First off–where are all the the Sox fans? There are less than 30 games left in the season, and the Cell is half empty. FYI: The Sox are in 1st place and have a good shot at winning the Central Division. The Cubs are 30.5 games out, and have no shot. EMBARRASSING!

Pitching and good defense win games. The Sox received enough of those two in taking 2 of three from the Twins.

Can you all remember in the spring when, I don’t remember the publication, ranked the Sox farm system dead last in the majors. They pretty much said the Sox system sucked. 6 months later and those suckee prospects are helping the team at every turn.

Hector Santiago came up huge on Monday. After starting the season as the closer, he was moved to middle relief, then to Charlotte, where he helped the Knights earn a spot in the playoffs.

Now he’s back to help the Sox to the post-season. If Monday is a precursor of things to come, he’ll do just fine. Holding the Twins to 3 hits and 1 earned run over 5 innings is nice work. Not happy with the 3 walks, but I’m just nitpicking.

I’m sure the Twins were unsure what to do with his screwball. Being the only lefty in the bigs to use that pitch regularly, the Twins had no chance.

The Sox employed Nate Jones and Addison Reed as well on Monday. Those are 2 more guys from the Sox system that is the worst in baseball (tongue in cheek).

Offensively, the Sox were led by another product of their down-trodded farm system, Gordon Beckham, who went 2-4, including a 2-run shot.

One more thing about the Sox system. The Winston-Salem Dash, the Sox advanced Single-A team, is also headed to the playoffs.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it looks like Jose Quintana has hit the wall. Quintana has gotten worse in each of past 4 starts.

8/19 vs KC: 7.0 9 2 2
8/25 VS SE: 5.2 5 3 3
8/30 vs BA: 3.2 7 5 5
9/4 vs MIN: 1.1 5 7 7

Including his minor league innings, Quintana is over 160 ip, which is a career high, by far. It might be time to skip his next start. I know it’s tough with Gavin Floyd out, but he may need a break. The Sos have Quintana scheduled to start next week against the Tigers–so much for my idea.

Hey, Jake Peavy won his 10th game of the year. He should have about 16 or 17 wins, but at least he made it to double digits.

Peavy is gonna get a lot on money this offseason when he is a free agent. No, I don’t think he’ll be getting it from the Sox.

The Sox are still holding onto 1st, but offensively they are in a funk. Well, most everybody not named Alex Rios. Rios cranked out a grand slam and a 2-run shot in the finale, finishing with 6 RBI. All told, Rios went 4-9 with a pair of jacks and 7 RBI in the 3 games.

Also in the 3 games, Beckham went 4-9 while Dwayne Wise went 5-12 with a stolen base and 2 RBI. Wise also pitched an inning in Tuesday night’s blowout loss. The man can do no wrong.

Defensively, these 2 are part of the group that is 2nd in the A.L. with just 63 errors.

Beckham, Rios, Pierzynski Viciedo, Ramirez, Sale and Peavy are near the top of the A.L. in fielding %.

Everything isn’t perfect though. You have to hope that Adam Dunn’s oblique isn’t bothering him, but he hasn’t gone yard in 10 games. The big man has just 13 RBI since the All-Star break, and just one in his last 10 games.

Same thing for Paul Konerko. The Captain has just 7 RBI since the ASB, and only 2 in his past 11 games. Plus, he has not gone yard in his last 14 games.

I wouldn’t call Kevin Youkilis a power hitter, but he has suffered a power outage lately, as well. Youk is homer-less in his last 9 games, with just 3 RBI in his last 12.

Noticing a trend.

I would go over A.J. Pierzynski’s offensive woes, but the man never takes a day off, and handles a pitching staff consisting mostly of kids.

I won’t say anything about Dayan Viciedo either. I think if at the beginning of the year we were told that The Tank would be hitting .259 with 19 home runs and 59 RBI going into the last month of the year, we would have all taken that with a smile on our face.

The Sox now have to turn their attention to the Royals, who are a pain in the ass every time these 2 meet. Sox need, or make that have, to take 2 of three from the 74 loss Royals.

It’ll also be nice if the Tigers lose tonight so the Sox will go into the 3 game Royal series with a 2 game lead.

After tonight’s finale against the Indians, the Tigers get three at the surging (or desperate) Angels.

Than it’s mano y mano