In New York tonight, the Red Sox played the Yankees much to the delight of ESPN, Fox, MLB, and 40 million self-entitled loudmouths.

This afternoon, the Angels and Mariners went head-to-head in the latest in a string of increasingly important series for the hanging-on-by-a-thread-because-of-the-goddamn-Yankees Mariners.

Elsewhere, the Padres and Diamondbacks squared off with first place on the line in America’s Finest City.

On the North Side of Chicago, the Cubs and Brewers continued their fight for the top of the NL Central:

Brewers: Here, you take it.
Cubs: No, you take it!
Brewers: No, YOU take it!
Cubs: Wait! Maybe if we work together, maybe we can sucker the Cardinals into winning this awful division . . .

But where, I ask you, is the glory in those series? What are they fighting for but front-row seats for the Angels winning it all? No, what everyone – you, me, ESPN, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, the rest of the sports world – failed to realize is those series are all, in the long run, meaningless. Hollow playoff appearances that end in crushing defeat aren’t good for much unless you’re a Divisional Series memorabilia manufacturer or a sucker. Or, in the case of the Cubs, both.

No, what they refused to see was that one of the last great battles of the 2007 season raged on tonight . . . deep in the heart of Texas.

+++

There are few worse descriptors in the English language than “last place.” The Sox and Rangers, going into tonight’s game, were the second- and third-worst teams in the American League, respectively, with the Royals tied with Texas and the D-Rays a mere 4.5 back from the Sox.

With the teams a combined 30.5 games out of even the Wild Card, the time for niceties has passed. There are 30 games left for each, and there is no more glory to be had. There is no pride, no grasping for.500, no “it just wasn’t our year,” only the dignity of finishing out of the basement.

Dignity. Was it really that long ago the Good Guys were playing for things like the best record in baseball and, you know, the world championship? And now it’s what scraps of consolation prize respect and backhanded compliments that come along with finishing in fourth place?

That it’s actually against Texas, and that the Rangers came out swinging last night to take the Sox out in yet another embarrassing and highly disastrous game, should not surprise any of us. Not now, not after this year. Not after all those double plays grounded into, or errant throws to first, or stranded runners, or unearned runs surrendered with two outs, or six pitchers used to get out of the 7th inning, or botched hit-and-runs, or strained hamstrings, or AA call-ups gone wrong.

To put it another way: Texas has won 57 games this year. So who loses to the Rangers? No one, that’s who. And that’s just who these 2007 Chicago White Sox are. No one. We already know how this ends; the only question left is not one of when but one of how badly.

As I type this, it is 4-4 in the middle of the 9th. The Sox had Andy Gonzalez on third and Darrin Erstad on second with one out. This translated to zero runs. There is only one possible outcome for an inning, game, series, and season like this.

There’s a chance, of course, that I’m wrong. But on August 29th of an impending 100-loss season, it’s hard to care either way.

“Your last place Chicago White Sox.” God I hate this team.