Gutsy White Sox shut down Twins to win AL Central crown

John Danks pitched eight innings, allowing just two hits and no runs. AP

CHICAGO -- Tuesday night's playoff before the playoffs between two classic Cinderella stories lasted scarcely longer than an Ozzie Guillen filibuster. Two hours and twenty minutes. It was a beautiful sight for the South Side team that was once proud to "win ugly.''

The White Sox are the champions of the American League Central, thanks to the lovely rubber arm of young lefthander John Danks and the wonderful old heart of veteran slugger Jim Thome, whose rocket of home run launched over the center field shrubbery toward Joliet and provided the lone run in a 1-0 victory over the rival Twins. The Sox now advance to play a series against yet another Cinderella story -- in fact, an alltime Cinderella story -- the Tampa Bay Rays.

Afteward, Guillen, who gushed a lot, spoke about their "injection of oxygen'' following a late five-game losing streak, and that wasn't intended to be a jab at Thome and Ken Griffey Jr., the two great stars in the September of their careers. Together, the pair sit in the dugout and talk about their combined 1,100-some-odd home runs and try to figure a way to pump out a few more before they go.

This one from Thome was a blast from the past, perhaps at once the biggest and longest home run of his extraordinary career. The drive, estimated to be 461 feet, was the only thing that separated the Sox from an even more unlikely feel-good story, the Twins, who are all heart and no muscle. Only one player in Minnesota's limp lineup for Game No. 163 hit more than 10 home runs this season. Wouldn't you know it was a home run that provided the barest of margins against a team that entered the game with exactly the same home record as them, and exactly the same road record.

"We're exactly even except for that home run,'' White Sox co-owner Eddie Einhorn fairly noted.

The Twins are surely the more remarkable story in that they entered the year having lost Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, Carlos Silva and Matt Garza. But they managed to hang in a tight, tough race for 162 games, necessitating this extra 163rd contest. The White Sox rode quite a rollercoaster ride themselves, relying heavily on frequent home runs and the talented young arms of Game No. 162 starter Gavin Floyd and Danks, who limited the Twins to two hits in eight innings before gas-pumping closer Bobby Jenks finished them off.

Danks was brilliant on three days rest, a gutsy for-the-ages performance that rewarded Guillen's call to ride a truncated four-man rotation to the finish line. The White Sox are an interesting mix of young and old, and it was Griffey Jr. (who's old enough to drop the Jr. now) who made a run-saving throw to nail Michael Cuddyer at the plate when Cuddyer tried to tag up and score on Delmon Young's shallow flyball in the fifth inning.

Griffey made a sweet throw, and gritty catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who admits to being loved here but nowhere else, held onto the ball while being steamrolled by Cuddyer. "I don't know I held it,'' Pierzynski said. "I didn't think I did. I could feel it in my glove.''

The South Siders will go to Tampa a serious underdog to an organization that was known only for losing until this magical year. But no one should take this Chicago bunch lightly. Facing elimination, the Sox won three straight games on three straight nights against three different opponents, with victories over the Indians and Tigers preceding this one. They may be a flawed lot, but they are equally as gutsy.

Nobody saw the South Siders as a dynamo entering the postseason three years ago, and they wound up flattening the field with the best display of postseason pitching in decades. Three-fourths of that amazing rotation has turned over (Mark Buehrle is the lone holdover), but they retain a winning attitude under Guillen, who's probably a lot wiser than he seems.

In perhaps another positive sign, these Sox didn't seem too satisfied with themselves after advancing. They may be the forgotten team in Chicago this postseason, where the Cubs are kings, but make no mistake: they are dangerous. "In 2005, the hardest thing was getting in,'' pitching coach Don Cooper said. "Right now, it feels a lot like 2005."