White Sox's Postseason Chances Fading

The Chicago White Sox may not have the chance to defend their World Series title. <br/><br/>After 6 losses in 8 games, they may not get to even play in the postseason. <br/><br/>Magglio Ordonez hit 2 homers

Tuesday, September 19th 2006, 5:16 am

By: News On 6

The Chicago White Sox may not have the chance to defend their World Series title.

After 6 losses in 8 games, they may not get to even play in the postseason.

Magglio Ordonez hit 2 homers and Kenny Rogers pitched 6 shutout innings while battling the flu to lead the Detroit Tigers to an 8-2 victory over the White Sox on Monday night.

The Tigers moved 1 1/2 games ahead of idle Minnesota and 6 games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Central. Chicago is 4 1/2 games behind the Twins in the wild card race.

``We need next to a miracle to probably catch them division-wise, but we're not eliminated from the wild card yet,'' Chicago's Paul Konerko said. ``That's how we have to look at it.''

And what has to make things even worse for the White Sox is that Ordonez is the second former teammate to damage their chance for a repeat.

Former White Sox star Frank Thomas homered Saturday and Sunday to complete Oakland's weekend sweep of Chicago.

``They've done it their whole careers. Just because they're wearing another uniform doesn't change anything,'' Chicago starter Mark Buehrle said of his former teammates.

In other AL games on Monday, it was: New York 7, Toronto 6; Cleveland 7, Oakland 2; Baltimore 4, Tampa Bay 1; and Texas 8, Seattle 1.

Ordonez wasn't concerned with whom the Tigers beat, just that they got another win.

``Every game is important,'' he said after hitting his 21st and 22nd homers. ``You've got Minnesota and the White Sox. We've got a chance now, but we've got to keep going. We have 12 games left. A lot of things can happen.

``I haven't hit many home runs in Chicago in the last two years, so this was nice. It was nice to do something to help us win.''

Rogers (16-6) allowed 4 hits, escaped several jams and is 5-1 over his last 9 starts. He improved to 3-1 against the White Sox this season and has allowed 3 earned runs in 33 innings against Chicago.

``After the 6th inning he just said his legs gave out, so we had to make a move,'' Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. ``I was trying to get more out of him if I could. ... He was spent.''

Buehrle (12-13) gave up hits to the first 4 batters he faced before a triple play bailed him out. Buehrle, 3-7 since the All-Star break, gave up 10 hits and 4 runs in 6 2-3 innings.

Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff double and Craig Monroe followed with his 26th homer. After singles by Marcus Thames and Ordonez, Carlos Guillen hit a broken-bat, soft liner on a 3-2 pitch that Chicago 3rd baseman Joe Crede caught as the runners were breaking. He threw to 2nd baseman Tadahito Iguchi, who stepped on the bag to double off Thames and then tagged Ordonez to complete the White Sox's second triple play of the season.

Jim Thome's 40th homer in the 8th, ended the Tigers' shutout bid.

Yankees 7, Blue Jays 6

Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez hit 2 run homers and the Yankees held on to reduce their magic number for clinching the AL East for a ninth straight season to 3. Jeter hit a 2 run homer, his 14th, off A.J. Burnett (8-8) in the 7th to give New York a 4-3 lead. Rodriguez hit his 34th homer an inning earlier to make it 3-2.

The Yankees added 3 runs in the 9th but Toronto matched that in the bottom half on a 3 run homer by Troy Glaus, his 35th. Without injured closer Mariano Rivera, New York was forced to use 4 pitchers in the final inning, with Jose Veras getting the last out for the first save of his career.

Indians 7, Athletics 2

Victor Martinez hit a 2 run homer and Casey Blake had a 2 run double as Cleveland snapped Oakland's 4 game winning streak. Jake Westbrook (13-10) allowed 1 earned run and 9 hits in 7 2-3 innings.

Dan Haren (14-12) gave up 7 runs and 9 hits in 4 2-3 innings for the Athletics, whose lead in the AL West dropped to 6 1/2 games over idle Los Angeles.

Orioles 4, Devil Rays 1

Corey Patterson hit a 3 run homer and Erik Bedard won his third straight start. Bedard (15-9) allowed 1 run and 4 hits and struck out 10 in 7 innings. In his last three starts, the left-hander has given up 3 runs and 10 hits over 20 innings.

Tim Corcoran (4-9) gave up 4 runs and 6 hits over 6 innings, and is 0-9 over his last 13 games, including 12 starts. Tampa Bay (57-93) has lost a season high 8 straight, and needs to go 6-6 to avoid its third 100-loss season since 2001.

Rangers 8, Mariners 1

Kevin Millwood (16-10) allowed 1 run over 7 innings and Michael Young had his third straight multihit game for Texas. Young went 2-4 to increase his major league leading total to 205 hits, 2 more than Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, who went 0-4.

Felix Hernandez (11-14) matched his season high with 9 strikeouts in 5 innings, but he gave up 4 runs and 5 hits.