Remember when Joe Mauer homered in the first inning? That was pretty. Let that be your safe place. Your warm place. Because the rest of the game was just more losing.

Alexi Casilla doubled in a run in the fifth, closing the White Sox lead to 3-2. Then Adam Dunn crushed a home run that left a crater in the left-center field seats, and then the rest of the sixth inning happened. Scott Diamond allowed three extra-base hits to the first four batters of the inning, and was promptly replaced by Anthony Swarzak who was so bad he was also replaced, by Kyle Waldrop.

Jake Peavy looked like the ace I said he no longer was, striking out six in six innings while allowing just four hits and a single walk. It didn't matter what he threw - cutter, changeup, fastball, slider - the Twins couldn't reliably hit any of them. Sure, Mauer later added a double, but for a vast majority of his afternoon Peavy had absolutely no trouble disposing of Minnesota batters.

We'll move on to bigger and brighter things tomorrow. This one leaves a sour taste.

Studs

Duds