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I’ve asked this question before, so you should know the answer: Q. When is winning one game of a three-game series a good thing? A. When you’ve already lost the first two. Last night, the White Sox turned a potential disaster into a good thing by beating up the Twins 11-0.

Mark Buehrle was in command, scattering five hits and just one walk in seven innings of shutout ball. J.J. Putz pitched two-thirds of an inning before taking himself out due to injury. Tony Penal finished the eighth without incident, and Bobby Jenks, pitching in the lowest-leverage situation I can remember seeing him in, preserved the 11-0 lead he was handed in the ninth.

But the real story was the hitting. The Sox pounded out 21 hits, led by Paul Konerko’s 5 for 5 night, which included his 31st homer (tied for second in the league) and a double. (Any thoughts of a cycle must be quickly dismissed, given Paulie’s speed, or more accurately, his lack of it).

Since 1920 (as far back as the Baseball-Reference.com database goes), the Sox are 18-1 when accumulating 21 hits. The one loss was 16-15 to the Tigers during the 1925 season. (Mike Sehr, you remember that one, don’t you?) The 11 runs against the Twins is the second-lowest total in any of those 21-hit games, the lowest being a 10-1 win over Detroit. This is the third time the Good Guys have scored 11 against Minnesota, the other two times being back in 1967 and 1974.

It’s no surprise that the Sox won when they scored 11 runs since their record since 1920 when doing so is 226-20. I guess what’s surprising is that they lost 20 games with that kind of run total. It’s the third time this year they’ve done it this season, the other two times being in April against the Blue Jays and in July against Seattle.

Enough about that, back to Paulie. Captain Crunch has a good shot at reaching the 40 home run mark. And he’s playing better than his career averages. Before last night, he had an on-base percentage of .382, slugging percentage of .572, and an OPS of .955, compared to his career marks of .355,.497, and .852. Paul Henry Konerko deserves a contract extension. Get ‘er done, Kenny.

The Sox are now 4.0 games back of the Twinkies and get to play teams that they should beat. But we know how that’s worked out in the past. This time, they need to take care of business. Go Sox!