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Another day, another 7-6 come-from-behind victory by the Twins over the White Sox. The Sox continue to hit – six runs and ten hits ought to be good enough to win – but their pitching has let them down. This time it was Gavin Floyd, the best pitcher in baseball since June 8, who couldn’t get anyone out. Floyd gave up all seven Minnesota runs, and did so in only 5.1 innings.

Let’s look on the bright side, or at least what will have to serve as the bright side. The Twinkies have the best record in baseball since the All-Star Game. No team can keep up the pace that they’ve been playing at lately, so we can expect them to cool off, just as the Sox did after their stint as best team in baseball for an extended period. The Sox, by contrast, have lost eight out of their last 10 games. We know that they won’t continue to play .200 baseball for the rest of the season. Hell, even the 1962 Mets, the poster child for lousy teams, had a .250 winning percentage. (You: How could they have a .250 percentage in a 162 game season, since that would mean they had 40.5 wins? Me: They had two rainouts that weren’t made up, so they played only 160 games and won an even 40.) So, I expect us to close the gap. Today would be a good time to start cutting into that 5.0 game lead.

Before I close, I want to raise the question of Jim Thome as a Hall of Fame player. His home run the other night was the 12th walk-off homer in his career. That ties him with Babe Ruth, Jimmy Foxx, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, and Frank Robinson – all HOFers. (Thanks to The Washington Post for this tidbit.) And Thome’s OPS+ stats are the eighth highest for any player 39 years old with at least 80 games in a season. Copy and paste this into your browser to see the original work on this factoid: http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/7854

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Roger Clemons chances took a hit today. The Washington Post is reporting that he has been indicted for lying to Congress about performance-enhancing drugs. Someone more cynical than I (yes, there are such people) might say that everything said on Capitol Hill is a lie, so what’s the big deal? But this is a big deal.

Fortunately, neither Jim Thome nor my personal favorite, Frank Thomas, has been linked to PEDs. Both belong in the Hall in my view, and I’m sure that the Big Hurt’s plaque will show him in a White Sox cap. Go Sox!