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Update subscribers Brian Frankl and Bob Koza both told me that they were going to the game last night, so I’m holding them responsible for the White Sox losing to the Twinkies, 6-1, and falling one game out of first place. When I trekked up to Baltimore last week to watch the Good Guys take on the O’s, they won their only game of the series. I guess we know who’s got the mojo and who doesn’t.

In fairness to Brian and Bob, last night it was Gavin Floyd and the Sox batters who lost their mojo. Floyd, who’s been the best pitcher in baseball for the last couple of months, was far from it yesterday. He gave up six runs, but he’d have had to have thrown a shutout to win, since the Sox could push only one run across the plate.

You expect to lose when you give up six runs: This season, the Sox are 3-8 (.273 winning percentage) when the opponent crosses the dish six times, which is about the same as the 98-257 (.276) record for all teams. And you expect to lose when you score only one run: the Pale Hose are 2-11 (.154) when scoring only one run, which compares favorably with baseball as a whole at 38-332 (.103). But you don’t expect to lose when you get nine hits like the Sox did on Thursday: In 2010, the Sox are 11-2 (.846) when getting exactly nine safeties; all teams combined are 219-187 (.540). So it was bad pitching and an inability to drive in the men on base that made the difference. But Brian and Bob could have told us that even without these stats. Go Sox!