19 (Tigers); 18 (Twins)

Stick a fork in the Sox. They're done. Former-ace Mark Buehrle continued to pitch poorly last night, and the Sox lacked the offense to compensate for their woes on the mound, as the Tigers won the opening game of a crucial -- for the Sox -- three-game series. The only bright spots were a triple play in the first inning (the team's second of the season), Josh Fields's home run in his first major league at bat, and Jim Thome's 40th dinger.

The loss leaves the Sox six games behind Detroit and 4.5 games back of Minnesota. Instead of talking about the Magic Number, it's time to focus on the Elimination Number. Any combo of Detroit wins and Sox losses adding up to seven will eliminate the Sox from the Central Division race, and the Twins' number to eliminate them from the Wild Card race is nine. With only a dozen games left, if the Tigers play .500 ball, the Sox will have to go undefeated. If Minnesota goes 7-6 (they've got a game in hand), the Sox must win 11 of the remaining 12. A tall order and one the Good Guys don't seem up to filling. The Sox have been mediocre for a good part of the season now -- playing .500 ball for over three months, i.e., since June 17. Even worse, they're just 27-35 since the All-Star break, which is the same record that the Kansas City Royals have compiled since then. Yikes!

Maybe it's too early to look to next year, but the tentative schedule just came out. The Sox open and close at the Cell in 2007 with six-game homestands. Out of respect for the family, the Update will wait until the team is officially dead before delivering a post mortem, so in the meantime, Go Sox!