White Sox blow massive lead to Tigers, drop a game back in ALC race

Tonight's collapse, culminating in a five-run eighth inning by Detroit that turned things around to the eventual 11-8 final , was gutting. All the White Sox needed to do was not completely flame out — but that's exactly what happened. I know nobody expected these guys to be here, competing for the AL's No. 2 seed in the last two weeks of the season, but that doesn't make this embarrassment OK in the slightest.

This team had a pitching problem as big as any in the league, and GM Chris Getz failing to see where the arms were heading in the stretch resulted in an underwhelming trade deadline, where prospect hoarding or simple hubris prevented Chicago from adding anything more than Luis Castillo (embroiled in the first horrible season of his career) to the rotation. Everybody in the league could see it was a cause of concern. The failures of the whole bunch brought in at the start of August, including Castillo, Huascar Brazobán and Brenton Doyle , has seemed ton infect the rest of the roster.

The worst thing about a game like tonight is that it was all so avoidable. You can't tell me there isn't a pitcher in Charlotte who can't be a better starter than Castillo, who gives up six runs every three innings. You can't tell me there isn't a reliever that can handle more than one clean inning in a row.