163

163.  That's the Magic Number for the White Sox in 2011, which is the only Magic Number they have now that they've been eliminated from the 2010 Central Division race.  The Twins became the first team to clinch a division title this year, thanks to their win and the Sox's eighth  loss in a row, 7-2 to the A's.  (Technically, the Sox have not yet been eliminated from the Wild Card, and have a Magic Number of 23 over the Rays with 12 games left to play.  But a priest has been called in to administer the last rites to those chances, as the Rays have a Magic Number of 2 for eliminating the Pale Hose in that "race.")

It's been a strange season.  The Good Guys started out poorly and then got white hot -- 25-5 -- before the All-Star break.  They hung on to first place for a while and made it interesting until the Twins started playing better than any other team in baseball.  And then the Sox went into the tank.  It was probably too much to hope that the Good Guys could pull it out, given what is essentially a flawed team. 

Blame Ozzie for that.  He got the players he wanted and didn't win with them.  We suspect he and Kenny will both be back, but it's unclear what the roster will look like on Opening Day next season.  (It should be balmy in Cleveland -- where the Sox open 2011 -- in late March.)  Some familiar faces are almost sure to be gone -- hopefully Paul Konerko is not one of them -- and it'll be interesting to watch the deconstruction/reconstruction of the team.

Anyway, since the purpose of this blog is to count down the Magic Number for the Sox, and there's no counting to do until next year, the posts will be infrequent from here on out.  Thanks for reading and Go Sox in 2011!