Sox lose to the A's in a heart breaker

The Sox lost to the Oakland Athletics today in a close game. Jose Contreras put up a Fight trying to hold off the A's for as long as he could, although he gace up 5 runs and got the loss. The scoring started in the top of the 2nd inning with A.J. Pierzinski's 2 run blast to right field (A.J.'s 15th). Than in the bottom of the 4th, Frank Thomas bombed a three run homer to left field. The A's took a 3-2 lead after that. The scoring continued into the 5th, and 6th innings, the A's scoring 1 apiece in those two innings. The Sox tried to comeback in the 7th scoring 2 runs in that inning, but could not score anymore. The final score: A's 5 - Sox 4.
Contreras' record moves to 13-8, while Joe Blanton's, A's starter, went to 16-11. Alot of people are thinking of Jermaine Dye as MVP. And Jim Thome as comeback player of the year. Thome is a longshot for that considering the fact that Nomar Garciaparra (1B, Dodgers), Frank Thomas (DH, Athletics), and Carlos Beltran (CF, Mets) are all coming off of a cruddy season.

Visiting The Central

The Hunt for the Wild Card looks like this.

Minnesota - Leader
Chicago - 4 games back
Boston - 8 games
LA Angels - 8 1/2
Toronto - 9 games
Texas - 12 1/2

The Sox need to string together 5 wins if possible and Minnesota needs stink up the Central. The Tigers took a loss to Baltimore 12-8. They lead in the Central by a game over the Twins. And the Sox are 5 games back of first place. Once again the Sox lose to the A's by a final score of

5-4