Sox can only hope the losing stops soon

Even though the White Sox had dropped four of five while having no room for error, manager Ozzie Guillen approached Monday night's game against the Minnesota Twins with optimism and a straight face, not necessarily in that order.

Maybe Guillen was just taking the lead from President Barack Obama, a huge Sox fan.

On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, host David Gregory asked Obama for his pick to win the World Series.

"I think, mathematically, the White Sox can still get in the playoffs," Obama said. "So, until they are eliminated, I will make no predictions."

With three games against the second-place Twins and six with the first-place Detroit Tigers coming up in the final two weeks of the season, Guillen tried to keep his spirits up.

"Hope is there," Guillen said. "We have to put all the cards on the desk in the next week-and-a-half because the people are here, the ones we have to beat. Well, see what happens."

Here's what happened Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field: The Sox went through the motions again in a 7-0 loss. It was the 13th time they've been shut out this season, tops in the American League.

"Mathematically, we're still in," Guillen said after the White Sox' "tragic" number dropped to 6. "But I don't think physically or mentally we're in it. We played the same today as we did in the past."

While losing to the Twins for the ninth time in 11 games, the Sox failed to get an extra-base hit for the second straight game.

"A lot of us are struggling, and I think it's wearing on us," third baseman Gordon Beckham said. "We're still fighting, but we're not playing well. We haven't played well in the last couple weeks and it's come at the wrong time.

"We're struggling and our lineup is good. We can hit. But we're struggling now. It's just not working out."

Daniel Hudson (0-1) got his first major-league start, and the 22-year-old rookie showed some positive signs during his 5 innings against the Twins.

"He threw pretty good," Guillen said. "Obviously, this kid was in the minor leagues not too long ago. But he has confidence, and he did better than I thought."

Hudson allowed 3 runs, but only 1 was earned. He issued 3 walks in the second inning and made an error in the fifth.

"I felt good," Hudson said. "It didn't really feel any different, but of course it was 26,000 (fans) instead of 2,000. But I pretty much gave them 3 runs."

The fans who did show up didn't hesitate booing another grim effort.

"I don't blame them," Guillen said. "I think they had a lot of faith in this ballclub, like we do. But to see the same thing day in and day out, I don't blame them for it."

<p class="factboxheadblack">Gregor's game tracker</p> <p class="News">Twins 7, White Sox 0</p> <p class="News"><b>Winding down:</b> The Sox' offense was blanked for the 13th time this season, most in the AL. The White Sox didn't have an extra-base hit for the second straight game, and they've been held scoreless for 14 straight innings.</p> <p class="News"><b>Scary moment:</b> Minnesota leadoff man Denard Span had to leave the game after being hit in the head by a Randy Williams pitch in the sixth inning.</p> <p class="News"><b>Rare loss:</b> Rookie right-hander Daniel Hudson dropped his first major-league start. It was Hudson's first loss since June 15, when he was pitching for Class A Winston-Salem.</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=323175">Garcia wants to be back in 2010<span class="date"> [9/21/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>