And so tonight the season series picks up again between the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox. The two teams last faced off in a two-game series in Chicago April 18 and 19 which the White Sox swept 5-4 and 3-1. Chicago leads the season series 4-1. Entering this three-game series, Minnesota trails Chicago by 15 games in the AL Central standings.

The starting pitcher tonight for Minnesota is Kyle Lohse. Like Joe Mays and Carlos Silva, Lohse hasn't won a decision since the July 2-4 series sweep of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Lohse pitched extremely well in his last start - a 1-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners on August 9. Lohse gave up only 4 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 7 innings in the loss. He'll be facing Jose Contreras, who allowed only 3 hits, 2 walks, and no runs in his start on August 9 - a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees.

In the starting lineup tonight for Minnesota, Stewie is leading off and playing in left, followed by Nick Punto, playing short. The M&M Boys are third and fourth, followed by Matthew LeCroy as the designated hitter. Lew Ford plays center and bats sixth and Michael Ryan gets the start in right again for injured Jacque Jones and bats seventh. Michael Cuddyer bats eighth and plays third base, and Brent Abernathy makes his return to the Twins lineup, batting ninth and playing at second base.

And now... time for the first pitch.

UPDATE: Chicago has held at least a share of the division lead ever since opening day, but the last time these two teams played back in April, they entered the series in a tie for first place, with both teams having lost the day before. Chicago swept the series to start an 8-game winning streak and hasn't looked back since.

UPDATE: Kyle Lohse had a long first inning (29 pitches), but escaped without any damage. With one out in the inning, he hit Juan Uribe and walked Carl Everett. Paul Konerko ended a nine-pitch at-bat by popping out in foul territory to Morneau, who stepped on first base for the inning-ending double play.

Clay Matvick just announced on FSN North that Jacque Jones will be sitting out the entire series with Chicago. Gardy is hoping that by sitting Jones three more days, he'll be ready to play on Thursday as the Twins open a seven-game homestand against Seattle and Chicago.

UPDATE: With two out in the top of the third, Brent Abernathy got the first hit of the game for either team with a single up the middle, but Stewie followed with a 6-4 force out that retired Abernathy at second to end the inning.

UPDATE: In Philadelphia, the Nationals lead the Phillies 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Starting pitchers in the game are Livan Hernandez for Washington and Brett Myers for Philly. I had to release a pitcher from my fantasy team earlier this week to open a roster spot for Todd Helton's return from the DL, so Hernandez was the casualty. Go figure that the pitcher I waived is beating the pitcher I kept. Grrr.

UPDATE: Geoff Blum for the first hit for Chicago with a leadoff double in the third, but Lohse struck out Joe Crede, and Timo Perez and Juan Uribe both grounded out to Punto at short to end the inning. Punto made a sweet back-handed snag to steal a hit from Perez and potentially save a run. As always seems to happen, Punto leads off the next inning... and singles.

UPDATE: The Twins finally put some runs on the board for Kyle Lohse in the fourth. Following Punto's leadoff single, he stole second, but Mauer was walked a pitch later to put runners on first and second. Morneau hit into a fielder's choice that got Mauer out at second, but moved Punto to third. Matthew LeCroy then walked to load the bases, and Lew Ford followed with a sharp single to left that scored Punto and Morneau and moved LeCroy to second. Michael Ryan followed with a single that reloaded the bases. Cuddyer struck out, but hot-hitting Abernathy singled to right, which drove home LeCroy and Ford, and moved Ryan to second. Stewie flied out to Rowand in center to end the inning, but the Twins got a couple big bases-loaded base hits and are now ahead 4-0.

UPDATE: Chicago finally got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, but while scoring one, they also wasted one. With runners on second and third and two outs, Juan Uribe singled to center. Geoff Blum scored easily from third, but Joe Crede - trying to score from second - was thrown out by Lew Ford. It was a good throw by Ford, but it was also poor baserunning by Crede. Uribe's hit was a line drive that got to Ford quickly and not very deep. Third base coach Joey Cora sent Crede anyway, and Crede's late slide allowed Joe Mauer to turn and tag his back before he could touch the plate. End of the fifth, Twins still lead 4-1.

