Struggling Vazquez will start Game 1 vs. Rays

Javier Vazquez is going to get yet another chance to prove his can succeed in big-game situations.

The White Sox' veteran starter has lost his last 3 starts while yielding 18 runs on 18 hits over 12 innings, but Vazquez is going to get the ball in Game 1 of the American League division series, which opens Thursday afternoon at Tampa Bay.

"Vazquez first game," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said after Tuesday night's 1-0 win over the Twins. "After that, I don't know."

Vazquez and the rest of the rotation have been working on short rest, and only time will tell if the extra work takes a physical toll next year.

General manager Kenny Williams defended the decision to go with a four-man rotation.

"That's the nature of the beast; we had no choice," Williams said. "The way we had obviously set things up, we set it up to where Jose Contreras would have been the fifth guy and we wouldn't have had to miss a beat."

When Contreras tore his Achilles' tendon on Aug. 9 and was lost for the season, the Sox discovered neither Clayton Richard (6.04) nor Lance Broadway (7.07) were ready for starting duty.

"This year, we're fighting every day," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "I never thought we were going to have Buehrle pitching every three or four days. We never did in 2005. I never did in my career, maybe a few times. It's a battle for my coaching staff and myself to put the best guys out there."

Reinsdorf weighs in: After Tuesday's win, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was asked if the White Sox can win their second World Series in four years.

"We might go out in three or we might go all the way," Reinsdorf said. "Who knows? But this team, getting here when nobody gave us a chance in the spring, everybody was crapping all over Kenny (Williams). He didn't have enough pitching, how can you rely on (John) Danks and (Gavin) Floyd? He got Carlos Quentin and the Cuban (Alexei Ramirez). Unbelievable. Just fabulous."

Black attack: A standing-room only crowd of 40,354 - mostly dressed in black - attended Tuesday night's Sox-Twins game.

It was the largest turnout at U.S. Cellular Field since Aug. 4, 2003 against the Royals.

Brinkman dies: Eddie Brinkman, a coach and scout with the White Sox from 1983-2000, passed away in his hometown of Cincinnati on Tuesday. He was 66.

Hired by former general manager Ron Schueler, Brinkman was an infield coach from 1983-88 and he served as a special assignment scout until retiring in 2000.

Brinkman was a major-league infielder from 1961-75.

Baines sidelined: First-base coach Harold Baines missed Tuesday night's game with an ulcer. Organizational coach Omer Munoz filled in for Baines.