"The Twins' losing streak has grown so long, they got excited Wednesday night when they simply took a lead. Of course, that's the quickest way to make it disappear.

Twins starting pitcher Francisco Liriano responded to the gift of two unearned runs in the fourth inning by putting so much pressure on himself to snap the skid, he admitted afterward, that "I tried to overthrow every pitch."

The result was a seven-run disaster, capped by Jermaine Dye's grand slam, and a 7-4 White Sox victory at U.S. Cellular Field.

That's six consecutive losses, nine straight road losses, and 16 losses in 20 games at Chicago. And the Twins, at 4-14, have the worst road record in the American League.

"We're not OK with what's going on," said Michael Cuddyer, who smashed his fifth home run of the season, the Twins' lone sign of life after they fell behind. "But you can't feel sorry for yourself, because the league will pass you by."

Yeah, it's starting to. The Twins left on this road trip last Friday perched atop the AL Central. They stagger to the finale here this afternoon tied with the White Sox in third place, 5 1/2 games behind the Detroit Tigers.

Here's what makes this streak so irritating to the Twins: They took an early lead, advanced runners into scoring position in four of the six innings that John Danks (3-3) pitched, and they received a solid four innings from their bullpen, three of them from out-of-favor Luis Ayala, which had been their biggest problem in New York.

Yet this time, their starting pitching broke down. Sure, they were just 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position — that's 6 for 51, or .118 on this trip — but they managed four runs, a manageable number. "