Is this really how it ends for Sox?
Consider the White Sox' season officially on life support.
And it's not because they don't have enough talent or games left to win the Central Division.
They do.
It's because of the way they're playing at the worst imaginable time, and the fragile state of their emotions after having to watch the Twins celebrate Thursday night as though they'd already wrapped up the division title.
They think they did.
Now the Sox have to regroup and prove them wrong.
Needing only 1 victory to essentially wrap up the division title, the Sox showed up in Minnesota without their bats and little under their hats.
They played a terrible series of baseball and got swept out of Minnesota for their trouble, landing with a resounding thud in second place, after losing 7-6 in 10 innings Thursday.
If that all sounds too cruel, then the Sox are being unrealistic.
They didn't pitch well, field well, or hit well enough to win a game in Minnesota, and mentally they looked something far less than sharp, twice in the key eighth inning Thursday failing to guard the line.
They were unable to hold a 6-1 lead Thursday largely because starter Gavin Floyd gave back a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth immediately after the Sox had gotten to Twins starter Kevin Slowey for 6 runs.
That gave Minnesota life and the Twins began a comeback that had to feel inevitable for any Sox fan watching on TV, or any player watching from the dugout.
After Floyd lasted only into the sixth, manager Ozzie Guillen had no option other than to pitch Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks for extended outings, so long that neither ought pitch again until at least Sunday.
Knowing the manager has few choices, they'll probably both make themselves available tonight.
But Guillen's desperate use of his relievers, especially Jenks for more than 2 innings and 34 pitches, made it clear to everyone watching that this was the game that would define their season.
If indeed it did, the Sox are now the definition of a team that squeezed all that it could out of an overachieving group, but in the end ran out of gas before they hit the finish line.
There is no shame in that, and if this is the conclusion, it's no tragedy.
As for whether the Sox want this to define 2008, they've got a little time to write a new ending.
Precious little time, indeed.
Just managing
Ozzie Guillen's still taking heat for his comments about Javier Vazquez prior to the starter's dreadful outing against the Twins, but if you frequently listen to Guillen then you understand that not everything he says merits headlines.
See, Guillen will answer any question any time from anyone, and he always says what he thinks. Most of the time, it's not with the intention of sending a message.
As for Vazquez, he is what he is, an innings machine, a .500 pitcher and not someone you'd want to count on in Game 7 of the World Series.
He seems destined to be another one of those pitchers who goes through his career with 20-win stuff, but doesn't max out his talent.
He's certainly not the first and he won't be the last.
The right stuff
The fact that the Cubs' Ryan Dempster deserves to start Game 1, or that he's the right choice, would not have mattered to the previous Cubs manager, who would have almost certainly chosen erratic Carlos Zambrano for fear of upsetting the erstwhile ace.
Lou Piniella, on the other hand, would rather have his players respect him than like him, and he did the right thing in picking Dempster.
Win and go home?
Lou Piniella is saying all the right things about sticking around for the duration of his contract.
But you have to know that if the Cubs win it all, he'll seriously consider calling it a day.
This job has been much more difficult than he imagined it would be, and if he never has to enter that interview room at Wrigley Field again, it'll be too soon.
Century marked
From the e-mailing East Coast historian known as Jody Davis' Grand Slam: "What does history matter, indeed? I wanted the Cubs to win 100 games for the first time since 1935, and I've been studying their win totals of the past 100 years.
"The highest since 1935 are 94 in '08, 96 in '84, 98 in '45, and 100 in '35.
"But the only team to win 100 games and the World Series since 1987 are the 1998 Yankees. Six other 100-win teams that reached the World Series lost during that span. (I won't acknowledge the 1986 Mets.)
"And here's the kicker: the 1908 Cubs won 99 games.
"So while I had hoped for 100 wins, maybe it's better that they probably won't get it.''
Just fitting
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons, on Phillies manager Charlie Manuel: "The poor man looks like he's just months away from putting on a Santa suit and posing for pictures at a mall.''
And finally -
Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "The Detroit Red Wings re-signed 46-year-old defenseman Chris Chelios. He still has the story written about his first career goal. But he rarely takes the stone tablet out of its safe-deposit box."
brozner@dailyherald.com