South Siders hoping amazing comeback sparks a run

MINNEAPOLIS - Hey look, the White Sox have a pulse.

After the offense played dead, again, for 82/3 innings at the Metrodome on Wednesday afternoon, the Sox sprang back to life and shocked the Twins 4-2.

Just one strike away from losing 2-0 and falling to 1-9 on their road trip, the White Sox got solo home runs from Gordon Beckham and Paul Konerko off all-star closer Joe Nathan to tie it, and Alexei Ramirez's run-scoring single put them on top for good.

So, what does the remarkable win mean?

"It just feels good to feel good," a relieved Konerko said. "Get a win, you know, in a place we haven't won in for a long time. As far as big picture, I think we've dug a big hole for ourselves, that's obvious, and so for me, we've got to get back to .500.

"That should be our short-term goal, grind and get there, and if we pick up games along the way, great. Just come and prepare every day, break it down as simple as we can - inning at a time, pitch at a time - and if we do that for the month and things don't work out, we can go out and hold our heads high and say, 'Hey, things didn't work out.'

"But if we don't do that and then it doesn't work out, it will be bad. We have to keep preparing the right way, and we've done that all year, we have. This group has been good about getting ready to play and playing hard. Where we're at just sometimes happens."

Thanks to a brutal stretch of baseball against the Red Sox, Yankees and Twins, the White Sox (65-69) are a distant third in the AL Central behind Detroit (71-61) and Minnesota (67-66).

Before Wednesday's win, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen insisted he's not giving up. Guillen wasn't making any outrageous predictions afterward, but he, too, seemed much more at ease.

"Hopefully, we start playing better and have a little more fun," Guillen said. "At least have a little more fun. You think we're out. People think we're out. Just go out there and enjoy it. Hopefully, things turn around."

If the Sox managed to score 4 runs off Nathan with two outs in the ninth inning, maybe anything is possible.

"We hope it's something we can springboard off of," Beckham said. "We don't know, obviously, how we're going to respond to this, but the way we played this road trip and how we've lost so many heartbreakers, to come back and win it like that, it's going to give us a lot of confidence.

"So hopefully we can go on a run and get back in this thing because we've got a lot of games with Detroit at the end of the season."

Beckham's home run off Nathan was tagged, but Konerko's barely cleared the left-field wall.

"When I first hit it I thought it had a chance, but it seems like a lot of balls die here late in the game," said Konerko, taking a jab at the Twins for allegedly turning the air conditioning on late in games when the opposing team is batting.

"And let's face it, every time something is borderline in this park, you think it's going to go against us, let's be honest for a second. Alexei got the huge hit after that."

And the White Sox got a huge win.

<p class="factboxheadblack">Scot Gregor's game tracker</p> <p class="News">White Sox 4, Twins 2</p> <p class="News"><b>Under pressure: </b>Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the ninth inning, Gordon Beckham fell behind 0-2 and homered off Joe Nathan on a 3-2 pitch. Paul Konerko followed with a home run, also on a 3-2 pitch. And Alexei Ramirez's game-winning hit off Matt Guerrier came on an 0-2 pitch.</p> <p class="News"><b>Good riddance:</b> The Sox played their final game in the Metrodome, where they lost 16 of their last 19.</p> <p class="News"><b>The quote:</b> "I'm not a machine," Nathan said.</p> <p class="News"><b>Far from perfect:</b> White Sox starter Mark Buehrle got a no-decision after pitching 6 innings and allowing 2 runs on 7 hits. The left-hander is winless in 8 starts since his July 23 perfect game.</p> <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=318496">White Sox finally enjoy Metrodome's clubhouse <span class="date"> [9/2/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=318492">Guillen selects Torres to start in Wrigley<span class="date"> [9/2/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>