Broom and gloom

MINNEAPOLIS - How devastating was Thursday night's 7-6 extra-inning loss to the Twins for the White Sox?

"I don't even know what to say anymore," A.J. Pierzynski said.

That's saying a lot right there, and it takes a lot to silence the Sox' verbose catcher.

After letting out a sigh or two and letting the three straight losses at the Metrodome settled in, Pierzynski did catch a second wind.

"I'm sick of bleeping losing," he said after the White Sox fell into second place, a half game behind Minnesota. "I thought we brought some energy tonight, I thought we had a great game plan, I thought we were going well and they just dinked us and dunked us and found holes when they needed to."

The White Sox' offense produced just 5 runs in the first two games of this showdown series, but they erupted for 6 runs in the fourth inning against Twins starter Kevin Slowey.

That put them in front 6-1, but the Sox' offense went back into lockdown mode for the rest of the game while managing just 2 more hits.

"We played 27 innings and only got one good one," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "We wasted 26 innings in this town. You can't win like that."

Especially against the Twins when they are playing on their home turf.

"They just kept scratching and clawing and they earned their way back in the ballgame," Paul Konerko said. "There's nothing you can say about it. They played a great series, that's it basically. They just had it going; they had the flow going out there. A lot of hits dropped in for them, a lot of hard hit balls."

Sparked by No. 9 hitter Carlos Gomez and leadoff man Denard Span, Minnesota bounced right back with 2 runs off White Sox starter Gavin Floyd in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-3.

The Twins added another run in the sixth inning and tied the game with 2 more in the eighth off Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks.

With Jenks still on the mound in the 10th inning, Alexi Casilla's bloop RBI single ended the game.

The White Sox are undoubtedly in huge trouble, but if they sweep the Indians at home this weekend while the Twins sweep the Royals at the Metrodome, there would still be hope.

The Sox would need to beat the Tigers in a makeup game at U.S. Cellular Field to force a tie and then they'd play the Twins at home on Tuesday to determine the AL Central winner.

"It sucks, but we're still alive," Pierzynski said. "Hopefully we go home and win four games and kick their (butt) on Tuesday."

Konerko is also holding out hope.

"Like I said before the game, there was going to be no final answer after this game one way or another," said the White Sox' captain. "Basically, we have to look at it like a four-game winning streak gets us another playoff. That's assuming they make all their shots, which you have to assume. We can do that if we take it one game at a time.

"It's disappointing, but everybody played hard. Everybody was into that game, and we got beat. No excuses. I respect everybody in this clubhouse even more after that game because everybody played hard and left it out there."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=238222">Sox GM goes off when asked about Cabrera <span class="date"> [9/26/08]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=238224">Slumping Swisher benched for series<span class="date">[9/26/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>