When Monday's rain out forced the Sox to play two on Tuesday, the team decided to cancel batting practice to save some time.

Looks like the Sox could have used that BP after all.

Horrendous execution, limp bats, inefficient pitching and injuries all took their toll as the Sox lost two games to the Blue Jays Monday, trimming their lead in the AL Central to one measly game over the Twins.

Making matters worse, Paul Konerko, one of the few Sox hitters that has been performing well at the plate, sprained a ligament in his right knee that will force him to miss at least a few days and further test an already slumping line up.

After the game, a mystified Ozzie Guillen wondered aloud what his team's record was when it didn't hit a homerun. Well Oz, here it is: 8-32.

That's just not going to get the job done.

Jermaine Dye's 2-RBI double in the third inning of the night cap snapped a streak of 25 consecutive innings of White Sox offense without scoring an earned run on anything but a solo homer.

Of course Ozzie adds to his own misery by pushing for the other end of the spectrum: sacrifice bunts. One of the lowest percentage plays in baseball, sacrificing an out to get a runner to second base is still a mainstay in Ozzie's offense. It goes without saying that every time Ozzie put the bunt on, his hitters failed to execute it correctly and gave up an out without advancing anything but their fans' anger.

AJ Pierzynski, Juan Uribe and Alexei Ramirez all squashed potential rallies by giving the Blue Jays free outs at a time when their pitchers would otherwise be more pressured to make mistakes.

You know, there is a type of offense between solo homers and sacrifice bunts. It's called hitting.

The Sox did none of that at all Tuesday.

*******

Alexei Ramirez was named AL Rookie of the Month for August, where he hit .308/.312/.542. Unfortunately, Ramirez's terrific August has given way to a September slump. In 8 games and 30 at bats this month, Ramirez has a lethargic.133/.212/.233 line. His swing has looked longer; is he wearing down from his first grueling season in America?

Making matters worse is the continued slump of Nick Swisher, who just can't seem to get on a roll for an extended period of time. He's had a handful of very clutch hits lately, and has shown some power (his 24 homers have surpassed his total from last year), which doesn't go unnoticed.

But he's not doing anything consistently enough- his .225 batting average gets a lot of attention, but his season OBP of .339 isn't all that impressive either. This month he's hitting .192 with a .241 OBP. His .462 SLG this month is fine, but he needs to make better contact consistently.

With Carlos Quentin and now Konerko out, Ramirez and Swisher have to be the RBI guys to back up Jermaine Dye and Jim Thome.