UPDATE: Kyle Lohse's night is done with one out in the sixth. He gave up back-to-back singles to Carl Everett and Paul Konerko to open the bottom of the sixth. On Konerko's long drive down the line in left, Everett advanced first-to-third, and Konerko was called out trying to advance to second. Replays showed Konerko beating Abernathy's tag at second, but he was called out. Kyle Lohse then hit A.J. Pierzynski, which prompted Gardy to jump out of the dugout and pull Lohse for Jesse Crain. Jermaine Dye hit a deep sac fly to center, which allowed Everett to score, and Aaron Rowand followed with another deep fly out to Ford in center. Crain threw two pitches and got two outs, but Everett scored to make it 4-2. Lohse's final numbers: 5-1/3 IP, 7H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 1K and he hit 2 batters on 103 pitches.

UPDATE: Contreras's night is done for Chicago with 105 pitches in 6-2/3 innings. With two outs in the seventh, Nick Punto singled to right, and Joe Mauer followed with a bunt single to third, advancing Punto to second. Contreras is still responsible for the baserunners, but he has been replaced by Damaso Marte.

UPDATE: Punto the thief? Nick Punto has three stolen bases in the game, and now Mauer just stole second, but it was all for naught, as Marte struck out Morneau to get out of the inning. Nick Punto has three hits and three stolen bases in the game. Punto's three stolen bases in the game give him nine on the season, which tied him temporarily with Mauer and Jones for tops on the active roster, but Mauer's 10th stolen base on the next pitch regained him the active team lead (Torii Hunter has a team-leading 23 stolen bases on the year).

UPDATE: Elsewhere around the American League tonight, New York beat Tampa Bay 5-2 for their fifth straight victory. Curt Schilling blew a save as Boston lost to Detroit 7-6, ending their six-game winning streak. Oakland has an early 1-0 lead against Baltimore. The Blue Jays and Angels are scoreless early in Anaheim.

UPDATE: I lamented earlier Livan Hernandez winning the duel with Brett Myers in Philly. Well, as some consolation, Todd Helton hit a two-run homerun against Ben Sheets in the fourth out in Colorado. After a slow start to the season, Helton has been on fire since June 21. He has hit successfully in 32 of 35 ballgames played stretching back to June 21. Helton just singled again in the bottom of the sixth, giving him yet another multi-hit game. Through the sixth inning tonight, Helton is hitting .397 (52/131) over that 35 game stretch. Wow.

UPDATE: Bottom of the eighth in Chicago, Juan Rincon replaced Jesse Crain, and Luis Rodriguez took over defensively for Brent Abernathy at second base. After giving up a leadoff single to Juan Uribe, Rincon struck out Everett, Konerko, and Pierzynski in order to end the inning. Going into the ninth, Minnesota still leads 4-2, and Joe Nathan is getting warmed up in the bullpen.

UPDATE: Cuddyer reached and advanced to second on a throwing error by third baseman Joe Crede to start the ninth, but 6-3 groundouts by Luis Rodriguez and Stewie and a lineout to first by Punto wasted the baserunner. So, we're headed to the bottom of the ninth in Chicago, and Joe Nathan is coming to attempt his 30th save of the season.

UPDATE: Triple-A pitcher Francisco Liriano's scoreless innings streak ended tonight when he gave up 3 runs in the first inning of a doubleheader against the Pawtucket Red Sox.

UPDATE: There it is: a groundout by Dye and flyouts by Rowand and Blum, and Joe Nathan picks up his 30th save as Minnesota beats Chicago 4-2. Kyle Lohse finally gets another win to improve to 8-11, while Jose Contreras takes the loss and drops to 7-7. Nick Punto's three stolen bases are a single-game team high for the season. FSN said the last time a Twins player stole three bases in a game was Cristian Guzman on May 15, 2001 against Boston. And, all of a sudden, a team which looked dead in the water just a week ago, has now won 4 of 5 and is trying to work their way back into the playoff race.

Taking the mound for Minnesota Tuesday night will be Brad Radke (7-10, 3.71 ERA). Radke got a no-decision in his last start - Minnesota's 7-3, 14th-inning win over Seattle on August 10. He'll be facing Freddy Garcia (11-5, 3.64 ERA) for the White Sox. Gametime once again is 8:05pm ET/7:05pm CT.

UPDATE: Top of the seventh in Oakland, one of the broadcasters for FSN Bay Area just announced that Chicago beat Minnesota 7-4. What?! Where is he getting his information from?