Did The White Sox Just Win The Central?

So the White Sox lost Jose Contreras for the season on Saturday in a loss to Boston, falling out of first in the Central. That made Sunday's contest somewhat more than your run-of-the-mill game. And Chicago's 6-5, come-from-behind win over the Red Sox just may have put them back into first place for good. Why? Give credit to the Republicans, who obviously hate the Twins. With 41 games remaining in the regular season, the White Sox have 19 at home — where they're 21 games over .500 — and 22 on the road. The Twins have 18 home games remaining, and 24 on the road. That includes a stretch of 14 straight away games from Aug. 21 through Sept 4, due in large part to the Republican National Convention, which takes over Minneapolis-St. Paul Sept. 1-4. Minnesota only trails Chicago by a half game right now. But for a team hovering near first place, the Twins have been terrible on the road; 26-31. And the White Sox are a tremendous home team at 39-18. So put your money on Minnesota at your own peril. Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome each had two-run homers in the third to pace the White Sox on Sunday. It was league-leading No. 32 for Quentin. Meanwhile, Minnesota lost to the Royals, 5-4, in 12 innings. "Every time you have a bad game," manager Ozzie Guillen said, "and you bounce [back] the way we bounced today — especially when it's 3-0 before you even take the field — I think that was a great comeback. I think everybody did what they were supposed to do." Mike Lowell's three-run homer off Gavin Floyd on an 0-2 count in the first had given the Red Sox a 3-0 lead. Quote of the day from Floyd: "Oh my gosh, I feel like I put some menthol shampoo on and it's cooling my head down," he said. "The pressure's off now, I've got no hair, so just focus on Oakland."