing so much loot. Liney has an excuse, the injury.

Good question. You could say our veterans are choking or you could say it's baseball and they are just not producing for no particular reason. What gets me is we've been so predictable. I think a lot of us truly expected us to lose 3 of 4 or even all 4 to NY. I truly would expect us to win 2 of 3 in KC; but hey like fathom or somebody said with our bullpen and our inconsistent hitting literally anything can happen this weekend. We easily could lose all 3.

Well, they have to say something after pathetic losses. Might as well speak the truth.

Mark by far is my favorite player on the current team.

I would agree this 3 days rest thing seems dumb. As devil's advocate, however, I think it's got to be Oz, KW and Coop all combining their minds on this. But I have no problem with you blaming Oz if this blows up. It's why he gets paid the big bucks. Take the heat and the credit. I know emotion isn't that big in baseball where it's a marathon, but I guess I expect too much out of our veterans to fire up the club. I mean if we lose 2 of 3 and/or all 3 to KC without some tables being upturned and screaming DURING the game, that'd be disappointing. I mean this is what these guys allegedly play for, a shot at the postseason. I know we are banged up and tired, but sometimes we do appear dead. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe it just appears that way and this is just the marathon called baseball season.

Good for Frank. Numero uno.